Schoolboy rugby expert Herschel Fruean singles out the best First XV matches of the weekend, and some rising stars to watch.
In a first for New Zealand, Herald Premium, in association with Sky TV, will bring you exclusive live action of Saturday's South Island 1st XV rugby final between NelsonCollege and Christchurch Boys' High School.
To watch the full match, you must be a Sky or Premium subscriber.
Christchurch Boys' will now have to make the long trip to Nelson to try and reverse the scoreline in the game that counts.
Can Nelson stomp on?
Nelson have a huge forward pack and are capable of stomping through most teams, while their backs are small and explosive.
Their team is led and guided by Anton Segner, one of the best players in the country who has showed his worth through several superb performances.
The openside flanker is great to watch and it's easy to see why he is rated as one of New Zealand rugby's top prospects.
However, Nelson will be without Fergus Hughes at No 6, whose defence has been huge this year, after he was ruled out of the game.
Taya Brown should start at No 8 and offer up a big frame, throwing himself at defenders and watching them fly off him like they usually do. Don't be surprised to see props Isaiah Malaulau and Preston Masters join in on the action either.
Mason Lund at halfback and Nico Barton at No 10 just need to keep the forwards making ground up the middle until they are ready to strike in the backs.
The setup of Barton with Louis Carmine and Year 11 centre Ollie Inch, who is very strong going into contact, has been important for the home side.
Can Christchurch turn it around?
Christchurch Boys' backline will have to move up quick as a line and then crowd the ball carriers to cut off all options for Nelson's dangerous offloads.
Sometimes you will see Nelson lock Daniel Dixon in the mix with the backs because of his pace and this will need to be watched closely by the Christchurch defensive line.
Christchurch Year 12 locks Jamie Hannah and Fabian Holland are also very athletic and will both be very important for their side.
They both have great work rates and speed – Hannah offers great ability in the air while Holland has ridiculous strength.
Prop Ben Lopas and hooker Claden Pirihi bring a lot of experience and knowledge that will need to be called on throughout this game.
Lopas' running is going to be crucial with help from support runners as well as he breaks up the field.
Pirihi just has that classic work ethic around his core roles and the rucks, which they really need to win.
If Max Hughes and Ollie Lewis play like the superstars they are in 1st XV rugby, Christchurch will have a good chance of winning this game.
King's College vs St Kentigern College at Eden Park - Saturday, 3.00pm
It's highly likely that both King's College and St Kentigern College will be at the National Top 4 in Palmerston North in September. Usually when it comes to the 1A Final one team goes through and the other misses out on a chance to be crowned the "King" of 1st XV in New Zealand, but this year St Kentigern has put their hand up to go the co-ed route, so that means King's College will go through to the National Top 4.
Before that though we still have a 1A Final to be played and a title to be won. King's have favouritism for two reasons. The first is that King's are able to play the full team that they have been playing with throughout this season, and then the second is that they won the first meeting 52-19 earlier in the season.
That was a long time ago but the fact remains that St Kentigern are without some players and they have to try and make up for that, having to stand down their new-to-school players for the finals after their drama earlier this year.
The positive part for St Kentigern is that they have made it to the final of the 1A when they shouldn't have made it into the semis. They also only lost one game in their six week new-to-school standdown at the start of the year, and that was an away game against King's College.
Last week, they were so dominant in the forwards, so aggressive in the tackle areas and the forward pack worked so hard as a pack. To beat King's, they need to focus on the forward pack and win the game by slowing down the rucks. King's are way too strong in the backline and once Dayton Iobu gets that ball going from halfback for King's that's when you see No 10 Aidan Morgan and centre Meihana Grindlay take over.
St Kentigern can't let Morgan and Grindlay get clean ball and time to set up movements and plays, and need to move up fast on defence, with openside Cam Church and blindside Will Bason timing passes and identifying ball carriers. Prop Tiaan Tauakipulu is still the main man for St Kentigern and he will need to be a massive influence in this game for his side to win the title.
Scots College vs Palmerston North BHS at Porirua Park - Saturday, 2.30pm
The last time these two teams met up it was early in the year at the Hurricanes Festival, where Scots claimed a 35-31 victory. Today's clash could be quite similar, with a high scoreline, a lot of offence, fast moving forward packs and a lot of highlights. Ethan Webster-Nonu and Roderick Solo for Scots College and Ruben Love and Chance Malu for Palmerston North Boys - that is a lot of highlights just from those four players alone.
Scots need their forward pack to have a solid game protecting the ball and producing quick play rucks so they can keep that movement and speed consistent throughout the whole game. Ball runners from this team are all over the place and they need to get them in position to best be effective. Prop Jonty Bird, hooker Sesa Va'a, blindside Isaac Sailo and No 8 Sione Halahilo all have the ability to get going if given the smallest of spaces, time and opportunity.
On the other side, Love and Malu do also have the X-Factor in them to make plays all the time, and the team's focus will be execution. Palmerston North will have Curtis Heaphy at No 10 and he will be partnered up with Matt Oldridge at halfback. They have played at nine and 10 for most of the season and it has worked, but they will both need to be on the same page mixing up attacks from forwards to backs and backs to forwards.
Loose forwards Bryn Gordon, Tamati Ruawai and Ethan Johanson will be very important to how this team runs, and they will not only need to break down plays on defence but also be there to carry the ball and set up for the backline's big attacks.
Big boys up front like Raymond Tuputupu and Nasser Tato in the front row are going to be big tasks for Scots to take care of, and will have to work double time in this game. A Palmerston North Boys High win is not going to be a shock if it happens but I'm going to side with Scots College to come out as winners in this game.