The Scout: The best of the weekend's First XV rugby

Wesley College's Thor Manase. Photo / Supplied

Want to know who the next Beauden Barrett or Kieran Read will be? In his new weekly column for the Herald, schoolboy rugby expert Herschel Fruean singles out the best First XV matches of the weekend, and some rising stars to watch. Fruean will travel New Zealand looking for the best talent the country has to offer, preview the big games every Friday, provide a wrap of all the results on Sunday, and rank the top 15 First XV teams (based on their performances throughout the season) every Monday morning.
The 1A final has always been a tough game, and when King's College and St Kentigern College battled on the turf at Eden Park, they didn't let spectators down.

King's claimed a hard-fought 29-22 win over St Kent's, led by an influential performance from first five-eighth Aidan Morgan.

Morgan scored within the first 5 minutes of the contest behind a forward pack that got going early. The pressure from the King's forwards at the breakdown saw Morgan get the ball in space to get across for the first try after a strong fend. He was in the action again just moments later, offloading to halfback Dayton Iobu who scored under the posts. It saw King's go up 14-0 inside of eight minutes and many began to feel like it was going to be one-way traffic for the full 70 minutes. However, a fortuitous try to lock Lopeti Faifua saw St Kent's get on the board inside the opening 20 minutes.

Israel Otunuku of King's College. Photo / Supplied

However, tries to Meihana Grindlay and Israel Otunuku extended the lead further and at the break King's led 29-5.

Playing with the wind at their backs in the second half, St Kent's woke up. Damien Faiane stepped up and started to get things going in the comeback effort, with a great solo run to set up a try to Scott Puni. Faiane stepped up again just five minutes later, showing off his footwork again to score a try of his own. Much like the first half, the second was one-way traffic, but it was all the way of St Kent's and when Benji Pauga scored in the 60th minute to close the gap to seven points, there was everything to play for.

King's had to fight hard and kept St Kent's at bay, but did enough late work to close out the win and claim the title.

Damien Faiane of St Kentigern College. Photo / Supplied

In Hamilton, a Chiefs Top Four game was played between Hamilton Boys' High School and Wesley College. Hamilton Boys' kicked off the game on defence, working hard to try to stop the big Wesley College pack.

Led by openside flanker Thor Manase, Wesley College were solid in their first few runs of the ball and around the ruck. However, a knock on in their own half opened the door for the hosts to launch an attack, which led to second five-eighth Luke Ale crashing over for the game's first try.

Hamilton Boys' props Hakaria Richards-Coxhead and Mason Tupaea worked hard to create space out on the edges by carrying the ball and drawing in tackler. They were able to create plenty of space for wingers Tyron Hilton and Amos Faaola to run freely.

Mason Tupaea of Hamilton Boys' High School. Photo / Supplied

After trailing for much of the first half, Wesley College scored just before halftime with an overthrown Hamilton Boy's lineout. It was the spark the visitors needed, as they were first to score in the second half that largely to the lead-up work from Manase.

However, Hamilton Boys' quickly struck back with back to back tries to claim a 26-10 win. They move on to the next stage of the Top Four, where they'll meet Tauranga Boys' College who beat New Plymouth Boys' High School 15-9.

In the South Island, Nelson College claimed the UC Championship and will travel to Dunedin to play Otago Boys' High School to see who represents the South Island and the Top Four.