Whangarei Boys High School completed their 2014 NZRL Secondary Schools Campaign to finish 19th in the Country with a solid 24 – 4 win over Greymouth High School.
Boys High won three out of their five games and would have made the semi-finals of the Development Competition had they not slipped up on the first day to Christchurch League Academy School Aranui High School 24 – 18. “We had the game in our grasp, but the bounce of the ball in the final 10 minutes gave the game to Aranui. Aranui were a strong opponent and with the broken preparation we had, it wasn’t surprising that under pressure, Aranui took out that game” said Boys High Manager, Willie Cooper. He was referring to the fact that three days out from the tournament, it looked like they weren’t going to make the competition due to a shortfall in funding. It wasn’t until a last minute call to Whangarei Entrepreneur, Doug Andrews from MultiKai Cooker, that saved the day.
Boys High bounced back on days two and three, beating Auckland Colleges Pakuranga 26 – 16 and Rosehill 48 – 8. Unfortunately for Boys High against Rosehill, they lost star loose forward, James Cherrington to a broken ankle. They went down to Mt Roskill Grammar 24 – 10 before beating Greymouth 24 – 4.
Coach, John Komene, was elated with the teams’ performance. “In three years attending this event this is the best we have done winning 3 games out of 5. It’s a great experience for the boys, it’s such a professionally run tournament and the quality of league is superb!”
Kelston Boys High School retain their National Title, defeating rival powerhouse St Pauls 24 – 10 while tournament newcomers Wesley College were too powerful for their Auckland rivals defeating One Tree Hill College 18 – 6.
