The last St Andrew’s College team to make the national Top 4 First XV tournament. Photo / Supplied
A former England and Crusaders halfback, Heinz is in his first year at St Andrew’s, having worked with Christchurch Boys’ High School last season. St Andrew’s beat CBHS in the Crusaders region final last weekend 33-17.
St Andrew’s, a co-educational private school since 1992, was excluded from this year’s South Island Boys’ School Competition, which pitted some of the South Island’s heavyweight First XVs against each other throughout the season. It was ultimately won by CBHS, who held off Southland Boys’ High School for the inaugural title.
Heinz believes there were pros and cons to not being involved in the new competition.
“I guess the benefit of being involved in a competition like that is you’re getting good, tough rugby every week,” he said.
“We had some challenges to deal with at the back end of the season. The way the draw worked out for us it means that going into finals we had a month without competition rugby, but that’s why we took the boys over to Australia for a couple of games.
“On the other hand, maybe some of those weeks have allowed us to freshen up a little bit where other teams have still effectively been playing almost every week.”
St Andrew’s College First XV preparing for their South Island final match with Southland Boys’ High School in Christchurch. Photo / Anna Heath.
That downtime has allowed injuries to heal and St Andrew’s will go into the final with near-enough a full squad to call on – including rich front-row stocks.
“We’ve always talked about the way we train is the way we play and right from the start of the season, particularly with Owen [Franks, forwards coach] and lately Trent Harris, who’s taken over since Owen moved on to his Japanese stuff, was just the way that those boys set themselves up each week. They’ve battered the crap out of each other in training, to be honest. I think that’s created a really competitive edge amongst the forwards and it sets them up for game day,” Heinz said.
The experienced Heinz is now turning his attention towards how they can use that physicality against Southland Boys’.
“Just spending a bit of time looking at them this week, they’re a quality outfit, they’ve got threats right across the park. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge for our boys.”
St Andrew’s head coach Willi Heinz says his side has trained the way they play all season. Photo / Anna Heath.
For Southland Boys’, it may be a new opponent; in fact, some SBHS old boys wonder if the schools have ever played before – but this end of the season is very familiar. Winners of the Top 4 title in 2023, the Invercargill school finished third in the national finals last year and have now been in the past four South Island finals. They won the Highlanders regional final against King’s High School 49-15 in Invercargill last weekend.
Long-time coach Jason Dermody says this year has been a challenge with the extra SIBS fixtures.
“I think it’s helped in the way that you have to be better planned every week.
“We’ve planned most weeks pretty well. Not knowing the opposition and making the boys get up every week was tough. We thought we would have weeks where we could rest people, but that didn’t really happen. We played our best team week in, week out.
“The boys are pretty battle-hardened.”
Southland Boys’ High School First XV coach Jason Dermody. Photo / Debbie Fahey Photography
Dermody says it had always been in the back of his mind that St Andrew’s would get right through.
“They’ve sort of timed their run as well. I know they went to Aussie for a 10-day tournament.
“They’ll be very difficult, especially at home as well. They’ve got a big crowd and they’ve got a lot of support, so we’re under no illusions about what we’re going into.”
Maintaining a standard like Southland Boys’ have managed takes careful planning as boys finish their schooling and new faces move into the top team.
“It’s a lot of hard work. We’re always looking at boys that would fit into our mould. We pick good people first before good players, and we make the boys buy into what we’re about. And if we don’t think they’re up to that, then we won’t pick them.
“We spend a lot of time with our boys, so we want to be around good individuals. We don’t really deal with any muppets. I haven’t got time to be dealing with people like that,” Dermody said.
2023 National First XV champions, Southland Boys’ High School. From left, Justin Shaw, captain Gregor Rutledge and Lachie Riley with the National First XV Trophy and the Moascar Cup.
The long, hard season has seen Dermody use 34 players this season, adding to the side’s depth for years to come. But this year is still the primary focus.
“Our goal from the start of the season is to be the best in the South Island. So, our goal is definitely to win on Saturday.”
Both sides wear a very similar kit – so one will need to wear an alternative. Dermody says he’s not sure who it’ll be, but he has an idea.
“It’s usually the home team.”
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.