After their first-up 56-35 loss to Monument School at the St John’s Rugby Festival in Johannesburg, Westlake beat Welkom Gimnasium, a mid-ranked school from the Free State province of South Africa, 34-26 and won 42-8 against Johannesburg’s Hoerskool Randburg.
Top-ranked South African First XV team Paul Roos Gimnasium then beat them 31-21, but Westlake can be proud of their showings in fast-paced matches against consistently bigger opposition while having to adjust to altitude and being a long way from home.
Westlake Boys High School First XV perform their haka at Burger Field, where they competed in the St John’s Easter Rugby Festival, in South Africa.
Tauranga Boys’ College have finished their Japanese tour unbeaten with a 62-7 win over Shizuoka Seiko Academy High in their final match.
Earlier, Tauranga beat Tokai Uni Gyosei High 66-33 in Osaka. Tokai, who will shortly be competing in the 2026 Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament, dominated in lineout mauls but Tauranga’s strength was in ball movement and hard running and they were too strong on attack. In their opening tour match, Tauranga beat Tokai Uni Sagami High 24-10 in a tight contest.
While on tour, Tauranga got to experience the professional training environment and impressive facilities at the Shizuoka Blue Revs rugby club, which was once coached by former All Black Grant Batty.
All Black Grant Batty went on to coach at Shizuoka Blue Revs rugby club. Photo / Photosport
Tauranga have a long history of touring. In 2024, they won all eight matches on a South American tour. Back in 1996, memorably they toured South Africa, competing in an international tournament with eight teams and winning six out of seven matches.
Whanganui Collegiate School have battled rock-hard pitches and 30C heat on their short tour of Australia, but have won their first two matches. First-up they edged St Edmunds College 22-19 in Ipswich, Queensland, and then beat St Laurence’s College (South Brisbane) 33-12.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s St Paul’s Collegiate are on a two-week, three-match tour of Japan and have been enjoying the training facilities of Kindai University and the Black Rams Tokyo rugby team.
Nine in a row for St Kentigern
St Kentigern College maintained their stranglehold on the annual Presbyterian Schools Rugby Quadrangular Tournament, winning the event for a ninth successive year and a 23rd time since its inception in 1989 at Scots College, Wellington.
However, at halftime in the final against St Andrew’s College, the Cantabrians were in pole position to secure their ninth title and first since 2010, leading 17-5. There was doubt that a 12-point lead was enough at halftime, with the increasing fury of the Strathmore southwesterly wind.
But on cue, St Kentigern rallied to prevail 29-22. Halfback Keanu Graham navigated the tricky wind superbly. He scored two tries and created another in a commanding display. Behemoth lock Razelang Aukuso Slade, previously selected for the Chiefs U16s from Manurewa High School, made his presence felt.
St Kentigern, repeat Presbyterian Schools Rugby Quadrangular Tournament winners.
Despite the absence of two hookers due to concussions, St Andrew’s won more lineout possession than the Highlanders and rattled St Kentigern with abrasive tackling and quick movement in the backs.
Winger Jock Sidey was electric, scoring four tries across the tournament, two in the opening 54-7 win over Lindisfarne College and two in the final. First five-eighths Stian Pelser strikes a good balance between courage and caution, and loose forwards Lachie Mitchell and Lesson Tiakai are relentless.
St Andrew’s are coached by Rugby World Cup-winning prop Owen Franks, English international Willi Heinz and Tony Fenner, a real estate agent whose professional rugby career took him to Italy, France, Scotland, New Zealand and South Africa.
Owen Franks and Willi Heinz in their days as Crusaders team-mates. Photo / Photosport
Lindisfarne won the playoff for third, 41-21, against Scots, who had been smashed 80-7 by St Kentigern on day one. There were initial fears of a similar score when Lindisfarne quickly jumped to a 24-0 lead. Instead, complacency set in and two Lindisfarne players were sin-binned. Midway through the second half, the score closed to 29-21.
Scots are genuinely better than their feeble combination that defaulted a Wellington College Premiership fixture last year. Their U15 premiers were Wellington finalists in 2025, and they have a larger cohort of Year 13 players. A highlight was a length-of-the-field intercept to dashing blonde winger James Favel.
For Lindisfarne, centre Reid Palmer was classy, scoring two tries and engineering another. First five-eighths Te Awarangi Puketapu-Pene was silky, and No 8 Charlie East was a strapping workhorse.
1A teams show strong preseason form
Auckland Grammar made quite a statement with their 41-7 home preseason win against defending Super 8 champions Palmerston North Boys’ High.
Grammar stretched Palmerston North early with their ability to move the ball quickly and took an early lead with a well-worked try and penalty. A chip-and-chase allowed Grammar to score again and they had a third try before halftime for a 27-0 lead.
Grammar racked up two further tries following the break before Palmerston North prop Max Hill crashed over for a consolation try.
On Saturday, Grammar will host Tauranga Boys’ College in their annual exchange.
Kelston Boys’ High School beat Hastings Boys’ High School 40-5 at home as they secured the Rob Sturch Memorial Cup. The 2026 exchange marked a special milestone with boys premier basketball added for the first time, with the cup holders being determined by results in First XV, Second XV and the basketball. As it happened, Kelston won in all three (claiming the basketball 89-84).
Reigning 1A champions King’s College beat Wesley College 33-28, Dilworth School hammered St Patrick’s Wellington 53-5 in New Plymouth while De La Salle College beat New Plymouth’s Francis Douglas Memorial College 29-24 away. However Mt Albert Grammar lost 31-12 at home to Hamilton Boys’ High School.
On tour in NZ
Slick Sydney tourists Barker College made a big impression in Wellington by rolling Premiership finalists St Patrick’s College, Silverstream 40-36 and Wellington College 43-31.
Coached by former Samoan international and Scots College 2014 National Top Four winning coach Earl Va’a, Barker are a well-resourced private school with annual fees of A$45,000 ($55,000).
They play dynamic and vibrant rugby and stunned Silverstream in their Wednesday match by powering to a 26-0 lead in a dozen minutes, with bulky winger Lorima Ravouvou Seuseu scoring a hat-trick. Second five-eighths Ashley Dene and openside flanker Hugo Wilson are classy prospects for the tourists.
Meanwhile, St Peter’s Cambridge turned in a strong performance to defeat Canberra tourists St Edmunds College 56-19 and Rotorua Boys’ High School Second XV recorded a 27-24 win against Gonzaga College from Washington DC.
Moascar Cup schedule set
Moascar Cup challenges have been set for 2026, with holders Rotorua Boys’ High School first facing South Auckland’s Tangaroa College on April 18. Next in line are Gisborne Boys’ High School on June 13.
But the first big one will come if and when they host Hamilton Boys’ High School on June 20. Then it is Hastings Boys’ High School on June 27, Lindisfarne College on July 18, Palmerston North Boys’ High School on July 25 and finally Tauranga Boys’ College on August 1.
First contested in 1920, the Moascar Cup operates as a challenge shield (similar to the Ranfurly Shield) with any winning challenger taking the cup.
Tangaroa’s challenge is a rare one. They last challenged for the Moascar Cup in 2014 when they were beaten by eventual 1A champions Auckland Grammar, who had future All Blacks Rieko Ioane and Shaun Stevenson in their team.
Rotorua Boys’ High School First XV captain Te Ariki Rogers with the Moascar Cup. Photo / Bruce Holloway
Matamata doing the hard yards
Preseason First XV team-building jaunts can be legendary, but Matamata College’s South Island effort will be hard to beat. Last week they walked 20km from the Boyle River Outdoor Pursuits Centre, 15km east of the Lewis Pass summit in the Southern Alps, through the Magdelan Valley to the Waiau Uwha River and camped the night beside the Tin Jug Hut, ahead of a five-hour raft down the river.
Tramping some distance and then negotiating grade-three rapids is certainly a unique way to prepare for a debut in the Central North Island (CNI) competition this year.
Matamata are this year being jointly coached by the experienced Richard Waru and 30-year-old Logan Allen, a college First XV old boy, who last year played for both Thames Valley and New Zealand Heartland XV, but has now retired.
Allen, a phys-ed teacher at the college, called the daunting Lewis Pass trek “a bit of fun” – though it turned out to be less fun for some students who had to double back a distance after they left their sleeping bags behind.
Matamata kick off life in the CNI with a home game against St John’s College Hastings at midday on May 2.
Dinner time
This year’s 100th Quad Tournament in Whanganui is set to be one of the bigger events on the calendar, with a Black Tie gala dinner confirmed at Whanganui Racecourse on June 19, with earlybird tickets priced at $125 and Marc Ellis the guest speaker.
On the subject of dinners, St Peter’s College (Auckland) have scheduled their 2026 rugby dinner for Friday, May 1, with guest speakers Eroni and Caleb Clarke, tickets $90 a single.
Eroni Clarke and his son Caleb are scheduled as guest speakers at a St Peter’s College dinner. Photo / Photosport
And Sacred Heart College are hosting the Fitzpatrick-Kirkpatrick Cup annual luncheon at 12pm on May 16, ahead of kickoff in their 1A match against reigning champions King’s College, tickets $90 a single.
* Readers are invited to send their first XV rugby updates, news snippets and hot takes to nzschoolboyrugby@gmail.com.