Rangiora High School has pulled out of the Crusaders region\u2019s Miles Toyota First 15 Premiership this season, and instead wants to create a combined rugby team from North Canterbury schools.<\/p>\n
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n
The move follows a bid from South Island boys\u2019 schools to establish a separate competition.<\/p>\n
In May last year, the boys’ schools announced they wanted to form a breakaway competition, which would bring together teams from the Crusaders\u2019 and Highlanders\u2019 regions.<\/p>\n
Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney was one of around 45 principals from Canterbury and West Coast co-educational secondary schools who came together to speak out against the move.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Rugby later stepped in to mediate, with the boys’ schools opting to continue playing in the Crusaders’ first 15 premiership.<\/p>\n
They will also play in a cross-over South Island competition against teams from the Highlanders region.<\/p>\n
The decision to withdraw Rangiora’s first 15 from the premiership has the backing of the school\u2019s board of trustees presiding member, Simon Green.<\/p>\n
He said promoting a competition for boys\u2019 schools could have long-term implications.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018As a co-ed school, we\u2019re concerned that restricting top-level rugby to boys\u2019 schools limits inclusivity and risks drawing talented players away from the school communities where many first developed their love of the game.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
But schools behind the initiative said they aimed to \u2018\u2018foster connection, belonging and pride among our young men\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
Crusaders premiership school teams this year are expected to include Christchurch Boys\u2019 High School, Christ\u2019s College, St Bede\u2019s College, St Thomas of Canterbury, Shirley Boys\u2019 High School, Marlborough Boys\u2019 College, Nelson Boys\u2019 College and Timaru Boys\u2019 High School.<\/p>\n
St Andrew\u2019s College is expected to be the only co-ed school in the competition, after Rangiora and a combined Selwyn team pulled out.<\/p>\n
The Highlanders region teams are set to include Otago Boys\u2019 High School, Kings\u2019 High School (Dunedin) and Southland Boys\u2019 High School.<\/p>\n
Waitaki Boys\u2019 High School (Oamaru) pulled out, citing pressures from the financial commitment, lack of player depth and the amount of time required off school.<\/p>\n
Kearney said his school\u2019s move down to the championship grade is an opportunity to work with other North Canterbury schools.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I don\u2019t think playing in [the premiership] is in the best interests for our boys and it\u2019s not just because of the size and ability of the players, but also the attitude.”<\/p>\n
While there are no single sex schools in North Canterbury, several players from the region have gone on to play professional rugby, including former Rangiora student, and All Black Fletcher Newell.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018For many, playing in their first team at school is the greatest opportunity in sport they will ever have because of the pressures of work and other pressures in their lives,\u2019\u2019 Mr Kearney said.<\/p>\n
Smaller area schools do not have numbers to field rugby teams at secondary school level, with students playing for local clubs, he said.<\/p>\n
Oxford Area School acting principal Lesley Inch said they were open to a discussion around supporting young players to have further opportunities.<\/p>\n
Rangiora New Life School principal Stephen Walters said his students already combined with other schools for sports and cultural activities, including Polyfest and CASAFest (Canterbury area schools).<\/p>\n
Kaiapoi High School has no first 15 rugby tradition, but the school roll has grown significantly in the last 15 years.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018There\u2019s a strong desire for rugby at Kaiapoi,\u2019\u2019 principal Jason Reid said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Every year we have some family members who say \u2018let\u2019s make it happen\u2019, but it\u2019s a challenge getting the collaboration with the clubs.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Kaiapoi and Rangiora high schools have produced a combined girls first 15 in recent years to pay in the girls’ first 15 premiership, and Mr Reid would be keen to discuss something similar for the boys.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rangiora High School has pulled out of the Crusaders region\u2019s Miles Toyota First 15 Premiership this season, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[158,1080,84,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-370719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-education","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}