1st XV Interschool report
By Vai Mahutariki | Posted: Thursday May 18, 2023
On May 17th, the OBHS 1st XV travelled down to Southland Boys' High School as part of the traditional interschool between the two schools.
The 1st XV match was a physical battle between the two teams who also had to contend with the wet and cold conditions. Both teams stacked with talent and well coached structure took the match to some entertaining heights.
SBHS struck first, with a well taken try from a scrum set piece through their backs (0-7). OBHS got into their work, carrying strong and maintaining possession while winning some key physical moments. They were able to build pressure and slowly make their way up the field. As they got close to the line, the forward pack worked in tandem with each other gaining inch by inch, before Year 12 Siaosi “George” Asi dived over for the well deserved try (7-7).
The game then flowed backwards and forwards, with both teams gaining some ascendency at different times but not able to break each others defences. Late in the first half with time almost up, OBHS launched another good attack from a penalty kick. The forwards rolled their sleeves up and launched ball runners after ball runners towards the SBHS try line, finally gaining success with Year 13 Taitela Tasi-Cordtz driving over from short range (14-7). That brought a close to half with Year 13 William Thode adding the extra’s.
The second half started physically with some strong carries in both backlines and well supported by each teams forward packs. OBHS had the first attacking opportunity from 40 metres out from a scrum. A silky backline move with a slide of hands put Year 13 Joe Parkinson through a gap which he hit at pace, and then outsprinted any covering defence in behind to score close to the posts (21-7). The game then went into a bit of an arm wrestle as both teams battled for territory and possession while making a large amount of tackles. With 10 minutes to go SBHS kicked a penalty down long to set up a lineout. This led to a well set up maul, which they held firm to drive over for a good try (21-14). For the last 9 minutes OBHS repelled SBHS with tough gritty defence, although on the final whistle they were able to find space down the left edge and score a try (21-19). With time up on the board, it came down to a pressure kick which the SBHS player missed.
OBHS took a hard fought win, and with it won the Trusteebank Cup. This is the South Island version of the Ranfurly Shield for Secondary School 1st XV Rugby. Additionally, they also won the Lions Shield, which is similar to the Trusteebank Cup, but for the Otago Secondary School Region which SBHS also compete in. Both teams wish each other well for the rest of the season and look forward to seeing each other in round two.
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