Report: Winter Tournament Week (Day 4)
The Premier Badminton team won their final match of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships on Thursday morning to place second overall in the Division 1 Boys’ category. The team beat St Patrick’s College 5-1, which was a strong finish to this year’s tournament. The team return to Auckland as national runners up and deserve to be proud of their efforts and the way they represented the School.
In their Regional Championships competition, the Premier Basketball team secured two further wins yesterday against Howick College (102-45) and Mount Albert Grammar School (71-59). These impressive results saw the Premier team top their pool and qualify for the quarter-finals, where they will play St Peter’s College tomorrow (Saturday).
The 1st XI Football team had a second consecutive win on Thursday morning, beating Waimea College 6-0 in a very one-sided affair. Today, the team will play St Bede’s College in their final match of the national tournament. The team will be looking to use this fixture to show their potential and return having represented the School with pride.
The 1st XI Hockey team lost their Rankin Cup quarter-final 2-1 to St Paul’s Collegiate School yesterday. The team created good opportunities and scored from a well-taken penalty corner to take an early lead. In reply, St Paul’s converted a penalty corner to level the scores before half time. St Paul’s scored a second goal late in the fourth quarter from a counter attack and, despite their best efforts, the 1st XI was not able to convert from the chances they created in their attacking circle. The team will play Timaru Boys’ High School today for the opportunity to play for fifth place on Saturday.
The Under 15 Rugby team played Christchurch Boys’ High School on their home ground in a semi-final yesterday. They were beaten 23-12 by the tournament hosts. The team performed well, but defensively they were unable to withstand the opposition’s attack. The team now has the opportunity to finish their tournament well with a strong performance against Hastings Boys’ High School today as both teams vie for third place.
The School wishes the Cycling, Fencing and Weightlifting teams well for their respective Secondary Schools Championships over the weekend.