Wellington College carry the mantle for local schools in Hurricanes First XV series

Above: The St Pat's Town and Hastings Boys' High School scrums pack down on Westpac Stadium in round two of the Tranzit Coachlines First XV Festival. Photo by Dave Lintott.

Wellington College were the only local school to win their match in the second round of the Tranzit Coachlines Hurricanes First XV Festival on Saturday, played at the Petone Recreation Ground and Westpac Stadium.

Wellington College defeated Napier Boys’ High School 21-19, holding on defensively with the last play of the game.

The three other Wellington schools in this series met defeats, St Pat’s Silverstream and St Pat’s Town missing out and last year’s national Top 4 finalists Scot College going down for the second successive week.

Silverstream were pipped 28-29 by Gisborne Boys’ High School, St Pat’s Town lost 8-43 to Hastings Boys’ High School and Scots College were defeated 8-29 by Palmerston North Boys’ High School.

The third and final round of the Hurricanes pre-season First XV Festival is in Gisborne next weekend.

Match reports of the four games in Wellington are below.

Wellington College: 21 (Reece Plumtree, Stone Warren-Robinson tries; Plumtree 3 pen, 1 con) Napier BHS: 19 (Jack Vaimoli, Josh Bokser, Zarn Sullivan tries; Sullivan 2 con)

Wellington College won the Amner Cup traditional against Napier Boys' High School after holding-up centre Brayden Cunningham over the goal line as he dived for the winning try in the last minute.

Wellington was up 16-5 at halftime, but Napier used the strong breeze at their backs to seize the lead midway through the second-half. Flankers Jack Vaimoli and Josh Bokser aren't big, but their industry was rewarded with tries - both scored after long build ups by the forwards. Once again Napier's scrum proved to be a strong suit.

Wellington had the best of the opening minutes. Centre Reece Plumtree kicked a penalty and then evaded a Napier defender to engineer a try for Stone Warren-Robinson. Plumtree kicked a second penalty to make it 11-0, before Napier built pressure and first-five Zarn Sullivan dived over in the corner. Zarn Sullivan is the younger brother of NZ Schools centre Bailyn Sullivan.

Plumtree, a Wellington under-18 rep, became the centre of attention with about 10 minutes to go. Napier fumbled in their half and Plumtree after multiple phases glided through for what proved to be the winning try.

Wellington tighthead Qualen Asi and wing Connor Fuli, when he touched the ball, were also strong performers for Wellington.

Hastings BHS: 43 (Tane Hohipa, Lincoln McClutchie, Kianu Kereru-Symes, Folau Fakatava, Dennon Robinson, Kiniviliame Naholo, Danny Toala; Jacob Stephenson 2 con, Toala 2 con) St. Pats Town: 7 (Saia Paese try; Billy Procter 1 con)

Hastings BHS are the team to beat in the Hurricanes region this season after trouncing Wellington Champions, St. Pats Town at Westpac Stadium in a Super Rugby curtain raiser.

Hastings’ abrasive defence and ability to translate turnovers into points were the key ingredients in their success.

Town was able to maintain possession for long periods, often exceeding ten phases, but Hastings aggression stagnated Town's attack which often fumbled at key moments.

After adsorbing early pressure, Hastings lock Tane Hohipa opened the scoring after 10 minutes. First-five Lincoln McClutchie doubled the score in the 22nd minute when he caught Town napping on the short side.

Town hit back in the 24th minute when wing Saia Paese injected himself into the line from a quick tap from a scrum and rushed away, but Hastings crossed twice more before halftime. Prop Kianu Kereru-Symes scored after Hastings charged down the kick-off and strung together multiple phases and halfback Folau Fakatava lunged over after another long assault inside the Town 22.

Town essentially monopolised the ball for the first 20 minutes of the second-half, but they were unable to breach Hastings defense. Hastings finished with a flourish by scoring three tries as a demoralised Town tired.

The Hastings bench added value with Danny Toala and Kiniviliame Naholo crossing the stripe, but McClutchie was the man of the match with his array of tricks, including a banana kick to set up the last try, bamboozling the Town defense.

Kereru-Symes, lock Liam Bauckham and openside Jeriah Mua were also strong for Hastings. Town's blindside Tom Horan and NZ Schools prop Xavier Numia played with heart and skill.

Gisborne BHS: 29 (Nathan Rangihuna, Tyler Symon-Burke, Jarryd Broughton, Colby Putnam, Freeman Te Whare tries; Mosses Christie 2 con) St. Patrick's College, Silverstream: 28 (Lucas Dutton 2, Connor McGeough, Callum Harkin tries; Kienan Higgins 4 con)

Gisborne BHS beat St. Pats Silverstream for the first time since 2010 after reversing a 28-12 deficit.

Gisborne was a considerably bigger team and eventually wore Silverstream down through sheer weight of possession. Gisborne was most successful when they attacked Silverstream with pick and goes up the middle of the ruck. Gisborne's backs played selfishly at times and made silly errors which allowed Silverstream to amass a large lead.

When tiny Silverstream wing Lucas Dutton scored a 95-metre intercept try, it appeared Silverstream had a winning lead.

However Gisborne's bench added some much needed enthusiasm and direction to the attack. Colby Putnam (typically a hooker), playing flanker was outstanding and front rowers Sam Matenga and Joseph Mason were effective.

With two minutes remaining wing Freeman Te Whare scored in the corner to make it 28-27. Fullback Mosses Christie, who missed three kicks, then casually slotted the sideline conversion on his favoured left side.

Earlier Gisborne did all the early attacking, but Silverstream leapt ahead 14-0 against the run of play. Centre Albert Polu created holes in the Gisborne defense and tries were scored by halfback Callum Harkin and right wing Connor McGeough.

Silverstream first-five Riley Forbes threw an errant pass which was poached by Gisborne centre Nathan Rangihuna. Gisborne scored another try to make the halftime score 14-12.

Dutton had a fine game and skilfully dribbled a dropped Gisborne pass to the try line, but as Gisborne reduced their errors Silverstream found it impossible to escape their own half.

Silverstream openside Josh Southall tackled himself to a standstill and Year 11 prop Luke Mannix is a promising prospect.

Gisborne locks Tyler Symon-Burke and Gabe Te Kani proved to be a handful and huge tighthead Jarryd Broughton is mobile for his size.

Palmerston North BHS: 29 (Brayden Iose 3, Ben Nixon, Leighton Ralph tries; Sean Pape 2 con) Scots College: 8 (Jack Gray try, Malo Manuao 1 pen)

Scots College’s tough start to 2016 continued when they were beaten soundly by Palmerston North.

Boys' High No.8 Brayden Iose was an imperious figure scoring the first three tries of the game and deftly and unselfishly flicking the ball onto Leighton Ralph for the last score.

Iose's performance even caught the eye of Petone legend and former All Black captain Andy Leslie who was watching the game. 

Iose set the tone in the opening minutes when he broke 50-metres from a scrum. He was toppled short of the line, but was on hand a few phases later to dot down. Iose's second 50-metre bust resulted in a great solo try and his hat-trick was completed just after halftime following a bustling run by busy prop Wesley Veikoso.

Scots had long periods in possession, but Palmerston North scrambled well and were successful in winning several breakdown turnovers. Scots centre Tai Neli was a handful and created Scots try for wing Jack Gray.

Scots have conceded 139 points in the last three games. Palmerston North have won five out of seven in 2016.