2014 College rugby season now in full flight

Above: St Pat's Silverstream continued their good early season form today, beating visiting New Plymouth Boys' High School 46-13. St Pat's Town also won well today, beating St John's College in Hastings 61-8. Photo by Mike Lewis. St Pat's Town v St John's report below in this article.

Last weekend saw the conclusion of both the Hurricanes First XV Festival and the grading rounds for the College Sport Wellington competitions, which start this weekend.

In the Hurricanes Festival three of the Wellington schools were successful. Wellington College beat Palmerston North Boys' High 29-25 Friday night at Westpac Stadium, while on Saturday at Porirua Park, Silverstream made it three-from-three when they edged Hastings Boys' High School 18-16, Scots College beat Napier Boys' High School 38-31, while Naenae College went down 0-51 to Gisborne Boys' High School.

In the grading rounds St Patrick's College Town made certain of their Premier 1 place with a 38-5 win over Tawa College, while there was plenty of tension elsewhere. St Bernard's regained their place with a 17-10 over 2013 top-flight school Porirua College, while Rongotai needed to rely on points differential to scrape through when they drew 17-all with Hutt Valley High School. Hutt International Boys' School were already through but will limp into the Premier season after being beaten 11-13 by Wairarapa College, who are ineligible for the top grade as the school is not a CSW member.

Tawa, Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa will contest the Premier 2 grade with six other sides. Aotea and Paraparaumu recorded easy wins over Heretaunga and Mana by 44-17 and 33-5 respectively, Kapiti College comfortably beat Newlands 39-19, while Upper Hutt turned the form book on its head to beat Bishop Viard while also denying the Porirua school a bonus point to secure their place. These First XV's will be joined by the Wellington College and Silverstream 2nd XV's for the 10-team competition.

Premier 3 will comprise eight teams, with Heretaunga, Bishop Viard, Newlands and Mana joined by the St Patrick's and Rongotai 2nd XVs, with Taita and Wainuiomata making their way from the lower grading pools.

This weekend sees the majority of First XV games taking place at club venues as part of the ‘College at Club' round with those games taking place ahead of senior club fixtures. The initiative, introduced last year, looks to showcase and ease the transition into the senior club game for school leavers.

The Premier 1 matches are all scheduled for 12pm kickoffs. Rongotai College face St Bernard's in the early match at Kilbirnie Park, while HIBS and Wellington College do likewise at the Petone Rec. Naenae and Silverstream are slated to face off at Delaney Park in Stokes Valley, while the final match has St Patricks College meeting Scots on the St Patricks artificial with Evans Bay remaining out of use.?????

Three of the five Premier 2 grade matches are also 12pm kickoffs at club grounds. Paraparaumu College against Hutt Valley HS is the early game at Ngatitoa Domain, Wairarapa face the Silverstream 2nd XV in the curtainraiser at Maidstone, while at Porirua Park local sides Porirua and Aotea clash ahead of the Norths v Poneke Colts match. In the other matches the Wellington College 2nds host Kapiti College at the school at 12pm, while it is a 1pm kickoff at Tawa College for the hosts and Upper Hutt College.

The final game on a club ground is a Premier 3 clash between Newlands College and the Rongotai 2nds at Helston Park. There are 1pm kickoffs (home teams first) for Bishop Viard against Wainuiomata, Mana and the St Pat's 2nds, and Taita against Heretaunga.

St Pat's Town account for St John's College

Played in hot autumn conditions with the temperature in the mid 20's, it was St. Patrick's College who applied all the heat to their hosts in today's Annual Traditional Match against St. John's College in Hastings.

Both teams started the match with the intent to play at pace, but it was not long before the visitors started the score-board ticking over with a well worked try. St. John's closed the gap with a try of their own, however a flurry of five-pointers late in the first half gave St. Patrick's a comfortable 29-8 lead at the break.

The second-half was played predominantly in the St. John's half, with St. Patrick's set piece and ruck play establishing a formidable platform from which the backs launched repeated sorties on the St. John's line. In total, a further 32 points were added by the visitors in the second spell, with the final score 61- 8.

St Pat's Town scorers:T Brazil (2), B Proctor (2), S Paese (2), D Buttar (2), E Meredith, W Sauea, C Fitzsimmons tries; B Proctor 2 con;P Bickle con?

In the curtain-raiser to today's main game, the St. Patrick's College 2XV also won by a healthy 45 point margin, with the final score 53-5 - (HT 22-5).