2023 School Rugby
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@Stargazer That Feilding result looks to be a bit of a surprise considering Feilding had been going good in their pre-season games.
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There may be more games, but these are the ones I've been able to find:
Mid-week fixtures: 22 - 26 May 2023
Tuesday 23 May 2023
Sports exchange
Hutt International BS v Rathkeale College - 1.00pm
Thursday 25 May 2023
Super 8 (part of sports exchange)
Round 1
Hamilton BHS v New Plymouth BHS
Friday 26 May 2023
Miles Toyota Premiership
Round 3
Christ's College v Timaru BHS - 6.30pm
Livestream:
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@Bovidae Yeah, the last good year of sideline live was 2020. Then they changed ownership and the quality went down. Last year, I had to ask my money back (which they fortunately did) because they announced games and then didn't stream them. Or the stream didn't work and they moved the game to Facebook (for free). Totally unreliable. I think schools just weren't interested in using them anymore.
This is a YouTube channel where sometimes games are streamed without any commentary.
There's also a FB page where sometimes games are streamed. Mostly games in Waikato/BOP.
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In the past the schools tended to play against other schools from their own region, hence the list of Northland schools in the 1950s and 1960s.
Another interesting point is that two more recent previous holders no longer exist anymore - Church College and St Stephen's.
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@Stargazer Coaching. HBHS doesn't usually have the best athletes but are always very fit and well-drilled. There are a few players from out of Hamilton (greater Waikato, Northland) but the scholarships were usually for a Fijian (e.g., Reece, Narawa), and there are none of those in the team.
They only have 3 Super 8 home games and others are against the other top schools (Rotorua and Hastings).
BTW, they actually released a team list on their FB page before the game.
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Coaching, yes. They put a lot of their school budget into that, which other schools might spend on, you know, teaching.
But also a couple of other factors greatly help Hamilton BHS.
Sheer size. Some of the Super 8 are big too, but not all. Hamilton BHS is three times the size of Hastings BHS, for example, and twice the size of Rotorua BHS.
The lack of alternatives for good rugby boys in the Waikato. St John's is something of an alternative, but you have to accept being "Catholic" and they are only recently any good. The other good rugby schools in the area are all private. The other big state schools in the area have very poor rugby programs for their size. Cambridge, for example, don't produce anything like what they should.
A HBHS "ballot" for out of zone boys that magically has every good rugby boy selected. That combined with an aggressive targeting of young rugby boys to go to HBHS, means that they hoover up from the whole province.
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
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@Chester-Draws You've hit the nail on the head!
Also, Nigel Hotham builds a great rapport with his players. They are very loyal to him and want to play for him. I'm sure this helps with culture and consequently results.
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Hastings Boys' (with the same acronym HBHS) have also had great coaches and again this year, but a much smaller budget and a much smaller player pool. They've done pretty well the last few years with two Top 4 titles, but it's clear they have a much tougher job getting there than schools like Hamilton Boys with all their resources.
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@Chester-Draws said in 2023 School Rugby:
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
The former definitely helps. On the latter, Warren went to HBHS himself so it's not that unusual that his son also went to the same school.
It's not all about rugby, although the code gets the most media attention. The football team have won the National competition in the last decade and there has been Maadi Cup success in the rowing.
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I've never thought about it before but Ham Boys really does have a much larger catchment area than the other Super 8 teams. I guess Tauranga and Palmy would have the next biggest catchment areas. Although Napier is essentially a single boys school with a boarding hostel in one city, to contrast with Hastings which has two other boys schools (which TBF probably attract some Napier peeps) and previously had competition with Te Aute.
Edit: Not to take away from Hamilton's success as they clearly have a great rugby programme, and no longer need to rely on bent refs to win like in 2004 or 2005.
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