Short Passes 9 September

A big weekend just gone, with rugby games seemingly on every channel you turned to. The All Blacks were even thrown in there on Saturday afternoon. Sky Television’s workers and production crew must be run off their feet covering so much. Less used to be best, but not anymore.

This coming Saturday is a bit ‘quiet’ on the domestic front in Wellington, with all of Wellington’s senior representative teams playing away.

The Wellington Lions (versus Otago) and Wellington Pride (Counties Manukau) are then playing a double header at Westpac Stadium on Sunday.

The Wellington U19s play Otago this Wednesday in Taupo, and our correspondent Adam Julian will be lakefront for all the action.

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No Wellington teams involved, but some top quality school First XV rugby this past weekend in tough conditions in Palmerston North.

In the Coed Cup final, Feilding High School pressed hard at the end in their bid to snatch a draw, before losing to Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College 22-29.

In the Girls final, Hamilton Girls’ High School were too big and physical for a well organised and enterprising Christchurch Girls’ High School. Hamilton led 22-0 just before halftime, broke out to score right on the interval to lead 29-0 and went on to win 58-7. Club Rugby’s Player of the Tournament in the Girls division was from the losing Christchurch team in openside flanker Jorja Miller who was outstanding for her team in both games.

In the Boys final, Hastings Boys’ High School beat Auckland’s King’s College 27-14. Hastings led 10-0 at halftime, King’s came back to trail 20-14 with only a few minutes remaining and were hammering the Hastings line. The Hawke’s Bay team held on, broke out and fullback Mercedes Hodge scored the match-winner. Club Rugby’s Player of the Tournament in the Boys division was Hastings first five-eighth Latrell Ah Kiong who stood out in both their games.

King’s have only won one out of a possible 57 finals in the last 3 years in the Auckland First XV won 1A competition. Hastings BHS won the U15 Nationals on Friday as well, so they will be strong for a few years to come.

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The Wellington U19s started the National U19 tournament with a 22-3 win over Otago yesterday. They play Auckland A in their semi-final on Wednesday.

Day One Results
Graham Mourie Cup
Canterbury 27 – Manawatu 7
Wellington 22 – Otago 3
Auckland 30 – Waikato 25
Bay of Plenty 50 – Auckland Development 0

Sir Michael Jones Trophy
Taranaki 58 – Northland 0
North Harbour 27 – Counties Manukau 26
Hawke’s Bay 44 – Southland 0
Tasman 33 – Heartland 3

Day Two draw
10.45am Manawatu v Auckland Development
10.45am Northland v Heartland
12.30pm Otago v Waikato
12.30pm Counties Manukau v Southland

Sir Michael Jones Trophy semifinals
2.15pm North Harbour v Hawke’s Bay
4pm Taranaki v Tasman

Graham Mourie Cup
2.15pm Wellington v Auckland
4pm Canterbury v Bay of Plenty

Finals day – 14 September
The Sir Michael Jones Trophy (3.25pm) and Graham Mourie Cup (5.05pm) Finals will be broadcast live on SKY Sport. Other broadcast matches include the playoff for 11th/12th (12.05pm) and 3rd/4th (1.45pm).

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The 2019/20 sevens season starts soon. Details of a new tournament organised by Toki Services below.

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A post shared by TokiServices (@tokiservices)

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Above: This month’s Rugby News magazine. Page 79 for the best part.