St Bernard’s College beat Francis Douglas Memorial College in traditional

St Bernard’s College’s First XV rolled to a 36-19 win over visiting Francis Douglas Memorial College on Wednesday afternoon.

The traditional was played under sunny skies but in heavy conditions following recent rain on the Lower Hutt school’s number one field.

St Bernard’s got off to a hot start and established a 10-0 lead, a try to fullback and co-captain Carlos Taaga Anae an early highlight (see headline phone above). This was a try that was reminicent of the one he scored under the posts in the tight grading game against Hutt Valley High School. They then went up 17-0 when a loose ball came out from a defensive Francis Douglas scrum and blindside flanker Peighton Faamausili scored.

Francis Douglas replied with a try to their right wing out wide, to make it 17-5.

Both sides scored again to advance the score to 22-12 in the home team’s favour.

With recent alumni such as Conrad Smith, Du Plessis Kirifi and all four Barrett brothers, including new All Blacks captain Scott, the visitors aren’t a First XV to lie down. When their prop flew a few metres to score under the posts it was 22-19 and a comeback win was on the cards for the big crowd of home supporters ringing the field.

Instead it was St Bernard’s who rallied hard, replying with a converted try of their own shortly after to re-restablish their 10-point lead.

Another seven-pointer then sealed the win, possibly St Bernard’s best of the season so far. Their forwards had played a stirring game collectively, allowing their talented backs to shine.

This was St Bernard’s second straight win over this opposition at home, following their rollicking 22-20 victory in 2022 when the current fullback of the unbeaten Hutt Old Boys Marist Colts team, Dom Ernst, burst through to score in the corner with four minutes to play.

The two schools have been playing each other since 2002 and this has been a regular exchange since 2007.

Francis Douglas won 11 of their first 13 matches between 2007-21 (no match in 2020).  St Bernard’s now have four wins in this fixture (15-3 in 2011, 20-19 in 2015, 22-20 in 2022 and 36-19 today) – all achieved at home in Lower Hutt.

There was also an U15 match, played at the Hutt Recreation Ground. The winner was reversed in this, but only just as Francis Douglas scored a try and then converted it with two minutes to play to win the game 19-17.

Both First XVs return to their respective Wellington Premiership and Central North Island competitions.

St Bernard’s have had a torrid time of it so far, winning one of their 6 matches and are coming off a 64-28 loss to St Pat’s Town this past weekend. St Bernard’s play Tawa College at Tawa in a clutch seventh round game this coming Saturday. They are currently ahead of Tawa by a point but Tawa have a game in hand.

The Central North Island competition is also about to close for the school holidays, but first Francis Douglas have a big match in front of them this coming Saturday. Sitting in ninth of 10 teams with just one win, they travel to Feilding High School to face the competition frontrunners who have had six straight bonus point wins so far.

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Aotea College win U15 girls

The Aotea College U15s beat defending champions St Mary’s College U15s in the final of the College Sport Wellington Division 1 schoolgirls competition this evening. St Mary’s had won their round-robin game 34-21.

Wellington Girls’ College won the Division 2 decider 67-10 over Sacred Heart College Black.

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The Wellington draw for this coming weekend is below: