Aotea College retain Beard Trophy in a thriller

Aotea College celebrating their first Beard Trophy defence on Wednesday night, beating Mana College 36-32.

A week after winning it off Tawa College, the story of Aotea College’s first defence that gets written and stored in the booklet inside the Beard Trophy will be a memorable one.

Seemingly down and out, Aotea College came back to score two tries in the dying minutes, including the match-winner on fulltime to beat challengers Mana College 36-32 in front of a large, noisy crowd at Porirua Park on Wednesday evening.

Aotea College lock Kody Kahu was the individual hero at the end, slicing through the defence after almost a minute of committed attacking play near the line to score.

Only five minutes earlier, victory appeared improbable for the holders. Mana College had broken a 22-22 deadlock by kicking a penalty to fullback and captain Nate Baker and then scoring a try under the posts to second five Ayden Iti to go up 32-22.

Digging deep, Aotea showed composure and commitment in spades to get themselves back on to attack and create a try out wide in the far southeastern corner that was converted which closed the deficit to 32-29. Their supporters dared to dream as they worked their way up field on final time.

There were then awarded a penalty on the 22 more or less out in front and the kick and draw would have been enough to retain the trophy. Either they chose not to go for the kick or they didn’t realise – it didn’t matter – as tapped and went for victory.

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Earlier, Aotea had scored three terrific tries, including the solo try of the match to halfback Luke van Son off a turnover 70 metres out and a slicing run up the far side touchline. At this stage they led 17-5 and were playing well.

But a flashpoint in the game came soon after when von Son himself took an accidental knock after a lineout and after  a lengthy injury delay had to leave the field. Mana got their tails up and then Aotea lost a player to the sin-bin. Mana scored their second try to make it 17-12 to Aotea at halftime.

Challengers Mana then soared in for two tries in five minutes early in the second half to draw level and then go up 22-17. Both were after Aotea handling errors and both well taken tries. The first was to second-five Ayden Iti, the second of three tries in the match of him.

Mana were now in the ascendancy, playing structured rugby in the forwards and keeping it close to the rucks, and their backs were increasingly dangerous. However Aotea rallied and grew a second wind. They stemmed Mana’s momentum and when they scored their fourth try to draw level 22-22 following a series of penalties and some strong phase play they were back.

The momentum was to shift twice more and the holders finished the match with it at their backs.

Their second and final defence of the year is coming up after the school holidays on 22 July against Porirua College.

The teams were also playing in aid of Aotea student and Mana College second XV rugby player Ashen Phaipanya who is currently in Bali having contracted bacterial meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis, along with pneumonia and complications from a stomach ulcer, whilst on holiday with his family. Entry to Porirua Park for this game was a gold coin donation to aid in the costs of his recovery.

The match wasn’t a competition one with the teams competing in different competitions (Mana in the Premiership and Aotea Premier 2). But this was also a Wellington Co-ed Cup match.

Beard Trophy Schedule 2026

• Game 1 – Tawa v Bishop Viard College – Wednesday 27th May Tawa College won 44-39.
• Game 2 – Tawa College v Aotea College – Wednesday 24th June Aotea College won 65-12.
• Game 3 – Holder v Mana – Wednesday 1st July Aotea College won 36-32
• Game 4 – Holder v Porirua – Wednesday 22nd July

Premiership resumes this Saturday 

College Sport Wellington declared last weekend’s sixth round of nine of the First XV Premiership closed on Monday with all matches abandoned and all teams not awarded any competition points.

The Premiership moves on round 7 this coming Saturday, with a full slate of fixtures – the last round before a two-week break for the upcoming school holidays.

The draw is:

• Rathkeale College v Mana College, Rathkeale, 12.00pm
• Wellington College v Wairarapa College, Wellington College, 1.00pm
• St Pat’s Town v St Bernard’s College, Evans Bay Park, 1.00pm
• St Pat’s Silverstream v Hutt International Boys’ School, Silverstream 2.30pm
• Scots College v Rongotai College, Scots College, 2.30pm

The current Premiership points table is (the unchanged from two rounds ago with last weekend cancelled):

Wellington College 24, Silverstream 20, Rathkeale College 19, St Pat’s Town 19, Scots College 15, HIBS 15, St Bernard’s 12; Wai Coll 6, Rongotai 1, Mana 0.