Super Cooper Leads Silverstream to Triple Treat

Fletcher Cooper flanked by his teammates hoists the trophy aloft at the presentation. 

• By Steven White & Adam Julian
• Photos by Andy McArthur/Caroline Lewis

St Patrick’s College, Silverstream won their third straight College Sport Wellington Premiership First XV title at a wild and windy Jerry Collins Stadium today, trampling  Wellington College 38-14.

Winning their 10th Premiership and third in a row for the first time, Silverstream bettered their 35-14 victory against Wellington in 2025 when first five Fletcher Cooper kicked a late dropped goal to complete the rare feat of scoring all four ways.

It was the exclamation mark on an imperious performance and a five-star weekend for the Catholics who won all four finals they contested yesterday.

Playing into the stiff swirling wind, Silverstream made a dream start inside the first minute when left wing Troy Waldrom flew through to score in his corner after an assist by hulking tighthead prop Vaitupu Vaitupu.

Wellington College then lost second-five Ben Faitala to the sin-bin, but his 14 teammates on the field responded to score the game’s next try in the 10^th minute to take the lead. Captain and No. 8 Z’Kedus Schwalger took a tap penalty and surged towards the line and prop Harry “Bam Bam” Baddington carried on to cross it. First-five Joe Barry kicked the conversion.

In the 16^th minute, Cooper ignited the final when he ran on to a short pass in general play by openside flanker Isaac Sanele and made a brilliant 40-metre run to the corner flag to score in the northwest corner in front of his cheering school supporters in the stand. Silverstream were now up 10-7.

Wellington College re-took the lead in the 20^th minute after Cooper threw a ridiculous pass into the wind across his own posts, leading directly to a Wellington College penalty and scrum. After several phases, their other prop Julius Toimata scored an imperial converted try.

Silverstream worked their way upfield, turning down an easy penalty right in front of the uprights. Their decision to tap and go was initially thwarted, and a subsequent Cooper short stab kick into the in-goal forced a 5-metre scrum and another chance that was knocked on.

There was no further scoring over the next 10 minutes before Silverstream dealt their first big blow to the top qualifiers just before halftime. A patient, mistake-free build-up in close general play led to Cooper firing a short, flat bullet pass to centre Shae Taitua, who crossed under the posts. Silverstream went into halftime playing with the wind, leading 17-14.

The defending champions dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half as Wellington College struggled to get out of their own territory, but there was no further scoring. Wellington College then lost replacement forward Isaac Davey-Tiotio to the sin-bin, and Silverstream soon scored their fourth try. Prop Vaitupu Vaitupu wasn’t going to be stopped close to the chalk, and his side now led 24-14.

This was quickly followed by lock Bezalel Fereti securing a breakdown penalty and Cooper kicking a long-range penalty to extend their lead by three.

In the 54^th minute, it was extended by another seven with the game’s decisive score.

From a scrum 60 metres out, Cooper kicked ahead and Wellington College fullback Cooper Werkhoven was unable to secure possession, and instead centre Taitua came pouring through to collect the spoils and dash through to score his second try.

With a little more than 15 minutes to play, Wellington College faced a mammoth task to come back from this hole. Even more so when Cooper stepped up to kick his second penalty in the 58^th minute, making it 35-14.

Wellington College tried hard to conjure up another try over the next several minutes, but the blue and white wall kept their efforts in check.

Cooper applied the icing with his second dropped goal against Wellington. He kicked one in a memorable 16-15 win in the Ken Grey Memorial Cup final.

Silverstream have made every Premiership final since 2017, winning 95 of 108 premiership games in the last decade, including the finals of 2017, 2018, 2021 (shared), 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Silverstream and Wellington have won 24 combined Premierships. Silverstream leads the final count 6-5.

Silverstream now go on and play Lindisfarne College in their Hurricanes semi-final fixture next weekend.  Lindisfarne was third in the CNI competition. On the other side of the draw, Napier Boys plays Hastings Boys. Napier Boys beat Gisborne Boys 34-14 in their quarter-final, and Hastings upset Palmerston North Boys 24-19.