Auckland schools dominate early at World Schools Rugby Festival

By Bruce Holloway

Kelston Boys’ High and Westlake Boys’ High have made impressive starts to the World Schools Rugby Festival in Abu Dhabi overnight with first-up wins, as they seek to return the title to New Zealand for a third successive year.

Auckland 1A and Blues First XV champions Kelston Boys’ High made a powerful statement with an opening 33-0 win over South African team EG Jansen Hoërskool, while reigning tournament champions Westlake had a slightly tougher assignment in beating English champions Harrow School 22-5.

Kelston were convincing six-try winners against a relatively young EG Jansen team from Boksburg (about 30km from Johannesburg), which was based around the squad who will start their new season next March.

Playing with the wind, right wing Satali Fretton opened the scoring in the fourth minute for Kelston with a try in the corner after No 8 Aio Keith peeled off the back of a scrum near the line to initiate the move.

Tyson Parsons then added a penalty from right in front, though that was to prove the only successful kick of the day.

Prop Solo Baleinaikasakasa made a thundering run to set up a further try for Paula Lu’au in the 13th minute, and captain Jarrel Tuaimalo-Vaega made it 18-0 just before halftime.

In the second 30-minute spell, flanker Joseph Paiali’i finished a flowing 50m move for a bonus-point try, Lu’au added another midway through the half and sub Tariec Mulitalo scored just before the end.

Meanwhile, it took 23 minutes for Westlake to gain the upper hand against Harrow, with loosehead Alex Va’aia finally burrowing his way over.

Westlake No 8 Travis Findlay made some searing breaks to set the platform for further dominance and centre Ashton Falloon added a second try just minutes later.

Then from a stunning backline move, Werner Van Staden left a trail of defenders in his wake for a further try.

On a day when kicking was troublesome for everyone, fullback Brody Good landed an excellent conversion from Van Staden’s try, straight into the teeth of the wind, for a 17-0 halftime lead.

Much of the second spell was deadlocked, but five minutes from fulltime, Westlake halfback Lee-Hanru Greyvenstein scored a bonus-point try in finishing a slick blindside move for a 22-0 lead.

Westlake defended stoutly afterwards, though Harrow managed to score with the final play of the game.

On Tuesday night (NZT), Kelston face Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Steelers and Westlake clash with Welsh champions Llandovery College.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission