NZ's best rugby school revealed

Auckland’s Sacred Heart College has been named as the best New Zealanders in the nextgenxv.com website’s rankings of the world’s top 20 rugby schools for 2023 - despite not even making the national top four in national schoolboy first XV competition.

Sacred Heart was named third in the annual rankings, behind South Africa’s Grey College and England’s Harrow, but three spots above the Westlake Boys’ High team that beat them in the Blues region final and then proceeded to win the World Schools Festival at the Pattana Sports Resort in Thailand last month.

It was also a whopping 13 places above New Zealand national champions Southland Boys’ High. Other New Zealand schools featured in the top 20 were Hamilton Boys’ High, which dropped from fourth to 11th, and St Kentigern in 13th place.

Six different nations are represented in the Top 20: Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Wales, with four of those also in the Top 5 overall.

In sometimes inflamed social media discussion of the rankings, Nextgenxv editors defended their judgments.

“We watched hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage, then debated who should be on the list and where, and then finally came to a conclusion amongst us...

“We’re happy with our journalistic practices. You are welcome to do your own list if you feel otherwise, or indeed to come and work with us and show us what an improved job you could do.”

When asked about Southland Boys’, who were originally due to go to Thailand instead of eventual champions Westlake, Nexgenxv replied on Instagram: “To be fair, Thailand was pretty irrelevant to this.”

Last year Sacred Heart broke a 58-year curse to finally win Auckland’s 1A championship, with an emotional 39-26 grand final win over St Kentigern. But the following week they were pipped 32-31 in the Blues region final by Westlake (ranked 20th in 2022).

In an editorial comment, the website editors said of Sacred Heart: “If you were a betting man at the start of the season all of your money would have been on Sacred Heart easily winning the national title.

“But there is a difference between league rugby and knockout rugby and they were extremely unlucky to lose the Blues regional title to a tough and uncompromising Westlake Boys’ side.

“Many recognise the Auckland 1A competition as one of the toughest in the world, winning that over an entire season and looking at their pre-season record speaks volumes on the talent in this squad.

“We do not rank over championships, we rank over a season and Sacred Heart had one of their finest in many a year.”

Of Westlake, the website offered the following editorial comment: “Having personally met the coaching team and some of the players let us assure you that this school represents all that is great about the game of rugby.

“Westlake have always been seen as the little brother to the larger Auckland schools, but little brothers begin to grow and eventually set goals on proving themselves against their bigger brothers and over the last two years they secured wins over Kelston and Sacred Heart, both unexpected by many yet not by the coaching team and the pupils themselves. Keep a close eye on centre James Cameron, you would be hard-pressed to find a more talented young centre out there.

“It is clear the Westlake have outgrown the North Harbour 1A competition, their dominance this year was something you are unlikely to find in any other schools league.

“Since its inception in 1985, the school has won 19 titles with their closest challengers being Rosmini with 8. They have won the last four titles in a row, two Blues titles in a row and perhaps the most staggering statistic is their league record: Played 13, Won 13, 843 points scored, 71 points against with a total of 64 points, 17 ahead of Massey their nearest rivals.

“We think it’s time the Auckland 1A opened the door and let Westlake in, what are they afraid of?”

Well, they’re afraid of media for starters, having instituted a media ban at the end of 2022.

The website editors suggested Hamilton Boys’ High showed signs of another dominant season but their preseason tour to Japan where they won the Sanix festival may have been too gruelling ahead of facing battle-hardened opponents.

“If Hamilton Boys’ are outside your top 10 something went wrong. Although claiming the Sanix title is a prestigious achievement it adds significant game time to the season and although winning the Super 8 yet again showed the class in this team, fatigue set in and they lost in a massive upset to Tauranga failing to make the Top 4 which is a shock to the system.

“This is still to be considered one of the top programs on the planet and we are certain they will come back stronger in 2024.”

Thirteenth-ranked St Kentigern began the season in devastating form, going 11 for 11 in the Auckland 1A, including a 26-15 victory over Sacred Heart.

“They then met De La Salle in the semifinals and to the shock of many drew the fixture despite winning the first encounter far easier than the 17-10 scorelines suggests. They went through on account of having a higher position on the overall ladder and then came unstuck against a well-drilled Sacred Heart outfit who exacted revenge for their only league loss of the season by coming away as 1A champions.”

Meanwhile, the Nextgenxv editors were in awe of unfancied Southland Boys’ High.

“How did they do it? It is very rare if ever that a South Island school wins a national championship, with the last being the dominant Christchurch Boys’ teams of the mid-2000s who last won a championship in 2006 [their third in a row at that stage].

“Early season indicators gave no indication they could do it, with the team finishing 2nd in the Otago Championship Round 1 (Otago Boys’ winning this round) but the finishing in 1st place in round 2, this despite another defeat to Otago Boys’.

“The winner of the Otago competition then go on to face the winners of the Crusaders Championship this being the aforementioned Christchurch Boys’. A one-point 29-28 win that shook the South Island meant Southland Boys’ would represent the region at the national top 4 playoffs. This was far more expected than the beginning of the season yet the boys took it all in their stride.

“First off was a semi-final over Palmerston North, the Hurricanes winners who were expected to run away with the game. The Southland team however came away with a 1-point win and against all odds would face a Westlake side who had beaten Sacred Heart for the Blues title and overcome a Tauranga team that had beaten Hamilton Boys, now surely this was a step too far?

“Not for this year’s Southland team. They defied the odds yet again, coming away with a 32-29 win and claim their first-ever national championship, a season that will never be forgotten at the school.”

Kelston Boys’ High was the last New Zealand school to be ranked No 1, in 2021.

2023 NextGenXV Global Top 20 Rankings

1. Grey College, South Africa
2. Harrow, England
3. Sacred Heart, New Zealand
4. King’s Parramatta, Australia
5. Garsfontein, South Africa
6. Westlake Boys’, New Zealand
7. St Michael’s College, Ireland
8. Paarl Gim, South Africa
9. Kirkham Grammar, England
10. Nudgee College, Australia
11. Hamilton Boys’, New Zealand
12. Gonzaga, Ireland
13. St Kentigern, New Zealand
14. Outeniqua, South Africa
15. Blackrock College, Ireland
16. Southland Boys’, New Zealand
17. Boland Landbou, South Africa
18. Waverley College, Australia
19. Ipswich, England
20. Llandovery, College Wales

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