Wednesday 1 April 2026
In front of an enormous and vocal crowd of supporters from both schools, the Premier Polo boys put up an excellent fight but were beaten by a bigger, stronger Sacred Heart College side in the College Sport Auckland League Final.
After going down early, we fought back to be level at 3 – 3 by the end of the first quarter, as Max Norwell (Year 13, Greenbank) converted a penalty and Charlie Middleton (Year 13, Averill) and Xavier Hazel (Year 12, Averill) shot through the Sacred Heart zone to score from the outside. In the second period we struggled to find the net while Sacred Heart College converted twice, leaving us hoping to score first in the third period to bring us back into the match. We managed this with Charlie Middleton scoring one of his trademark lobs, however, the next three goals went against us and the match looked like it was starting to slip away.
However, Max scored from the penalty line again, then Jonty Le Roux (Year 12, Greenbank) found the net from open play - giving us a little hope as we closed the gap to two. But for the remainder of the match each time we scored, the Sacred side would also score off their next attack, rendering us unable to close the gap.
Fourth quarter goals went to Zach Gleeson (Year 12, Averill), who played an incredible match at centre forward, creating many of our penalties and extra man attacks.
Max and Xavier are again leaving us with silver medals and a few bruises to deal with before the upcoming North Island Championships!