Thursday 19 March 2026
The semi finals were held away at St Kentigern College with some loud home support as we played them. Ruka Smythe (Year 13, Parnell) has always been key to this year’s team success, but he took it to another level when he scored five tries to ensure we progressed to the final.
The 8-4 score line did not feel as dominant as it sounds and credit must go to a gutsy (and very young) St Kents team who stayed in the fight the whole game.
Tries: Ruka Smythe (5), Josiah Lea’aetalafo’ou (Year 10, Averill), James Shaw (Year 13, School) and Matt Cunningham (Year 13, Greenbank).
Our final opponents Auckland Grammar School were fortunate to win in a drop off over Kelston Boy's High School, but were up for the traditional battle and started exceptionally well. Scores were exchanged early and the unexpected star was Josiah Lea’aetalafo’ou who scored two great early tries diving in the corner. Felix Spary (Year 13, Selwyn) shared the work load with Ruka, on attack and defence, and we managed to sneak ahead 5-4 at halftime.
The trend of swapping tries continued and the King's supporters became quite vocal. A late line break by Ruka freed up Ricoh Wilson (Year 12, Greenbank) to dive over and we held on for the last minute to win the title 8-7.
Tries: Felix Spary, Josiah Lea’aetalafo’ou (2), James Shaw (2), Daniel Parker (Year 10, Parnell), Ruka Smythe and Ricoh Wilson.
We missed team members Robbie Dunn (Year 12, Marsden) who was on a school trip and Noah Moss (Year 12, Parnell) who was injured. Thank you to Kerry Baker for making the final, our expert Coach Lucky Smythe and to our great supporters who shared in the victory with us.
This is our ninth title since 2013 as we have won in 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 and now 2026 as well!
