Monday 8 June 2026
First XV 25 vs 34 Dilworth School
Our First XV showed immense spirit and attacking skill but ultimately fell short in a high-intensity 25-34 defeat to a physical Dilworth School side on Saturday afternoon. Despite a performance filled with relentless effort, crucial momentum swings prevented the team from securing the victory.
Dilworth struck first from a powerful short range line-out drive following an early penalty. King's responded swiftly through the boot of Ricoh Wilson (Year 12, Greenbank) to get on the board, but the visitors answered immediately to extend their lead. Refusing to be rattled, King's launched a brilliant counter-attack, using crisp handling to send Karson Hawkins (Year 13, Parnell) cutting through the defence to score in the corner. Moments later, Noah Moss (Year 12, Parnell) initiated on the left wing, cutting open the Dilworth line to score, with Wilson's conversion putting King's ahead 15-13. However, despite twice being held up over the line during a bruising period of dominance, a late penalty and a costly try on the stroke of halftime saw King's trail 15-23 at the break.
Dilworth extended their lead with an early second-half penalty, but King's fought back through their forwards. From a secured penalty line-out, Christopher Hatch (Year 13, Major) threw a sharp ball that allowed the pack to execute a clever set-piece. Building a powerful rolling maul enabled Josiah Fifita (Year 12, Averill) to crash over, narrowing the deficit to 20-26. King's sustained the pressure and looked poised to take control of the match with much of the possession, but a heartbreaking 80-metre interception try against the run of play and converted penalty with 10 minutes left completely swung the momentum back into Dilworth's favour.
Down but not out, King's continued to fight deep into the final moments. From a scrum on their own 10-metre line, a beautiful string of passes sent the ball flying wide to Leo Kirkland (Year 13, Selwyn), who finished spectacularly in the left corner. Time ultimately ran out on the comeback, leaving the final score at 25-34.
A dominant display of note from Bassy Tupou (Year 13, Selwyn), whose physical presence shone through consistent defence and powerful attacking runs.
Congratulations to Tino Fituafe (Year 11, School) and Keanu Nathan (Year 13, St. John's) on making their First XV debut.
Reflecting on the match, Head Coach Ian Robinson praised the team's massive improvement in preparation over the last fortnight and their outstanding first-half execution. While the minor off-side penalties and the costly intercept proved punishing against a mature opponent, the squad's excellent attitude provided plenty of positives.
The First XV will channel that pride and resilience as they head into a massive traditional clash against top of the table Auckland Grammar next week at King's.
Second XV 15 vs 16 De Le Salle College 2A
In wet conditions that made ball handling difficult, King's 2A went down to a competitive and physical De La Salle side in a disappointing loss.
King's started the game well and scored three well-worked tries in the first half through Finn Jones (Year 13, Parnell), Robbie Dunn (Year 12, Marsden) and Ruan Tahi (Year 11, St. John's). Both teams battled hard, with the slippery conditions leading to errors and making it challenging to build sustained attacking pressure. The visitors then began to play a territory-based game and were able to reduce the deficit to five points by half-time.
De La Salle adapted well to the conditions in the second half and capitalised on their opportunities when they arose. Their strong defensive effort and effective forward play allowed them to gain the upper hand as they spent the majority of the second half in the King's half, which allowed them to kick two second-half penalties and prolonged periods of sustained pressure.
King's will rue two yellow cards and a lack of game management at key moments in the match, which ultimately proved costly. Despite a spirited performance from King's, De La Salle deserved their hard-earned victory in a closely contested encounter.
MVP: Cale Ngatai (Year 12, Parnell) who worked tirelessly all game, particularly in defence.
6A 0 vs 85 Auckland Grammar School 6A
Being spoiled for choice can be a burden rather than having riches, when a King's squad of 34 faced an AGS side of 18 on Saturday morning.
Having to rotate the squad and with plenty of new combinations and boys playing their first games, it soon became a baptism of fire against a well-drilled AGS team who are now showing their favourites tag for the 6A competition in 2026.
Understandably with such a good scoreline, we lacked execution in the tackle and we required more work at the breakdown at which they were very strong. However, we had moments of the game where we were able to play phases and build some pressure but lacked that final part to convert our play into points and pressure our opposition enough to force an arm wrestle.
Our first-half squad battled hard with Luke Leuschke (Year 10, Peart) and Theo Monk (Year 10, School) playing with plenty of heart. The team turned around at half time 0-54 behind.
Our second-half squad gave effort led by Kade Leighton (Year 10, School) playing his first game, with strong offensive tackles rattling some cages, and Ollie Knight (Year 10, Major) and Tommo Edgar (Year 10, School) controlling our limited position and creating opportunities.
We commend the squad for keeping their spirit and heads up during and after the game. We have the talent that can compete against this team in the return fixture so we will look forward to that.
We wish our captain Sammy Berry (Year 10, Parnell) and our 6 other squad members all the best on their June camp. Back to some hard work and training for the rest of us.
14A 40 vs 0 Sacred Heart College
A complete team performance in difficult conditions.
Played in slippery, wet and rainy weather, ball retention was always going to be a challenge — but King's embraced the conditions and were the better side from start to finish!
The tone was set early with some punishing defence against Sacred's big forwards. Phase after phase was repelled, and when Sacred eventually fumbled, King's were clinical on the counter. Sam Fifita (Year 9, Averill) opened the scoring, and from the kickoff King's moved the ball wide with purpose. Israel Kepu (Year 9, Peart) strong run setting up Jackson Rumbold (Year 9, Parnell) on the wing for his second try of the afternoon. Jackson had an outstanding game throughout.
The first half was one-way traffic. Sacred barely set foot in the King's half, such was the quality and aggression of the defensive line. Brooklyn Collins (Year 9, Averill) and Sam were consistently damaging up front, with excellent support from Emanuera Schaafhausen (Year 9, Parnell) and Kaal-el Tautari-Clarke (Year 9, St. John's). Brock Biddles (Year 9, School) was everywhere — never missing a ruck, never missing a tackle. Tu-Ao Hau (Year 9, St. John's) put in arguably his best performance of the season with powerful carries and committed defence. Even Haupokia Raihania (Year 9, St. John's) had his moment, going close in the corner. Further tries to Braxton Fletcher (Year 9, Greenbank) and Brooklyn had King's well in command, seeing King's at 20-0 at half-time.
The second half picked up exactly where the first left off. Sam, Brooklyn, Kaal-el, Tom Dempsey (Year 9, Selwyn), and Freddy Payne-Smith (Year 9, Parnell) combined to give the backs a consistent platform, and Niko Tipping (Year 9, Selwyn) and Israel took full advantage with well-taken tries. Any Sacred error was immediately punished through sharp counter-attacking Rugby.
Kaal-el saved perhaps the best for last, finishing with a stunning 50-metre burst — bumping and stepping his way past defenders — right on full-time to bring the curtain down on a dominant display.
Each week this group is improving. The backs are growing in confidence, the forwards are working hard at the breakdown, and the connection across the team continues to develop. With continued focus and effort, there is another level to come.
MVP: Kaal-el Tautari-Clarke, for relentless effort in defence, and terrifying with the ball in hand. He tormented Sacred all afternoon and thoroughly deserves the recognition.
1R Gold 7 vs 36 Sacred Heart College
A strong performance from the team on Saturday where the scoreline doesn't show the story. The boys had their best performance of the season and showed great grit and skill, playing through their structures well. The biggest difference between the two teams was execution in the final 22, which the boys will work on.
Coach Noah says "We're still very proud with the fight the boys have shown today and the progress they have made since the start of the season."
5A 17 vs 12 Mount Albert Grammar School 5A
"Victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats." — Og Mandino.
After 18 minutes, King's went 0-7 down after totally dominating MAGS to such an extent that the opposition scored with their first incursion into the King's half.
The team rallied and thanks to some direct running from Diego Chen (Year 11, Selwyn) and Jack Freeman (Year 11, School), King's set up a ruck on the 22 and with some quick passing from Nico Fleming (Year 10, Greenbank) and James Cunningham (Year 11, Greenbank), enabled Hudson Hooker (Year 11, Parnell) to pierce the gap in the defence and run through to score. The relief was obvious. The fact that Reverend Onosai Auva'a appeared on the sideline just before our first try of the season can be no coincidence.
Other excellent performances in the first half came from Lennox Williams (Year 11, St. John's) and Charlie Andrews (Year 10, Selwyn) in the forwards, and Zack Anderson (Year 11, Greenbank) impressed at full back as did the reliable Tom Victor (Year 11, Parnell) on the wing. Half-time saw King's 5 vs MAGS 7.
The second half started and it was obvious that both teams wanted to open the game up. Taylor Kijowski (Year 11, School) was outstanding throughout the game with his direct running causing the MAGS defence constant problems. There were excellent tackles from Edward Cormack (Year 11, School) and Rocco Hrstic (Year 11, School) to thwart opposition attacks. James moved the team up the field with some excellent kicking and when we were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, the leaders made the correct decision to go for 3 points.
The players were determined and strong carries by Jake Heatherbell (Year 11, Parnell) and Arthur White (Year 11, Selwyn) and some solid tackling by Hugo Colgan (Year 11, St. John's) set up some clean ruck ball and the elusive Rocco scampered through the defence and King's were ahead. The conversion was duly successful and suddenly King's went up a gear. Charlie and Freddie Dryden (Year 11, School) had a number of hard and direct runs. The coach says "I am hopeful that someone has a photo of the expression from the combative Ethan Chatkeonopadol (Year 11, Parnell) as he ran straight at the MAGS defence, and like Moses walking through the parted Red Sea, he went over for a try."
MAGS scored a very soft try in the last minute, but the victory went to King's. The team have 3 big games in successive weeks and and we need to target winning at least 2 of these to continue our improvement.
Colts XV 5 vs 16 Tangaroa College
Colts XV got off to a great start at Tangaroa College, TC Field 2 on Saturday morning with an early try by Tolokana Jr Pulupuna (Year 11, Marsden) who took a quick tap-and-go penalty 5-metres out and carried the ball over the opposition try line. The conversion by Wai Lee-Lemon (Year 12, Parnell) was unsuccessful. In reply, playing to the conditions well, Tangaroa capitalised on the Colts' errors with a successful penalty conversion, followed by a try off the back of sustained pressure in our red zone which put them in the lead at halftime with a score of 8-5.
Despite a determined performance in the second half, the Colts struggled to maintain consistency in set piece play spending a good part of the half on defence. Tangaroa conversely had better control over their possession and territorial advantage thereby setting the platform for them to convert that pressure into more points late in the second half with a penalty conversion followed by an unconverted try.
A special thank you to Mr. George Glover for providing strapping for players.
U15R 12 vs 29 Howick College U15R
In a wet and slippery Round 2 of the competition, we came up against a formidable, top-of-the-table Howick College U15R team.
Our boys started strong and put together some excellent combinations. The forwards worked tirelessly in the tight stuff and the backs clicked beautifully, executing well under pressure to ensure we were right in the hunt at the half-time break.
The second half proved to be a real test of character. The game became a back-and-forth battle; we created some very good attacking opportunities, but quickly found ourselves forced back onto defence. In the greasy conditions, the momentum swung constantly with small knock-ons and missed tackles from both sides, which ultimately allowed Howick to capitalise and come away with the win.
Tries: Charlie Crighton (2) (Year 9, Averill)
Conversions: Sam Williamson (1) (Year 9, School)
Thank you to all the parents who came out on a wet Saturday morning here at King's. There are plenty of positives to take away from this performance against a top-tier opposition, and it serves as great motivation as we look ahead to our next fixture!