The 1st XI cricket side have had a busy January with their annual match against the Willows XI, hosting the Trans-Tasman festival and then competing in their first local competition match. In the Trans-Tasman festival, the 1st XI hosted matches against Shore School from Sydney, Canberra Grammar and King's College Auckland. Despite not winning any matches the team played some competitive games and only lost their two matches against the Australian schools after set targets for the opposition to chase. Over the last two weekends the 1st XI played their first local competition match against St Bedes. College went in to the second innings with a slim 11 run lead having bowled the opposition out for 86 runs. In a nervous couple of balls Tom Macfarlane hit the winning run for a very good victory.
It was also a very successful day for the 2nd and 3rd XI who also started their season in winning fashion by defeating Rangiora HS 1st XI and North-West cricket 2nd XI respectively. Football has been underway for the last couple of weeks with all the College weekend teams having played two matches so far. On the opening day, there was a mix bag of results but a number of teams secured convincing wins. The 14 Black and 14A side had wins with Lucca Wiseman and Matthew Brett scoring five goals each for the A side. In other matches Henri Murison, Archie Franks and Jake Cutler all scored hat tricks to help the Ravens and 2nd XI to wins in tough wintry conditions. Last weekend there were more individual goal scoring with Dion McCrostie scoring four for the 14 Black side, and Matthew Brett a second hat trick for the 14A side in their 3-3 draw with top side Parklands.
The 1st XI football side played a preseason match last week and recorded a 2-1 win over St Andrews and last night had their first competition match against CBHS. College trailed 1-0 early on before goals to Kynan Salt and Kosei Oikawa had the team leading 2-1 at the break. A goalkeeper error early in the second half allowed Sam Averill to score the third for College.
A late goal to CBHS made the game close but College held on to win their opening match 3-2. On Sunday College had four teams competing in the last polo tournament of the season. The young College D team were involved in their first tournament and played well winning against a St Margarets side to make the final where they lost 1-0 to CGHS Black. The B grade team played some good polo to make the win 3 of their 4 matches to finish second and Winston Hutchinson was named grade MVP. In the final match of the day, the College A side played a South Island Combined schools team and won 7-2 in a great display of polo.
Last week the annual summer sports exchange was held at Otago Boys' in Dunedin. After two superb days of weather and competitive matches, College eventually lost the exchange 3-1. Golf was played over three rounds and two courses and resulted in a 7-3 loss with a couple of matches being decided on the 18th hole. In tennis, College were dominant, winning 18-6 with Liam Adams playing well to defeat the Otago BHS number one. In the 2nd XI match, College required 194 to win and were in a good position requiring 100 with wickets in hand but eventually lost by 50 runs. In the 1st XI game, Riley Tempero took five wickets in the first innings and College were set 225 to win.
Isaac Bird, Kurtis Weeks and Lachie Harper all scored 40's but it was not quite enough and the team fell 18 runs short of their target. On Tuesday the annual junior winter sports exchange with Scots College, Wellington was held at school. The Scots basketball team was dominant in their match and won comfortably while in the rugby match College lead for the majority of the game before Scots scored a try to lead late in the game. Despite getting close to scoring, College were unable to find the winning try before the final whistle blew.
In the football match, College lead early and never gave up the lead to eventually win 3-2 with Caleb Manson scoring a double. This was a very good win by the junior football side and was followed up with a win over Lincoln HS the next day. The 1st XI hockey side travelled to Hamilton for the annual ANZAC preseason tournament held at St Pauls Collegiate. With six regular squad members away, it was an opportunity to introduce some of the younger members of the club to the top level of schoolboy hockey in the country. The tournament started with College claiming a 3-2 win over Hastings Boys, which was then followed with losses to Hamilton Boys, Waiarapa College and Wellington College. In their last game College lead 1-0 at the half against Napier Boys but conceded two goals in the second half including the match decider on fulltime.
The 1st hockey side will have their first competition game next Friday with other College teams beginning this week. Hockey enjoyed their first round of matches on Friday with seven teams competing in the local competition. The 1st XI played their first match against Shirley Boys High at the newly developed Nga Puna Wai sport's complex. Five players made their debut and in a match which had periods of good play, College ran out 3-1 winners with Tom Macfarlane scoring a double and Toby Beale one.
The 2nd XI came up against Ashburton College 1st XI in their first match which saw both teams trade goals throughout the game with College eventually losing 4-3 in the final minute of the match. The Colts team lead in their match but conceeded late goals for a 4 all draw with CBHS. In the local derby the College Youth Grey and Black sides squared off against each other with the Black team running out victors by 2-1. A couple of weekends ago the Senior A volleyball team were involved in the South Island school champs. Entered in to Division 2 there were initial pool games with wins over St Thomas and John McGlashan before a lost to CBHS.
The team still advanced to Top 8 where they started with a 5th set loss to Middleton Grange before wins over Otago Boys and King's High which put the team in to the playoffs. In the semifinal, the College team reversed their initial result to CBHS and won 3-1 and then again defeated a team who had beaten them earlier in the tournament. This time it was a five set win over Middleton Grange for the South Island title. This weekend the team plays in the Canterbury champs before heading to Palmerston North in tournament week for nationals. The next few weeks have a number of culminating events for the summer season. On Friday the College rowing club travel to Cambridge for the National schools rowing regatta, which starts on Monday.
The Senior A tennis team travel to Auckland for their national tournament next week, waterpolo has South Island champs as does athletics. Good luck to all these groups and other College sportsmen in their final summer matches for the term. The 1st XI hockey side completed the double when they had a 3-1 win over their southern opponents.
The Senior A basketball team faced off against the highly ranked Otago team and in a very high scoring match lost 103 – 86 with Will de Geest and Aiden Palmer top scoring. The game was close for the first three quarters before the more experienced OBHS took control. The 1st XI football side scored first in their match through a great strike from Kynan Salt but then let Otago back in to the game through unforced errors which the opposition capitalised on. A second half goal to Finbar Gallaway was not enough to stop a convincing 8-2 loss.
The top debating team were involved in a very close match which in the end was decided by only half a point to the hosts while a young College squash team were defeated by Otago Boys also. The 1st XV finished the round robin competition in the UC championship with a loss to Timaru Boys which ended a very busy week for the team. Last Saturday the team played in their third successive home semifinal and were once again involved in a very close match, this time with St Bedes. Penalty kicks from both sides saw the lead change hands four times in the last 20 minutes before College took control of possession to run the clock down for a win and a place in the UC Championship Final. This weekend the team will play CBHS with the winner contesting the South Island Championship a week later. After a trip to Dunedin earlier in the week, the senior tennis team travelled to Timaru over the weekend for the South Island school champs.
Five matches over three days saw wins over Timaru Boys, St Bedes, CBHS and Marlborough Boys by 6-0 and a final against St Andrew's College on the last day. In a tough contest with some close matches, College prevailed with a 5-1 win and a third South Island title in a row. A special mention to Will Schneideman who as number one played all the top seeds and won all five of his matches.
The team now sets its focus to nationals in a couple of weeks in Christchurch. The 1st XI hockey side travelled to Ashburton recently to play Timaru Boys and in a thrilling match, that had a number of boys debuting for College, the team scored in the final quarter to earn a 3-2 win. Last week the team lost to a very good St Andrews team and will now play CBHS on Friday night at Nga Puna Wai. In other matches, Sam Kelly scored two goals for the Colts team in their best game of the season despite losing narrowly 4-3 to the St Andrews Colts side. At Ruapuna raceway at the beginning of the holidays, the South Island school's road cycling champs were held.
A team of College cyclists were involved in individual and team time trials, and road race events. In the individual time trial, Michael Audeau was 3rd in the U17 grade and was less than half a second behind the winner. Thomas Audeau was 10th in U15, Michael Taylor 11th in U16 and Jack Drage 15th in U20. In the U20 team time trial the College A team finished 4th in the 15km event with the B team coming in 7th.
In the U15 grade, Thomas Audeau was 12th while Fearghus Bratten was only 20 seconds behind the winner in the U17 grade when he finished 6th. Jack Drage was placed 8th in the U20 grade but was only two seconds behind the winner in a very tight 38km road race. The team continues with their Wednesday racing this term and build towards to Tour of Blenheim during winter tournament week. The 1st XV have had a busy fortnight as they prepare for their final round robin game this weekend in Timaru. In this match Shun took his personal points tally for the season over 200 points.
Yesterday the team played their catch up match against Nelson, and in wet conditions College won 33-7 to take the lead in the UC championship going in to the last match. The 1st XI hockey side lost on Friday night to CBHS to miss a spot in the final 4 and this week will play Burnside in the last local competition match. Last night the team play a friendly match against the Canterbury Cats Women's team. In a solid performance, the team won 3-0 with Ollie King scoring the opening goal and Tom Macfarlane scoring a double.
In other matches on Friday the 2nd XI lost 2-1 to CBHS 2nd XI while Alex Stead and Hugh Duston scored goals for the Colts in their loss to Ashburton 2nd XI. In the local derby, William Picton-Warlow scored two goals for the 3rd XI team to help them defeat the College Black team by 2-1. Guy Roadley was MVP for the Youth Grey team and Tim Hanson scored the winning goal for the team in their win over Rolleston College. The Senior A basketball team completed their season when they attended the NZ Schools finals in Palmerston North during the first week of holidays. The level of competition was a big step up from what they had previously experienced at local and South Island tournaments.
Despite only winning two games during the week over Nelson College and Selwyn College, the team was very competitive and played well against the best basketball teams in the country. Last Wednesday was the first round of matches for the winter midweek teams of squash, badminton and table tennis. The top College badminton side defeated Riccarton 8-1 to start the season in a positive manner while the top table tennis side also started well when they defeated their opponents from CBHS by 9-0.
This year squash has three teams competing in the Canterbury interschool champs. Last week the teams had a 1 win, 2 loss record with a number of games being very competitive. Last Wednesday the College 1st XI football side bounced back after their loss to Rathkeale to record their first win in the premier schools competition when they beat Middleton Grange 2-0.
The Junior XI lost their first game of the season when they were defeated 2-0 by CBHS. Today both teams will play matches against Otago BHS in the annual exchange. This week the annual summer sports exchange took place between Otago Boys and College. In the tennis fixture, the first part of the encounter was played indoors due to the weather but the tie was eventually completed at Hagley tennis club. After 32 matches of doubles and singles, College came away with a clean sweep by winning all matches for a commanding win. The 2nd XI cricket side also had an effected fixture which was meant to be a two day game but turned out to be a T20 match on day one, followed by a 50 over match on day two.
In the T20 match Max Heywood took four wickets and Will Prentice hit 44 to chase down 120 while in the one day match Owen Rees took four wickets in the College win. The 1st XI match was delayed on day one but College batted first and declared at 157 with Kurtis Weeks scoring 80. Otago Boys made 97 for 3 before declaring then Lachie Harper scored 72 to help set the opposition 217 to win.
In a very tense match Otago finished 38 runs short and College were unable to get the last wicket to complete the victory. Football has been going for a month with most College teams having played three games. The 15A side were 3 all with FC Twenty 11 before allowing a couple of late goals for a loss. The Ravens, College's top Saturday team defeated St Bedes by 4-2 with Sam King scoring a double. Over the last couple of weeks the team has had a thrilling overtime win against St Bedes and a first loss in the competition against Cashmere. On Saturday the U15 side has a win over St Andrews with Nic Book scoring 44 points while the 17A side had a narrow loss against St Thomas with a 3 point shot winning the game with only seconds remaining.
On Friday night the Year 11 White, Senior Black and Senior White sides all had wins with the Senior Grey side losing by 3 points in overtime. The Ravens had a good match against CBHS and drew 2-2 with Charlie Owens scoring both goals. In Halswell, the 15B team played the same team as last week, and with a much improved performance fought all the way in a close 2-3 loss.
Gray Heath scored as did Oliver Butler who continues to stake his claim as the club's Golden Boot. Both the 15A and 14A teams had 1-0 wins to keep alive their chances of winning their respective Division 1 competitions. Jono Barnes scored for the 14A's to claim the win against FC Twenty 11, while Henri Murison scored for the 15A's.
Some great saves by Ciaran Huntley in goal and a superb free kick by Gabriel Gallaway were the highlights of the second half which saw both teams go close to scoring. Volleyball this term has now played three rounds of games with ten teams competing in all grades. The Senior A side have had two close matches against Hilmorton and Shirley Boys but eventually lost both 3 sets to 1. The Junior A side are competing well in the top division and are preparing for the Canterbury Junior Champs which are to be held in a couple of weeks time. In their first match the team was comfortably defeated by St Bede's and then faced a top CBHS side in their second match. Down 4-0 in the first quarter, the College side were facing a tough match but got back into the game and trailed 8-5 at the half.
CBHS failed to score in the entire second half and with some outstanding goal keeping from Ben Cornell, College managed to sneak into the final quarter at 8 all. With two minutes left on the clock, College managed to slip ahead and held CBHS out for the remaining time, controlling the clock and scoring two more goals to win 10-8. The 1st XI football side began their season last week with a match against Rangiora.
College dominated for large periods of the game and had several chances saved by a very good opposition goalkeeper and the woodwork. Unfortunately Rangiora were able to convert a goal in one of their few attacks to win 1-0. This week the team plays St Thomas on Wednesday at Yaldhurst Football Centre.
The 2nd XI lost 3-1 to Nomads, the 15A and 14A sides both had drawn matches while the 13A side won their match 7-6 over Oxford. The team trailled by 5-1 before scoring six second half goals for the victory. Charles Lord, Oliver Butler and Nont Prachuabmoh scored two goals each. The 1st XI hockey side dominated their match on Friday night against Shirley BHS winning 8-1. The team plays Timaru BHS on Wednesday in the first round of the championship.
