The clamour for Kiwi talent in the National Rugby League is huge with over 100 New Zealand players strutting their stuff in the main competition and a plethora of younger talent in the age-group and lower grade levels. Adam Pompey is a young man the Sydney City Roosters have high hopes for. The 16-year old is a Year 12 student at Wesley College in Auckland. He is a fullback in both codes and has already completed a season in the NRL's under-18 Sydney based competition, the S.G. Ball Cup. The S.G. Ball Cup has been going since 1965 and is an 11-week competition played over summer that has featured some of the greats of the game. Additionally Pompey is a key figure in the Wesley College First XV who have high hopes in 2015. The son of an engineer, Pompey speaks to College Sport media about league, union and his ambitions. When did you sign for the Roosters? I signed last year. It was a tough decision, but I got a lot of help from my parents and am happy with the choice I made. How did the competition go for you? Out of nine teams we were second to last which wasn't good. Our defence let us down. Personally it was alright, I played eight games. My best game was against Newcastle when I scored two tries. Travelling to Australia every week was hard. I was quite tired. Note: The Roosters won the 11 game competition in 2014. The Sharks won the Grand final in 2015. The Roosters were captained by Reuben Porter out of Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland. What are the strengths of your game? My running game is good. I can kick goals and I work hard. You are allowed to play for the Wesley First XV. What's been the highlight of that experience? The brotherhood. We are a close team that work hard for each other. If we stay together we can achieve a lot. Tell us about the win against National champions, Hamilton Boys' High School? It was exciting. Our defence was really good. We were behind for a while, but showed good composure to comeback. What do you expect from Manurewa High School in the Big TV game this Saturday? It will be tough. Manurewa against Wesley is always a big game. Their No.8 Viliami Taulani is real good. Note: Wesley and Manurewa have split the last four Counties First XV championships, winning two each. Who are your favourites players? In league I like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and in Union I like Charles Piutau and Malakai Fekitoa. What are your goals for the remainder of 2015? Work hard. I go back to Sydney for pre-season in January. The Gladfield Golf Course in East Taieri, Dunedin, will host the 42nd Perpetual Guardian New Zealand Second Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships this coming Saturday. Some 850 runners from 112 secondary schools around New Zealand have entered. Auckland Grammar School are sending a team of 60 athletes to the event, while other schools to feature prominently at the start/finish lines will be Wanganui Collegiate (boys and girls) with 37 entries, New Plymouth Boys’ High School and Westlake Boys’ High School with 36 runners each, Auckland’s King’s High School with 28 and St Patrick’s Silverstream with 23. Seven para-athletes, from Rangiora High School, King’s High School and St Andrew’s College will also be competing. A number of individual and team winners will be crowned. The races are year nine boys and girls 3000m, U16 junior girls 3000m, U16 junior boys 4000m, senior girls 4000m, senior boys 6000m and the combined junior and senior para races of 2000m each. A 24-strong New Zealand cross country team will be selected afterwards, with these runners eligible to travel to Melbourne at the end of August for the 2015 Australian secondary schools championships. With over 200 runners, the senior boys race will draw the largest field of the day, with several noted contenders expected to battle it out for 2015 title honours. Westlake Boys’ High School’s Daniel Hoy finished runner-up last year to winner, Wanganui Collegiate’s Geordie Beamish. Hoy recently won the Auckland secondary schools cross country championships, after finishing second in the men’s sprint triathlon at the Youth Olympics in China last year and showing strong form on the track over the summer in 3000m and 1500m events. Auckland Grammar School’s Conal Wilson finished second in last year’s Australian U18 cross country championships, while Central Southland College’s Jack Beaumont recently won the New Zealand secondary schools mountain running championships. Napier Boys’ High School’s Bradley Christison is the son of former Coast to Coast multisport winner George Christison, and last year’s junior race winner, St Andrews College’s Mitchell Small , is also entered. Of the 128 entrants in the senior girls race, Wellington East Girls’ College’s Kelsey Forman will be a leading contender. Forman recently won the Wellington event and next week she flies out with the New Zealand team to compete in the 2000m steeplechase at the World Youth Track and Field Championships in Columbia. St Kentigern College’s Isabella Richards returns after finishing third last year and last year’s junior winner, St Andrews College’s Ari Graham returns. Last year’s winner, Columba College’s Hanna English, injured herself playing football last weekend and won’t be able to defend her title from last year’s championships in Palmerston North. In the team’s event, Burnside High School (Boys) and St Cuthbert's College (Girls) won both the three and six person senior team’s races in 2014. Last year’s individual race winners were: - Year Nine Girls: Olivia Corrin (Gisborne Girls’ High School) - Year Nine Boys: Samuel Tanner (Bethlehem College) - Junior Female: Ari Graham (St Andrew’s College) - Junior Boys: Mitchell Small (St Andrew’s College) - Senior Girls: Hanna English (Columba College) - Senior Girls: Geordie Beamish (Wanganui Collegiate) - Para Boys: Josh Rosie (King’s High School) - Para Girls: Ruby Morrison (Solway College) - - College Sport Media and Athletics NZ 12/6/2015 Rangitoto CollegeRangitoto College last won the 1A North Harbour title in 1991, successfully defending the title they won in 1990. Even those sides can't lay claim to an achievement of the 2015 First XV, and that is beating Westlake Boys' High School and Rosmini College in the same season. No.8 Henry Whitfield is skipper of the team. He has been involved for three years and he admits there has been a seismic shift in the culture of rugby at the school. "We have earned more respect because we are taking ourselves seriously. A couple of years ago not everybody showed up to practice and we were a bit casual about things. Now everybody shows up and we believe in ourselves a lot more," Whitfield says. The change in culture has been driven by coaches Nick Cella and rugby director Dave Thomas. Thomas played for Auckland and has vast experience in the game. Cella was a long-time Grammar Carlton representative and is much admired by the boys. "Mr Cella is straight up, in fact he can be a hard guy, but he enjoys a laugh and relates to as really well," Whitfield says. For the first time in 13 years, Rangitoto beat Westlake, 20-17. The lead changed hands several times, but when Westlake led 17-15 on fulltime it appeared they would deny Rangitoto again. Whitfield explains what happened next. "I think we were the only ones who believed we could beat Westlake. We really fronted in the forwards and I think they were surprised a bit. In the last-minute we didn't panic. We won a penalty, took a quick tap and out winger Campbell Busby run away and scored. It was brilliant." Last weekend Rangitoto edged Rosmini 8-7. Second-five Brad Ferguson scored an early try, but Rangitoto fell behind 7-5 and stayed behind for much of the game. With three minutes remaining Eru Hudson kicked a 25-meter angled penalty and Rangitoto defended stoutly until fulltime. Whitfield says Rangitoto believes they can win the North Harbour title, but the side "isn't getting carried away." He says every game is tough. Did You Know? Whitfield was born in England and rates the Jonny Wilkinson drop goal to win England the 2003 World Cup as the greatest moment he has seen in rugby. Whitfield's grandfather Roger Whitfield won a bronze medal in the 1000m purist cycling for Great Britain at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth. He also attended the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Openside Nick Burns scored four tries on Land Rover First XV rugby last year against Birkenhead College. He is the only individual to score four tries on the program. Previous Championship Teams 1990 Captain: Carl Smith Coaches: Mr. Cutfield, Mr. Fenton Played: 16 Won: 12 Lost: 4 Notable Wins: St. Paul's College, Westlake BHS, Massey HS, Takapuna GS Notable Player: Slade MacFarlane (NZ Schools/NZ Schools, 224 first class games) Top Points Scorer: Andrew Charlesworth Top Try Scorer: Tom Flinn North Harbour Age Group: Chris Williams, Steven Muller, Mark Beale, Boyd Gillespie 1991 Captain: Boyd Gillespie (Halfback, 4 years in First XV, top try scorer) Coaches: Mr. Cutfield, Mr. Fenton Played: 13 Won: 12 Lost: 1 Points For: 225 (35 tries) Points Against: 74 (6 tries) Final: Beat Rosmini College, 4-0 They’re both the defending Auckland and National secondary school boys’ rugby league champions, and several of their recent players are already forging successful representative careers, such as Tuimoala Lolohea with the New Zealand Warriors and last year’s captain Israel Ioka now with the Melbourne Storm playing in the NRL U20 competition. But Kelston Boys’ High School coach Phil Gordon said this year’s team is fully focused on achieving their goals, on the eve of the 2015 SAS College Rugby League Championship competition starting this Wednesday afternoon. “The boys won nationals in 2013 and 2014 – last year was the first time we have won the Auckland title in a very long time,” said Phil. “We have talked about trying to go out and win the titles again this year, not just to defend them. “We are setting our own targets and what we want to achieve in games. We have to accept that everyone wants to beat Kelston, but if we play well we believe the results will come our way.” On Wednesday, 18 teams, representing 17 schools, will line up across three divisions for the start of the competition. The format for each of the Championship, Plate and Bowl divisions is a five-match round-robin series, followed by semi-finals on 29 July and finals on 5 August. Phil said the Championship competition over the next several weeks will be tough. “On any given day if you’re not on, then you can get beaten by anyone. “The other five teams in our division are going to be equally hard to beat. Our first game is this Wednesday against Southern Cross Campus – they are a proud South Auckland school and I know they will be up for it.” Phil said it’s good that his players have role models like Lolohea to look up to, and that attitude is the key for players at Kelston and other schools to get noticed. “Historically we are very proud of the Kelston boys that move on to representative football. “Most of those scouts and selectors are looking for great attitudes, not just good players. If our boys buy into that and we have that successful culture then I actually think it makes the players more attractive to getting selected higher up.” This week’s matches are (home teams first, kick-offs at 4.00pm): Championship: Kelston Boys’ High School v Southern Cross Campus, Mount Albert Grammar School v Otahuhu College, Manurewa High School v St Paul’s College Plate: Westlake Boys’ High School v Sir Edmund Hillary College, Papatoetoe College v Avondale College Aorere College v Western Springs College Bowl: Massey High School v James Cook High School, Papakura High School v Tamaki College, Lynfield College v Manurewa B |
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