​BLUES 10'S KICK'S OFF BUMPER LAND ROVER FIRST XV SEASON!

The Blues Secondary Schools Invitational 10's tournament was held at North Harbour Stadium in Albany as a curtain raiser to the Super Rugby clash between the Blues and Jaguars. Both finals were televised by Land Rover First XV rugby. In case you missed the deciders here is a recap of what happened.

Girls Final
Despite being outsized and trailing for most of the match, Kaipara College foiled Tangaroa College. Tangaroa opened the scoring after four minutes when defensive pressure led to a Kaipara spillage in their 22.

Kaipara asserted their own defensive strength early in the second-half. Tangaroa hammered away mercilessly at the Kaipara line, but were unable to add to their tally.

With four minutes to go Kaipara's Anna Steele received the ball in space on the right wing. From halfway she swerved around two defenders and dashed all the way for the match-levelling try.
Tangaroa's abrasive approach and excessive error count began to tell. Kaipara playing at a breakneck speed scored the winning try with 90 seconds left. Georgia Logan sprinted 50-metres on the same wing Steele had her moment of glory.

Boys Final
Mount Albert Grammar School successfully defended the boys title overpowering Westlake Boys' High School 29-7. Westlake's Roytaro Ozaki scored a consolation try on fulltime.

MAGS size, speed and organisation was too much for a gallant Westlake. The halftime scored was 15-0 and MAGS tries were scored by Paul Roche, Niven Longopoa Caleb Clarke, Isaiah Papali'i and Thomas Barlow.

The try scored by Clarke after a wobbly cross-kick by Longopoa was somewhat fortuitous, but Clarke always looked likely and Papali'i was a bully throughout.

---