NELSON COLLEGE RUGBY NEWS

26th April 2023

It has been a busy start to the 2023 Rugby year with our Sevens team travelling to the UK for the International U18 Rugby Sevens Tournament held at Rugby School, England. This tournament is the second time Nelson College have played at Rugby School, the home of the game, but this year was special as they were celebrating 200 years since the game began. What an event it was! 20 teams were invited from across England and the world, and it made for a really special atmosphere with our boys meeting teams from Japan, Canada, Chile, England and many others. The tournament itself was run superbly with our every need catered for including been housed onsite in what felt like Hogwarts at times. Rugby School is a very special place and this trip will be remembered for a long time to come. 

Our team performed very well against tough competition, topping our pool and going through to the semi final stage. Unfortunately, we couldn't get past a very good Merchiston Castle School in our Quarter Final losing 14-24. We went through to the Plate Competition, making the final with a 38-10 win over The Grange School from Santiago, Chile. We played Mount St Mary's College, who we'd previously beaten in a close game in pool play, however this time they managed to beat us 19-24. We finished 6th place overall which is a solid result against quality schools. Michaelhouse from South Africa won the tournament and deservedly so. 

Our boys also managed to experience some of what England has to offer including visiting Buckingham Palace, going on the London Eye, riding the tube, touring Twickenham Stadium, outlet shopping at Wembley, visiting Cambridge and eating far too many cooked English breakfasts! A huge thank you to the staff, coaches and parents who took the team to the UK, including Jono Phillips, William Moloney, Scott Gibbons and Richard McLaren. It is no small feat managing 14 teenage boys on tour, so thank you. Also to Brent Imrie at TourTime who put the schedule together for us and supported us while in England. 

Kind Regards

Mark Cochrane

Master in Charge of Rugby

AGE GRADE DRAW

Saturday 29th April

NELSON COLLEGE CLUB REPORT

The 2023 season starts this weekend with a host of games across the region. It's great to finally see the season starting and teams out training this week! The trials all ran smoothly at the beginning of April and boys are all now in their teams. We have three Under 17 grade teams in Kahurangi, Oxford & Cambridge, and two Under 15 grade teams, Kahurangi & White. Thank you to all the coaches and managers who have stepped up to help run our teams this season. This is very much appreciated. 

Our 2nd XV went away over the weekend for a preseason quad tournament with Christ's College, Dilworth College & Marlborough Boy's taking part. This was our teams first opportunity to play together and a great opportunity for them to bond as a team. The games were each 40 minutes long and were played at Oxford Rugby Club in Canterbury. The team didn't manage to come away with any wins but fought hard and will be better for the experience. On Sunday they got the chance to really test themselves when they played Rangiora High School's 1st XV at Rangiora. Our team got off to a good start and were up 7-0, but Rangiora stepped up and managed to comfortably win 7-57. A big thank you to Aaron Potter (Coach) & Tony Perkins (Manager/Coach) for taking the team away. We are looking forward to seeing the 2nd XV play this coming Wednesday against the Waimea Combined Schools 1st XV, 5.00pm at Wanderers RFC in Brightwater.  

Check out below some of the photos from both the 2nd XV and the UK Tour.

NELSON COLLEGE 1ST XV

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