HBHS Under 16 Rugby Team 'Most Complete Side' on Australian Tour

Interview with John Steel

We left for Australia on Friday of the last day of Term Two.  We were away for 10 days.  The competition involved around 40 schools, mostly Australian schools as well as five New Zealand teams. These were divided into Under 18, Under 16, Under 15 and Under 14 Year teams. 

This is a competition which you apply to become involved in.  We’ve attended the last four; it’s a big part of our Development Squad preparation for the 1st XV. We started eight years ago, taking Trent Renata, Sean Maitland and their crew along.  Every two years we select the top junior rugby boys and take them to this competition as part of their on-going development.  In theory this group could be in the 1st XV for the next two years, so the last group to go included Adam Burns, Fraser Armstrong, Nick Ross and those young men. 

We played Geralton 1st XV for our warm up game.  We won that 36 – 47.  We then played round robin games in which we won 4 and lost 1.  We beat Scott’s Grammar Sydney in the semi-final (36-0), and then beat South Port School in the final, 16-5.  We won the Championship trophy of the Under 16 Division and also won the trophy for the most complete side, in terms of conduct, presentation, and singing. A particular highlight for me was watching Ben Finau win the Micheal Jackson Competition at the shared dinner.

The wonderful thing about this team is that so many different boys shone during each of the games.  The last three games in particular were a total team effort, where everyone played to the best of their ability. 

I’d like to make sure that we say a big ‘thanks’ to Barbara Clarke.  Without her we would never be able to go.  She does a lot of rugby administration throughout the year that very few people are aware of, so I would like to see her publicly recognized.  Also, I would like to thank Tim Aughton for helping make this trip possible.