Prop's double not enough to book third place in Japan
Southland Boys' High School has finished fourth at the Sanix World Youth Rugby Tournament in Japan.
Help us continue to celebrate Southland’s success stories on the national and international stage, like the SBHS 1st XV, by becoming a paid supporter/subscriber of The Southland Tribune.
A brace of tries from promising prop Presley McHugh couldn’t propel Southland Boys’ High School to a third-place finish at the Sanix World Youth Rugby Tournament on Sunday.
Southland Boys’ took on Australian school St Augustine’s College from Sydney in the playoff for third in Japan.
It was St Augustine’s who got the job done 33-21.
It took less that minute for the Australian school to open the scoring through a try to its hooker Riley Osborne, although Southland Boys’ did respond.
McHugh showed good strength to score from close range in what was the first of his two tries.
With the Mika Muliana extras the scores were levelled up at 7-7 after 10 minutes.
St Augustine’s lost a player for 10 minutes when he was shown a yellow card but despite being down to 14 still managed to score to make it 12-7 late in the first half. That is what it remained at halftime.
McHugh then scored his second try early in the second half on the back of a nice pass from halfback Noah Sutton close to the line.
With the Muliaina conversion Southland Boys’ found themselves up for the first time in the game and started to find their groove.
However, that lead was short-lived as St Augustine’s College scored minutes later to go 19-14 up.
It scored a further two tries to push out to a 33-14 lead and put the game beyond doubt.
Muliana did score late in the game to reduce the final score to 33-21.
Southland Boys’ entered Sunday’s playoff for third after a tight semifinal loss to Japanese school Osaka Toin High School on Friday.
Osaka Toin High School opened the semifinal scoring after just three minutes with a try and scored its second try soon after.
By the 15-minute mark, the Japanese school held a 17-0 lead after adding a penalty to its two converted tries.
Southland Boys’ had a lot of work to do at that point.
Captain Taine Withy - playing at second five-eighth - scored from a pick and go late in the first half to make 17-7 at halftime.
A couple of minutes into the second half hooker Jake Evans produced a brilliant try when he went on a slicing run to score. First five-eighth Mika Muliana kicked the conversion from out wide to make it 17-14.
At the 45th-minute mark, Muliaina then added a penalty and the score was back level at 17-17.
But the Osaka Toin High School team kept coming at Southland Boys’. They scored their third try with about 10 minutes to play to make it 24-17, which was the final score.
Southland Boys’ High School threw plenty at the Japanese team late in the game with the likes of Jimmy Taylor showcasing some impressive skills.
But unfortunately, the try that could have levelled the scores at 24-24 never came.
On the opening two days of the tournament, Southland Boys’ High School recorded hard-fought wins over Japanese schools Higashi Fukuoka High School and Kokugakain University Tochigi High, before dispatching Jesuit High School, from the United States, 73-0.
It meant they topped their pool and booked that semifinal spot.
Southland Boys’ High School landed the trip to the Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament on the back of its 2023 national schools title.
They were one of 16 teams at the tournament with eight of them Japanese schools and eight others from throughout the world.
With the completion of the Sanix World Youth Tournament Southland Boys’ High School will now head to Invercargill’s sister city Kumagaya for a visit where they will play a local university team.