Talented 15-year-old first five-eighth lands match-winner
It was SBHS’ first hit out of the 2023 season, although you wouldn’t have thought so given what played out.
Fifteen-year-old first-five-eighth Mika Muiliana has landed a match-winning penalty to lift Southland Boys’ High School to a 18-17 victory over the visiting Auckland Grammar first XV.
And everything’s pointing to us hearing a lot more about the talented No 10 in the future.
More on that a bit later.
The Auckland Grammar first XV was on a South Island preseason tour and after victories over Christchurch Boys’ High School and Otago Boys’ High School arrived in Invercargill for a showdown on Friday.
It was SBHS’ first hit out of the 2023 season, although you wouldn’t have thought so given what played out.
Two tries and a penalty pushed Southland Boys’ out to a 15-5 halftime lead before they spent the majority of the second half defending.
Auckland Grammar pulled it back to 15-10 before inside the final five minutes or so the visitors scored a try handy to the posts and the conversation made it 17-15.
It felt at that point that we’d be patting SBHS on the back for a spirited first up 2023 performance despite a narrow loss.
However, SBHS got itself inside the Auckland Grammar half and found a penalty.
Up stepped 15-year-old old Muliaina, who moments before had been troubled by cramp.
There was no sign of him handy on the important task though.
The youngster slotted the penalty from about 35m or so out.
He made no mistake. It left SBHS to hang on for the final minute of play which they did to claim the 18-17 victory.
Firstly, on Muliana, the nephew of former All Black Mils Muliaina and son of former Southland Stag Faolua Muliana.
It doesn’t take long chatting with the Southland Boys’ High School coaching group to get an understanding of their opinion of his skillset at such a young age.
Long-time coach Peter Skelt suggests he’s one of the most talented he’s seen.
Fellow coach Jason Dermody was just as complimentary.
“He’s going to be high-quality. He’s only just turned 15.”
What Southland Boys lacked in size against Auckland Grammar they more than made up in effort, good footwork, slick passing, and a sheer willingness to defend for each other.
“If you look at our team we are battlers. We are very pleased with that [performance] first up,” Dermody said.
“Everyone gets overawed in schoolboy rugby about size, but if you’ve got 15 boys who get off the line and smack people that’s half of the battle.”
“This would [also] be one of the most skilful teams I’ve coached.”
Mika’s brother Rico is another key figure in the Southland Boys’ team at fullback, as is captain and loose forward Gregor Rutledge - son of most cap Southland Stag Jason Rutledge.
The Southland Boys’ first XV will take on another Auckland school on ANZAC Day.
Kings College will also make a stop in Invercargill with the two teams squaring off at Southland Boys’ at 11.30am on Tuesday.
Great game to watch Sav. Certainly a great backline they have.
making us proud