Coach Mr Nigel Hotham reports on our team's triumphant exploits in Thailand in December, 2022.

On December 10th 2022, 26 1st XV players, Mr Kirkham, Mr Moorby, and myself flew to Thailand for the inaugural World Schools Rugby Festival. The tournament involved many of the best 1st XVs in their respective countries, including Millfield, Sedbergh and Trinity from England, St Michael's from Ireland, Cardiff and Vale from Wales, and Grey College from South Africa.

Our first game was against Odyssey XV and although the score ended at 64-0, our performance was well short of our normal standards. We were pleased enough to make it through to the semi-finals but were all well aware that we would need to improve hugely and quickly to be competitive in the games to come.

Drawing Millfield, the English champions, in the semi-final, was both a curse and a blessing. We were pleased to rate ourselves against the best team in England but also very wary that we hadn’t played a quality XV team since the Top Four final vs Napier, three months prior.

In an error ridden game, we eventually ground out a 14-0 victory but were disappointed to have left at least 20 points on the field, mainly from our own handling errors.

The night before the final against Grey College from South Africa, we met as usual and reminded ourselves of the importance of this game to our families and the school. We also celebrated a very special moment in our co-captain Aki Tuivailala’s 50th game for the 1st XV. A very rare achievement in schoolboy rugby, as a player must have played in the team for three years and been injury free to reach this milestone. As Aki spoke so humbly about his journey, received his award and a rousing haka from his team mates, everyone in the room was filled with confidence that tomorrow was going to be our best day.

The following morning wasn’t so great though as we woke to the news that eight players had fallen ill with food poisoning and had been up all night vomiting. Thoughts of the 1995 World Cup final between South Africa and the All Blacks swept through the coaches minds, although all players were still determined to play.

The final was a classic New Zealand - South Africa encounter. Playing into the wind in the first half, we had to rely on strong defence to hold out a very physical Grey’s forward pack. Just before halftime though, Alex Pitts-Brown finished off a long period of play to score in the corner and gave us a 5-0 lead.

In the second half, we finally put together some of our best rugby with Payton Spencer catching a perfect 20 metre pass from outstanding second-five Hiraka Waitai-Haenga, and finishing off one of our best tries of the season. Shortly after, Aki Tuivailala scored in the same corner and was quickly smothered by our supporters from England and Ireland. Final score, 22-10.

Winning the tournament, we had achieved our goal of gaining the unofficial World Champions title in 1st XV rugby for Hamilton Boys' High School.

Through sport, we were given the opportunity to visit a new country and culture, to share stories and make new friends with players and coaches from many overseas countries and to aspire to be the very best we could be ….Arete!

What will the 2022 season be remembered for?…

Maybe winning the Chief's Championship, The Top Four National title, retaining the Moascar Cup, winning both the Super 8 and Condor National 7's tournaments...

But I think this team will mainly be remembered as a team that didn’t know how to give up, that found a way to win tight matches (far too many close ones for the liking of our coaches and supporters), a team that trained and played XVs and 7s for more than a full year without a break and still cherished the time they spent together... a team of champions.  Kia kaha.