Tournament report from team Captain, Te Ao Samson:

On Thursday 17th and Friday 18th of November, the NZSS Junior Ki-o-rahi National championships were held on the grounds of Waikato University.

20 schools attended the tournament from around New Zealand.

As always, the teams are required to be mixed with an even number of girls and boys on the field at any one time. This meant HBHS combined with HGHS to form a strong team.

On Day 1 we won all of our 4 pool games with the closest game being our first game against Te Kaokaoroa o Patetere, which we won 23-15.

On Day 2 we played Tokoroa High School in the quarter final, beating them 25-4.

This put us into the semi-final against Te Koutu from Rotorua, winning a low-scoring game 9-4.

We played our arch rivals Rakaumanga in the final, and despite the lead changing during the game, Rakaumanga beat us 10-9.

I would like to thank the parent coach, Heremaia Samson, for running four weeks of trainings leading up to this National tournament. Congratulations to all our boys for finishing second in New Zealand.

Thank you.