by Wendy Moffitt

William MacErlich Memorial Rugby Match 2022

On the last Thursday of Term 3, the Day School and Argyle House went head to head in this annual fixture.

The William MacErlich Memorial Rugby Match was contested at lunchtime on a grey and wet Thursday, to honour the memory of William, a talented rugby and cricket player who boarded at Argyle House.  William tragically died after a short illness in 2005, and since then the match has been played annually, evolving into the current format, where teams of mostly Year 13 students, playing their last match for HBHS on the Number 1 Rugby field, from the Day School and Argyle House compete for the trophy.  This trophy is made up of the ball (signed by his team mates) William used to kick his rugby team to victory on the Saturday before he died, along with his boot and kicking tee.

Mr Katene and Oli Mathis with the William MacErlich Trophy — Image by: Wendy Moffitt

William's father, Ian, and his extended family were in attendance, having travelled from all over the North Island to be here.  Prior to the match, they paid their respects at the William MacErlich Memorial Garden, and then Ian was presented with a William MacErlich memorial jersey at the function before the match. Old Boy, Peter Bocock, a close friend of William and fellow cricketer, spoke about how William took care of him when he was homesick, and Mr Chris Kuggeleijn followed this by speaking of how Ian had done the same for him, when he was a young representative cricketer.

The match was an unusually one-sided affair this year, with the Argyle team, captained by Liam Anderson, scoring a solitary try courtesy of Flynn Pierce, which Leo Scott converted. The Day Boys, captained by former Argyle House boarder Jamie Brewer, eventually ran away with the match, 31-7.

Thank you to everyone for participating in this match, and for helping to make it such a success.  Tino pai.

Match photography by Wade Houston and Sam Potter.