Miles-Toyota Championship Semifinal 2:45pm at STC

St Bede’s College 1st XV recent history v St Thomas:

• 2022: Lost 19 v 31

• 2021: Won 26 v 24

• 2020: Won 19 v 18

• 2019: Won by 29 v 17

• 2018: Won by 14 v 7

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St Thomas of Canterbury College:

• Established 1961

• Motto: Virtute Scientiam Complete; (Knowledge with Manliness)

• Roll: 650+

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St Bede’s College:

• Founded 1911

• Motto: Fide et Opere; (By Faith and By Works)

• Roll: 800+

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Points of interest:

• St Bede’s College was founded in 1911 after the Bishop of Christchurch, Bishop John Grimes, sought to have a college to serve the Catholic community of the South Island. Bishop Grimes asked the Society of Mary to provide some teachers for his school. Fr Graham, on the staff at St Patrick’s College in Wellington, was appointed first Rector. Bishop Grimes decided that the new school would be called St Bede’s because of the strong English connection in Christchurch and the place Bede had in English learning. Bede was known as The Venerable Bede and was an English Benedictine monk, scholar, and saint who lived 673–735 AD.

• St Thomas of Canterbury College was founded by the Christian Brothers as proprietors. Today, like St Bede’s they are a Catholic school operated as a state integrated school. A Christian Brothers school in Christchurch was first proposed in the 1880s. The third Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, Bishop Lyons acquired land on Sockburn in West Christchurch and formally invited the Christian Brothers to provide the school to accommodate the growing need for more Catholic education in the city. The college held its first classes on Waitangi Day 1961. The name St Thomas comes from St Thomas of Beckett, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the United Kingdom and was assassinated for standing up to King Henry.

• In the history of their 1st XV rivalry, St Thomas had only ever beaten St Bede's twice prior to 2022. Their third victory, in Round One back in early May, provides St Thomas' with the opportunity to double their account in just one year with another win on Saturday. They beat St Bede's in 2017 in what was their second victory and their first on St Bede's No.1. Their first ever victory was in 1983. The St Bede’s 1st XV in 1983 went on to the NZ Schools Top 4 Championship, where they beat the favourites and Moascar Cup holders Gisborne Boys' High School in the semi-final. They lost the Top 4 final in a tight battle with Auckland Grammar. Grammar sealed the match with an intercept play when Bede’s were looking to close the game out with a winning score, having been camped on the Grammar line and the scores locked at 10-10 with minutes to play. Coincidentally, the cup at stake in that match in 1983, for the winner of the National Top4 competition, was the Trustbank Cup which has since been transfered to be used as a challenge cup for South Island Schools and St Bede's won in this year with their victory over Christchurch Boy's in round 11.• St Thomas' has a proud tradition in sport and consistently performs well across a wide variety of sports. Historically Rugby League has been one of their flag bearers in terms of national recognition. Rugby has been the main code at St Bede's historically, but the school also boasts a strong rugby league pedigree. St Bede's fielded a rugby league 1stXIII in 1987 with the Bergman brothers Paul and Phil being part of the driving force in its establishment Phil went on to play professionally for the Auckland Warriors, for Paris Saint-Germain in the Super League and a Kiwi selection. Paul went into coaching and mentoring working closely with Wayne Bennett and Graham Lowe amongst others. But the most famous Bedeen league man is undoubtedly Pat Smith. The Smith family came from Irish sporting stock, Pat's father was born in Dublin and was a huge man in those days of 18 stone (114kg). He was a strongman who won competitions in Ireland and South Africa excelling in lifting heavy weights and tug o’ wars in the early years of last century. He became a police sergeant in South Africa after the Anglo-Boer War and then moved to New Zealand. He sent his son to St Bede's in 1929. Pat Smith was big, strong and fast, starring for the 1st XV for three seasons 1933-34-35. His son Peter followed him and went to St Bede's in the 1950's. Peter Smith recalls that Fr Mick Bourke SM the coach of the 1st XV realised he may have an exceptional team if just he could entice some of the senior men back for another year. Pat Smith was persuaded to return in 1935 for a seventh year and the team unsurprisingly did win the schools championship as a result. Pat's role as a 'student' in this final year was as a part time gardener at the college. Pat went on to play rugby for Canterbury when he left school, but switched to rugby league becoming St Bede's first Kiwi in 1946. He went on to have a distinguished career as a Kiwi, captaining and coaching them. Today the Pat Smith Trophy is the greatest prize in Canterbury Rugby League and Pat has been inducted into the NZRL hall of fame as a New Zealand Legend of League. Pat's connection to St Bede's remains strong, his great-grandson is Tanner Stowers-Smith. Tanner is the current St Bede's 1st XV No.8 and also has strong potential across both codes.

• There remains connections between St Bede's and St Thomas' across family lines and through the interweaving elements of Catholicism in Christchurch. Notably is that Justin Boyle, Rector of St Bede’s, is a St Thomas’ old boy and Steve Hart, Principal of St Thomas’ is a St Bede’s Old Boy. Johnny Leo'o, is the current St Thomas' head of rugby and is a St Bede's Old Boy (rated by Baz Dunne as one of St Bede's best ever 1st XV players he's ever seen - high praise indeed!). 

• St Thomas' finished the 2022 Championship round robin as the top team. St Bede's was the fourth. The other semifinal features Nelson College (No.2) against Christchurch BHS (No.3) away in Nelson. The winning records between these four teams are very similar, with St Thomas' alone on 11:1 and Nelson, Christchurch and St Bede's are all 10:2 during the competition. In fact there is likely no precedent in the history of the competition where all semifinalists can boast such strong winning records. 

• St Thomas' have made the championship semi-finals for the first time. They will have home field advantage as the top seeds. Much will be expected of them as the favourites following their strong win over St Bede's back in early May. Indeed they have had an excellent season to date with just the one hiccup being their 12-27 loss against Christchurch Boys' High School. However knockout rugby can be a different beast with pressure being a factor, as demonstrated by the fact that only twice in the last ten years have the two top seeds ended up meeting in the championship final.

• St Bede's are perennial championship semi finalists and have won more championships than any other school bar Christchurch Boys' High School during the history of this competition going back to 2001. St Bede's know all about the pressure come semifinal time. Their last championship victory in 2015 came on the back of upsetting a higher ranked semifinalist. In recent years Bede's have come out on the wrong side on four consecutive occasions, including last season where they were the number one seed, each was a tight match which came down to big moments and big calls. Expect nothing less this weekend where the season now comes down to just one match - to “live or die”. That day is coming on Saturday....