Well done to our sporting students who travelled near and far to participate in the annual Winter Tournament competition. Check out the wrap up from the week below:

Girls’ First XI Football

This year the Girls' First XI Football Team made the Top 10 for the first time in over ten years, beating St Cuthberts 3-1 to gain ninth place. Lucy Steel took out Most Valueable Player and Ruby Macklow gained the Golden Boot as the top goal scorer for the tournament.

Boys' First XI Hockey

The Boys' First XI Hockey Team competed in the Mayhill Cup in Auckland. This is a third-tier tournament in which you must finish in the top two placings to qualify for the first and second-tier competitions the next year. This would require St Pauls to finish first in their pool to qualify for the semi-finals; anything less would mean a fifth-place finish was their best outcome. Over the next five days, the boys played the following schools: Northcote College 8-0, Trident High School 1-1, and Rosmini College 2-1. They went onto the semi finals to play St Peter's School Cambridge: 5-0, which secured a promotion back into the Rankin Cup for 2025.

With the pressure of earning promotion now gone, we could focus on trying to end the week with a gold medal. Our opposition would be St John's College, for the fifth time this season. Having previously won, drawn and lost to St John's this season, final bragging rights were also on the line. The first half was scrappy and evenly balanced. However, it was St Paul's who came out with a little extra energy in the third quarter. George MacDonald opened the scoring for St Paul's late in the quarter before Ed Buckley heroically blasted home a half-volley with minutes remaining in the game to secure the win 2-0.

The boys had an exceptional week where the hard work they have put in throughout the season has paid off. 23 goals scored and only 2 conceded. Promotion secured and the Mayhill Cup won.

Premier Netball

The girls travelled to Auckland for UNISS, a very tough and competitive tournament involving large Auckland schools in particular. In pool play, our girls were outstanding, with wins over Aquinas 62-11, Baradene 27-11, as well as local rivals Hamilton Girls' High 27-19, and Waikato Dio 29-26, Securing top of their pool. 

The next day saw us go down to a very strong Howick and Westlake, Resulting in us playing off for seventh and eighth on the last day. We ended up replaying Hamilton Girls' High for this game, where, unfortunately, we ran out of steam and went down by two goals. Overall, it was an amazing week with our girls securing eighth at UNISS.

First XI Girls' Hockey

The St Paul’s girls had high hopes this year of cracking into the top 16 for the first time. To do so they needed to secure a top two placing in their pool. 

First up was a win against St Mathews, 2-1. Match two; saw St Paul's put up a good fight, but lost 0-2 to a very strong Westlake Girls' side. This put their fate in the hands of their final game vs Rangitoto. The girls produced one of their best performances of the season, winning with the final score of 5-0. 

The Top 16 clash saw St Paul’s take on Christchurch hockey giants, Rangiruru. The girls played out of their skin and went up one nil early in the match. Despite some heroic defending and goalkeeping, they couldn’t quite hang on, and Rangiruru equalised with the game finishing 1-1. Unfortunately, the girls came up short in the shoot-out losing 5-6. The girls then regrouped to hammer Whangarei Girls' 5-1 the following day. The next match saw St Paul’s take on Iona, a win would guarantee a Top 10 finish. The girls displayed another dominant performance, winning 3-1. In the final match for ninth and tenth, St Paul’s went down 1-0 to Palmerston North in a game that could have gone either way. Overall, it was an outstanding week of hockey from the St Paul’s girls, to finish 10th in the country capped off an amazing season.

Basketball

Junior Boys in Rotorua

• Day 1: Loss 77-60 against Rotorua Boys, followed by a nail-biting win 92-90 against TKKM Te Kura Kokiri in the final seconds.

• Day 2: Loss 88-109 to Cambridge High School and win 86 – 59 against Nga Taiatea Wharekura.

• Day 3: Loss 89 – 96 to Matamata College and loss 77-98 to St John’s College.

Senior Boys in Rotorua

• Day 1: Win 85-51 against Western Heights, Rotorua.

• Day 2: Win 94-85 against Otumoetai College and loss 88-103 Cambridge High School. Loss 96-44 against Fraser High.

• Day 3: Win 79-46 against Tauhara. Loss 117-41 against Mount Maunganui College.

• Day 4: Loss 86-79 against John Paul College

• Day 5 Loss 91-87 (so close) to Gisborne Boy’s High School.

Boys' First XI Football

• Day 1: Win 3-1 against Rangiora High School and loss 0-1 to Wellington College.

• Day 2: Loss 0-3 to St Kent’s.

• Loss 2-1 against Nelson College

Junior Boys in Tauranga

• Day 1: Loss 0-3 against Palmerston North Boys' High School followed by a loss 0-2 against Onehunga and 0-3 against Napier Boys.

• Day 2: Draw 0-0 against Tauranga Boys' High School and loss 0-2 to Wellington College.

• Day 3: Win 4-3 against Hillcrest in penalty shoot-outs after 1 all at full-time.

• Day 4: Win 5-1 against Hastings Boys' High in their final game

First XV Rugby

• Day 1 and 2: Loss 14-26 against Christ’s College and loss to King’s College 7-24.

• Day 3: Loss 12-36 to King’s College.

Table Tennis

NZSS Table Tennis Cup in Palmerston North

• 3-4 loss against Tauranga Boys'

• 2-5 loss against Rototuna High School

• 6-1 win against Hamilton Boys'

• 6-1 win against Gisborne High School

• 5-2 win against Westlake Boys'