The traditional CBHS winter exchange was held in cool showery conditions in Christchurch on Tuesday 15 May.

The exchange was dominated by Christchurch Boys’ who won tight encounters in hockey and football and dominated both rugby fixtures.

The 1st X1 Hockey match was played on a sand based turf at Nunweek Park. Timaru started well and after 15 minutes took the lead through a well struck Matt Ellis goal. Christchurch Boys’ dominated the middle stages with 3 goals although one was a fortuitous own goal via a deflection off a Timaru defender. However, a fine reverse flick by Oli Anderson set up a tense finish that saw CBHS hang on for a tough 3-2 win. This was a pleasing performance by a TBHS side, missing the experienced duo of Duncan Rollinson and Liam Parker through injury and rugby commitments respectively. For Timaru, Tim Sheed, William Sharp and Ellis played well. Campbell Plows made a good fist of taking on the goal-keeping duties while youngsters Dougal Gibson and Nick Stevens enjoyed the extra opportunities in mid-field due to the absence of Rollinson and Parker. TBHS have an almost immediate rematch with Christchurch Boys’ in this week’s round of the Christchurch schools hockey championship.

The 1st X1 Soccer side completed a busy two days following a trip to Dunedin to defeat Kavanagh College 1-0 in Dunedin on Monday in a NZSSFA tournament qualifying fixture with another away game at English Park on Tuesday. In spite of some injury concerns, TBHS stayed with a capable Christchurch Boys’ side for the full 90 minutes in a gritty 1-0 defeat. For Timaru, Tom Baxter was outstanding defensively and young Tane Francis coped well under pressure in goal for Timaru.

The 2nd XV came up against a very well drilled CBHS side who proved far too strong in recording a decisive 55-0 victory. For TBHS, James Davidson and William McArthur toiled bravely in a losing cause.

The 1st XV struggled to adjust to the pace and physicality of the game in the first 25 minutes of their fixture. Their hesitancy was punished by an efficient CBHS side who recycled the ball quickly and played with width to stretch the defence. At 29-0 down, Timaru were looking down the barrel of a hiding but showed some tenacity in the last 10 minutes of the first half and throughout the second half to restrict Christchurch to only two further tries while scoring one of their own through George Brown. This saw the final score run out 43-5 to CBHS. For Timaru, Prop Shane Fikken and Openside George Brown worked hard up front as did Ryan Greenslade at first-five. Wing John Vasurakuta ran hard and made the most of his limited attacking opportunities and Taniela Wacokecoke ran and tackled powerfully in mid-field. Timaru need to regroup quickly for their first home game in the UC Championship this weekend against an in-form Rangiora side.