Son of gun stars for St Peter’s

New Zealand rugby fans have another Jones to keep up with.

Niko Jones, the son of All Black great Michael Jones, led St Peter’s College to an unlikely come from behind victory in the National First XV Championship final yesterday.

The Auckland-based side trailed Napier Boys’ High School 21-0 early in the first half before scoring 31 unanswered points to win 31-28 at the Massey University Sport and Rugby Institute in Palmerston North.

Jones, the St Peter’s College captain, sparked his team’s comeback with an outstanding display of strong running and skillful offloading as his famous father watched from the sideline.

He was involved in three of their three five tries and scored one of his own.

Napier Boys’ High School advanced to the final with a 31-12 defeat over Christchurch Boys’ High School on Friday – a match that was marred by an ugly incident that saw a player from the Christchurch school shown a red card for stomping on an opponents head and throwing a punch.

Jones, a hard running No 8 with a skill set to match, was awarded the MVP for the boy’s tournament with the girl’s honour going to Hamilton Girls’ High School star Kiriana Nolan.

Nolan was a star performer for Hamilton Girls’ in their 42-7 victory over Manukura in the girls final.