School teams won’t play ball

Colleges boycott St Kentigern in protest at recruitment policy

New Zealand Rugby has offered its guidance to help resolve a dispute which has seen 10 Auckland schools refuse to play first XV powerhouse St Kentigern College.

A coalition of schools have boycotted playing St Kents, alleging it has a recruitment policy out of line with accepted practice.

That has left the Auckland A1 competition in disarray, with schools from other parts of New Zealand agreeing on the stance taken by the 10 Auckland schools.

St Kentigern had admitted to recruiting five senior elite players from rival first XVs to bolster its 2019 side.

NZR said it was continuing to work with the Auckland Rugby Union and College Sport Auckland to try to resolve the matter.

‘‘New Zealand Rugby has conducted a review of secondary schools rugby in New Zealand . . . Player movement was one of the areas highlighted as a concern in that review, and there will be recommendations that look to address this,’’ NZR chief rugby officer Nigel Cass said. Neither NZR nor the Auckland Rugby Union has any jurisdiction over secondary schools rugby.

One of the principals who has agreed to the boycott, Mount Albert Grammar School headmaster Patrick Drumm, said the issue went beyond rugby.

‘‘This is about the purpose of schooling and supporting colleagues around the country,’’ Drumm told

‘‘In essence, we think developing good young people is about being in a school for its entirety, from year nine to 13.

‘‘And to take a very narrow, win-at-all-costs approach and bring in senior players to ensure you are going to do that, that goes against the integrity and purpose of what schooling is about.’’

Others boycotters are Aorere College, Liston College, Auckland Grammar, De La Salle College, One Tree Hill College, Dilworth Boys’ School, Sacred Heart College and Kelston Boys’ High.

A spokesman for one school said there had long been concerns that other schools could not compete with the amount St Kents spent to attract players.

Drumm added there was a general belief that this recruitment approach had been happening for several years and rival schools were effectively saying ‘‘enough is enough’’.

‘‘It’s [the boycott] certainly not something we want. But the letter we’ve communicated with St Kents is that we won’t be playing them if there is not an agreement to come on line with the other principals and look at changing their practice that they’ve put in place for next year.’’

St Kentigern has long been a powerhouse of Auckland rugby, boasting several All Blacks, among them Joe Rokocoko (two years), John Afoa (three years), Jerome Kaino (two years), Matt Duffie (three years) and current captain Kieran Read (one year).

St Kentigern has hit back by questioning the recruitment policy of other schools. Principal David Hodge told Radio New Zealand the school had asked College Sport, which runs the competition, to get involved.

‘‘They set the bylaws and rules. All we can do at St Kentigerns is abide by those bylaws and we have. We haven’t been charged by College Sport with contravening the rules. We kept completely to the rules.’’

Hodge told Newshub the boycotting schools ‘‘have acted out of self-interest and completely independently of College Sport’’.

College Sport confirmed it had been asked ‘‘by a school’’ to investigate the recruitment of ‘‘several other schools’’ in the competition.