Otahuhu College dark horses
Southern Cross Campus and Manurewa High School play the plate semifinal of College Rugby League tomorrow. The game will be played at Southern Cross Campus in Mangere with the winner going straight to the final.
The other South Auckland school in the plate playoffs is Otahuhu College. The fourth seeds face Mt Albert Grammar School in a sudden death at Fowlds Park in Mt Albert.
All four teams put in extra work over the school holidays.
With Aorere College out of the running for the premiership, it is left to newbies Wesley College to fly the flag for the southside schools. They’ll have home advantage for the knockout game against Westlake Boys’ High School in Pukekohe. Top seeds St Paul’s College take on Kelston Boy’s High School in the other semifinal.
The ARL’s football development officer James Pulehega says the premiership match-ups will be huge.
‘‘We’ve got a rematch between last year’s grand finalists, St Paul’s and Kelston Boys, and then a knockout game between prestige rugby schools Westlake Boys and Wesley College
It’s going to be a cracker of a game,’’ he says.
St Paul’s are the defending champions.
The semifinal system for premiership, plate and bowl is similar to that used by the NRL.
The winners of the semifinals involving the top seeds go directly to the grand final. The losers go on to play the major final against the winners of the semifinals featuring the third and fourth seeds. The senior A and 85kg semifinals are a straight shootout. The winners will play in the grand final. Games kickoff at 4pm.
St Paul’s (1) v Kelston (2), St Paul’s College. Wesley (3) v Westlake (4), Wesley College.
Southern Cross (1) v Manurewa (2), Southern Cross
Premiership semi finals: Plate:
Campus. Mt Albert (2) v Otahuhu (3), Fowlds Park, Mt Albert.
Papatoetoe (1) v Sir Edmund Hillary (2), Papatoetoe High School. Otahuhu B (3) v St Paul’s B (4), Otahuhu College.
Henderson (3) v Aorere (2), Henderson High School. Selwyn (1) v Vanguard (4), Selwyn College.
Bowl: Senior A:
James Cook v Howick, James Cook High School, Manurewa. Mangere v Pakuranga, Mangere College.
July 27.
Under-85kg: Date: Start:
4pm.