Coleg y Cymoedd vs Hamilton High School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn08_mKuR10&feature=youtu.be

Wales' top college this year beat Hamilton High School on their end of year tour.

Our media seem to be bigging up the significance of the win, saying that Hamilton are one of the top rugby schools in New Zealand. Can any NZers comment on this? I am assuming that both of these teams would be in the same age bracket (17-19)?

Better ask Gatland .

According to their website they won the super 8 competition last year (which is an 8 team strong north island comp). It is also their first xv who toured. They beat Coleg Sir Gar the week before with a respectable score the week before. So perhaps this was a pretty good team. Bodes well

Has to be a few Blues North academy boys in there too. I was wondering why the lads were so big, then I realised this college is in Rhondda.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/remarkable-young-welsh-rugby-team-11292967

Is that a school or a college linked to academies? Impressive none the less but I can imagine the academy linked colleges will always be strong not only in numbers but also recruited talent whereas schools are still dependent on their intake.

Then again schools in the SH do recruit so the standard of getting into a 1st XV is probably similar to that of an age grade academy for the best schools in the SH.

fa0019 wrote:Is that a school or a college linked to academies? Impressive none the less but I can imagine the academy linked colleges will always be strong not only in numbers but also recruited talent whereas schools are still dependent on their intake.

Then again schools in the SH do recruit so the standard of getting into a 1st XV is probably similar to that of an age grade academy for the best schools in the SH.

I imagine a bit of both. The Blues' u16 north side is based at the college so I imagine any 16 year old within that region (Pontypridd, Merthyr, RCT) get placed at the college and the team is supplemented with other players.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_First_XV_Championship_%28New_Zealand%29#Super_8_and_Quadrangular_Tournament

They seem pretty good at that level.

That being said, they are one of many schools who feed into the Waikato Provincial Union who in turn feed the Chiefs. So I guess an actual Welsh equivalent would be a Welsh comprehensive school (say Whitchurch High) which feeds the Cardiff Schools District which then feeds the Blues regional side.

Speaking of Whitchurch high, I think they'd also be capable of turning over Hamilton.

GavinDragon wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn08_mKuR10&feature=youtu.be

Wales' top college this year beat Hamilton High School on their end of year tour.

Our media seem to be bigging up the significance of the win, saying that Hamilton are one of the top rugby schools in New Zealand. Can any NZers comment on this? I am assuming that both of these teams would be in the same age bracket (17-19)?

Gavin I'm struggling with the first line.

I thought this game was played in Wales? if Im correct it could hardly have been Hamilton Boys end of year tour as the New Zealand Secondary Schhol competitions only started last weekend. would it not be the first games of the year for Hamilton Boys?

It is a very impressive result for this Welsh School, as HBHS is a very big school I would guess their roll is well in Excess of 2000, and over the years they have produced many Waikato players and ABs.

AL I am probably incorrect on the end of year bit. But they are def on tour and this has been their only defeat. They beat Coleg Sir Gar (who lost to Coleg y cymoedd in the Welsh colleges final this year) last week

http://www.hbhs.school.nz/News/Watch-our-First-XV-in-action-against-Coleg-Sir-Gar-in-Wales-

The Welsh lads should be very proud of their performance and subsequent success, I guess tours like this would be part of Gatty's development schedule for Welsh youth rugby.

I think it should probably be tempered by the fact that the talent in Wales is concentrated in a smaller number of schools.

From what I can gather, while Hamilton are a very good and successful rugby school, there are other equally strong schools in Waikato. Where as Coleg Y Cymoedd are the best rugby school in the Blues North region.

Good result. Hamilton Boys is a good side. They tend to hoover up the talent in Hamilton and they're Gatlands old school. They're generally one of the top sides in the Chiefs region (along with the likes of Rotorua Boys, Tauranga Boys, Wesley College, New Plymouth Boys, etc). I'm sure they won the national title a few years ago (I think Bryn Gatland was in the side).

The season over here has only kicked off in the last month or so, and they're on tour, so it's a bit hard to get a gauge on how good they are this year.

Thanks for the info

Just thought I'd mention that a former Rotorua Boys High player has been named in Englands wider training squad.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11635827

Hamilton Boys won some kind of World schools trophy 5 - 6 years ago as I recall. The sad difference between Wales and NZ here is the matches would be live in NZ. Every week they have the Land Rover XV match live when a boys college game is shown live. Massive haka's by the teams and supporters and bib big crowds as well.

They show the Welsh college's league on TV don't they? It's either this college or Coleg Sir Gar winning it.

mikey_dragon wrote:They show the Welsh college's league on TV don't they? It's either this college or Coleg Sir Gar winning it.

Apologies if they do. Not been back to the UK for many years. It is a step in the right direction if they do

Coleg Y Cymoedd won it MD.

And Rainbow, all college games are on es pedwar ec on Wednesday afternoons I believe.

What I would like to see more coverage of however is the inter-regional competitions played at u16s and u18s. Some teams like the Ospreys and occasionally the Dragons put their highlights up on youtube but it is sporadic at best.

Yes GD, I was saying it's usually them or Coleg Sir Gar, as they've been frequent winners in recent years haven't they?

Yes they have. Both good schools. I wish Coleg Gwent could/would be as good.

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Just thought I'd mention that a former Rotorua Boys High player has been named in Englands wider training squad.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11635827

The funny thing is that with a name like that you'd expect him to be playing for Scotland..

lostinwales wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Just thought I'd mention that a former Rotorua Boys High player has been named in Englands wider training squad.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11635827

The funny thing is that with a name like that you'd expect him to be playing for Scotland..

I wouldnt have thought Teimana was a very common name in Scotland.

aucklandlaurie wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Just thought I'd mention that a former Rotorua Boys High player has been named in Englands wider training squad.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11635827

The funny thing is that with a name like that you'd expect him to be playing for Scotland..

I wouldnt have thought Teimana was a very common name in Scotland.

No, not in Scotland as a whole. Scottish rugby is a different matter.

lostinwales wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:

lostinwales wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Just thought I'd mention that a former Rotorua Boys High player has been named in Englands wider training squad.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11635827

The funny thing is that with a name like that you'd expect him to be playing for Scotland..

I wouldnt have thought Teimana was a very common name in Scotland.

No, not in Scotland as a whole. Scottish rugby is a different matter.

Yes, I get what you are saying, There are Maoris playing rugby all over the World.

Its just a bad joke.

'Teimana' has an English dad. He might be a 'poach' but hes been with Northampton since 2012 and done his time in the English system so has every right to get called up. I can't remember reading anything about him until this season though, but he has certainly had an impact.

Teimana Harrison was a promising rugby player at Rotorua Boys High School. He was captain of the 1st XV in about 2011. This is their second ex pupil in the current England squad (Hartley also played for the first XV). He was convicted of manslaughter (or something similar) in a jetski accident where another member of the team was killed playing on a small lake 10 minutes from Rotorua City (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10735542). An unfortunate case of kids horsing about. So English rugby is a new start for him. Good on him.