Winter Sports Updates

1st XI Hockey Team Wins Eastern Zone Tournament

The 1st XI hockey team represented Saint Kentigern Boys' School at the 2023 Eastern Zone Hockey Competition on June 19 at Lloyd Elsmore Park, Pakuranga. For the first time, the competition was run as a 7-a-side tournament, so sadly only 12 members of the team could attend. There were two pools of teams.

Our team were the winners of Pool A, who then continued on to the semis and finals, with the final against arch-rivals Kings. After a hardfought game, the boys were thrilled to come away as the victors 1–0. The winning goal was the result of great teamwork and passing with Sean Doherty in the right position to score. With captain Ben Roberton absent due to illness, Ben Cleaver stepped into the role and was ably backed up by his teammates. The boys are to be commended for their exemplary behaviour and sportsmanship – a credit to our school values. Thank you to Betsie Warner for coaching these boys to a win.

Year 7s at Auckland Zones Football

Pool play Opposition Score

Game 1 St Heliers 7–1

Game 2 Churchill Park 4–0

Game 3 Glendowie 10–0

Semi-final Stonefields 9–0

Final Kings 1–0

On 13 June, our Year 7 team represented the Eastern Zone at the Auckland Football Championships. This is a tough competition with the best footballers in Auckland competing for their schools. Our boys started the day strong, winning their first pool game convincingly against Kedgley. Northcote was our second game and a much tougher encounter. The boys were nil-all just before half time, but conceded a late penalty putting them 1–0 behind at the half. Northcote, full of confidence, took the game 3–0 with our boys left a little shell shocked. To their credit, they rallied in their final pool game to beat Rosehill and stay alive in the competition.

The semi-final was all one-way traffic for our boys, scoring early and then keeping the pressure on Bucklands Beach Intermediate. They really wanted the opportunity to challenge Northcote again and worked hard for each other in this game.

The final was a pool-play rematch against Northcote. The boys had played so well and were confident of challenging them this time around. We started well with several chances on goal but weren’t able to convert. The game was very close with both teams missing opportunities to take the lead. With five minutes to play, Hugo Turner struck a free kick high into the top corner to give us the lead. We just needed to hold on for a few minutes, but Northcote came out fighting and with one minute to play, they scored their equaliser! In the end, the honours came down to penalties. Unfortunately, Northcote were more accurate from the spot and took the championship with a 5–3 penalty count. Our boys played extremely well all day, showing character and resilience to reach the final and finish in second place.

Pool play Opposition Score

Game 1 Kedgley 5-0

Game 2 Northcote Loss 0-3

Game 3 Rosehill 2-0

Semi-final BBI 9–0

Final Northcote 1-1, penalty shootout loss 3-5

Churchie Boys Grammar NZ Tour

After a four-year hiatus, we welcomed back our Australian friends from Brisbane, Churchie Boys Grammar. We last saw them in 2019 before the Covid pandemic hit and put our schools’ close relationship on hold.

The boys and staff from Churchie come to New Zealand not only to play sport but also to take in tourist attractions. Before coming to our school, they were in Rotorua where they went on the luge and visited Whakarewarewa. The weather was perfectly fine for their sports visit to us, a far cry from the previous week’s weather.

Churchie Boys Grammar brought football, rugby, and basketball teams to play against our boys. As their year groups are slightly different in age to ours, we selected Year 7 boys only to play against them. This was a great chance for our Year 7s to play in their cohort as they normally must play with our Year 8 boys. The games were super competitive. The rugby was close, with Churchie winning 27–17. On the basketball front, Churchie also won 64–33, however we were too strong in the football, winning 11–nil.

After the games, speeches were held and the boys traded badges. We then had our famous pies and donuts that all the boys and staff loved! We look forward to seeing our Churchie brothers back in New Zealand soon.