Report: Annual Tauranga Boys’ College Traditional Exchange
On Saturday 27 April just prior to the start of Term 2, the first of the winter sports exchanges took place with Auckland Grammar School hosting Tauranga Boys’ College. All matches were played in fantastic spirit and the performances of all teams (which included the Premier Basketball, 1st XI Football, 1st XI Hockey, the 1st and 2nd XV Rugby teams) bodes well for their upcoming winter season.
The Premier Basketball team played with confidence and accuracy from the tip off, racing out to a large lead after just the first quarter. From here, they continued to accumulate points and restrict Tauranga to secure a comfortable 97-61 win.
The 1st XI Football team began the exchange on the turf. With the score at 0-0 at half-time, the 1st XI team conceded three goals through the second half, but fought back well to score one of their own. The final score was a 4-1 win to Tauranga.
The 1st XI Hockey team showed promise in many of their early attacks, eventually scoring from a penalty corner to take a 1-0 lead at the half. Tauranga then built some good attacks of their own on the back of a lot of possession, but the 1st XI defended superbly to deny Tauranga an equaliser and win the match 1-0.
The 1st and 2nd XV Rugby teams closed out the exchange, with the 2nd XV team playing at The Cage, and the 1st XV team taking to the No. 1 field for the first time this season. Both games were exceptional contests between evenly matched teams.
The 2nd XV led for long periods of their game and scored to take a 14-10 lead early in the second half. However, they could not quite hold on and conceded a try late in the game to go down 17-14.
The 1st XV trailed 7-5 at half-time, but scored a converted try off a set piece move midway through the second half to take a 12-7 lead. Tauranga camped inside the Grammar 22 for long periods at the end of the game, but the Grammar defence held strong to close out the game by winning a tighthead scrum on their own line in the last play of the match, with the final score 12-7.
All of the teams involved would like to thank the students and staff members that came to support them at the exchange on Saturday.