RESILIENCE UNDERPINS ST THOMAS’ BACK-TO-BACK NZSST SUCCESS
St Thomas of Canterbury College created history last year by becoming the first school from outside Auckland to win the New Zealand Secondary Schools Tournament in 23 years.
But the team truly cemented their legacy last weekend by sealing rare back-to-back titles in 2024 with a series of outstanding performances at Auckland’s Bruce Pulman Park.
The jubilation accompanying their second straight triumph over the nation’s best schools has rivalled St Thomas’ initial landmark victory.
“It’s pretty special, to think where we’ve come from in terms of the rugby league program at the school and I know we’ve got some proud old boys that have been messaging, ex-staff members – to hear from them is pretty humbling,” says St Thomas’ coach, and the school’s assistant principal, Andrew Auimatagi.
“To see the boys perform the way they did, that’s why you do what you do and there’s some special memories we created on the weekend.”
St Thomas’ stamped their intentions on the opening day of pool matches on Friday, overwhelming Aorere College 42-0 and Manurewa High School 32-4.
But they had to dig deep on Saturday, outlasting De La Salle College 24-14 in their last group fixture and backing up three hours later to put away St Paul’s College – their opponents in the 2023 final – 24-4 with a dominant second-half display in the semis.
In a rematch with De La Salle in Sunday’s final, St Thomas’ raced out to an 18-0 lead but had their halftime advantage slashed to six points. A try with five minutes to go effectively wrapped up the title for the southerners, with De La Salle crossing in the dying seconds for a 24-18 final scoreline.
Auimatagi said this year’s success required just as much character as the watershed 2023 result, despite appearing to dominate the scoreboard throughout the tournament.
“Two different tournaments, but we still had some adversity,” he explains.
“On the Saturday, playing the two best Auckland schools back-to-back was a real challenge.
“De La Salle in the morning, they had quite a lot of ball and it was close there at certain points. And the semi-final that afternoon against St Paul’s, they were all over us in the first half and we managed to go into halftime at 6-4 into the wind with no ball or territory.
“They’re a really resilient bunch, they can score points but I’m probably more impressed with how they handled the pressure in some of those big games.”
Continuity and experience played an important role in St Thomas’ capture of another title, with a large contingent of the 2023 squad backing up this year.
Meanwhile, several members of the team featured in NSWRL’s junior competitions earlier this season.
“Those boys know what to expect and some of them have played at a high level being involved with Harold Matthews (NSWRL under-17s) and SG Ball (NSWRL under-19s) – their experience shone through and they definitely stepped up,” Auimatagi says.
“For those boys, you saw a bit of a coming of age with the maturity [they showed] – guys like Lennox [Tuiloma], Isaiah Savea and Bishop Neal, they’re only Year 12 but they performed beyond their years.”
Ten members of the victorious team were named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools 16s Boys (which also included Haeata Community Campus’ Casey Foi) and 18s Boys teams, while Neal scooped the tournament MVP award.
As is the nature of school sport, players frequently move on – a factor that added another layer of emotion to the achievement.
It’s a point that captain Meihana Pauling poignantly illustrated in his post-match interview amid the celebrations (watch below).
“It’s something we really acknowledge and celebrate, the service they give to the school and the community,” Auimatagi says.
“For a lot of our boys, it’s in the First XV jersey and the rugby league jersey. You’ve got some leaders within the school in the team and it means a lot for them to go out like that, and it was cool to see how much it meant to them.”
While St Thomas of Canterbury College’s success is ultimately a credit to the school’s program, and the commitment of the staff and the players, former Canterbury Bulls player and coach Auimatagi can appreciate what these victories mean to the local rugby league community as a whole.
An example of a rising tide lifting all boats, St Thomas’ is at the forefront of a massive increase rugby league in Canterbury is enjoying in junior and schools participation.
“It’s awesome to see the support from [throughout] Canterbury and it’s got people looking at our region. You see more opportunities come from results like this and it’s exciting to see what the future holds in that regard.
“The [NZRL National Youth Competition] coming here [in 2025] – credit to Southern Zone Rugby League and (General Manager) Liam Turner, and Canterbury Rugby League with (CEO) Malcom Humm – there’s just a great buzz around rugby league in the south and I guess that shows with the number of junior players in the game.
“We see the schools comp and the numbers growing in Canterbury, and St Bede’s and Hornby coming up to join us and Haeata at the [NZRL Secondary Schools] Tournament, so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.”
While the dust settles on last week’s accomplishments, Auimatagi reveals the players’ attention has already turned towards extending St Thomas’ NZSST dynasty with a threepeat.
“I haven’t been at school this week but seeing some of the comms on our Messenger chat, the boys enjoyed the week being back at St Thomas’ and already some of them are talking about next year, which is pretty cool.
“But they’ve got to enjoy this break and some of them are into the zonal rep stuff, you’ve got boys playing in the schools game, so there’s still plenty of footy left to play.”
