Hi there everyone,

With the shortest day behind us for 2009 we are at the heart of the winter sports season and there has been a large amount of activity with all of our teams.............

* the 1st XV broke their duck against previously unbeaten Napier BHS on Saturday in an enthralling 28-25 win in which the lead changed several times. This was after close losses to Rotorua & New Plymouth previously. The 2nd XV continued their very good start to the S 8 competition with a close win over NBHS after earlier beating Rotorua & New Plymouth. Still on a rugby theme the Steamers squad for the AirNZ Cup has been named & includes Old Boys Tanerau Latimer, Jason Hona, Lance McDonald, Ben Smith & Josh Hall. Those following rugby closely may have seen Old Boy Ryan Nicholas, previously of the Highlanders, knocking over conversions from the side line for Japan in last weeks loss to the Junior All Blacks in Samoa. Ryan has played his club rugby there for several seasons now & thus qualifies for their side after representing the Cook Islands at 7’s while he was still at school....

* Super 8 cross country was held some weeks ago and our teams in the Year 9, Junior & Senior divisions all performed well but placed second. Regan Bones (Senior) & Michael Sutton (Junior) were individual race winners. That competition was followed by the BOP champs where TBC reigned supreme winning all 3 team titles and Bones & Sutton again victorious. These races were excellent lead up to Nationals in Nelson where the Seniors placed 2nd in the 6 man team & Sutton ran a superb race to take out the national Junior title.

* Super 8 Clay target shooting was held in Hamilton and our team were victorious with Scott Verran High Gun against shooters from Hamilton BHS & Palmerston North BHS respectively.

* Super 8 for Badminton saw our team place 4th of the 8 sides participating.

* Our Bowls teams have enjoyed some success in recent weeks. A team comprising Ben Keenan, Cody Stevens, Cameron Higgins & Nic Thomsett took out the BOP Lawn Bowls title while several of these individuals were on deck to win the Indoor Bowls BOP title as well. Ben Keenan is the son of Old Boy & Staff Member Warren who was a pupil in the early 70’s.

* Quite a number of pupils have been named in various NZ squads in recent weeks ......

• Ryan Hayes & Mitchell Harris have been named in the Under 16 Water Polo team
• Matthew & Peter Bridgwater, Adam Ling, Max Clout & Toby Earp Cunliffe-Steel are triallists for the Under 21 Australasian Rowing champs.
• Sonny Hirini (U 17), Jeff Thwaites & Matt Sargent-Clarke (U 18) & Cameron Shaw, Nick Shanks & Luka Craig (U 19) have been selected to play Volleyball in NZ sides at the Australian State Champs later in the year.
• Tiarn Ririnui ( son of Old Boy rugby star Barry) is NZ U 14 champ at Taekwondo and has just returned from Australia where he won gold in a Trans-Tasman contest. He is aiming to contest the Junior Worlds in Mexico later in the year.
• Bradyn Church, Ben & Callum Gibb & Shaun Travers are currently in Europe preparing for major Whitewater Kayaking events in France. They will be joined by other paddlers Haven Bellamy,Laurence Brown, Carl Whitehead & Andre Sperling ( son Of Old Boy & Staff member Rob) in the Under 18 squad preparing for the Australian Secondary School Champs in Melbourne later in the year.
• In Jesse Offner (Senior) & Owain Fineron (Junior) the school has 2 of the best young rock climbers in the land. These 2 along with Quintin Graham have been named in the national training squad.
• Surfer Matt Hewitt has continued his outstanding success of last year and just been named in the 2009 Billabong ISA Men’s surfing team.

* Our Junior exchange with Rotorua BHS was successful the under 15 Hockey winning 8-2, Football winning 7-1 & the Under 14 Rugby winning 25-22. The only side to lose was the Under 15 Rugby that went down 0-7.

* Record numbers have signed up for Hockey this year and the school fields 8 teams each week. The first XI has just won the Kiwifruit Cup which is the first round of the championship with a convincing 4-0 win over Mount men. Twenty two players from the school will be away from Tauranga representing either the Under 16 or Under 18 rep teams in the coming school holidays. The Under 18 side is Coached by Old Boy Narayan Singh.

* the annual BOP/Waikato secondary schools burger making competition was held in Hamilton recently & again TBC was dominant !!!! Troy Sorrenson (Junior) & Liam Knight (Senior) took out the NZ Beef & Lamb sponsored competition which culminates with finals in Auckland in September.

To finish for the term a couple of other notes on the Old Boys.......

• Mahe Drysdale has started the summer rowing season in Europe well, being one of 5 Kiwi gold medallists in the first major World Cup competition of the season. He is sculling at the Henley regatta in England this weekend.
• Peter Burling is back on European waters too in his 49er yacht building up to World Champs later in the northern summer.
• Decathlete Brent Newdick has had some injury problems over the past 12 months but is back in good form as he posted a personal best at a track meet in Europe in the last couple of weeks.
• For anyone keen on viewing some art in Hamilton in the next 3 weeks  Old Boy Glen Leslie opened a new exhibition at the Ramp Gallery at WINTEC on Collingwood St. last week. I attended the opening which was very successful with several of the items sold already .......

TOMORROW (Wednesday) is the annual Westlake exchange in Auckland followed by Old Boy drinks at the Pounamu on the Shore between 4-6 p.m. It would be great to see a good turnout for either games, drinks or even better both.... Check the website for details ... http://www.tbcoba.org.nz

All the best for now ......

Rob Leslie