The combined co-education side almost grabbed a win in its debut in the first round of the Otago premier schools competition.
The side made up of players from Dunedin metropolitan co-education schools went down 35-26 to South Otago High School in Dunedin.
The combined team had a commanding double digit lead during the match but tired and eventually lost in the last few minutes.
In other games, the Otago Boys' High School teams had commanding wins with the first XV beating Dunstan High School and the second XV winning out over St Kevin's College.
The three other games will be played next week as duck shooting strangely took priority over the first day of the school season for many.