It is a lot easier to mow through a toothpick with a chainsaw than slice through a mighty totara with a kitchen knife.
Now there is a useless metaphor for life, unless you are that 60kg stripling who has to defend an opponent perhaps twice your weight each weekend.
It is an unavoidable reality that plays out each week during the Otago premier schools rugby competition.
The season finished on a high with Otago Boys’ High School edging Southland Boys’ High School 26-24 at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
It was a tremendously competitive game that could have gone either way.
The same cannot be said for the entire competition. And some of the co-educational schools, which have struggled to foot it with the top four sides, would be happier playing among themselves.
The Otago premier schools competition is in the second year of its current format, and many of the biblical mismatches of the past have been eliminated.
But Otago Secondary School Rugby Council chairman Greg Heller acknowledged there was a big difference between the top four and the other eight teams.
‘‘The coeds are toiling away manfully but often they just don’t have the depth that the boys schools have got,’’ Heller said.
The scoreboard is less of a concern to the toothpick tackling the totara, though. It can become a safety issue.
Dunstan High School coach Reon Smith said player welfare was ‘‘definitely a concern’’.
‘‘We had seven injuries, and three were season-ending,’’ Smith said.
‘‘We had [a player break his leg] in the game against King’s.
‘‘When you are in that top six, we had to play those four top teams bang, bang, bang in a row and that is what wrecked us for the season.
‘‘We ended up struggling for confidence and are just coming right now.’’
In his view, the structure needed tweaking to avoid a repeat of that situation.
St Kevin’s College coach Justin Fowler said he did not have any safety concerns this year. But that could change from year to year depending on how young the available players were.
‘‘There is a feeling that it is certainly hard yards in that top six when you’ve got to play those top sides in a row.
‘‘Maybe if teams [ranked] five to 12 had their own comp — I think that would be a really good competition.
‘‘But it is not the big schools’ fault they are much better than everyone. I suppose it is a challenge for everyone else to get there.’’
The competition structure has the top six and bottom six divided into two separate pools — the premiership and championship respectively.
At the end of the first round, the bottom two premiership sides are demoted and top two championship sides promoted.
Following the second round, the teams split into top, middle and bottom four for the playoffs.
But the pressure really goes on the two teams that join the top four — Otago Boys’, Southland Boys’, King’s and John McGlashan, generally — in the premiership.
‘‘That was certainly something that was identified as an issue last year by the schools that were coming up,’’ Heller said.
‘‘But we said we’d give the competition two years without any changes, so now it is open for debate.’’
Heller said there had been some preliminary discussion concerning possible changes for next year.
‘‘We have had a chance to have some dialogue with the boys’ schools, and that dialogue will be ongoing.
‘‘We will do the same with our coed schools as well.
‘‘We just want the best overall rugby experience for the boys playing across the region.’’
Otago Boys’ coach Regan Turoa felt his players belonged in a school competition playing against their peers rather than in a colts grade, as has happened in the past.
He also felt some of the coed schools were more competitive than they gave themselves credit for.
‘‘They only thing I would say is it would be hard coming up from the bottom six to the top six,’’ Turoa said.
‘‘But the likes of St Kevin’s and Waitaki proved they are good teams.
‘‘We played Waitaki in an interschool and it was only in the last 10 minutes we ended up winning.
‘‘It was a very, very close game.’’
- Dunstan will host South Otago in an Otago coeducational elimination match today. The winner will host St Kevin’s College in the Otago final on Saturday.
The Otago winner will play Central Southland College in the Highlanders final in Winton on August 28 with the prize being a spot in the South Island final a week later.
