It has been three years since King’s last recorded a win against their rival. But the Otago Schools Rugby Championship game also doubled as an interschool game and it was the first time King’s had beaten Otago Boys’ in that fixture since 2007.
And to labour the point a little further, it was also the first time King’s had beaten Otago Boys’ in an interschool at Littlebourne since 1999.
King’s coach Niall Gregg was rather happy about it too.
"They just left it all out there today," Gregg said.
"That was evident in their emotions after the game. There were a lot of tears because they had given it everything they had."
It was Otago Boys’ first loss in the competition this season and they dropped to second place in the standings.
Southland Boys’ moved ahead of them courtesy of a 40-7 win against Wakatipu in Invercargill.
In the other division 1 match, John McGlashan beat South Otago 49-0 in Dunedin.
In the division 2 games, Dunstan beat St Kevin’s 35-14 in Alexandra, Waitaki Boys’ beat Mount Aspiring 46-22 in Wānaka, and Taieri College edged Otago Boys’ 22-21 in what was a big win for the coeducational school.
But King’s produced the story of the weekend.
Otago Boys’ scored just before the break to take a 14-12 lead into halftime.
But King’s did all the scoring in the second spell.
Winger Sione Makanesi scored a try and Dylan Pledger nudged over the conversion and a couple of penalties with the wind at his back.
Otago Boys’ attacked for most of the final 15 minutes but could not find a way through King’s solid defence.
Openside Thomas Lewis was a standout performer for King’s. He put his body on the line and made a lot of covering tackles.
Pledger’s place-kicking proved influential and No 8 Quinten Holland made some nice runs and even better offloads.
