You have to beat Otago Boys’ High School First XV to hold that honour and it will take some doing.
But King’s High School First XV will start planning Otago Boys’ downfall today after clinching the premier schools title with a 10-8 win against John McGlashan College First XV in the final at Hancock Park.
King’s went through the tournament unbeaten which was an impressive effort. But bigger challenges loom.
A win against Otago Boys’ this weekend will result in King’s playing Southland Boys’ High School in the Highlanders final.
The winner of the Highlanders competition will play the Crusaders champion for the right to join the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes winners in the national finals.
That is a lot to play for and King’s have not thought about until now, co-coach Ryan Bambry said
"We did not mention it once — but we can start planning," Bambry said.
"We got the interschool really, really wrong."
That was in May and Otago Boys’ won the match 32-5.Bambry felt his side went away from the game plan. The team had prepared well but the emotion of the match caused King’s to get "sucked in" to playing a different game.
"We need to make sure we heed the lessons from that and go there with confidence. We have nothing to lose."
One area which might prove a challenge for King’s is its scrum. The McGlashan pack had the better of the set piece, although King’s did lose massive prop Sepa Vaka to an ankle complaint after 10 minutes.
"The boys work hard and we do a lot of front-row stuff. It is not a concern at all," Bambry said.