Last week saw another chapter added to Christchurch Girls’ High School’s remarkable reign in, while St Andrews’ College overturned last year’s champions to claim the Boys’ Premiership title.

‍Miles Toyota 1^st XV Girls’ Cup

Christchurch Girls’ High School remain Champions after a 62-5 win against Selwyn Schools Girls Combined last Wednesday.

Excellent culture is a prominent theme across successful teams, and is clearly evident with this CGHS side when looking at the points summary from last week’s final. Nine individuals dotted down across the line last Wednesday, proving each player was putting their best foot forward and playing as a team over individuality.  

“The fact that it is nine different people crossing the line, that tells me our attack shape works, and that everyone’s working hard to support. So that speaks to effort and work ethic”, says Head Coach, Angie Sisifa.

Taking out their 13^th consecutive title, it would be easy to put it down to a team stronger than the rest, but as students’ progress through the years of High School, it’s not a simple task to continue competing at such an incredible level year after year. Each season will see the end of a collection of senior players, leaving it up to the next group of leaders and debutants in line to continue the values and ethos of their school.

“Our reputation draws players in” Sisifa said, “secondly, there’s enough people from previous years in the space the following year to drive the same culture”.

“They bring the effort and they bring the drive. It made my job one hundred times easier because I could just teach technical and tactical and they bring everything else”.

A whopping 17 CGHS players have been named in Canterbury’s two U18 squads this season, further highlighting the depth of talent coming through the school.

Miles Toyota 1^st XV Boys’ Premiership

The boys’ final was highly anticipated with the two competing sides ending in a draw earlier in the season. Forty minutes in on Saturday St Andrew’s College held a 18-5 lead against last year’s winners, Christchurch Boys’ High.

Entering the second half, the defending champions came back fighting by dotting down over the try line quickly, but with STAC digging deep the trophy was off to a new home for 2026 with a 33-17 win.

For STAC Assistant Manager Mike Johnston, who has been involved with the institutions 1^st XV group for 26 years, seeing the team take out the comp was particularly special.

“To beat them on their home turf was pretty special. We’ve got a really strong Year 13 group, they’ve done pretty well coming through all the grades. To get to the pinnacle for these Year 13 boys, they’ve really worked so hard this year as a team and have such a good team culture”.

The result also holds another huge significance for the STAC side, as Johnston says CBHS have remained unbeaten at their home ground in this competition for an extraordinarily long time.

“No one had ever beat Boys’ High on their home turf in this concept of the competition for about 26 years. We were really focussed on our performance and what we could control. We knew if we put in the right performance the result would take care of itself.”

Johnston also highlights the addition of their new Head Coach and Canterbury player number 1577 Willi Heinz, as having a particularly positive effect on the team, “His connection with the boys, his delivery of messages and the quality of coaching has been absolutely outstanding” said Johnston, “he’s got the midas touch, I think”.

Miles Toyota CEO Mark Mills was thrilled to see two highly contested finals, “As the Official Community Partner of Canterbury Rugby, we’re incredibly proud to see the continued growth and success of the 1st XV competitions across the province. The high calibre of performances is a great reflection of the talent, hard work and strong team cultures being developed within our schools.”

Both CGHS and STAC hope to continue their success entering the South Island Finals this Saturday. While the girls will travel to take on Southland Girl’s, STAC will play Southland Boy’s in Christchurch. Both winners will enter the Top Four and be into play for the National First XV Championship.

Miles Toyota Boys’ Championship

The Miles Toyota Boys’ Championship will be played this Saturday in North Canterbury as Rangiora High School 1^st XV take on Christchurch Boys’ High 2^nd XV.

Grant Broderson, Head Coach of the RHS side says it’s been a year of growth across the board for the green and gold, with the inclusion of endurance coach Predrag Zatezalo and kicking coach Ricky Allin, alongside Canterbury resource coaches, helping the team and coaching staff develop across all areas of their game.

“It will be no easy feat going up against CBHS” says Broderson, “the team will need to stick to their roles, trust the game plan and trust each other. It will be a fantastic game and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

If you’re in North Canterbury, the heart of Christchurch or the deep South this Saturday, get along and support the teams, we know you’re in for some exciting rugby. If you can’t make it, keep an eye on the scores online and follow along as Canterbury’s 1st XV season heats up yet again.