Boys' High primed for TV outing
22nd July 2010 03:47PM
The Hamilton Boys' High School First XV are readying themselves for their fourth Super Eight rugby match – and it's one that's likely to be watched by more sets of eyes than usual.
Their clash at home against Napier Boys' High School will be Sky TV's live weekly game on the rugby channel, and with that comes a fair share of extra pressure.
HBHS, who are the reigning Super Eight and national champions, have started the competition in fine form with three bonus point wins from their first three matches.
However, they haven't played as a unit during the school holidays, although 11 of their players were part of the Chiefs Under-18 side which competed in last week's regional tournament in Hamilton.
The rest of the side have continued training hard but coach Nigel Hotham knows the preparation hasn't been perfect for what was also a Moascar Challenge Cup defence.
"It's a difficult time.
"It's a little bit disjointed," Hotham said.
The fact that the match would be watched by more than the usual number of spectators could be tough for the players to adapt to and Hotham acknowledged there was some extra focus on keeping the players level-headed.
"There's a different element there that you have to plan for during the week," he said.
Hotham had been told by Sky that since they began showing live school games this year, their rugby channel subscriptions had risen by 40 per cent.
"I think it's been a huge boost to first XV rugby, a real positive," Hotham said.
He acknowledged that if the players were to go further in the sport they would have to get used to the bigger audiences at some stage, so now was a prime time for them to do so.
"It's certainly something that top rugby players have to adapt to." For Saturday's game there are question marks over the availability of both fullback Henare Hira and second five-eighth Joshua Fa'agalue. Both are carrying injuries.
Napier will come into the contest with two wins and a loss so far and in recent years the two sides have been evenly matched.
Although HBHS haven't lost to them in the Super Eight since 2003, last year they were separated by only seven points and there was a draw the year before that.
Napier's fullback Manihera Eden and No8 Kaleb Sweet are expected to be the key to the visitors' chances, and Hotham managed to see them in action for the Hurricanes Under-18s, noting that his players would have to limit Eden's damage off the back of the scrum and Sweet's injections into the attacking line.
One of the major things he was getting his players to focus on was to provide more opportunities for their backline, where they would be aiming to utilise that strong facet of their game.
