Condor 7's:
The Mount Albert Grammar School team qualified through the regional competitions some months ago for the 26th Condor 7's tournament alongside 16 other schools throughout New Zealand. They finished runners-up to Kelston Boys' High School who were last year's champions as well.
Congratulations to the team on their strong performances and to Brody Lam and Aaron McLelland on being chosen for the tournament team. Photo report.
Results for MAGS are as follows:
| vs Whangarei Boys' High School | Won 31-7 |
| vs Southland Boys' High School | Won 48-0 |
| vs Scots College | Won 32-12 |
| vs Palmerston North Boys' High School - Quarter-Final | Won 24-17 |
| vs Auckland Grammar School - Semi-Final | Won 19-14 |
| vs Kelston Boys' High School - Final | Lost 10- 35 |
Rugby Sevens - October 2012
The Boys' Sevens won the the Auckland Sevens title on Saturday for the second year in a row. They have qualified for the national sevens tournament in December.
Results:
| MAGS 24 Mt Roskill Grammar School 14 | MAGS 44 Howick 0 |
| MAGS 17 Onehunga 15 | 1/4 Final: MAGS 40 Tangaroa 0 |
| Semi Final: MAGS 42 Botany Downs Sec College 0 | Final: MAGS 19 Auckland Grammar School 10 |
The girls sevens finished 4th in their 1st ever competition for the school.
Results:
| MAGS 12 Onehunga 10 | MAGS 14 Tamaki College 15 |
| MAGS 12 Edgewater 0 | Semi Final: MAGS 0 Auckland Girls Grammar School 15 |
| 3rd / 4th : MAGS 7 - Tamaki 17 |
The Mount Albert Grammar School Boys Sevens Rugby team was looking forward to the challenge of defending their title in the Auckland Secondary School competition on Saturday.
In pool play MAGS played Mt Roskill Grammar School and this was a very tough physical game. Mt Roskill really took it to MAGS and they were the first to score. In the 2nd half MAGS finally kicked into gear and scored some good team tries. The final score was 24 14 to MAGS and the team were happy to get their first win of the competition.
In their second pool match MAGS played Howick College in what turned out to be a one- sided game. MAGS were too quick and powerful for their opposition. George Edwards, Ethan Thompson and Brody Lam made some great breaks for MAGS during this match. Final score was 44 0 to MAGS.
In the final match of pool play MAGS played a very skillful and powerful Onehunga High School side. Onehunga scored early to hit the lead and then scored again just before half time to lead 0 - 10. MAGS in the second half were desperate to score early. A try under the post to Dylan Lam got MAGS back into the game. Brad Moyer scored a great solo try with an excellent chip and chase and re-gather of the ball close to the line. This made the score 10 15 to Onehunga with just two minutes left on the clock. MAGS scored again with a well-constructed team try under the post and the conversion was successful to make the score 17 15 to MAGS with only seconds remaining. MAGS were able to hang on and win 17 15.
MAGS had Tangaroa College in the quarterfinal and were keen to put in a dominant team performance. Aaron McLelland had an excellent all round game and scored two long-range tries. Irae Simone was also very dominant during this game and made some excellent line-breaks. MAGS finally put an excellent team effort together and ran away with the game to win 40 0.
In the semi final MAGS played Botany Downs Secondary College who had two excellent wins over St Peters College and Otahuhu College to qualify for the top four. MAGS were keen to put on another dominant performance and carry on with their momentum gained from their quarterfinal win. MAGS scored two back-to-back tries early and Botany Downs never recovered. MAGS were excellent at the break down, were able to spread the ball wide and break a number of tackles on numerous occasions. Brody Lam scored an excellent long-range try from the kick-off in the second half to put the result out of reach for Botany Downs. The final score was 42 0 to MAGS.
In the final MAGS played Auckland Grammar School. AGS scored two tries in the first half to lead 0 -10 at half time. AGS had the ball for most of the first half and should have scored more points. MAGS were excellent in defense and were desperate to defend their own line. MAGS needed more possession in second half, if were to have any chance of winning. Aaron McLelland out sprinted the opposition to score an excellent length of the field try to get MAGS back into the match. Shortly after Dylan Lam barged over the line from a quick tap penalty and the conversion was successful to make the score 12 10 to MAGS. From the kick-off Brody Lam intercepted a pass to score under the posts with less than a minute remaining. MAGS desperately defended their line again in the last minute of play. MAGS won the final 19 10 and were thrilled with the victory. Congratulations to coach, Albertian Rocky Khan and the boys for winning back-to-back Auckland Sevens Rugby titles.
The Mount Albert Grammar School girls team made history on Saturday by being the first girls rugby team to ever play in a competition for the school. They had a fantastic first up win against Onehunga High School 12 10.
MAGS played Tamaki College in their second game and this was a tough and physical game. MAGS were leading 14 -10 with only seconds remaining. Unfortunately Tamaki scored a try on full time to win 15 14.
In their last pool game MAGS won 12 0, beating Edgewater College. The goal was to make the semi finals and this was achieved.
In the semi final MAGS played Auckland Girls Grammar School. This was going to be a tough game but one our girls were looking forward to the challenge. MAGS attacked for the whole first half but could not score. AGGS defended their line well and on half time broke out to score a try. The girls were disappointed at half time because they had not turned the pressure they were putting on AGGS into points. AGGS scored two more tries to win the game 0 15.
The injury toll was mounting for MAGS but the girls had to get up for the 3rd / 4th play-off against Tamaki College. Tamaki scored early but MAGS replied with an excellent team try on half time. In the second half both teams were out on their feet but they never gave up. Tamaki scored two late tries to win the game 7 17.
Star players for MAGS were Te Ao Frandi, Aotea Frandi and France Bloomfield. Ramsey Tomokino did an excellent job as coach, with most of the girls playing rugby for the first time. This experience will make the team stronger next season.
Mount Albert Grammar School High Performance Rugby Appointment and 1st XV Coaching Appointments for 2013.
As a result of the retirement of Bryan Williams and the restructuring of rugby coaching, some changes have been made. Last week, I had the great pleasure of appointing Mr. Geoff Moon to the newly created position of High Performance Manager/Director of Rugby and Head Coach of the 1st XV. He will take over from Charlie McAlister as head coach of the 1st XV. Charlie has experienced great success here at Mount Albert Grammar School and has taken our rugby to a new level. We wish him well for the future.
Geoff Moons coaching credentials are second to none. Most recently he has coached Premier Club Rugby at Papatoetoe and was the Auckland Premier Coach of the Year in 2011. Geoff has coached a range of representative teams including the Blues development side and the Blues colts and he has coached an invitational team against the All Blacks. As a professional coach overseas, Geoff was forwards coach for the Bristol Rugby Club in the Guinness Premiership and was the manager of the Bristol Rugby Academy. His coaching record at secondary school is also excellent. He was Head Coach of Aorere College for 7 years and De La Salle College for 3 seasons and led 10 defences of the Moascar Cup.
Geoff is a trained teacher. He has taught at Otahuhu College, Aorere College where he was Head of the Physical Education and Health department and Senior Dean and at De La Salle College as Director of Sport, Senior Dean and Teacher in Charge of Outdoor Education.
Geoff really impressed the appointments panel as a man who has a vast amount of experience in the school environment and in particular rugby development. He is fully supportive of the MAGS Way and is a parent of a junior boy at the school.
His role is to lead rugby at Mount Albert Grammar School. He will be responsible for the development of programmes and players at all levels. This will include our academy programmes. Geoff will continue in his role as coaching manager for Counties/ Manukau Sport until the end of this year but will be spending time at school during term 4 making the necessary preparations for next year.
Geoffs first task has been to appoint Mr James Hantz to work with him with the 1st XV for 2013. Another appointment is pending. James Hantz has been taking the rugby academy and coaching the Under 15s for the past six seasons at the school. He has been coaching at secondary school level for the past 12 seasons and is really looking forward to the challenge of coaching at 1st XV level. He has also been Head Coach of the Ponsonby Under 21s for the past two seasons and has been coaching a number of Auckland representative sides for the past four seasons.
Information around pre season training for all the teams will be sent out at the beginning of Term Four.
Girls' Rugby
History was made when a girls' rugby team played for the school for the first time. The 7's team scored two draws: 0-0 vs Onehunga High School and 5-5 vs Waitakere College.
1st XV vs Kelston Boys' High School - Saturday 4 August, 2012The team started well and had Kelston under pressure for long periods of time, but vital errors at important times would cost us continuously. |
1st XV vs Onehunga High School, Saturday 28 July, 2012The team started slowly and missed an early penalty shot after some vigorous play from Onehunga. We could see from the start that this was going to be a hard game and would later be proven correct. |
1st XV vs Auckland Grammar School, Saturday 21 July 2012From the off set, the intensity was high and bar a 10-minute period of bedlam, the game was won and lost. After Grammar gave away a sinbinning offence, we thought we were in with a chance to capitalise. |
1st XV vs St Peter's College - Saturday 23 June 2012We were caught fringing around the ruck and we gave a penalty away, which was converted to bring the score to 7-3 in the 10th minute. |
1st XV vs Tangaroa College -Saturday 16 June, 2012There was a lot of pressure put on ourselves with many mistakes and bad option taking being a cause for concern at times. If it had not been for some good scrambling defence and mistakes by the opposition, we could have been down at halftime. |
1st XV vs St Kentigern College, Saturday 9 June, 2012They attacked our line repeatedly and, with great defence by both forwards and backs, we could see them getting frustrated. |
1st XV vs. De La Salle College, 26 May 2012Following several penalties, De La Salle lost a player to the bin and we kicked for touch and finally gained the ascendancy with some good inter-change and support play from Ethan Thompson off George Edwards who made a telling run down the right flank. |
1st XV vs. Otahuhu College, Saturday 19 May 2012With regular starters on the bench with niggling injuries or side-lined due their injuries, this would be a hard game to overcome. |
1st XV vs. Sacred Heart College, 12 May 2012We seemed to be on the back foot throughout the first half and, with sustained pressure from the opposition, we relinquished an early converted try. |
1st XV vs. King's College, Saturday 5 May 2012Our play was very erratic and this allowed the opposition to make huge metres at times, due to some aimless kicking and lack of ball control. |
1st XV vs Tamaki College, Saturday 28 April 2012The game began very well with a sustained opening phase of play culminating in a well-constructed try. |