But King’s High School’s home win over John McGlashan College was not as convincing as the 34-0 scoreline would suggest.
It was a big win for King’s in a season in which little has separated the top four teams in the Otago Premier Schools competition.
King’s coach Niall Gregg was quick to note McGlashan had been competitive throughout.
He said his side was forced to defend well and its forward pack had stepped up to quell plenty of pressure at various stages of the game.
He said the 10-12-15 trio of Dylan Pledger, Ben Paku and Sam Nemec-Vial kicked well to pin McGlashan in its own half.
King’s opened the scoring early when Nemec-Vail collected a kick and looked to counter.
He linked with Paku, who found openside flanker Michael Flanagan to put King’s up 5-0.
That remained the score for much of the first half, before a penalty made it 8-0 and a pick and go try to prop Mahonri Auva’a made it 15-0.
A McGlashan penalty hit the post and missed on halftime, but the visiting side took charge early in the second half.
It put the King’s defence under pressure and forced them to tackle well.
But tackle well they did.
They kept McGlashan scoreless and then King’s pulled away.
Paku scored two late tries to make the result convincing, both chip-and-chase tries in which Gregg said the side benefited from 50-50 bounces going its way.
The win takes King’s to the top of the table on a perfect 10 points after two games of the competition’s second round.
Both Otago Boys’ and Southland Boys’ High Schools claimed big wins in the other two premiership matches.
Otago Boys’ beat Mount Aspiring College 70-5, while Southland Boys’ hosted South Otago High School and claimed an 82-3 victory.
In the championship, Waitaki Boys’ High School took a 26-22 win over Dunstan High School, while St Kevin’s College beat the Combined Co-ed team 35-24.
