All three Otago schools competing in the national secondary schools touch championships recorded top-six finishes in Auckland at the weekend.
After missing out on the major semifinals, King's High School finished sixth after losing 8-7 to Whangarei Boys' High School in its final game.
St Hilda's Collegiate and Columba College also missed out on the girls major semifinals after the first two days of competition. However, the two Dunedin schools clashed in the fifth-sixth playoff after winning their plate semifinals.
St Hilda's beat Columba 2-1 to snare fifth place. Hamilton Girls' High School and Rotorua Boys' High School won the girls and boys grades respectively.
King's High School started the championships with a hiss and a roar, thrashing Trident High School, King's College and Waitakere College by a combined 27-5.
However, losses to Whangarei Boys', Hamilton Boys' and Westlake Boys' on day two left them playing off for spots outside the top four.
Columba also went undefeated on day one to top its pool in the girls competition, while St Hilda's won two of its three games to finish second in pool D.
St Hilda's suffered an agonising 5-4 loss to eventual champion Hamilton Girls' to start day two, before beating St Peter's School 5-2 and losing 8-5 to Saint Kentigern College.
Despite beating Burnside High School 5-0 and Mt Albert Grammar 4-3, a 3-1 loss to Southland Girls' was enough to mean Columba missed out on the top four.
King's High School's Taylor Haugh, an Otago sevens representative, and Josh Duff were selected in the boys tournament team, while St Hilda's Abbey Johnston made the girls tournament team.
