Rugby Union at Sacred Heart College
Rugby has been played at Sacred Heart College since its opening in 1903 with the overarching philosophy to ensure that every Rugby player at the school achieves to their full potential. Every player will be given the opportunity to play Rugby to the highest level of which they are capable.
In the last 15 years Rugby has started to realise its potential at all levels: from restricted weight grades, where we have always been traditionally strong with consistent contenders and winners for semi-finals and finals, to the improvement in the open-weight Rugby categories. Allied with this has been a marked improvement in 1st XV results, particularly in the last 13 years where Sacred Heart has contested the Auckland 1A semi-finals in 10 of these years, and also contested finals in 2016, 2017, and 2023. The 1st XV achieved their best result in 58 years by winning the 2023 1st XV 1A championship. This has meant that more of our top players are gaining exposure at a high level and the very best have been selected to represent New Zealand at schoolboy level.
Rugby is offered in the Sports Institute in Years 8 to 10. Competition for places is extremely tough with each player having to trial every year to retain their spot; players are required also to continue to achieve well in other areas of school life.
In the past two years, we have had 16 players contracted to under 20 Rugby academies across New Zealand. This is wonderful from a Rugby perspective but is also good that these players will receive support for ongoing study at a tertiary level.
Sacred Heart College rugby statistics:
- 24 All Blacks
- 2 Wallabies
- 1 Welsh international
- 4 Tongan national team players
- 4 Samoan national team players
- 16 Junior All Blacks
- 26 New Zealand Colts
- 11 Maori All Blacks
- 19 New Zealand Schools representatives
- 3 New Zealand sevens
- 10 New Zealand Universities
- 1 All Blacks coach
- 3 All Blacks selectors
Rugby Supporters Club
Since 1903 young men have been pulling on the Sacred Heart rugby colours of dark blue, light blue, and red. The jersey has heritage and mana, and has been worn proudly by generations of boys.
Since 2011 the 1st XV were in 10 1A semi-finals and went on to contest the grand final at Eden Park in 2016, 2017 and 2023, finally winning the championship in 2023 after a 59-year wait. In that same time, the College has won 40 championships in grade rugby. More importantly, 330+ Sacred Heart boys play rugby each season. Help us to continue the Sacred Rugby legacy.
Find out more
Admin Login