Timaru Boys' brings home Rankin Cup for first time

Monday, 4 September 2023

Timaru Boys’ High School’s First XI hockey side has made history by bringing home the Rankin Cup for the first time.

The Rankin Cup and India Shield is New Zealand’s top secondary school hockey tournament, which sees 32 qualifying teams go head-to-head with the top 16 playing for the Rankin Cup and the bottom 16 playing for the India Shield.

TBHS went up against hockey teams from across New Zealand, winning the final against St Bede’s College 2-0 on Saturday afternoon in Wellington.

Coach Ben Grant said the team had been training and playing together since early March, with the Rankin Cup final their 42nd game together.

“It's been a pretty unreal journey for the team,” Grant said.

“But this is the result of some pretty hard work put in by the boys and their dedication to the game. They were calm and composed, and they played some outstanding hockey.

Players Ryan Caldwell and Jack Neal scored one goal each to nail the victory.

Grant said the team had put in two incredible performances during pool play to reach the final.

“One was against New Plymouth Boys’ High School where we won 4-1. They were the tournament favourites.

“The other was in the semifinals against Auckland Grammar School where we won 5-1.”

Grant said the school had reached the top 16 to play for the Rankin Cup on six previous occasions, reaching the finals in 2019, but losing 2-0 to Dunedin's Kings High School.

Caldwell was the second-highest individual goalscorer for the tournament with 12 goals, just two goals behind Connor Harvey, of Napier Boys’ High School.

TBHS and New Plymouth Boys’ High School tied to share top honours for the most team goals scored, with 42 goals each.

Grant said the players’ dedication to win the game against St Bede’s stemmed from a 1-0 semifinal loss against St Bede’s at the Canterbury Secondary Schools tournament three weeks prior.

TBHS and New Plymouth Boys’ High School were tied and led the chart in the overall team goals with 42 goals each.

“We were pretty hungry for revenge,” Grant said.

“There was quite a lot of hurt in that game we lost, but we learnt a lot about ourselves mentally and what we needed to do to win the Rankin Cup final.”

The team were still on cloud nine, their coach said.

He said the team had “unbelievable support” from family members, who were present at the finals, players from the past, the assistant coaches, managers and others from all over the community.

“We had over two dozen supporters book flights to Wellington a day before the finals when they found out we were in the finals as they wanted to be part of the moment.

“It was a pretty emotional moment when we won. The boys have put in a lot of hard work and they were over the moon when they won. I don't think some of them have come down from cloud nine.”

The next phase for the players would be moving on to club hockey and some may even play representative men’s hockey down the track, Grant said.

“For now they will enjoy a well-deserved break over the summer.

“This was my last season with the team, and I’ve been with them for 12 years.”

His advice for the future coach and the next group of players? “Drive a positive culture in the team. It’s not just about developing good players, but it’s about developing good men.”