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Kelston Boys’ High School have upset defending champion Mount Albert Grammar School 26-17 in the annual Condor Sevens, the national schoolboy tournament.

Both sides scored two tries in an exciting first half with blockbusting Pita Ah-Ki crossing twice for the West Aucklanders and Tama Keresoma and Damon Niko replying for MAGS.

Hahona Uitimei-Paraki, one of three brothers in the Kelston team, broke the 12-12 deadlock straight after half time and added a second minutes later.

The sideline conversion from brother Solomona sealed the victory, despite a late consolation to Dillan Halaholo, and their first Condor Cup since 2002.

Coach Mark Ozich was thrilled to defeat their arch rival.

“It was a tough battle and could have gone any way,” he said. “At 12-12 at half time our boys worked on their defence and kept their composure and defence wins matches.

Ozich was particularly impressed with his younger players.

“We had about 50-60% back from last year so we tried to blend in the experienced players with the new boys off the bench. They stood up and did really well for young kids”.

Kelston were rewarded with three players in the Tournament team, with Ah Ki, Solomona Uitemei-Paraki and Junior Tofa-Va’a joining three from MAGS, two each from Hamilton and Wesley and others from Rotorua and Westlake.

MAGS had looked the more comfortable heading into the final after a 19-10 semi final win over Hamilton Boys’ High School.

The Waikato side opened the scoring in the semi final through Joseph Webber, but 15-year old Fred Stewart’s 11th try of the tournament levelled it up.

Captain Matt McGahan then slipped a tackle to give MAGS a 12-5 lead before producing a stunning impersonation of Ben Gollings, the IRB point scoring record holder, with a left-foot chip and chase try to stretch the lead to 19-5 at the break.

Kirtis McNaughton’s try was little consolation for Hamilton late in the match.

Meanwhile, Kelston and Wesley College couldn’t be separated after the first half of their semi with Matt Howling (Kelston) and Sireli Tagicakibau (Wesley) each scoring in the corner.

Wesley’s early second half pressure saw a try to Sione Olive give them the lead, but a gliding run from Solomona Uitimei-Paraki put Kelston back in front 12-10.

Ah-Ki capitalised on a Wesley mistake and Hahona Uitemi-Paraki sealed the Kelston victory 22-10 with a try on the buzzer.

They stepped up again in the final to deny MAGS and win their third title in the 24 year history of the event.

Westlake won by default over De la Salle College in the Plate while Rotorua took out the Bay of Plenty derby in the Bowl, beating Tauranga 33-17.

The MAGS ‘B’ team took home some silverware for the blue and golds defeating One Tree Hill College 22-7 for the Shield.

Earlier, MAGS’s top team had coasted through pool play without conceding a point and continued their sparkling form in the quarter final against Whangarei Boys’ High School winning 43-0 with Fred Stewart scoring four tries.

Hamilton Boys’ High School, the 2008 winners, were made to fight hard in Pool B against the Condor RFC selection before winning 31-24 and had a close call with De la Salle wining 22-19.

In the quarters, however, three tries to Jesse Dodunski gave them a 34-5 victory over Westlake BHS from North Harbour.

De La Salle then had their opportunities against Kelston BHS in a tense quarter final. Both sides scored once in the first half but an error on their goalline gifted Kelston the lead 12-5 early in the second spell.

With the sizeable crowd cheering on their schoolmates, Kelston’s Junior Tofa-Va’a produced a great solo run to seal the victory 19-5.

Wesley College, after three easy pool wins, found Feilding HS a tougher proposition in their quarter final. Trailing 7-12 at halftime Wesley struck back in the second half to ease away 26-12.

Ah-Ki (Kelston) was named Player of the Tournament and Stewart (MAGS) won the Best and Fairest award.

Tournament team:
Pita AH-KI (Kelston BHS)
Sonny ALI’FA’ALOGO (Wesley College)
Kallum ANDREWS (Hamilton BHS)
Louis DEVERY (MAGS)
Malakai FEKITOA (Wesley College)
Dillon HALOHOLO (MAGS)
Teimana HARRISON (Rotorua BHS)
Matt McGAHAN (MAGS)
Fabian TAGO (Westlake BHS)
Junior TOFU-VAHA (Kelston BHS)
Solomona UITIMEI-PARAKI (Kelston BHS)
Joseph WEBBER (Hamilton BHS)

RESULTS FROM THE 24th CONDOR SEVENS, Auckland

CUP
Quarter Finals
Mt Albert Grammar School 43 Whangarei Boys’ High School 0
Hamilton Boys’ High School 34 Westlake Boys’ High School 5
Kelston Boys’ High School 19 De La Salle College 5
Wesley College 26 Feilding High School 12

Semi Finals
Mt Albert 19 Hamilton 10
Kelston 22 Wesley 10

Final
Kelston 26 Mt Albert 17

PLATE
Semi Finals
Westlake 7 Whangarei 5
De la Salle 28 Feilding 7

Final
Westlake WBD De La Salle

BOWL
Quarter Finals
Otahuhu College 59 Auckland Seventh Day Adventist School 7
Tauranga Boys’ College 26 Mt Albert Grammar School B 22
Rotorua Boys’ High School 33 Condor RFC 0
Avondale College 21 One Tree Hill College 10

Semi Finals
Tauranga 32 Otahuhu 0
Rotorua 32 Avondale 14

Final
Rotorua 33 Tauranga 17

SHIELD
Semi Finals
Mt Albert WBD ASDA
One Tree Hill 19 Condors 10

Final
Mt Albert 22 One Tree Hill 7