Johnny Van Der Valde and St. Thomas of Canterbury College Set to Surprise At Condor Sevens (Some technical issues preventing me from posting this on the website) St. Thomas of Canterbury College was a surprise package at the 2013 Condor Sevens. Attending the tournament for the first time, the small boys’ Catholic school reached the Cup quarter finals by topping their group. St. Thomas stunned St. Peter’s College (Auckland), Palmerston North Boys’ High School and Massey High School in Pool Play to establish a showdown with Scots College in the quarter-finals. Johnny Van Der Valde, one of three returning players in 2014, explains the cruel twist of fate that St Thomas suffered against Scots. “Our captain broke his ankle in a tackle and Scots won a turnover. They had a couple of phases and then broke on the outside and scored a try. Our captain couldnt get across in time to make the tackle.” Scots went onto narrowly lose the final to Kelston Boys’ High School. St. Thomas went home having overachieved, Van Der Valde (the son of a Dutch father and Tongan mother) recalls, “We didnt really know what to expect last year, but we were really excited to be there and were proud of the way we preformed. It will be tough to perform like that again.” It hasnt been an easy year for rugby at St. Thomas. The First XV was last in the Press Cup, winning only two games. The performances of Van Der Valde were one of the few highlights. After recovering from a broken collarbone, the halfback scored eight of the teams’ 24 Press Cup tries and earned selection for the Canterbury Under-18 team. Van Der Valde laments, “It was one of those years where we had no luck at all. We had a lot of players leave last year and then suffered a lot of injures this year. Most weeks we were struggling to get a team on the field.” St. Thomas did manage to beat Burnside High School, 28-16. Burnside was the second best co-ed school in the South Island, but otherwise defeat was the order of the day which is why Van Der Valde is looking forward to the Condor Sevens. “Sevens is a completely different game, our performance last year proves that. At the Condor sevens you often see schools that you wouldn’t expect to do well, doing well. In sevens the tactics are different and it’s more about speed than size.” The Canterbury Sevens were held on November 7. In pool play St. Thomas accounted for Papanui High School and Timaru Boys’ High School, before edging Shirley Boys’ High School in extra time in the quarter finals. In the semi-finals, St. Thomas faced Press Cup Champions Christchurch Boys’ High School; Van Der Vadle describes what happened. “We were pumped up for the semi-final and started where we left off against Shirley. I scored two tries and we were up 14-0. We were defending well, but Christchurch scored just before halftime to make it 14-5. In the second-half they scored again to make it 14-10 at which points things were looking grim. In the last play they won a penalty and their winger made a break from the tap. The winger was caught by our defence and threw the ball infield, one of our players caught the ball, kicked it out and the game was over. We all jumped up and down. We were real happy.” St. Thomas lost the final to St. Bede’s College, but by virtue of making the decider earned a place at the Condor Sevens. Van Der Valde, who plays in a sweeper role, says the teams’ experienced players need to step up in Auckland. “George Gosling and Malo Tautalafua are two players to watch. They went last year. George is a flanker in the First XV and a prop in sevens. George is a real workhorse. Malo is our big guy. He is a strong ball carrier and hurts on defense.” Tautalafua is also a goal-kicker who scored 59 points in the Press Cup, St Thomas only scored 168 points in 14 games. St. Thomas will be well served by new coaches Kieran Coll and Paul Burton. Burton is a stalwart of the Burnside club and Coll the captain of the Christchurch seniors and a former Hawke’s Bay representative. Van Der Valde is also an adept touch and league player. He intends to stay involved with rugby and study at Christchurch University next year.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 23:35:40 +0000
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