First XV Rugby wins the 2026 CNI final

Journalists NZ Herald Bruce Holloway & Adam Julian 

St Paul’s set new Central North Island records. 

St Paul’s Collegiate have set new Central North Island (CNI) records and have secured an eighth title after an emphatic 44-5 final victory over St Peter’s (Cambridge) in the final at Owen Delany Park in Taupō.

It was the biggest final-winning margin in CNI history as St Paul’s took home both the Taine Randell Cup and the Rick T Francis Memorial Shield in their first championship since 2021.

For St Peter’s there was the heartbreak of a second successive final loss after being beaten 48-12 by Feilding High School in the 2025 final.

St Paul’s stormed to a 39-0 half-time lead after blindside George Benjamin opened the scoring in the fifth minute.

There were further tries to left wing Caleb Blake, fullback Jackson Hay, halfback Jamie Silich and No 8 Lachie Young (earning his 40th cap) before the break as St Paul’s applied relentless pressure.

St Peter’s did manage to staunch the flow in the second half though and even score a consolation themselves through loosehead prop Joshua Aukuso, though there was still a try to St Paul’s right wing Billy Smyth.

St Paul’s director of rugby Paul Hodder paid tribute to his forward pack.  “The lineout and both attack and defence have been excellent, and our scrummaging has come on leaps and bounds,” Hodder said. “We’ve always applied pressure and we’ve got a bit of a theory around disrupting the opposition ball.

“Obviously a solid set-piece is always going to help you on attack, but I think a core group of our boys are good quality rugby players and they’ll just continue to grow.”

When the colleges clashed back in May it was considerably closer with St Paul’s getting home 36-29.

But in the final, Hodder said St Paul’s were slicker through their phase play and carried really hard.

“Defensively, we applied pressure to the rucks so they couldn’t really get anything going and we challenged them at every option.

“But it was a pretty social first half, to be fair.”

Between 2014 and 2021 St Paul’s had 69 wins, five defeats and two draws in winning the titles from 2014-16 and again from 2018-21.

Since 2016, St Peter’s record is 73 wins, 31 defeats and five draws in 109 matches. They have lost four semi-finals and the finals in 2016, 2025, and 2026. They shared honours 36-36 with St Paul’s in the 2021 final.

This Saturday August 15, St Paul’s take on Hamilton Boys’ High School in the Top 4 Qualifier for the Chiefs region – kick off 12pm at HBHS and livestreamed on the link below.