1st XV Rugby Reunion 2022

On Saturday 18 June, we hosted our annual 1st XV Rugby Reunion, celebrating the teams of 1952, 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2012. We had a fabulous turnout, with over 70 Old Collegians coming to the Rugby Pavilion to enjoy an overdue catch up with their old teammates, including two players celebrating 70 Years on, David Doak (OC 1952) and John Gunn (OC 1953). The room reverberated with the retelling of the best tries ever scored and whose team was the most successful, but as usual, rugby was the winner at the end of the day with our 1st XV triumphantly beating the Shirley Boys’ High School team 32–19.

David Doak, Peter Sturge (OC 1963), Paul Johnston (OC 1972), John Lane (OC 1982) and Chris Le Lievre (1993) presented the jerseys to the players before the game and shared some words of advice and encouragement. We were excited to welcome our 2002 Girls 1st XV Team, with Monique Gargiulo (OC 2005), Jemma Abrams (OC 2002) and their coach, Neville Myers, attending.

We also had some special family connections this year, with Paul Le Lievre (OC 1963) representing the 1962 1st XV and his son Chris, who had travelled from Sydney, to celebrate with his 1992 team. Chris Abbott (OC 1972) and his son George (OC 2003) were also both representing their respective teams, and Hamish Hill (OC 1992) had his own son, Angus, playing for St Andrew’s.

Thank you to all those who came from around New Zealand and Australia to make this such a wonderful day, and a special mention to Andrew North (OC 1992), the team’s Poet Laureate, for reciting such beautiful words about his memories of his fellow teammates.