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������Դ’s Sport and Rugby Institute is hosting hundreds of secondary school pupils and supporters over the next few days for the 2017 NZ Secondary Schools Rugby Top 4 Barbarians’ championship.

The championship brings 12 schools to the University’s Manawatū campus to compete in three divisions: single-sex boys’, co-ed and single-sex girls’. The Blues, Waikato and Hurricanes regions will each field a team in each division, as well as one team from the South Island. Schools gain entry to the tournament by winning their respective regional finals.

St Kentigern College, Hastings Boys’ High School, Hamilton Boys’ High School and Southland Boys’ High School will compete for the NZ Barbarians National 1st XV Cup.

Rangitoto College, Feilding High School, St Peter's College, and St Andrew's College will compete for the NZ Barbarians 1st XV Trophy.

Southern Cross Campus, St Mary's College, Hamilton Girls, and Southland Girls’ High School will compete for the Women’s National title.

The competition represents the final chance for players to impress national selectors for national secondary school squads touring New Zealand and Australia later in the year. If selected, players will attend a camp at the Sport and Rugby Institute from September 21 to September 26, to gain selection into the National Secondary Schools XV or the NZ Barbarian Schools XV.

The Barbarians will play two tests at the Sport and Rugby Institute against Tonga U18 team on September 28 and the New Zealand Maori U18 on October 2, while the National team will head to Australia.

Sport advancement coordinator, Jacob Oram, says the weekend is a great opportunity for athletes to showcase their talent on the national stage.

“It is all part of our commitment to be an athlete-friendly university through our Sport@Massey initiative. Massey is fast becoming a hub for sport and we are committed to promoting sporting relationships, events and programmes across the board.”

The Sport and Rugby Institute will host two of the three South Island qualifiers, with the other 10 teams will be accommodated in the city. Sky Television will broadcast six matches.

The semi-finals for all three competitions are on Friday, with the finals to follow on Sunday.

Draw

Semi-finals: Friday

Boys'

1.10pm: St Kentigern College v Hastings Boys' High School
2.55pm: Hamilton Boys' High School v Southland Boys' High School

Girls'

10.30am: Southern Cross Campus v St Mary's College
11.45am: Hamilton Girls' High School v Southland Girls' High School

Co-ed

1.30pm: Rangitoto College v Feilding High School
2.45pm: St Peters School Cambridge v St Andrews College