The first-ever Open Schoolboys Rugby League Competition in the Bay of Plenty (BoP) successfully kicked off this week.

The new secondary school competition will see five boys’ teams compete over seven weeks from Tauranga Boys’ College, Trident High School, Western Heights High School, Tarawera High School, and Tokoroa High School.

The launch of the competition follows great growth and development of rugby league in the district, as seen at the 2025 NZRL National District 9s Tournament, where the BoP 18s Boys side were crowned champions. This marked the district’s first national title in a number of years, with both the BoP Boys and Girls 16s teams also finishing in fourth place.

Blake Ayshford, NZRL Game Development Officer for BoP, shared, “We are very excited about the launch of the Open Schoolboys Competition here in the Bay, as it creates more opportunities for our rangatahi to play rugby league.

“We look forward to seeing the talent on display and providing schools heading to Nationals valuable game time before they venture to Auckland.”

In 2024, six teams from the BoP region competed in the NZRL National Secondary Schools Tournament. This included Tauranga Girls’ College and Rotorua Boy’s High School, who finished fourth in the highly contested Boys’ Premiership.

Participation from BoP schools in the upcoming 2025 Nationals is expected to grow with the introduction of the new Schoolboys Competition, which has encouraged the participation of schools new to rugby league.