THE Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School enjoyed a memorable conclusion to their tour of New Zealand when they became the first side in three years to defeat Christchurch Boys High under-15.

In a physical encounter, tries were scored by Chris Watson, Seb Robinson and David Bromage, who also added a conversion, as Bishop's squeezed home 17-12.

There were outstanding performances from George Moczulski, Ollie Frost and Jack Hodges, who gained the man of the match award.

The win wrapped up a very successful tour with three games won and the first, against Auckland Grammar School, lost by just a single point.

Even against Auckland, Bishop's were unlucky to lose 11-10 and scored two tries to their opponents' one. Hodges and James Morris were the Bishop's scorers with Russell Williams named man of the match.

Against Palmerston North, Bishop's got into their stride with a 24-12 victory. Man of the match Watson grabbed two tries and converted one while George Karayiannis and Williams also crossed for scores. Bromage added the other conversion.

In the third match, Bishop's came up against Heretaunga under-18s but showed their mettle to gain a 10-7 victory.

There were tries from Hodges and Watson with Robinson turning in a man-of-the-match performance.

The player of the tour was Ollie Frost who also captained the side.

Bishops under-15 B team played shadow matches with the A team opponents and although they were unable to record a victory they came very close on a couple of occasions to upsetting the more experienced New Zealand schools. They were well organised and well led by skipper Chris Knight with Jack Blankley rated man of the tour.

Unsurprisingly, the Bishop's side were defeated when they came up against an Auckland side packed with 17 and 18-year-olds but a substantial improvement against Palmerton North saw a narrow defeat underlined by a late try.

Players two or three years older again packed the Hutt International Boys School side who won comfortably and the final game saw some pride restored at Christchurch, despite the handicap of losing skipper Chris Knight with a broken finger after just a couple of minutes.

Results: Auckland 46 Bishop's B 0; Palmerston North 29 Bishop's B 15 (tries: Jack Blankley, Mike Powell; con: Eddie Ballanger; pen: Eddie Ballanger); Hutt International Boys' School 81, Bishop's B 0.