Nelson College First XV 2026: heritage, heart and a season still unfolding

Few schools carry as much rugby history as Nelson College. The College played New Zealand's first ever game of rugby in 1870 and has produced 23 All Blacks along the way, so every new First XV season adds another chapter to a very long story. Here is how the 2026 campaign is shaping up so far, as of mid-July.

A promising start

The boys got their pre-season rolling with a tidy 22-12 win over Liston College on 1 April, a useful hit-out before the competition proper. When the Miles Toyota First XV Premiership kicked off, Nelson opened with one of the games of the round, edging St Andrew's College 31-28 on 1 May in a genuine nail-biter at Nelson College. Three points the right way in a match like that is the kind of result a young side remembers.

Testing themselves against the best

The Miles Toyota Premiership is the Canterbury region's top schoolboy competition, and Nelson travel and host across some serious company. Canterbury Rugby's community manager Michael Sheat calls it "the pinnacle of schoolboy rugby in our region." The competition's defending champions, Christchurch Boys' High School, came out on top when the two sides met on 23 May, a stiff measuring stick for a side that has plenty of the season left to grow into.

That is the value of a competition like this. As Miles Toyota chief executive Mark Mills puts it, school rugby is "where young players learn discipline, teamwork, and resilience." Games against the very best are exactly where a First XV finds out what it is made of.

The fixture everyone circles

No Nelson College season is complete without the clash against neighbours Marlborough Boys' College, one of the oldest and most keenly contested school rugby rivalries in the country. It is a fixture that packs out the sideline, brings old boys back to the fence and means a great deal on both sides of the hill. Whenever it lands on the calendar, it is the one families across Tasman and Marlborough look forward to most.

What is ahead

With the Premiership still running and Tasman fixtures to come, there is plenty of rugby left in 2026 for the black and red. The early signs, a spirited opening win and a willingness to test themselves against the champions, point to a side building nicely. Whatever the results bring, the College's rugby community will be right behind them.

Follow the team through the official Nelson College channels: @nelsoncollege1stxv on Instagram and Nelson College Rugby on Facebook.

Results verified via Rugby Xplorer and Canterbury Rugby. This is a snapshot of the season so far and will keep evolving as more matches are played.