Four in a row: Southland Boys' High take the Southern Schools title again

Some runs are worth stopping to appreciate, and Southland Boys' High School are in the middle of one.

The Invercargill school won the Southern Schools competition for the fourth year running on Saturday, beating King's High School 49-17 at Les George Oval. That is four titles on the bounce, and a competition winning streak that now sits at 35 matches.

The scoreline tells you it was a good day, but the detail tells you more. Will Garrick scored three tries. Charlie Byrne, Jack McKeay and Mito Faalialia all crossed as well. And at fullback, Jack Brock had the sort of afternoon goal-kickers dream about, landing all eight of his attempts. Eight from eight in a final is proper composure.

What makes the four-peat interesting is not that a strong team kept winning. It is that the team keeps changing. Senior boys leave every year. New ones step up. Coach Jason Dermody put his finger on exactly that afterwards.

"For us, it's pretty special, because every now and then you have two years where it's quite good, but then you get to four with a whole new bunch of boys, it's pretty cool."

That is the hard part of school sport. You cannot hold a squad together the way a club can. Every season is a rebuild, and the schools that stay on top are the ones where the culture carries over even as the faces change. Four in a row with a whole new bunch of boys says the culture at Southland Boys' is doing the heavy lifting.

Credit to King's High as well. Getting to a final against a side on a 35-match roll takes a season of good rugby, and they will have learned plenty from the occasion.

It does not stop here for Southland. Next up is the South Island final in Christchurch, with a place in the national Top Four finals on the line. That is where a very good regional season turns into a genuine tilt at a national title.

One to watch, wherever your school loyalties sit.