Two schoolboy teams have to front up to the Auckland Rugby Union tomorrow and explain how a match between them degenerated into a brawl on Saturday.
Players and up to 100 spectators were caught up in the fight, which erupted in the last minute of a secondary schools semifinal between Auckland Grammar and Kelston Boys' High on Saturday.
The fight, after a last-minute Grammar try sealed a 20-9 victory for the school, lasted five minutes and led to at least one schoolboy being knocked out, according to a witness.
The union's disciplinary committee has asked for coaches, managers and captains from both schools to attend the hearing tomorrow evening, as well as an advocate for each team.
The committee will listen to both sides of the story, view footage from the game, and study the referee's report.
The teams will be told at the end of the hearing if any penalties are to be imposed.
Because the competition's final, between Auckland Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar, is scheduled for Saturday, any appeal would have to be made before the weekend.
"The secondary school rugby competition is a very competitive one and always has been," said union chief executive Andy Dalton.
"But for that to turn into an all-out brawl involving players and spectators is simply disgraceful.
"The two teams and their schools now face media attention for all the wrong reasons, as well as a judiciary process in a week that one team should have been looking forward to playing their school rugby final at Eden Park."
NZPA