Rugby: Magpies chase history-making moment in NPC semi-final

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies will be vying for a place in history when they return to Wellington on Saturday to live out the dream of becoming the first Hawke’s Bay team to reach the final of a national provincial rugby championship.

But it will be without any big secrets: coach Brock James will stick to the “every game is a test now” mantra, naming the strongest and most consistent available starting XV and bench for the third time in a row since the 20th 18th Ranfurly Shield and NPC win win over Wellington in Wellington on September 30 and last week the NPC’s 38-28 quarter-final win over Bay of Plenty in Tauranga.

Finally, midfielder and vice-captain Brad Weber will make his 50th appearance for Hawke’s Bay in a career spanning over 260 All Blacks, Super Rugby and NPC appearances, while forward Ollie Sapsford also marks his 50th cap Black and White, his career began with home union Mid-Canterbury in 2016 and included one game for Australia A earlier this year.

Sapsford scored 15 tries for Hawke’s Bay.

A major milestone was passed last Sunday when first five-eighth Lincoln McClatchy made four conversions to take his total in 62 matches for Hawke’s Bay to 440, the fourth-highest total in Magpies history.

He is also the NPC’s top scorer this year ahead of Canterbury’s Fergus Burke, who will play in the other semi-final against Taranaki on Friday night. Hawke’s Bay don’t have anyone in their top ten scorers.

With a 57–7 win in the final home match of the season, the Magpies’ character came to the fore in the next two wins as well as in four successive narrow wins to start the season, particularly impressively in goal. 26 unanswered points after missing four tries in the first half and losing 28-12 eight minutes before half-time last Sunday against Bay of Plenty.

Compared to Bay’s Ranfurly Shield history – including winning the trophy four times in the last decade – Bay have had a dismal record at the top NPC levels, although they have retained a loyal support base and have consistently commanded some of the biggest crowds in the competition.

Although they played their first Division One game when the NPC was founded in 1976, they spent the first 16 years of the 11-team First Division without finals, never finishing higher than seventh place, never achieving a result better than 50/50, being twice relegated and failed to win more than one game in a season five times in 10 years in the division.

Hawke’s Bay survived the first two years of the nine-team era with semi-finals and finals, finishing 8th and 9th, before being relegated again with a record of 0 and 8 in 1993.

He then endured a string of missed opportunities, two seasons in the second division of the Central Vikings Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu merger in 1997 and 1998, and did not appear in the top flight again until the 14-team professional expansion and the arrival of Air New Zealand. Rugby Cup 2006.

With just one win and a draw from six games in the first year of the new regime, the Magpies reached the NPC semi-finals for the first time in 2007 and are in the top four for the fifth time in 2023.

Other memorable moments include winning the Division Two finals in 2011, 2015 and 2020, although they only came in 8th place.

Hawke’s Bay and Wellington have played each other 11 times in the last 10 years, with the Magpies winning 5, Wellington 4 and drawing 2. At the Sky Stadium, the awards were shared by two wins and a draw.

Hawke’s Bay won the 2015 championship final (NPC bottom seven) between the two teams in Napier, while Wellington won last year’s NPC quarter-final between the two unions in Wellington.

The big difference is that Wellington has won the NPC five times (1978, 1981, 1986, 2000, 2022). The Lions have an NPC record in 2023 of 10 wins and one loss (to Hawke’s Bay), while the Bay have 8 wins and 3 losses (to Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Northland).

The Magpies squad for Saturday’s 7.05pm game at Wellington’s Sky Stadium includes: 1 Puri Rocket Stones, 2 Tyrone Thompson, 3 Joel Hinz, 4 Geoff Kridge, 5 Tom Parsons (captain), 6 Marino Michaele Too, 7 Josh. Kaifa, 8 Devan Flanders, 9 Brad Weber, 10 Lincoln McClatchy, 11 John Lowe, 12 Chase Tiatia, 13 Nick Grigg, 14 Ollie Sapsford, 15 Lolagi Visinia.

Subs: 16 Jacob Devery, 17 Tim Farrell, 18 Bo Abra, 19 Frank Lochore, 20 Sam Smith, 21 Folau Phakatawa, 22 Stacey Ealy, 23 Caleb Makene.