All for the Shield, and the Hawke's Bay charity

Magpies players join charity Nourished for Nil. Photo / Supplied

The Hawke's Bay Magpies are calling on every possible motivation ahead of Saturday's Ranfurly Shield defence against Otago at McLean Park in Napier – including a new jersey.

The one-off jersey is part of the support for chosen charity Nourished for Nil. The team and its union hope for similar results to when the Magpies last packed-down in a charitable shirt – raising $17,000 last year to support a drought-stricken farming community and scoring Hawke's Bay's first NPC win against Canterbury in more than 35 years.

The Magpies also need redemption after a disappointing Bunnings Warehouse NPC away loss to Taranaki in the Magpies' return the Premier division last Saturday. The team wouldn't want the Shield to return to Dunedin, where they claimed the famed rugby prize by beating Otago 28-9 last October.

The union, team and major sponsor Total Oil considered more than 50 nominations for 19 charities to support this year, before deciding on Nourished for Nil, in what has become a full-on effort for players, who worked on the front line at the charity's depots in Hastings, Napier and Flaxmere.

Nourished for Nil was founded in 2017 to rescue high quality food from sources where it would otherwise be thrown out and redistribute it to people in need every day except Sunday, feeding up to 1800 people each week.

Hawke's Bay Magpies centre Stacey Ili models the jersey his team will wear in Saturday's Ranfurly Shield match in support of charity Nourished for Nil. Photo / Supplied

HBRU marketing officer Brooke VanderPeet said: "We are very excited to be working with Nourished for Nil and promoting what they do, as it is such a prevalent issue at moment. This is an exciting opportunity for the Magpie boys to engage with the community through different volunteering options such as sorting through the food or handing out food parcels."

Magpies head coach Mark Ozich said he drives past each day on his way to work and has noticed the line at the Hastings depot growing "significantly".

"It was really hard to select just one from the 19 amazing organisations operating here in the Bay, by teams of wonderful, dedicated people," said Total Oil marketing coordinator Sharni Wakeman.

"Nourished for Nil stood out to our staff, who all voted for their favourite, as this would be benefitting what they do for the community, but also the fact that they are helping with the reduction of waste and the environment," she said. "It is also one of our major focuses as a business."

Nourished for Nil founder Christina McBeth said being chose as the recipient of the charity jersey for 2021 is "wild beyond our expectations".

"We are humbled and super excited to have our name alongside the Magpies for a special game," she said. "We also look forward to having some of the players come and take part in a food distribution service."

As an addition to the food the programme collects, the Hawke's Bay union will run a food drive at the game, where clean and empty Total Oil drums will be placed at each gate for people to bring a can or a packet of non-perishable food that can be donated to Nourished for Nil.

Fans will be able to again get their hands on one of the 23 match jerseys, which will be auctioned off individually on Trade Me, the proceeds going to the charity.

A limited number of charity jerseys will also be produced for sale through retailers, and they will no doubt be as popular as the previous design, VanderPeet says.

"We want to thank all the charities that put their name forward for this opportunity. We see all the hard work that you do in the community and would encourage you to apply for this opportunity next year."

The team to wear the jersey will be named announced on Friday.