Covid 19 coronavirus Delta variant: Magpies get weekend off as lockdown takes a grip on events

A chance for a repeat of last year's historic Magpies win over Canterbury is on hold with all rugby nationwide this weekend postponed or cancelled. Photo / File

The Hawke's Bay Magpies bid to score a second NPC rugby win over Canterbury in two years and Hawke's Bay's biggest netball weekend of the year are early casualties of the new Covid-19 lockdown.

The Magpies last year scored a last-second try at McLean Park, Napier, to beat Canterbury for the first time in almost 40 years.

The Magpies, with a win and a loss in the opening two games this season, were lining up for a repeat in Christchurch on Saturday in the third round of the 2021 Bunnings Warehouse NPC.

New Zealand Rugby general manager community rugby Steve Lancaster announced today that all rugby this week, at all levels, has been cancelled or postponed.

The games include the Magpies' match and the women's Tui representative team's Farah Palmer Cup match against Taranaki, which was to have been played on Saturday in Inglewood.

The next round and the first weekend's matches in the minor unions' Heartland Championship will be played at a later date in the competition.

Hawke's Bay Netball has postponed Friday night's Premier semifinals at the Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale and about 50 finals and playoffs, involving about 2500 players, that would have been played at the Mitre 10 Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park in Hastings on Saturday.

General manager Tina Arlidge said that even if the lockdown in Hawke's Bay ended on Friday it would be too late to make arrangements for the games to go ahead at the weekend, without knowing what conditions would apply.

All netball in the region was off until at least the end of the seven-day lockdown being applied in Auckland.

Magpies coach Mark Ozich said today was a scheduled day off for his squad, and a team of 23 plus coaches, management and support crew would have flown to Christchurch on Friday had the game been going ahead.

With the squad unable to assemble during lockdown, coaches and management are now working on the Magpies' preparation for the next match, a Ranfurly Shield defence against Waikato at home fortress McLean Park on August 28.

Arlidge said the netball matches couldn't be played under level 4 or level 3 conditions, and there would still be some difficulty in players-only conditions of level 2, under which some games were played last year.

Health in the community is the most important factor, she said, and added: "We're not going to take any risks. If worst comes to worst we'll just have to call it a season, but at this stage everything's postponed."

All public events and gatherings, including bars, restaurants, the movies and fitness centres are cancelled or closed during the Level 4 lockdown which in Hawke's Bay ends on Friday night, but possibly to be extended

Events after Friday already impacted by the alert include:

Postponed

Rugby:

Hawke's Bay Magpies v Canterbury; Hawke's Bay Tui v Taranaki; Hawke's Bay Development v Wellington Centurions; Hawke's Bay Under 19 v Taranaki Under 19

Netball:

All Hawke's Bay netball ball matches for at least seven days, including weekend finals and playoffs.