Hawke’s Bay v Canterbury: A tough NPC night in the cold for Magpies

Winger Jonah Lowe was given few chances in Friday's loss to Canterbury.

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies have hit their first bump on the road to a possible first NPC premiership rugby title by being beaten 26-7 by Canterbury on a chilly and damp Friday night in Napier.

In a match between two of the three sides unbeaten after the first three rounds, the Magpies had little opportunity to get near the chalk at the Canterbury end of the park.

With 17 tries from the first 240 minutes of the season, they could manage just one in the 80 minutes of the top-of-the table clash.

It came when, down 12-0 with 15 minutes gone in the second half, flanker Miracle Fai’ilagi managed to stretch the arm out long enough to take the five points in a lunge for the line.

First five-eighths Harry Godfrey, who had landed his first 15 kicks of the season until two misses on the same ground in a win over North Harbour six days earlier, slotted the conversion with aplomb.

But it was the only time he got a look at the uprights, perhaps, itself, the tale of the game: the Magpies, simply, weren’t enabled to spend too much time close enough.

When the Magpies did have the ball, which was often enough, Canterbury made sure the tackles counted, particularly in the inside backs, and were more than a nuisance charging down the ball.

The red-and-blacks’ two later tries, in the 63rd and 68th minutes, giving Canterbury the four-try bonus point, effectively shutting the gate on Hawke’s Bay’s hopes of beating Canterbury for a fourth time in the last five games against the southern rugby dynasty.

It was some payback for Hawke’s Bay’s 27-21 in Christchurch last year.

The Magpies’ next game is a twilight match in Whangārei next Saturday against Northland, possibly the 100th Magpies match for skipper and lock Tom Parsons.

The next game at McLean Park will be on September 6 against Wellington, the first for the Magpies without floodlights this season – because it will start at 2.05pm.

While Canterbury have had the better in the 65 matches between the two unions, with 37 wins, the matches in Hawke’s Bay have been evenly balanced, with Canterbury having had 15 wins to the Bay’s 14 and one draw.

Doug Laing has been a reporter for 52 years, more than 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay at the Central Hawke’s Bay Press, the Napier Daily Telegraph and Hawke’s Bay Today. He has covered most aspects of general news and sport.