At 20 years of age, Hawke’s Bay Magpies wing Jonah Lowe looked earmarked for an All Black jersey not too far down the track.
But, despite consistent form over a decade, and having played in all the relevant teams along the way, the loyal Magpie seems destined to be “All Blacks Almost,” to use the title of a book written by a former Hawke’s Bay journalist.
On Thursday, after training ahead of Saturday’s Bunnings Warehouse NPC semifinal against favourite Canterbury in Christchurch, asked if he had any issues with not making the All Blacks, he said:
“I’m not really fussed. I’m 29. I’m happy. I’ve done everything I wanted to do in rugby.”
Everything, that is, except winning the NPC.
He got right to the front door when the Magpies lost 22-19 to Taranaki in the final two years ago, Hawke’s Bay’s only first division final in the competition’s 50 years.
For Lowe, Canterbury is something special.
His Magpies debut, in his first year out of school in 2015, was against Canterbury, and two of his most memorable games were against those in the red and black.
At McLean Park in 2020, he was in the first Magpies side to beat Canterbury since 1982, and 12 months later the first to beat Canterbury in Christchurch since 1968.
He scored in both, among the 29 tries in his 84 games for the Magpies.
In his first year out of school he played in the first Hurricanes Under 20 team, and made his debut for the Magpies, at centre, against Canterbury, who won 29-14 in Christchurch.
In 2016 he played for New Zealand in the World Under 20 Championships in England, the following year, just turned 21, he played for Provincial Barbarians in the opening match of the British Lions NZ tour, and in 2018 was a try-scorer in each of three matches for the Māori All Blacks on an American tour.
One of three Magpies to have appeared in all 11 games this season, Lowe’s also played Super Rugby for the Hurricanes, the Chiefs (for whom he once scored four tries in a game), and the Highlanders, with whom he has a season left on the contract.
In surpassing 100 points for the Magpies, he has emulated brother Karl, who scored 21 tries in a 100-match career from 2004-2013, also without an All Blacks jersey.
Possibly the match Lowe recalls best was the 20-18 Ranfurly Shield win over Wellington, in Wellington, in 2023, the first of four compelling games in four weekends.
A week after the game in Wellington, the Bay beat Bay of Plenty 38-28 in an NPC quarterfinal in Tauranga, followed by a 25-24 semifinal win over Wellington back in Wellington, and then the 22-19 loss to Taranaki in the final in New Plymouth.
Hawke’s Bay’s previous touches with Canterbury in NPC playoffs were a 31-21 loss in 2008, and a 20-3 loss in 2009.
Having had 2024 off with an ACL injury: “It’s been pretty good. It was a reset for me, to have a year off and come back”.
To win this weekend and next, would be “pretty special.”
“We would have loved to have a home semifinal and final, but the boys are happy to play wherever it is.
“It is what it is,” he said. “They just want to get down there and get the job done.”
Doug Laing has been a daily newspaper reporter since 1973, three years before the first NPC match, covering most aspects of news and sports, including rugby.