It’s like for like as the Hawke’s Bay Magpies play Canterbury in Christchurch on Wednesday night with nine starting line-up changes from the side which beat Northland in last Friday’s Ranfurly Shield and Bunnings Warehouse NPC match in Napier.
Indicating the vast depth in the squad gathered by head coach Brock James, the nine coming in include eight who have played Super Rugby, in other professional competitions, or international rugby at some level.
The same applies to the nine being rested or put on the subs’ bench for the rotation of the second of three games in the team’s NPC storm week.
Hawke’s Bay is in Napier on Thursday, but the Magpies will soon be back on the bus for Sunday’s match against the Manawatū Turbos in Palmerston North, ahead of the next shield defence against current fellow unbeaten side Tasman in Napier on September 7.
Two more acquisitions from overseas have been named in the 23 for the midweek game, with 22-year-old Australian Lukas Ripley, picked-up in the demise of Super Rugby side the Melbourne Rebels, named for a Magpies debut at centre.
The other is Namibian international Le Roux Malan, 25, set to make his debut from the bench, also in the midfield.
He has recovered from fracturing an ankle while playing against the All Blacks at last year’s Rugby World Cup and winning a second American Major League Rugby title with New England Free Jacks, scoring tries in both finals, including the side’s only try in the latest triumph just over three weeks ago.
The changes include a break for halfback Folau Fakatava, but the starting line-up retention of Lincoln McClutchie at first-five-eighths, where he started on Friday, as he had done all of last season.
With 38 points, including Friday’s haul of two tries and five conversions, McClutchie is likely to move into the lead as the NPC’s top points-scorer for the season, after topping the list last year.
There’s a new starting front row, and Australian import Ben O’Donnell, scorer of a spectacular two of the nine tries against Northland, is one of three from Friday’s starting crew starting on the bench against Canterbury.
It will be Hawke’s Bay’s third Canterbury match in Christchurch in a row, but the sides did not meet last year, when the Magpies reached the NPC final for the first time.
In Napier in 2020 Hawke’s Bay beat Canterbury 20-19, to record the Magpies’ first win over the southerners since the 1980s and the following year a 45-26 victory was Hawke’s Bay’s first in Christchurch since a 1968 victory, during the Magpies’ 1966-1969 shield era and eight years before the first NPC games.
In Christchurch in 2022 the Magpies led for much of the game, including 13-5 at halftime, but Canterbury won 32-28.
The Hawke’s Bay Magpies team for the Bunnings Warehouse NPC match against Canterbury in Christchurch on Wednesday, starting at 7.05pm, is: Hadlee Hay-Horton, Kianu Kereru Symes, Joe Apikotoa, Geoff Cridge, Tom Parsons (captain), Josh Gimblett, Cooper Flanders, Hugh Renton, Ereatara Enari, Lincoln McClutchie, Neria Fomai, Danny Toala, Lukas Ripley, Freedom Vaha’akolo, Harry Godfrey.
Reserves: Tyrone Thompson, Lolani Faleiva, Joel Hintz, Hunter Morrison, Sam Smith, Sam Wye, LeRoux Malan, Ben O’Donnell.