NPC Battle of the Bays: Hawke’s Bay v Bay of Plenty shapes as a cracker

Hawke's Bay substitute Andrew Tauatevalu (centre) gets the acclaim after scoring on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor, Action Press

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies and the Bay of Plenty Steamers have set up a big Battle of the Bays ′25 after two big wins in the sixth round of the Bunnings Warehouse NPC over the weekend.

With three tries in each half of the match in front of a crowd of 6212 on Saturday at Napier’s McLean Park, the Magpies beat defending NPC champions Wellington 45-19, while 2024 runners-up Bay of Plenty scored seven tries in a 43-17 hammering of Taranaki in New Plymouth.

With Canterbury maintaining an unbeaten record with a 54-14 Ranfurly Shield win over Southland in Invercargill, the competition now has one of its keenest battles for top-four home-game quarter-finals advantage ahead.

From second to sixth, Otago, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Tasman each have four wins and two losses.

There will be big pressure on both sides in the Battle of the Bay on Saturday at Tauranga Domain, where the Steamers beat the Magpies 19-17 in a quarter-final last year.

On the back of consecutive losses, to Canterbury and Northland, the Magpies were motivated to not only get another “W” on the board, but do it well for captain Tom Parsons, playing his 100th NPC or Ranfurly Shield match for the union.

Avenging a 46-28 loss to Wellington last year, they were never behind on the scoreboard on Saturday, with Parsons, having led the team on to the field with his three children, enjoying another particular moment just 12 minutes into the rugby, with a try seemingly set up for the purpose.

Converted by first five-eighths Harry Godfrey, that made it 14-7, setting the tempo for the Magpies’ 24-7 lead at halftime.

Flanker Miracle Fai’ilagi had scored after six minutes, his third try in the last three games, but Wellington quickly responded with a try to 20-year-old fullback Stanley Solomon.

Lucas Ripley, an early replacement for concussed centre Nick Grigg, scored the other first-half try, Godfrey converting to bring up his personal 50 points for the season.

With the Magpies having defended for much of the next 20 minutes, wing Jonah Lowe, Andrew Tauatevalu (replacement for injured Godfrey with Zarn Sullivan moving from fullback to first five-eighths) and flanker Cooper Flanders claimed the remaining Magpies tries as all of the rest of the scoring took place in the last quarter.

The curtain-raiser at Tauranga will likely decide relegation in the Farah Palmer Cup women’s competition, with the Hawke’s Bay Tui and the Bay of Plenty Volcanix meeting.

The Tui, without season captain Leilani Hakiwai and promising halfback Briar Hales, and with just four survivors in the match-day 23 from last year’s 48-24 win over the Auckland Storm at Eden Park, were beaten 81-5 by the Storm in the McLean Park curtain-raiser, while the Volcanix had a home 88-5 loss to Waikato.

With Auckland eventually scoring 13 tries, including five to wing Angelica Mekemeke Vahai, it was 48-0 at halftime. But the Tui kept the match scoreless for the next nine minutes before their only try, to lock Caterina Poletti.

The Canterbury Ranfurly Shield win wiped an unwanted record held by Hawke’s Bay from the books, as Southland’s reign became the shortest in Shield history, half an hour shorter than when the Magpies won the trophy from Otago in 2013 and lost it to Counties Manukau six days later.

Meanwhile, the Hawke’s Bay Development squad’s game against the Manawatū Development side, which was to have been played in Napier, including six to seven fringe Magpies players, was cancelled, with Manawatū having advised Hawke’s Bay on Friday of a default.

Doug Laing has been a reporter for 52 years, including 38 consecutively in Hawke’s Bay since starting a second term at Napier’s Daily Telegraph in 1987. He has covered most aspects of local affairs, including sports.