NPC: Charity begins at home as Hawke’s Bay Magpies launch bid for home quarter-final

Partners in the 2025 Magpies charity jersey auction based around the game against Auckland on Thursday night at McLean Park, Napier: Total Energies director Reuben Thickpenny (from left), Acorn Project Hawke's Bay founder Kerrie Warby and Hawke's Bay Rugby Union CEO Jay Campbell. Photo / Hawke's Bay Rugby Union

The Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union is hoping for its biggest crowd of the NPC season as the Magpies launch a near last-ditch bid for a home playoff on Thursday.

The match against Auckland at McLean Park in Napier is charity jersey night, with the special design supporting cancer-victim families through Acorn Project Hawke’s Bay, incorporating ideas from children’s drawings linked to the Magpies.

But the Magpies themselves will be looking for extra support, as they sit just outside the crucial top four after Friday’s 38-24 loss to Taranaki in New Plymouth, with two games to play before the eight-team quarter-finals.

They scored first when left wing Neria Fomai crossed the tryline in the 17th minute, the first of his two tries in the match, but were down 7-5 at halftime before being swamped by Taranaki’s 33-point haul in the second 40 minutes.

Fomai’s second try 13 minutes after the break kept it respectable at 14-12 to the home side, but it was 38-12 with three minutes to go before Hawke’s Bay scored again.

As beneficiaries in the charity aspect, Acorn, which provides vital support to rangatahi (youth) under 25 and their families who are living with cancer, will receive proceeds from a Trade Me online auction of jerseys worn in the match.

Founder Kerrie Waby said: “Seeing the team wear our shirt will send a clear message to our members and their family to say we see you, we support you and your local community is behind each and every one of you.”

The Magpies’ charity jersey project started in 2020, and this year’s auction is expected to take the total raised to well over $70,000.

Meanwhile, the Hawke’s Bay Tui bowed out of the Farah Palmer Cup national women’s Premiership without a win in the 2025 season, beaten 60-17 in Hastings by table-toppers Waikato.

The Tui, whose points for-and-against deficit averaged almost 60 points a game, led 5-0 after hooker Amber McKenzie scored the first of their three tries, 12-7 after first five-eighths Cassie Siataga converted the second, scored by prop Denise Aiolupotea, and 17-14 when flanker Olioli Mua scored 10 minutes before halftime.

But Waikato, often turning defence into attack, scored at almost a point a minute for the rest of the game with 46 unanswered points, taking control after leading 24-17 at halftime and ultimately scoring 10 tries.

The Tui, after three years in the top division, are replaced by the Otago Spirit, who beat the Northland Kauri 37-12 in Sunday’s Championship final.

A Poverty Bay team including six Wairoa players became serious Heartland Championship contenders with an upset 41-35 win over South Canterbury in Gisborne on Saturday.

Coached by Paoraian Manuel-Harman, from the Tapuae club in Wairoa, the Weka almost blew the opportunity.

But after leading 28-0 after 27 minutes, they needed a last-minute kick-and-chase try to win, described by the local commentator as “the most important chase on any kick in 138 years of Poverty Bay rugby”.

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter based in Napier and has been a journalist more than 52 years covering most aspects of news, including sports.