Mark Abbott's work ethic is second to none. PHOTO/FILE
IF ONE had to list the three finalists for the Hawke's Bay Magpies' player-of-year award today, lock Mark Abbott would be a certainty.
Abbott's standards have been consistently high throughout the ITM Cup campaign to date. Only those of captain and loosie Brendon O'Connor would be slightly higher.
One just has to check out the stats for confirmation. Against Waikato, Abbott, who begins a third summer with the Hurricanes next month, made 14 carries and nine tackles; against Auckland a phenomenal 19 carries and nine tackles and, against Bay of Plenty, 12 carries and 12 tackles.
Abbott, 25, knows a repeat of those numbers will be a must if the Magpies are to beat the Bay of Plenty Steamers in today's ITM Cup Championship semifinal at Napier's McLean Park. He also knows how crucial it will be for the Magpies tight five to gain an edge over the Steamers engine room.
"This is a big week for the Bay. The Steamers have a pretty good team which has pushed a lot of teams. We know they are going to be up for it and the forward battle will be a huge factor," Abbott said after yesterday's Captain's Run.
The visitors' pack is lead by captain and lock Culum Retallick, whose influence on the visiting pack often matches that of Abbott's for the Magpies.
Abbott arrived in the Bay with a huge work ethic in 2013 and has seldom strayed from it. That ethic reflected the early sacrifices he made in his quest to become a professional. Early in 2013, he was waking at 5am to hit the gym, doing a full-time job and then heading to training again later.
His locking combination with Chief Michael Allardice is one of the better ones in the cup and Abbott is well placed to comment on what the Magpies need to do to return to the winning path after last week's 36-30 loss to Waikato in their final Ranfurly Shield defence of the season. "It comes down to accuracy, holding on to the ball and shoring up that defence," he said. "Those were areas we had been reasonably good at for most of the season."
Abbott, who will be back in Magpies colours again next year, pointed out the team was disappointed to lose the shield.
"At the same time we can be proud of what we did as a union and the pride we helped generate around the community. Now we have to let that go - we have an opportunity to secure a home final, something we haven't had for a long time."
Originally from the small farming town of Darfield, near Christchurch, Abbott is thrilled with how his body has coped with a busy cup season after his Super campaign.
He said Magpies fitness trainer Grant Dearns had to take a lot of the credit. "Dearnsey keeps the workloads pretty even so we're not overworked.
"This means we can stay fresh longer and I play as many minutes as I can."
Changes to the Magpies team which played Waikato see Tom Stanley replace the injured Tony Lamborn at blindside flanker and Shannan Chase come in for the unavailable Zac Guildford on the left wing in the starting line-up. On the bench, Jason Long replaced injured prop Mark Braidwood, Kaleb Sweet replaces Tom Stanley, Jonathan Ruru replaces injured halfback Ellery Wilson and Ryan Tongia replaces Chase.
Some interesting changes have been made to the Steamers' starting XV who took on the Magpies in their 23-17 loss a month ago. Former Taradale prop Siegfried Fisi'ihoi replaces Pingi Tala'apitaga at tighthead, Te Rangi Fraser replaces the talented Chase Tiatia at fullback, Craig Clare switches from the right wing to second five-eighth replacing Lalakai Foketi, Elijah Nicolas switches from the left wing to the right and Whaimotu Craft-Chemis will start on the left wing.
The semifinal will be refereed by North Harbour Brendon Pickerill and the curtain raiser will be the women's NPC final between Auckland and Wellington.