Rugby: Magpies chasing a moment in history in NPC semifinal

Magpies prop Pouri Rakete-Stones (with ball) impacting off the bench against Wellington in Napier in 2020. Man-of-the-match in Sunday's quarterfinal against Bay of Plenty, he's now a regular in the starting fifteen and a key player in Saturday's semi-final in Wellington. Photo / NZME

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies will be playing for a place in history when they return to Wellington on Saturday to drive home the dream of being the first Hawke’s Bay team to reach the National Provincial Championship rugby final.

But it will be without any great secrets, with coach Brock James sticking with the every-game’s-a-test-now principle in naming the strongest, and same, available starting XV and bench for a third time in a row after the 20-18 Ranfurly Shield and NPC win over Wellington in Wellington on September 30 and last week’s 38-28 NPC quarter-final win over Bay of Plenty in Tauranga.

Finally, halfback and vice-captain Brad Weber gets to make his 50th appearance for Hawke’s Bay, in a career of more than 260 matches in All Blacks, Super Rugby and NPC games, while wing Ollie Sapsford also marks his 50th game in the black and white, in a career which started with home union Mid-Canterbury in 2016 and includes one game for Australia A earlier this year.

Sapsford has scored 15 tries for Hawke’s Bay.

A significant milestone was passed last Sunday when first five-eighths Lincoln McClutchie kicked four conversions to take his points total in 62 matches for Hawke’s Bay to 440, the fourth-highest in Magpies history.

He’s also the top scorer in the NPC this year, just ahead of Canterbury’s Fergus Burke, who plays in the other semifinal, against Taranaki, on Friday night. Hawke’s Bay have no one among the top 10 try-scorers.

Buoyed by a 57-7 win in the last home match of the season, the Magpies’ character has been to the fore in the following two victories the same way as it was in four successive narrow wins to start the season, most spectacularly when scoring 26 unanswered points after conceding four first-half tries and being down 28-12 eight minutes before halftime last Sunday against Bay of Plenty.

Ollie Sapsford in last month's match against Bay of Plenty in Napier. He makes his 50th appearance for the Magpies in Saturday's NPC semi-final in Wellington, hoping to add to a total of 15 tries in the black and white strip. Photo / Connull Lang

In comparison with the Bay’s Ranfurly Shield history – including winning the trophy four times in the last decade - the Bay have a dismal record in the top levels of the NPC, although they have retained loyal support and have consistently commanded some of the biggest crowds in the competition.

While they hosted the first division one game when the NPC was established in 1976, they went the first 16 years of an 11-team first division without finals, never finishing better than seventh, never once achieving better than a 50/50 record, being relegated twice and in their 10 years in the division failing to win more than one game in a season five times.

Hawke’s Bay lasted the first two years in the era of nine teams with semifinals and finals, finishing 8th and 9th before being relegated again with a 0 and 8 record in 1993.

It then endured a range of missed opportunities, two second division seasons of the Central Vikings Hawke’s Bay-Manawatu merger in 1997 and 1998, and did not reappear in the top grade until the 14-team, professional expansion and the arrival of Air New Zealand Cup rugby in 2006.

After deriving just a single win and a draw from six games in the first year of the new regime, the Magpies made the NPC semifinals for the first time in 2007, and in 2023 are now in the top four for the fifth time.

Other memorable moments include winning second-tier finals in 2011, 2015 and 2020, although they were effectively just for 8th place.

In the last 10 years, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington have played each other 11 times, the Magpies have won 5, Wellington 4, and 2 have been drawn. At Sky Stadium, the honours have been shared with two wins each, and a draw.

Hawke’s Bay won a 2015 Championship division (NPC bottom seven) final between the two teams in Napier and Wellington won last year’s NPC quarter-final between the two unions in Wellington.

The big difference is that Wellington have won the NPC five times (1978, 1981, 1986, 2000, 2022). The Lions have a 2023 NPC record of 10 wins and a loss (to Hawke’s Bay) and the Bay have a record of 8 wins and 3 losses (to Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Northland).

The Magpies team for Saturday’s 7.05pm game at Sky Stadium, Wellington, is: 1 Pouri Rakete Stones, 2 Tyrone Thompson, 3, Joel Hintz, 4 Geoff Cridge, 5 Tom Parsons (captain), 6 Marino Mikaele Tu’u, 7 Josh Kaifa, 8 Devan Flanders, 9 Brad Weber, 10 Lincoln McClutchie, 11 Jonah Lowe, 12 Chase Tiatia, 13 Nick Grigg, 14 Ollie Sapsford, 15 Lolagi Visinia.

Subs: 16 Jacob Devery, 17 Tim Farrell, 18 Bo Abra, 19 Frank Lochore, 20 Sam Smith, 21 Folau Fakatava, 22 Stacey Ili, 23 Caleb Makene.