Magpies v Waikato Ranfurly Shield match off as lockdown wipes out rugby for another week

One Ranfurly Shield era ended when Waikato beat Hawke's Bay in Napier in 2015. This week's shield match between the same unions is postponed because of Covid-19 alert-level restrictions. Photo / File

The Hawke's Bay Magpies' defence of the Ranfurly Shield against Waikato is off - but don't blame it on the union.

That's the message from the (actual) Hawke's Bay Rugby Union after a bit of online by-play in the fan sector included a screenshot purported of a "Hawke's Bay Rugby Union" Wikipedia page attesting "Hawke's Bay were the masterminds behind the Delta" as the "Hawks Porks needed to retain the shield and were willing to do anything to make this a reality."

The "reality" is, as union commercial manager and online media monitor Dan Somerville attested later, that the union does not have its own Wikipedia page, chiefly because "anyone can get on and change it."

Besides, the Hawke's Bay rugby team is not known as the "Hawks Porks."

Those Wikipedia pages that do appear with the union name are run by fans who didn't appear to have sanctioned the latest update, because it was not on the page later in the day. The update thus seemed consigned merely to life as a simple screenshot in time.

Nevertheless, amid the stresses of the lockdown and the loss of a second weekend's rugby, the union did play ball, posted the screenshot on its own HB Magpies Facebook page, saying: "Ok, credit where credit is due. Whoever did this we applaud you. Good banter."

The match postponement comes with the New Zealand Rugby Union's decision to cancel all rugby this weekend.

Also a Bunnings Warehouse NPC premiership match, it was to have been played at McLean Park, Napier, on Saturday, with a particularly tough contest forecast.

Waikato won the two most recent Ranfurly Shield matches between the two unions – a 36-30 win in a successful challenge in Napier in 2015 and a 42-22 win when defending the trophy in Hamilton in 2018.

As a result of the postponement, caused by the level 4 lockdown, Waikato is expected to drop down the list of four remaining scheduled challenges. The next is currently scheduled to be made by North Harbour at McLean Park on the Friday night of
September 10.

The Magpies' next scheduled NPC match is against Manawatu in Palmerston North on September 3.

The postponements were announced today by the New Zealand Rugby Union, which highlights also the scrapping of Farah Palmer Cup women's competition games. The cancellation of the New Zealand Schools Rugby Union (NZSRU) has also made the difficult decision for a second year in a row to cancel the Barbarians National Secondary School Championships Top 4 tournament, in which Hastings Boys High School had been among the title favourites.

The decisions followed Monday's late-afternoon Government announcement that the level 4 lockdown nationwide would be extended to at least 11.59pm Friday, and in Auckland to next Tuesday night.

NZR general manager community rugby Steve Lancaster said cancelling all rugby across the country this weekend was the only responsible option.

"It's disappointing once again to have to keep our participants on the sidelines, but it's the right thing to do under the circumstances," he said. "Although some parts of the country may be in a position to play on Saturday, teams would not have been able to train for two weeks, which potentially creates player welfare issues."

Clubs and schools would not have adequate time from midnight Friday to prepare to host games within the Government guidelines, so the Union would wait another week and "hopefully rugby can play its part in helping the country stamp out this outbreak", he said.