Tui NPC defeat ends a tough weekend for Hawke’s Bay rugby

Up-and-coming halfback Briar Hales, one of the best Tui players in Sunday's loss to Manawatū, pictured against Canterbury in Napier eight days earlier. Photo / Photosport

A young Hawke’s Bay Tui women’s rugby team has had its second heavy defeat in two games in this year’s NPC Farah Palmer Cup premiership, ending a biddum horribilis for Hawke’s Bay rugby.

In a weekend that opened with the men’s NPC Magpies’ 26-7 loss to Canterbury in Napier on Friday, Sunday’s 73-5 Tui loss to Manawatū Cyclones in Palmerston North was the sixth loss for Hawke’s Bay teams in six matches.

The others were headed by the Hastings Boys’ High School exit from the national secondary schools championship when beaten 52-26 in the Hurricanes Cup regional final at Massey University on Saturday.

In a representative teams double-header in Wellington, senior development side the Saracens were beaten 45-40 by the Wellington Centurions, and in an Under-19 Central Region Shield match, holders Wellington beat Hawke’s Bay 24-22.

In yet another defeat for teams travelling new highway Te Ahu a Turanga to Palmerston North, where Hawke’s Bay Māori lost 41-29 to Manawatū Māori.

The Tui, who had 12 tries against them in their first match in their seven-team competition when beaten 72-0 by Canterbury, conceded 11 more to the newly promoted Cyclones, in the first women’s NPC match between the neighbouring unions since Manawatū won 55-12 in a championship division final four years ago.

The Tui did at least get their first try of the season, after a deft moment for 17-year-old halfback Briar Hales, who as an 11-year-old in 2019 had been the centre of a controversy over whether she could play in her school’s boys’ team.

In her second season as a Tui, she took the option to spin left after a series of Tui attacks on the Manawatū line and send captain and second five-eighths Leilani Hakiwai over wide out in the 29th minute.

The conversion missed, making it 19-5, but Manawatū were soon back among the points, and it was 31-5 at halftime, as the Cyclones marched to a big win to mark the 150th appearance of fullback Selica Winiata, who scored two tries and kicked four conversions in one of the many signs of experience triumphing over youthful enthusiasm.

At stake was the Attenborough-McBeth trophy, commemorating New Zealand’s first women’s inter-provincial rugby match, in which Manawatū beat Hawke’s Bay 11-0 in Palmerston North in 1980.

Manawatu have won all eight women’s NPC rugby matches against Hawke’s Bay in the last 12 seasons, mainly by wide margins, and Sunday’s match was the fourth in a row to be played in Palmerston North.

The Tui face another tough challenge next Saturday against Counties-Manukau in Pukekohe before returning home to play Auckland Storm at McLean Park on September 6.

Hastings BHS made a big start to their match, with tries to captain and hooker JJ Lilo-Iosefo and No 8 Panapa Peia and a conversion to first five-eighths Tana Faumuina to lead 12-0 after 14 minutes.

But Feilding came back to lead 19-12 at halftime, 37-12 before Hastings scored again, and eventually won with seven tries to Hastings’ four.

The only co-educational school still in the First XVs championship race, Feilding won the Hurricanes Cup for a second year in a row, and successfully defended challenge trophy the Moascar Cup, which they had won for the first time by beating Palmerston North BHS a week earlier.