“We continue to see great value in Heartland unions being able to challenge for the shield, and do not currently have plans to review the current system.
“Whanganui’s enthusiasm to replace South Canterbury for this challenge is evidence that the opportunity remains valued by the Heartland unions also.”
South Canterbury’s withdrawal and Whanganui’s acceptance were announced on Tuesday, chief executive Tim Hyde-Smith, a former pupil of Hereworth School in Havelock North, saying later that air fares had leapt from the $13,000 of the 2022 challenge to an expected $28,000 this year, accommodation and meal costs had increased 25-30 per cent, and there was also the cost of bussing the team the 160km between Timaru and Christchurch Airport.
The defences against King Country, in Hastings on June 28, and Whanganui, in Napier on July 27 are scheduled to be the eighth and ninth the Magpies have played against Heartland unions since a victorious challenge against Otago in 2013 ended the Bay’s break of 44 years without the shield since the 1966-1969 era.
The shield stayed only six days after that win in Dunedin, but it’s now back for the fourth time in 11 years, during which Heartland unions which made the trip to Napier to challenge in Napier have been Wairarapa-Bush, Horowhenua Kāpiti, and Mid-Canterbury in 2015, North Otago and Ngati Porou East Coast in 1921, and South Canterbury and Poverty Bay two years ago.
Meanwhile, the Magpies’ wider training squad was beaten 56-45 by the Manawatū Turbos wider training squad in the rain in Napier on Wednesday night in what Hawke’s Bay head coach Brock James says was the last match hit-out before the first shield defence in five weeks’ time.
It gave 28 players from Hawke’s Bay club rugby the chance to advance their cause, and a squad will in mid-June start preparing for the defence against King Country, the first of a new Hawke’s Bay shield era, following a successful challenge against Wellington on September 30 last year.
The Manawatu squad included former Magpies wider training squad member Iakopo Mapu who transferred from Taradale for his first club game in Manawatū last weekend.
The Magpies squad will gradually be bolstered by players from among more than 30 playing in Super Rugby and other competitions, including American Major League Rugby, where three 2023 Hawke’s Bay Magpies are featuring prominently though not necessarily in the leading teams.
Most prominent is Central lock Frank Lochore, playing for Utah Warriors and who after 12 rounds was second-to-top on the tackles count and third in the numbers of carries, as well as making the latest weekly competition MVP fifteen.
Also playing for Utah, fullback Caleb Makene was fourth on the list of players with the most carry metres, and first five-eighths Lincoln McClutchie, with 55 points, for San Diego Legion, was 9th in the top 10 points scorers, of which just one has passed 90 points.
McClutchie is one of only two Hawke’s Bay players in the top four teams of either of the six-team Western or Eastern conferences, playing for 2023 beaten finalists the Legion, who are coached by former Hawke’s Bay Magpies and All Blacks halfback Danny Lee.
The other is Fijian wing Paula Balekana, who appeared in seven matches for the Magpies last season and who plays for Eastern Conference leaders and defending MLR champions New England Free Jacks.
The final NPC squad will have a non-competition hit-out against Waikato in Taupō before the first 2024 NPC game away against North Harbour on August 11.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.
