Hawke’s Bay v Manawatu: Bookies put Turbos at long odds of producing Magpies upset

Hawke’s Bay’s four wins in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC see them as possibly the shortest-priced TAB favourites in their first-division history as they tackle Manawatū in Palmerston North on Sunday.

Prop Pouri Rakete-Stones, who has played in more than 80 matches for the Hawke’s Bay Magpies since 2016, pictured in the Ranfurly Shield defence against Southland two weeks ago. He will captain the side in Sunday’s match against Manawatū in Palmerston North. Photo / Photosport

The TAB was quoting the Magpies at $1.09 to win this morning, with Manawatū lengthening to $6.50, reflecting the form, with Manawatū having not beaten Hawke’s Bay in a decade and having not won an NPC match in the past 12 months.

Those odds were before the announcement of the Magpies team, with an expected raft of changes from that which beat match-favourites Canterbury in Christchurch on Wednesday night.

It will see captain and Magpies centurion Tom Parsons given a break, with prop Pouri Rakete-Stones taking over the leadership, Tyrone Thompson starting at hooker, halfback Folau Fakatava making his 50th appearance for the Magpies and lead goalkicker Lincoln McClutchie on the bench with long-time schools and representative rugby teammate Danny Toala starting at first five-eighths.

Manawatū coach Mike Rogers has called 36-year-old globetrotting utility back and 2017-20 Wales international Hadleigh Parkes onto the Turbos’ subs bench.

Parkes started in the NPC with 13 games for Manawatū in 2010, before moving to Auckland and embarking on a full-professional career with the Blues, Hurricanes and in the UK, South Africa and Japan. He played six matches for Wales in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The last time Manawatū beat Hawke’s Bay was in Palmerston North in 2014. The Magpies have since won eight of the annual matches in a row since 2016.

Manawatū have had eight consecutive losses in the NPC, conceding 35 points or more in each game, and 50 three times, since a surprise 33-31 win over Auckland, in Auckland, on August 30 last year.

But there were signs of hope in the closest of those matches, when the Turbos were beaten 39-31 by Wellington in Porirua last Sunday.

Despite the unions’ alignment over the years – as neighbours who play pre-competition squad matches against each other each year, as partners in the failed Central Vikings merged-team experiment of 1997-98, and being two of the four teams added to the top division when it expanded into a 14-team premier competition in 2006 – there won’t be any complacency nor go-easy approach from the Magpies.

Simply, they’ve never won the title but Manawatū have, albeit just once, back in 1980, and, while the Magpies beat Canterbury, there was a hint to take each day as it comes when flight delays meant the squad was not back in the Bay until mid-afternoon on Thursday.

The studious TAB bookmakers still have the Magpies as third-favourites to win the NPC, at $6, behind fellow unbeaten sides Wellington and Tasman.

Meanwhile, the Hawke’s Bay Tui face Bay of Plenty in a Farah Palmer Cup women’s NPC match at the Regional Sports Park in Hastings on Saturday, in the only top-level Battle of the Bays match scheduled this year.

The Magpies don’t play Bay of Plenty in the men’s NPC regular season.

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies team to play Manawatū in Palmerston North on Sunday, starting at 4.35pm, is:

Pouri Rakete-Stones (captain), Tyrone Thompson, Joel Hintz; Isaia Walker-Leawere, Geoff Cridge; Frank Lochore, Sam Smith; Cooper Flanders; Folau Fakatava, Danny Toala; Ben O’Donnell, Kienan Higgins, Nick Grigg, Freedom Vaha’akolo; Mat Protheroe. Reserves: Jacob Devery, Hadlee Hay-Horton, Lolani Faleiva, Hunter Morrison, Josh Gimblett, Ereatara Enari, Lincoln McClutchie, Neria Fomai.

The Hawke’s Bay Tui team for the Farah Palmer Cup women’s NPC match against Bay of Plenty Volcanix at Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park on Saturday, starting at 2.05pm, is:

Willow Rowland, Hayley McKay, Nina Poletti; Holly Macdonald, Caterina Poletti; Kaya Whaitiri-Dee, Temprys Lauvao; Leah Tuhi; Raedeen Blake, Krysten Cottrell (captain); Maleta Pailate, Leilani Hakiwai, Thamsyn Newton, Teilah Ferguson; Charlotte Tuliau. Reserves: Tamia Edwards, Denbis Aiolupotea, Whitley Mareikura, Olioli Mua, Nina Hyslop-Pineaha, Briar Hales, Nicolette Adamson, Kahlia Awa.