Magpies hopefuls spread wings in Waipukurau Battle of the Ranges prelude

Jonty Stewart, who converted three first-half tries for the Magpies' wider training squad against Manawatū in Waipukurau on Wednesday night, pictured in his only full Magpies appearance, a Ranfurly Shield defence in June 2024. Photo / Photosport

Hawke’s Bay has drawn first blood in the annual Battle of the Ranges with a win over Manawatū in a wider-squads’ NPC pre-season rugby hit-out in Waipukurau.

With each side using about 31 players, drawn from clubs and without Super Rugby Pacific players or others with current out-of-region commitments, Hawke’s Bay won Wednesday night’s match 55-31.

Hawke’s Bay led 21-17 at halftime, when there was a complete change of the 15 on the field, while Manawatu played with rolling substitutes throughout.

With head coach Brock James in South Africa guiding the New Zealand Under 20 team, the Magpies hopefuls were in the hands of the assistants, with Ellery Wilson saying there were some pleasing performances in what was a midweek match between two rounds of club rugby.

Among them were flanker Tiaki Fabish, halfback Le’Sharn Reiri-Paku and first five-eighths Jonty Stewart, in the first half, and in the second half prop Nehemiah Lauvao and loose forward Drew McLean-Berg, who were New Zealand Barbarians Under 18 teammates last year.

Stewart, who scored 11 points in his only full Magpies appearance in a 57-7 Ranfurly Shield defence win against King Country in 2024, converted all three first-half tries on Wednesday.

He’s now on the verge of scoring a premier club rugby century with less than half of the season gone, with 92 points in six games for Napier Old Boys Marist, who secured the Nash Cup last Saturday, with a match to play before the championship series for the Maddison Trophy.

The train-on squad will also play Japan Under 20 in Taupō on May 20, and the championship squad, to be named in July, will have two warm-up matches ahead of the 50^th anniversary NPC, in which their first game will be against the Wellington Lions in Wellington on August 2.

Hawke’s Bay also beat Manawatū in academy rugby in February, and the big Battle of the Ranges, between the Magpies and the Manawatū Turbos for the K R Tremain Trophy, looms as a Friday-night home game on August 21.

The Magpies have won 10 in a row against over Manawatū in the NPC since the southwestern neighbour last won their near-annual match in 2014.

Meanwhile, the Hawke’s Bay union has its own challenge ahead to decide on a charity to benefit from its eighth Magpies charity-jersey campaign.

HBRU commercial manager Dan Somerville said there were 28 applicants when the deadline came on Monday.

The union hopes to name the chosen charity within a fortnight, to have the jersey ready for the third home game of the 50^th anniversary NPC, against Otago on September 4, and an auction of the one-off jerseys worn in it.

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter based in Napier, with 53 years in the newspaper industry, covering news events and issues, including sports, mainly in Hawke’s Bay.