Magpies score four tries in Stags Shield win in Napier

A tough and bruising Ranfurly Shield match has ended with the Hawke’s Bay Magpies holding on to the trophy with a 31-17 win over the Southland Stags at McLean Park in Napier.

Magpies skipper Tom Parsons, who led his team to another successful Ranfurly Shield defence at McLean Park, Napier, on Saturday night with a 31-17 win over Southland. Photo / NZME.

With Southland buoyed by an opening-round win over Otago, and the Bay bya second-half revival to beat North Harbour, the first NPC match shield defence of the season was always going to be keen.

Otago referee Stu Curran was in charge of a Magpies match for a fifth time as Southland first five-eighths Byron Smith kicked off towards the Centennial Stand, with the forecast showery rain starting to fall.

The Magpies were going for a third successful defence in a seventh Ranfurly Shield era, and Southland were aiming to win a Shield challenge for an eighth time, 13 years after ending their last reign with a 15-12 loss to Taranaki in 2011.

There proved to be some disruption in a Magpies squad of huge depth, with Kienan Higgins brought in pre-match to replace Danny Toala in the centres, and big-tackling No 8 Josh Kaifa limping off with an apparently aggravated leg injury and replaced by Cooper Flanders, whose elder brother, Devan, was in the stands with a hand in plaster after breaking a thumb in training.

Lock Geoff Cridge went off for a head injury assessment 10 minutes after halftime, but there was a quality replacement in Isaia Walker-Leawere, whose availability had been in question since being called on midweek as injury cover in the All Blacks preparing for the test match against Argentina in Auckland.

With 12 minutes to go, captain Tom Parsons, the sole Hawke’s Bay survivor from the 2014 drawn defence against Southland, was also off, heavily bandaged after clashing heads in an unsuccessful lunge for a try, which also saw Southland losing a player similar swathed.

The upshot of a Southland infringement just beforehand was a third penalty goal for Magpies first five-eighths Lincoln McClutchie, making it 24-10 entering the last 10 minutes.

McClutchie landed his first two shots, for the Bay to lead 6-0 after 17 minutes, but otherwise did not have the best of days with the boot until converting substitute halfback Sam Wye’s try on fulltime, a try which sealed the Bay’s second four-tries Bunnings Warehouse NPC bonus point win in two games.

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Southland had taken the lead 7-6 with a try to prop Morgan Mitchell in the 25th minute, converted by Smith.

The back-breakers for the challengers were Hawke’s Bay tries to fullback Mat Protheroe and centre Nick Grigg in the 10 minutes before halftime, and that to flanker Frank Lochore who ranged out in the right-wing space, after a carving run from left wing Ben O’Donnell, and a clever flick-on from Harry Godfrey in his first touch of the game after coming coming-on for Protheroe to make it 21-10 with a half-hour to go.

Southland weren’t done with and bounced back with a try to centre Isaac Te Tamaki, converted by Smith, which made for a tense last few minutes.

The Magpies, having also beaten Heartland championships sides King Country and Whanganui in Shield defences this season, face Northland Taniwha in another defence in Napier on Friday night.

In earlier NPC second-round matches, Bay of Plenty beat Counties Manukau 44-31 on Wednesday night, Otago inflicted Auckland’s second defeat in two games with a 27-25 win in Dunedin on Friday night, and on Saturday Tasman beat Canterbury 22-7 in Nelson and Northland beat Manawatu 35-18, in Whangarei.

Hawke’s Bay 31 (Mat Protheroe, Nick Grigg, Frank Lochore, Sam Wye tries; Lincoln McClutchie 3 penalties, conversion) Southland 17 (Morgan Mitchell, Isaac Te Tamaki tries; Byron Smith penalty, 2 conversions). Halftime: 16-7.