Super Rugby Pacific: The chase goes on as Napier seeks more big games

All Blacks and Hurricanes hero Jordie Barrett with the young fans after the win over Australian side Western Force at McLean Park, Napier on Friday. Photo / Photosport

Napier City Council events manager Kevin Murphy is targeting higher-profile Super Rugby Pacific matches after McLean Park staged its second Hurricanes match in consecutive seasons on Friday.

The match against Australian side the Western Force is the only one of this season’s six Hurricanes home matches not being played in Wellington.

While an official attendance figure had not been released by the Hurricanes by Wednesday afternoon, park regulars believed the number could have fallen slightly short of the hoped-for 11,000.

It was significantly less than the 13,575 rugby league fans said to have been at the Warriors’ NRL pre-season match four weeks earlier.

While not having the match attendance figures, Murphy said all events were facing challenges with people’s spending in current economic times, but the job will continue to encourage the Hurricanes and other event promoters to bring big matches to the provinces.

He said that on a fine Hawke’s Bay evening, it was a “pretty enthusiastic crowd and a great atmosphere”.

The Hurricanes franchise’s management was trying to connect more with the grassroots of the game in the region and was enthusiastic about the future of more Super Rugby Pacific games at the park, Murphy said.

“We haven’t always had the top games but we take what we can get, and Hawke’s Bay supports them well,” he said.

The last time the Hurricanes faced a New Zealand side at McLean Park in Super Rugby was a 56-20 win over the Highlanders in 2015, the opposition since involving the Force (twice), the ACT Brumbies (Australia), the Sharks (South Africa), the Sunwolves (Japan) and the Fijian Drua (Fiji).

The match was possibly a McLean Park swansong for long-serving Hawke’s Bay Magpie NPC stars Pouri Rakete-Stones and Isaia Walker-Leawere, both of whom are heading for overseas contracts after the Super Rugby Pacific season ends in June.

The park has had several “shifts” between cricket and rugby, Friday’s match being six days after a Central Districts bowler’s unprecedented first-class feat of five wickets in successive balls.

Currently, no other events are planned for the turf before expected club rugby finals in July and the Magpies’ NPC season.

The Hurricanes play a New Zealand derby match against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night, and have their next home match against the Queensland Reds in Wellington on March 28.

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter based in Napier, and following issues and events in the Bay first covered rugby in the region 50 years ago.