The Magpies are trying to fly, but the rust in their wings showed

Brad Weber and Folau Fakatava are both an outside chance of one of the halfback spots for the ABs at the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Photosport

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies showed their front-foot identity in spurts in a scratchy 23-21 win over North Harbour on Saturday night.

But they’ll have to clean up the mistakes that plagued them in the NPC season opener moving forward.

The Magpies’ first try of the season was a classic – number eight Devan Flanders got the ball rolling off the back of a scrum 30 metres in front of his own posts for the first of 13 strong phases.

Hawke’s Bay’s carry-cleanout game and offloads were both on point, and Flanders had two more big breaks in a fantastic passage of play that ended with a Chase Tiatia score.

Flanders was awarded three points to share the lead for the Duane Monkley MVP Medal after round one.

“We just want to stick to our game which is a bit razzly, can put our head down and work if we have to, but just with a bit of flair and give the fans something to be proud of,” he said afterwards.

Those fans might have been treated to more razzle-dazzle had Hawke’s Bay not shot themselves in the foot time and again.

They conceded 11 penalties to North Harbour’s nine and turned the ball over 18 times to 12 turnovers conceded by the visitors.

Skipper Tom Parsons said he was really happy his team could grind out a win considering the compounding mistakes.

“A lot of dropped ball, it’d be dropped ball after dropped ball and we piggybacked them down the field there, put ourselves under a lot of pressure when we just needed to tuck it tight and go straight at them,” he said.

The first major error handed North Harbour a try just 30 seconds into the game.

Magpie halfback Folau Fakatava’s pass from the very first ruck was poor under pressure and the visitors’ rushing defence forced both Lincoln McClutchie and Harry Godfrey to pass rather than attempt a clearing kick.

Godfrey’s pass was loose and Harbour wing Alapati Leiua won the race to the ball to score.

Restarts were problematic for Hawke’s Bay throughout; they continually botched exits and let North Harbour back into the contest after scoring.

The scrum was a major positive with starting tighthead prop Joel Hintz earning multiple penalties by forcing his opposite to angle in.

However the Magpies’ typically solid lineout faltered as they blew two close-range opportunities to drive over with the maul.

Fakatava made a couple more errors but showed his gamebreaking quality with a 40 metre solo run from a quick tap that resulted in a Pouri Rakete-Stones try on the next phase.

Brad Weber came on for him after 47 minutes and steered the game home with clinical play and some testing box kicks.

Two world-class halfbacks with vastly different playstyles; the All Blacks would do well to select either of them in the Rugby World Cup squad to be announced in Napier on Monday evening.

Even one of them missing out would be a huge boon for Hawke’s Bay.

Thomas Airey is a sports reporter and former Hawke’s Bay Today news reporter. He has been covering the Magpies for the past three seasons.