Devan Flanders comes into his own as Magpies gear up for Battle of the Bays

Hawke's Bay No 8 Devan Flanders is having a ball so far this season. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay No 8 Devan Flanders is feeling more confident and comfortable this Mitre 10 Cup season, which is paying off for the Magpies in some impressive performances.

The 21-year-old has starred for his province through seven weeks of the competition having well and truly found his feet at the professional level.

Flanders said he is much more confident in his third Magpies campaign thanks to the experience he has built up over the last couple of years.

"Really enjoying it at the moment, it's been fun," he said.

Flanders' rugby career at Hastings Boys' High School peaked with a national title in 2017 and most valuable player honours for the New Zealand Secondary Schools team.

But he said the step up to senior rugby took a while to get used to, mostly due to the physicality required.

"I put on a bit of weight straight out of school, and got a bit slower which kind of impacted my game," Flanders said.

The Hurricanes man said he has arrived at a nice equilibrium now, and it's hard to argue with the results.

Devan Flanders grabbed his third try of the season against Manawatū last Saturday at McLean Park as the Magpies successfully defended the Ranfurly Shield. Photo / Paul Taylor

On top of his stellar work around the ground, Flanders has scored three tries in his six starts this season.

"Our performance is our priority, if we get a meat pie then yeah that's always good but it's just the cherry on the top really," he said.

Flanders has anchored a forward pack that has remained largely intact since the year began thanks to injury luck and strong performances.

He said playing with the same guys each week has really helped the team build connections with each other, particularly with his fellow loose forwards Marino Mikaele-Tu'u and Brendon O'Connor.

"We just help each other out," Flanders said.

"We all play different from each other, and we know how each other plays so that helps us."

Hawke's Bay's loose forward trio of Brendon O'Connor (left), Devan Flanders and Marino Mikaele Tu'u have been a major strength for the Magpies. Photo / Paul Taylor

The same goes for Flanders and his old schoolmates Folau Fakatava, Lincoln McClutchie and Danny Toala – other key members of that champion 2017 side as well as the current Magpies setup.

Flanders said it's really cool they all still play together every week, and that they've come a long way since those school days.

"We're still students of the game, getting a lot of learnings from more experienced players," he said.

Flanders was named man of the match in Hawke's Bay's historic win over Canterbury earlier this season. Photo / Paul Taylor

The quartet figure to play a big part for the Magpies this weekend as well, with Hawke's Bay taking on Bay of Plenty in Tauranga on Sunday.

After a couple of days spent recovering from back-to-back Ranfurly Shield defences in the last two rounds, the Magpies are back into the rhythm of their usual preparation.

"We're slowly building into our week, and hopefully by the time we run out on Sunday we should be at our peak, and be able to put in a good performance," Flanders said.

The No 8 said while the 'Battle of the Bays' always makes for a huge game, his team aren't too concerned with what the Steamers have been doing recently:

"We just really focus on ourselves and how we can be better."

Kickoff is at 2.05 pm at Tauranga Domain.