Hawke’s Bay Magpies short-changed in Super Rugby picks

Devan Flanders will be a key member of the Hurricanes in 2024. Photo / NZME

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies have had precious little Super Rugby reward for their efforts in reaching the national inter-provincial rugby championship final for the first time.

Selectors from six of the 12 Super Rugby franchises have between them named 12 players for the professional transtasman and Pacific competition for 2024, starting at the end of February.

But all played Super Rugby last season, meaning there will be no new Super Rugby players from the Bay for next year.

The five named for home-region franchise the Hurricanes are Jacob Devery, Devan Flanders, Harry Godfrey, Pouri Rakete-Stones and Isaia Walker-Leawere, the Highlanders have Folau Fakatava and Jonah Lowe, and Moana Pasifika have named Neria Fomai and Anzelo Tuitavuki in a squad that has the greatest degree of change.

Hooker Tyrone Thompson will be in the Chiefs line-up once more, and two will be appearing again for Australian sides, with Ollie Sapsford at the Brumbies and Chase Tiatia at Western Force.

Also named are Solomone Funaki and Danny Toala, whose selection for Tonga and Samoa respectively at the Rugby World Cup in France made them unavailable for the NPC season.

Hawke’s Bay players missing after opting for overseas contracts are halfback Brad Weber, now with French top-14 side Stade Francais Paris, and loose forward Marino Mikaele Tu’u, who has signed with Sagamihara DynaBoars in the Japan Rugby (union) League-One competition.

Also taken flight is veteran All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick - who due to AB and other commitments has made just 13 appearances for Hawke’s Bay since 2010 - he is off to Japan for a new stint with Kobelco Kobe Steelers.

But unclear late on Thursday was the position of star first five-eighths and 2023 NPC top-scorer Lincoln McClutchie, who is not in any of the squads, although he has played in 20 matches for Moana Pasifika in the franchise’s first two seasons.

The former Hastings Boys’ High School player and New Zealand Secondary Schools representative has spent one short stint in Japan, playing four matches for Osaka side the Red Hurricanes in 2020, but late on Thursday Hawke’s Bay Today had been unable to ascertain whether he was available.

McClutchie was the only player to appear in all 13 Magpies NPC matches in 2023, including a successful Ranfurly Shield challenge against Wellington and reaching the NPC final for the first time in its 48th season.

He scored 125 of Hawke’s Bay’s 386 points, and by the season’s end his 454 points for the Magpies since his 2018 debut ranked him third on the list of players with the most points in over 140 years of Hawke’s Bay Magpies rugby.

Hawke’s Bay is also missing from the Super Rugby draw for 2024, as it has been since hosting a Western Force “home” match at McLean Park, Napier, against the Hurricanes, on May 28, 2021.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.