Coming out of the storm-week scrape of three wins in nine days, first-season Magpies head coach Brock James has named an interesting 23.
There are five players in the 23 who were not in the 36-man season squad named in July. Of the 27 now named in the run-on sides, only first five-eighth Lincoln McClutchies has been in the 15 for all five games.
There are sign subs-bench appearances in 24-year-old Japanese hooker Hisamitsu Shimada (who was on the bench last Sunday), and late additions Australian and Western Force prop Bo Abra, also 24, and centre Stacey Ili, who with 54 Magpies appearances behind him, returns after missing out on a place in the Samoa squad at the Rugby World Cup in France next month.
Additions are mainly a consequence of the loss of two from the team that beat Otago on Sunday, in prop Joe Apikotoa and game-breaking left wing Anzelo Tuitavuki, who were both named this week in the Tongan RWC squad, while Shimada has emerged from the global academy run by the Hawke’s Bay union.
James said he had understood Apikotoa and Tuitavuki had been out of contention for the Tongan squad, but they must have played themselves back in with recent good form. Abra, identified as a possibility by former Magpies coach Mark Ozich, had been “on the radar” for a couple of years, was contacted late last week and joined the squad early this week.
Amid the vagaries of competition draws and the Covid-19 era, Hawke’s Bay haven’t played at Eden Park since a 34-34 draw in 2010, and despite what was once a near-annual engagement, the two unions haven’t played each other in an NPC match since Auckland won 25-24 in Napier in 2016.
The last time the Magpies beat Auckland was a 17-12 Ranfurly Shield defence victory in 2015, which was also the only other NPC season in which the Magpies started with four consecutive wins, an achievement now matched going into Saturday’s game, which doubles as a major Cyclone Gabrielle recovery fundraiser.
Hawke’s Bay and Auckland played a particularly significant role in NPC history, playing the first first-division match at McLean Park, Napier, in May 1976, with one four-point-try each in what a was 10-7 win to Auckland, in front of a Wednesday-afternoon crowd of 10,000 — the winning points coming from a dropped goal by Auckland first five-eighth Mark Sisam, who later played 31 games for the Magpies.
This year the Magpies have started with a string of heart-stopping wins over North Harbour (23-21), Counties Manukau (25-24), Waikato (35-32) and Otago (33-32), a combined points differential of plus-7, and a winning run still short of the Magpies’ NPC record of seven in a row in 2021.
Auckland have had one loss, being beaten 24-12 in Blenheim by Tasman, who were beaten 7-0 on Wednesday as Wellington maintained their uneaten 2023 record with a Ranfurly Shield defence victory in Wellington.
Taranaki, who have also won four from four, play Bay of Plenty in New Plymouth on Saturday, and unbeaten sides Canterbury and Wellington play in Christchurch on Sunday.
With Eden Park having been out of rugby’s touch during the Fifa Women’s World Cup close-out, it will be Auckland’s first match at the major venue this season.
The Magpies have a second away game in a row next Friday against Northland in Whangarei, and return to McLean Park for the Battle of the Bays against Bay of Plenty on the Saturday afternoon of September 9.
The Magpies team for Saturday’s match: 1 Isi Tu’Ungafasi, 2 Tyrone Thompson, 3 Pouri Rakete Stones, 4 Geoff Cridge, 5 Tom Parsons, 6 Patrick Tuifua, 7 Josh Kaifa, 8 Devon Flanders, 9 Folau Fakatava, 10 Lincoln McClutchie, 11 Lolagi Visinia, 12 Chase Tiatia, 13 Ollie Sapsford, 14 Paula Balekana, 15 Harry Godfrey. Reserves: 16 Hisamitsu Shimada, 17 Kianu Kereru Symes, 18 Bo Abra, 19 Frank Lochore, 20 Sam Smith, 21 Sam Wye, 22 Stacey Ili, 23 Caleb Makene.
