Rugby: Magpies taking on Wellington, history and the wind

Nick Grigg in action at the Cake Tin against Wellington two weeks ago, where the Magpies again play on Saturday. Photo / Elias Rodriguez - Photosport

The Hawke’s Bay Magpies will be battling both national champions Wellington and the capital’s Windy City reputation in a bid for National Provincial Championship rugby history on Saturday night.

MetService has a strong wind warning in place for Wellington with “severe gale” northwesterlies, possibly up to 120km/h in exposed places, from 8am to 6pm.

But they’re (fingers crossed) expected to ease through the 7.05pm kick-off and the following hour-and-a-half, in which Magpies captain Tom Parsons and his team are hoping to become the first Hawke’s Bay side to qualify for an NPC final.

They won’t be unfamiliar with the conditions, with the stadium having put on a bit of an inclement meteorological performance when the Magpies scored a 20-18 Ranfurly Shield challenge win over Wellington a fortnight ago.

Hawke’s Bay has played four semi-finals in the professional era of 14-team NPC rugby, which started with the Air New Zealand Cup in 2006.

In their first semi-final the following year, Hawke’s Bay was beaten 38-3 at Eden Park, Auckland. The Magpies travelled to Christchurch in 2008 where they were beaten 31-21 by Canterbury, who repeated the effort a year later with a 20-3 win in one of the last matches at Christchurch’s AMI Stadium (Lancaster Park).In the most recent - and closest - match, Tasman beat the Magpies 33-27 two years ago at McLean Park, Napier.

If the Magpies win, they will play a final against Canterbury or Taranaki in Christchurch or New Plymouth, depending on the winner of the other semi-final overnight in New Plymouth.

In the 17 years of the cup era, only six of the 14 unions have played for the title.

A win would be a more than welcome diversion from the furore that erupted after the Ranfurly Shield was broken less than 24 hours after it had been taken back into Hawke’s Bay hands two weeks ago.

New Zealand Rugby expects an inquiry report to be completed next week, with the details revealed to the public soon afterwards.

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.