Shield fracas: All Magpies on deck despite Ranfurly drama

First-class rugby veteran and Magpies halfback and vice-captain Brad Weber (left) and head coach Brock James fronting media in Napier on Wednesday. Photo / Warren Buckland

The Magpies player charged after a car crash in Napier will still be eligible to play in this Sunday’s sudden death quarter-final against Bay of Plenty.

In fact no one will be missing from the play-off because of weekend Ranfurly Shield revelry which ended with the famed Log o’ Wood broken in two and a player charged with drink-driving.

The situation was confirmed by Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union chief executive Jay Campbell who answered “No” when challenged on whether anyone is being stood down because of any behaviour in the wake of Saturday afternoon’s shield win in Wellington.

New Zealand Rugby has started an investigation, including interviewing players, into how the shield was damaged and other matters, including what was said to be “white powder” depicted in a social media image with a broken half of the shield.

Campbell pledged the union and team’s commitment to co-operate with the investigation, at a time when all wanted to focus on Hawke’s Bay winning the NPC for the first time in its 48 seasons, a contrast to the Magpies’ four Ranfurly Shield challenge wins in a decade.

Speaking to media after the Magpies’ training session at the union’s Orotu Drive headquarters in Napier, Campbell said a full squad would be available for selection – for the “first time” this year.

He said that and any disciplinary action or standing down of a player would have to wait for the New Zealand Rugby investigation, which had begun, or the separate player’s court appearance over a 3.35am Sunday crash in which a car allegedly driven by a player hit a fence.

Players had to be able to go through a process first before it could become an employment issue, he said.

Campbell said only a small number of players were present, among others who were not members of the team, when the recently-remade shield is said to have been dropped onto a concrete floor about 7.30-8.30am on Sunday, 16-17 hours after the Magpies’ 20-18 win stopped defending NPC champions the Wellington Lions claiming a 20th match win in a row.

Campbell was speaking after first-year head coach Brock James and the Magpies’ most experienced player, 18-test All Black, 12-season NPC player and Magpies vice-captain Brad Weber, also spoke with media, with James later confirming the 23 for the quarter-final against Bay of Plenty Steamers in Tauranga starting at 2.05pm on Sunday will be announced on Friday morning, as usual.

Weber said he wasn’t present when the shield was dropped, but trusted what the players had said, and that all the players were “devastated” by what had happened. They knew what the shield meant to Hawke’s Bay, especially after regaining the shield against a top team amid the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on the region.

All expressed disappointment that the shield, sent back to Wellington for repairs, could not be paraded and celebrated in the usual fashion, Campbell saying it was something the players had to accept as “the consequences of their actions”.

The union regarded as speculation the suggestion the “white powder” could have been an illicit substance, although it has also been reported as possible plaster of Paris, but asked if players had been drug-tested as a result of the weekend events the union has said random testing is already part of the process, with all players knowing they could be required to test at any time.

Weber said that as a playing group the team is “gutted” and “incredibly motivated” to win on Sunday because it owes it to supporters.

Campbell said that if there was a positive from the week it was that the provincial passion for both the shield and the NPC “is still there”.

“That it means so much is a good thing,” he said.