Devan Flanders injured but 8000 expected for Napier Super Rugby match

Hurricanes Super Rugby management is “happy” with ticket sales for next week’s match in Napier, which is likely to have lost local hero Devan Flanders through a devastating pre-season injury.

Devan Flanders up high against the Chiefs in Super Rugby last year. He suffered a leg injury at Hurricanes training last week and is expected to be out of the start of the new season, including the February 22 match in front of his home Hawke's Bay crowd in Napier. Photo / Photosport

Franchise chief executive Avan Lee said on Tuesday there had been a “spike” in sales “in the last 24 hours”, but by Wednesday afternoon there had been no update on the position with Flanders, reported earlier to have a suspected broken leg from a “freak accident” at training.

It comes ahead of the start of the 30th Super Rugby season this weekend.

Set to play the Crusaders in the season-opener in Christchurch on Friday night, the Hurricanes then play Fijian side the Drua at McLean Park, Napier, on February 22, starting at 4.35pm.

Loose forward Flanders, a 25-year-old with more than 50 games behind him in Super Rugby and more than 60 in the National Provincial Championship for the Hawke’s Bay Magpies, had been one of nine Hawke’s Bay Magpies in a squad of 47 the Hurricanes named for a “game-of-three-halves” pre-season hit out against the Chiefs in New Plymouth on February 1.

The injury was reported to have happened the day before last week’s shakedown against the Blues.

He was also out with a hand injury for much of last season’s Magpies campaign, but bounced back as a replacement on the short “All Blacks XV” Northern Hemisphere tour, playing in wins over Munster in Ireland and Georgia.

Lee says the Hurricanes are expecting 8000-10,000 for the game in Napier, a Hurricanes home match and the 16th Super Rugby match at McLean Park but the first since a match against Australian side the Western Force in 2021, with an attendance of 9226.

The Drua entered the competition in 2022, and were beaten 67-5 by the Hurricanes in Wellington, but won 27-24 the following year in Suva, where the Hurricanes exacted revenge last year.

They start their season in Suva against the Brumbies on Saturday.

Lee said match promotion has included the Fijian community, which is significantly involved in seasonal work in Hawke’s Bay, “excited” about the prospect of the match at McLean Park.

The Hurricanes arrive in Napier on the Thursday beforehand and will take part in school visits on the Friday morning, with a “captain’s run” later in the day at the park.

Napier City Council events manager Kevin Murphy said more than 6000 people were at last Sunday’s Freestyle Kings motorbike stunts show at the park, a one-day set-up-and-go exercise by the promoters after arriving from the previous night’s event in Hamilton.

Napier was the last stop on a six-show tour, and is thought to have had the biggest attendance, Murphy said.

Two Central Stags Ford Trophy men’s 50-overs-a-side matches are scheduled for the park on Friday and next Tuesday, before it switches to rugby, for a few days.

Cricket will be back for two internationals next month, a White Ferns women’s match against Sri Lanka on March 4 and a March 29 Black Caps men’s match against Pakistan.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.