Hawkes Bay hoping to go one better

By LINDSAY KNIGHT

It was significant that when Hawkes Bay won the NPC second division rugby title last weekend the celebrations were strangely muted.

More than anyone else, the Bay players knew their achievements for the season had only reached a halfway stage.

Winning the championship would be hollow if it was not followed this weekend by a win over Northland and promotion to next year's first division.

And as everyone in Hawkes Bay is painfully aware, that is something which has proven to be a frustration in the past three seasons.

As was the case this year, Hawkes Bay went through the second division round-robin and then the playoffs in each of the 2001 and 2002 seasons without defeat. But in each of those seasons they missed at the final hurdle and were beaten in the promotion-relegation playoff match by Bay of Plenty.

This season at least the Bay have in their favour the home-ground advantage at McLean Park.

Hawkes Bay as a union have a special place in New Zealand rugby history. In the 1920s they had an epic Ranfurly Shield reign which was the first major step in elevating that trophy to iconic status.

Memories of that were revived with another great shield era in the 1960s.

But so far the NPC, since its introduction in 1976, has been one long saga of frustration for the Bay. They have not been in the first division now since 1993.

Even when they formed in the 1997-98 seasons the Central Vikings with Manawatu that, too, resulted in dashed ambitions. The Vikings won the NPC second division title in 1998 but were denied promotion for constitutional reasons and what had been a costly experiment was discontinued.

Northland supporters may not agree but the plight of Hawkes Bay might be eased if there was a return to automatic promotion-relegation between the first and second divisions, as is still the case between the second and third divisions.