Magpies 2020

Stargazer

@Higgins The HBRU would always pick neighbour and arch rivals Wellington over Ta$man. It's a traditional game.
I assume, a factor that they took into consideration for the last pick was that Harbour is the team that we're more likely to beat than Ta$man. If you're striving for promotion to the Premiership, you have to take that into account as well. Promotion is also beneficial to gate takings in the following season.

Baron Silas Greenback

@Stargazer said in Magpies 2020:

@Higgins The HBRU would always pick neighbour and arch rivals Wellington over Ta$man. It's a traditional game.
I assume, a factor that they took into consideration for the last pick was that Harbour is the team that we're more likely to beat than Ta$man. If you're striving for promotion to the Premiership, you have to take that into account as well. Promotion is also beneficial to gate takings in the following season.

You are not wrong. Being promoted is a massive boon. When we beat Hawkes last year to win promotion, it really was a great result for the BOP union and its gate takings this season, not having a surplus if games against minnows is great.

kiwimatrix

Anybody go out to todays trial against Auckland contenders?A 35 7 win good result for the magpies wider training squad.

Stargazer

@kiwimatrix Oops. Just posted something similar in the HB Academy thread.

kiwimatrix

@Stargazer Looks like a few new fringe players fighting for magpies spots.Te Rangi Fraser ex Bop,Levi Harmon ex Wellington and Joe Apikotoa was named as well.

Higgins

@kiwimatrix Levi Harmon originally comes out of Wai-Bush but hs been playing midfield for mostly Poneke in Wellington. Think he might have made the Wgtn Lions a couple of years back before a real bad knee injury sideline him for the best part of a season and a half. Joe Apikatoa, guess Tim Farrell is still missing in action? Any updates on him Stargazer?

Stargazer

@Higgins Sorry, I have no updates about Farrell.

I wondered where Apikotoa was going to try his luck, this year. It didn't work out for him in Wellington, last year. He had a brief stint in Spain (end of 2019), but returned early, reportedly because he wants to earn a contract in NZ. So if he's in the Bay, I assume that's where he'll play his club rugby?

Don't know the other players. I hope our locals are good enough to make the squad, if last year's squad members don't return (assuming Sapsford won't come back now that he has a sevens contract).

kiwimatrix

@Stargazer Sapsford played yesterday, so he may be still in the mix.

Higgins

@kiwimatrix Will ask him if he turns up for his former Wellington Axemen's 150th Anniversary Commemorative Match against the Nelson RFC next weekend.

Stargazer

Also playing for us was Solomone Finaki (on photo with child). Don't know who the other player is:

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Stargazer

HBT article about the Magpies Academy/WTG game against Auckland Contenders.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=12312794

Stargazer

From the "Club Rugby" website:

Some big news out late last week with one of Wellington rugby’s more colourful characters of recent times having pulled the pin on his time here, for now. HOBM’s Sheridan Rangihuna has relocated to the Hawke’s Bay, ending his Eagles career a handful of matches short of a century, a number he would surely have reached if not for his bouts with officialdom and a short-term contract with Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights during last year’s Jubilee Cup. A former NZ Schools and U20s representative out of Gisborne Boys, Rangihuna was also a regular for the Lions and Sevens sides. Talented and tempestuous, on his day Rangihuna could be the best player going around in club rugby. We wish him all the best in his next endeavours and the Eagles’ loss is a Hawke’s Bay clubs’ gain.

Possible back-up to Fakatava, if Weber makes the ABs again?

Edit: I don't rate Rangihuna highly (same category as Ruru to me), but if no one else is putting his hands up, he at least has experience.

Higgins

@Stargazer Will fit nicely into the Texans backline, now we just need to get the Barracuda back and even I would look good in the lineup playing alongside them.

Steven Harris

Hawkes Bay favourite Tongan International Sona Taumalolo will return to the Magpies for the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup..
Having played in France since 2012
Taumalolo played 45 games for the Magpies between 2005-2011 and represented the Chiefs between 2008-2012 playing 52 games..
He has also represented Tonga on 20 occasions

Ben May will retire at the end of the 2020 Super Rugby season ,
May has reported bought a farm in the Taranaki area.

Higgins

@Steven-Harris He is one of my favourite players of all time so naturally I'm delighted, but nevertheless sceptical about how much input a player that must be edging 40 can contribute on the field.

Nepia

@Steven-Harris said in Hurricanes 2020:

Hawkes Bay favourite Tongan International Sona Taumalolo will return to the Magpies for the 2020 Mitre 10 Cup..
Having played in France since 2012
Taumalolo played 45 games for the Magpies between 2005-2011 and represented the Chiefs between 2008-2012 playing 52 games..
He has also represented Tonga on 20 occasions

Ben May will retire at the end of the 2020 Super Rugby season ,
May has reported bought a farm in the Taranaki area.

Shit, how old is Sona? Must be close to 40? Will still be better than May.

Stargazer

@Steven-Harris I'm very surprised about Taumalolo still playing. I lost track of him since the articles in the media about him being forced to retire due to "spinal anomalies". I vaguely remember reading something since then that he continued playing somewhere else, but I can't find it anymore.

I always rated him, but you have to wonder how good he still is at 38, although I agree with @Nepia that he's probably still better than May (he always was). May is 37, so they'll lift the average age of the team considerably, especially if Dixon is still with us this season, too.

By the way, has this news been published anywhere?

Steven Harris

Don’t worry I was surprised as anybody else when I found out this news..

Toddy

Awesome. Another foreign player taking the place of a local lad.

Stargazer

From the article below:

The building of the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union's Community Training Centre was a key factor in the union's equity increasing by almost $500,000 last year.

Speaking before tonight's annual meeting of the union in Napier finance committee chairman Craig Riddiford said the equity increased by $491,324 to $1,768,750. Riddiford and union chief executive Jay Campbell pointed out grants and donations for the centre were influential in the union's revenue increasing by $436,624 to $4,579,112 during the financial year ending on November 30.

Grant income for the centre amounted to $560,000. Expenses for the centre amounted to $83,215 and this left the centre with a net surplus of $476,785.

For the 21st consecutive year the union recorded a surplus. While the $14,539 surplus was $95,395 less than the previous year's it was just under the $15,000 the union was aming for.

The New Zealand Rugby Union's grant to the union increased by $185,334 to $1,777,465. Campbell pointed out $90,000 of this was for the union's women's programme.

"We also met a lot of the national union's key performance indicators."

Total expenses for the union increased $527,674 to $4,546,711. Campbell said more money was invested into the community game for software for video analysis. Travel grants for clubs increased by $4,345 to $17,863.

Rugby development expenses increased by $151,243 to $1,260,543. Campbell said Magpies assistant coach Josh Syms was doing "a fantastic job" with first XV and club coaches.

Magpies scrum coach Francisco Deformes has also been doing a lot of work with promising frontrowers and the safety component of forward play.

Riddiford said the union will aim for a surplus of $5,810 this year.

Team expenses increased by $223,795 to $2,098,327. The union spent $1,895,047 on the Magpies last year - $209,310 more than the previous year.

Expenses for the Hawke's Bay Tui women's NPC team amounted to $37,310 - $7,209 more than last year. Campbell pointed out the union had two new rep teams last year, a Saracens under-18 side and a co-ed under-15 team.

NPC match income increased by $64,618 to $171,001 and Campbell said the key reason for this increase was the Magpies home semifinal against Otago.

Sponsorship income for the union increased by $6,739 to $1,936,644.

The union's administration expenses dropped $22,416 to $311,620.

Commenting on possible mergers of provinces around the country, union chairman Brendan Mahony, said he will have more detail after his union hosts a New Zealand Rugby Union Road Show on Friday. Representatives of the Hawke's Bay, Whanganui, Manawatu, Povery Bay and East Coast unions have been invited along with delegates from New Zealand Maori Rugby.

"We are not going to take any changes lying down. All this talk has galvanised the country," Mahony said.

Campbell pointed out the challenges facing New Zealand Rugby aren't new with less people watching Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup rugby. But he said his union's focus will always be on growing the game.

"We experienced an increase in teenage male players last year. But nationally the numbers are going south and that has been the trend for the last 10 years."

Campbell said 11,000 fans attended Saturday night's Super Rugby match between the Hurricanes and Sunwolves in Napier. He was hopeful of being allocated another fixture in future and he had plenty of positive feedback from the Sunwolves who spent the week in Napier.

Sanders also asked why clubs weren't allowed the services of their academy and Hurricanes under-20 players for pre-season fixtures. Campbell told him the Hurricanes have first pick of these players until the end of March.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=12313459

The Silver Fern

Magpies 2020