First Ranfurly Shield game of 2021.
Hawke's Bay v North Otago
Wed 30 June 2021
K/o 7.05pm NZT
McLean Park, Napier
LIVE on Sky Sport 1
This is the Magpies line-up. Tom Parsons is the captain.
Hawke's Bay
Match thread
North Otago (RS)
Two super rugby players on the bench must be a good sign of the strength of the Magpies squad if they cannot command a starting position in what is an official first class fixture. Not a huge amount of height in the forwards but don't suppose it will really matter, other than for catching the many kick offs they will be receiving from the Shield challengers.
@tim https://www.wrfu.co.nz/news/post/wrfu-academy-profile-kienan-higgins-northern-united/?no_cache=1&cHash=b6e9706702669b37c5fd8b3e9840c80f
Not sure, we will have to wait for the HB orcale ( @stargazer ) to come up with age details. I would guess he would be something like 20 or maybe just touching 21. Despite being superbly named his Higgins is not related to my Higgins!
@canes4life Ah, that explains it.
@tim According to my info, he's 21.
It must be correct, because he was eligible for the NZ U20s in 2020: he attended the NZ U20 development camp in Wellington in December 2019, and would have been considered for the NZ U20 trial camp in March 2020 (that was cancelled due to Covid), if he hadn't been injured.
There has been a change made to the Magpies: Kianu Kereru-Symes is out, with Jacob Devery promoted from the bench to start at hooker and uncapped Gene Syminton comes onto the reserves bench.
@number-10 Geez, I hope Kianu doesn't have a serious injury? Would be a bad start to the season for him.
@Number-10 Weather and track conditions please?
@higgins said in Hawke's Bay v North Otago (RS):
@Number-10 Weather and track conditions please?
Windy, no rain, currently 13 degrees, supposed to get down to 6 degrees tomorrow morning.
As expected it was a very one-sided affair.
Just in case someone is wondering. The full time score was 85 - 0 to Hawke's Bay.
Try scorers: Jason Long 2, Lolagi Visinia 2, Josh Kaifa 2, Kienan Higgins, Tom Parsons, Jacob Devery, Anzelo Tuitavuki, Danny Toala, Namatahi Waa and a penalty try.
Conversions: Lincoln McClutchie (9).
Missed conversions: Lincoln McClutchie (2), Danny Toala (1)
Several tries scored off a driving maul. Ash Dixon will be proud.
Man of the Match: Jason Long.
Six players made their Magpies debut: Elijah Martin, Josh Gimblett (HB Academy), Kienan Higgins, Dennon Robinson-Bartlett, Gene Syminton and Frank Lochore (HB Academy).
@stargazer Are there any highlights packages around?
@stargazer With 85 points scored the highlights package would probably be almost the length of the entire game.