Sunday 4:35pm

Few changes expected for Otago.

Tucker out. Timu looked fairly beaten up as well.

Potentially Tengblad, Te Hiwi and Haig in.

Hawke's Bay will pose a decent challenge. Get a win here and it gets us rolling nicely.

1 Abraham Pole
2 Henry Bell
3 Saula Ma'u
4 Will Tucker
5 Joseva Tamani
6 Will Stodart
7 Harry Taylor
8 Konrad Toleafoa
9 Nathan Hastie
10 Cameron Millar
11 Jona Nareki
12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen
13 Josh Timu
14 Jae Broomfield
15 Sam Gilbert

16 Liam Coltman
17 Benjamin Lopas
18 Rohan Wingham
19 Oliver Haig
20 Lucas Casey
21 Dylan Pledger
22 Jake Te Hiwi
23 Samuel Nemec-Vial

1 Pouri Rakete-Stones
2 Jacob Devery
3 Joshua Smith
4 Geoff Cridge
5 Tom Parsons
6 Miracle Faiilagi
7 Cooper Flanders
8 Devan Flanders
9 Ere Enari
10 Harry Godfrey
11 Lukas Ripley
12 Kienan Higgins
13 Nick Grigg
14 Jonah Lowe
15 Zarn Sullivan

16 Kianu Kereru-Symes
17 Hadlee Hay-Horton
18 Lolani Faleiva
19 Hunter Morrison
20 Frank Lochore
21 Folau Fakatava
22 Lincoln McClutchie
23 Andrew Tauatevalu

Stoked to see big Oli Haig back. Injuries have screwed the last eight months for him. Become a big of a forgotten man. Hopefully he can get a decent run of games.

Wonder where Lio-Willie has gone? On the other hand, really keen to see big Toleafoa havd a run. Long overdue.

@SouthernMann Lio-Willie is being rested. Has to be a request from the All Blacks you would think

Dare I say it but feeling quietly confident for an Otago win. I would think that Otago have the advantage, particularly with the bench. If there aren’t any soft tries and Otago defend like they did last week, I don’t see any reason that they can’t win

Slow and scrappy start from both teams. HB have had the better of the first 10mins, should probably have scored a try early on but ended up with 3

Fairly one-sided affair. HB have dominated the last 10 mins in this one. Both Flanders bros playing well.

That’s a fantastic effort by the Otago lock.

Feeble Magpies defence there. I was hoping we'd have this game wrapped up by halftime as I have to stop watching as I'm about to head through customs.

our Fijians are going well today

More feeble defence. Do we have a let the Fijians score rule today?

Game has turned into an arm wrestle. Quite a physical match

Nareki does some good stuff but boy does he do some stupid shit

How on earth do Otago get a scrum put in when their player has the ball and loses control from when a Pies player hits it?

Anyway, will take that win even if it wasn't convincing.

@Nepia defence was good enough when it mattered

Magpies get the chocolates. as for my Otago well Lucas Casey needs to be starting at 7 for us from now on

Dropped ball, unnecessary penalties, getting cut to shreds out wide. Typical otago

@Grooter ..very physical 7 and big body as i have said previously on the forum it would not surprise me if given the opportunity hes the Landers 7 in 2026
One that grates me as a Northlander we missed

@Grooter said in Otago v Hawkes Bay:

Magpies get the chocolates. as for my Otago well Lucas Casey needs to be starting at 7 for us from now on

Personally would like to see a back row of Haig 6, Casey 7, Stoddard 8. It’s the most well rounded and brings the most to the set piece and ruck. Thought Toleafoa was sea gulling at the ruck far too much and doesn’t seem like a viable option at lineout. Taylor was ok at 7 but Casey is an upgrade