[tv**] North Harbour - Hawke's Bay live match 5 August 2023
100 Years: Māori Rugby League, 1908-2008
Stevenson, of course, won’t be around this time – making his All Blacks debut a few hours earlier, in Auckland, but back again for the Magpies will be such players as Parsons, who first played for Hawke’s Bay in 2021, and 2023 match tryscorers Kianu Kereru-Symes and Chase Tiatia. The next-most recent match between the two was in 2020 when North Harbour had a 46-10 home win, two weeks after the Magpiesfirst win over Canterbury in almost 40 years 20-19. It was against Canterbury in Christchurch in 2017 that Parsons first captained the Magpies, in the absence of regular skipper Ash Dixon, a situation which was to repeat in 2021 when the Bay beat Canterbury again.
With a squad put together by new head coach Brock James containing a number of players who have grown in the black-and-white hoops and gone into Super Rugby, the 33-year-old skipper and lock, who has more than 100 appearances in first class rugby to his name says some good combinations have been established. But the last two weeks before an eagerly-anticipated Premiership kick-off have seen the Magpies conceding more than 30 points in each of two warm-up matches in Taupo, against Auckland on July 23 and then Waikato last Friday, showing what may happen when the big D, for defence, isn’t quite working the way it should.
The Rough Guide to New Zealand (Travel Guide eBook)
Magpies work on defence in bid to roll North HarbourTom Parsons leads the Magpies out against Waikato for a Ranfurly Shield defence in 2021. Defence, of a different sort, will be big factor on Saturday night's game against North Harbour. Photo / NZMEThere’s no ‘D’ in Tom Parsons, captain, but there’ll be a big emphasis on the ‘D’ as he leads the Hawke’s Bay when they face North Harbour in the teams’ opening 2023 Bunnings NPC match on Saturday evening at McLean Park, Napier.
Bunnings NPC quarterfinals: Preview and Team Lists