{"id":576639,"date":"2026-08-22T06:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T06:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576639\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T06:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T06:52:09","slug":"nine-tries-as-magpies-hit-record-in-npc-games-against-manawatu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576639\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine tries as Magpies hit record in NPC games against Manawat\u016b"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bay\u2019s third 50-pointer in four games came just 24 hours after the Magpies became the only unbeaten side in the 14-team 50th anniversary championship, by virtue of previously unbeaten titleholder Canterbury\u2019s Ranfurly Shield loss to Northland in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve scored 31 tries, and the seven conversions landed by first five-eighths Harry Godfrey made him the first player to pass the half-century in this year\u2019s championship.<\/p>\n

Manawat\u016b flanker Rory Adams was first to put points on the board with a try after his side attacked confrontationally straight from the kick-off, but the Magpies replied with a try to hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes six minutes later.<\/p>\n

With Godfrey\u2019s conversion, it was 7-5 to the home side after 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Manawat\u016b centre Taniela Filimone scored in the 20th minute and the visitors stayed in front for 16 minutes before Magpies lock Hunter Morrison scored the first of his two tries, and what was also the second of seven scored consecutively by the Magpies before Manawat\u016b scored again, with five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

The Magpies needed another try before halftime, and it came quickly through the first scored for the province by right wing Nic Benn, one of three Australians in the Hawke\u2019s Bay backline.<\/p>\n

Morrison opened the second-half scoring, but at 24-12 down Manawat\u016b were still in the contest, until the Magpies scored three converted tries in the 10 minutes Manawat\u016b captain TK Howden was absent after being sin-binned by referee Todd Petrie in the 57th minute.<\/p>\n

There could have been more suspensions, but a melee involving several players from each team about 30 metres out from the Manawat\u016b line within two minutes of Howden\u2019s departure was resolved with a chat to those by that stage leading their sides.<\/p>\n

Morrison\u2019s substitution in the 52nd provided a unique moment, matching two twins and former Hastings Boys\u2019 High School players<\/a>, with Tom Allen coming on at lock, against brother Reuben who started at lock for Manawat\u016b.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the faith of the TAB bookies was validated, with the Magpies at possibly their shortest odds since TAB sports betting started in New Zealand in 1996.<\/p>\n

They opened at $1.05 to win, and came in to $1.02, while Manawat\u016b drifted to be distant outsiders at $13.<\/p>\n

It was the 110th match between the two unions that, for two years in 1997-1998, formed a Division 2 alliance as the Central Vikings, and the Magpies have now won 74.<\/p>\n

The Magpies, having had just six days\u2019 break after beating Auckland at Eden Park for the first time in 57 years, again have just six days\u2019 break before playing Southland in Invercargill on Thursday, with hopes of equalling Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s best NPC top-division start of five consecutive wins, achieved in 2024.<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay 59 (Hunter Morrison 2, Kianu Kereru-Symes, Nic Benn, Darby Lancaster, Joe Apikotoa, Hadlee Hay-Horton, Valentino Taito, Anaru Paenga-Morgan tries; Harry Godfrey 7 conversions); Manawat\u016b 17 (Rory Woods, Taniela Filimone, Hunter Kennedy tries; George Worboys conversion). Halftime: 17-12. <\/p>\n

Doug Laing is a Hawke\u2019s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier, with more than 53 years in newspaper journalism, and four decades covering news and sports events and issues in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bay\u2019s third 50-pointer in four games came just 24 hours after the Magpies became the only unbeaten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,283913,9092,806,248126,283912,283914,4999,6489,1976,89817,3594,78,7240,9612,10509,3607,111,139,2551,37968,22308,69,1523,1974,9424,53902,213,165,23838,283915,255522,102],"class_list":["post-576639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-283913","tag-against","tag-as","tag-ascension","tag-clearcut","tag-crossranges","tag-friday","tag-games","tag-hawkes","tag-hilux","tag-hit","tag-in","tag-lead","tag-magpies","tag-manawat","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nine","tag-npc","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-record","tag-rivals","tag-rugbys","tag-sports","tag-their","tag-tries","tag-turbos","tag-underlined","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}