{"id":581321,"date":"2026-08-26T22:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581321\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T22:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:32:09","slug":"to-be-frank-magpies-skipper-frank-lochore-takes-his-legendary-grandads-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581321\/","title":{"rendered":"To be Frank \u2013 Magpies skipper Frank Lochore takes his legendary grandad\u2019s advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neria Fomai returns after a week off with injury, and first five-eighths and NPC leading points-scorer Harry Godfrey is rested.<\/p>\n

Due to rotation, there are six changes to the starting XV, with swaps for the props, a bench seat for rising-star lock \u2013 and NPC Duane Monkley Medal points joint-leader \u2013 Hunter Morrison, and flanker Cooper Flanders returns in the No 7 jersey.<\/p>\n

The Stags have been regarded as an NPC thorn in the Magpies\u2019 side, although Hawke\u2019s Bay have won eight of the unions\u2019 last 10 clashes since their 20-20 Ranfurly Shield draw in Napier in 2012.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ve been four Magpies wins in five matches in that time at Invercargill\u2019s Rugby Park, where winds could average over 20km\/h, with temperatures below 7C.<\/p>\n

For the Magpies, paying just $1.06 at the TAB, it\u2019s a reboot after a testing Wednesday journey south with stopovers in Wellington and Christchurch.<\/p>\n

\"FrankFrank Lochore, at Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union headquarters, fresh off the training field. Photo \/ Doug Laing<\/p>\n

Lochore, growing up on a Central Hawke\u2019s Bay farm, played in Hereworth\u2019s First XV in Havelock North, but missed the Ross Shield primary schools\u2019 tournament as he was too big.<\/p>\n

He had his first big taste of captaincy in his last year in the Napier Boys\u2019 High School First XV, in 2019.<\/p>\n

Finishing training at Dagg Field, Napier, on Tuesday, Lochore reflected on what grandad told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did give me tips about captaincy when I was a captain of the Napier Boys\u2019 First XV,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said keep a calm head. If people see you\u2019re rattled, it will affect the whole team.\u201d<\/p>\n

That advice has been deployed across a range of roles, from the Central club in Waipukurau and age-grade sides including the Hurricanes Under-18s, to the professional era with the Magpies, the Utah Warriors in North American Major League Rugby, and Green Rockets Tokatsu in Japan.<\/p>\n

At the Magpies, Lochore is part of a five-man players\u2019 leadership team.<\/p>\n

In Invercargill, Lochore forms a powerful loose trio with Flanders and No 8 Tiaki Fabish, and said it\u2019s important Hawke\u2019s Bay plays their best game.<\/p>\n

From the outside, it hasn\u2019t looked as if it would be easy, with probably the Magpies\u2019 biggest off-season turnover<\/a> of players in NPC history.<\/p>\n

But with the Magpies beating Wellington 52-33, Tasman 50-19, Auckland 45-39 and Manawat\u016b 59-17, fans can see a revolution happening.<\/p>\n

Lochore appreciates the hard yards are ahead, but ominously notes: \u201cWe\u2019re not the complete package yet\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the match against the Stags, the Magpies have eight days before facing Otago in Napier on September 4. <\/p>\n

The Hawke\u2019s Bay Magpies team to play Southland Stags at Rugby Park, Invercargill, on Thursday, starting at 7.10pm: <\/p>\n

Hadlee Hay-Horton, Kianu Kereru-Symes, Joe Apikotoa, Geoff Cridge, Tom Allen, Frank Lochore (captain), Cooper Flanders, Tiaki Fabish; Folau Fakatava, Will Cole, Nic Benn, Lukas Ripley, Bailyn Sullivan, Neria Fomai, Zarn Sullivan.<\/p>\n

Reserves: Valentino Tiato, Clement Castets, Manahi Goulton, Hunter Morrison, Vilive Miramira, Connor McLeod, Anaru Paenga-Morgan, Darby Lancaster.<\/p>\n

Doug Laing is a Hawke\u2019s Bay Today reporter based in Napier, home of the Magpies. In a journalism career of 53 years he\u2019s covered news and sports events and issues in Hawke\u2019s Bay, and first covered an NPC match in the competition\u2019s first year in 1976. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neria Fomai returns after a week off with injury, and first five-eighths and NPC leading points-scorer Harry Godfrey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1665,5195,36341,286334,293,13630,286333,9612,111,139,69,76350,213,1120,61],"class_list":["post-581321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-advice","tag-be","tag-frank","tag-grandads","tag-his","tag-legendary","tag-lochore","tag-magpies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-skipper","tag-sports","tag-takes","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581321","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=581321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}