Magpies taking flight for historic NPC final across-country

It’s the longest east-west trip in New Zealand to a place where the Hawke’s Bay Magpies have never won a National Provincial Championship rugby game.

But it is the dream of half a century, so when the opportunity came up the rugby union snapped it up and the Magpies, and a few of the sponsors that have propped up the financials during a season on the brink of becoming one of Hawke’s Bay rugby’s greatest, will fly direct from Napier to New Plymouth for Saturday’s final against the Taranaki Bulls.

Hawke’s Bay have not beaten Taranaki at Yarrows Stadium (aka Rugby Park) since 1972, four years before the NPC started, said rugby union chief executive Jay Campbell, although they did win a match 34-33 just 18km away in Inglewood in 2020.

He confirmed the mode of travel is an Air Chathams chartered, a more than welcome flight of about 240km, which compares with the alternatives of changing flights in Wellington or Auckland, or worse, a 410km-plus trip by bus last at least 5-and-a-half hours.

Air Chathams charter manager Paul Aston said the 60-seat ATR flight with two pilots and two cabin crew would take about 45 minutes.

The flight departs Napier, and returns on the night of the game, which starts on Saturday at 7.05pm and, without extra time, would finish about 8.45pm.

Campbell said spare seats on the flight, after accommodating the 23 players, and the coaching and management team, were offered to sponsors to purchase and “snapped up in half an hour.”

Despite four Ranfurly Shield challenge wins in the last decade, including the recent outsider’s-chance win in Wellington, it’s seen as possibly the biggest goal the Magpies could have had since 1976, when Hawke’s Bay featured in the first NPC first division game against Auckland at McLean Park.

Campbell said Air Chathams, which has a fleet of nine aircraft on scheduled services that don’t include Napier or New Plymouth, had been “simply amazing” arranging the flight at what had been expected to be a difficult time over the holiday weekend.

It’s the Magpies fifth away game in a row, following a 33-7 win over Southland in Invercargill on September 23, the 20-18 Shield match win to end the NPC regular season in Wellington on September 30, a 38-28 quarterfinal win over Bay of Plenty in Tauranga on October 8, and last Saturday’s 25-24 to eliminate defending champions the Wellington Lions at the capital city’s Sky Stadium.

The TAB late on Tuesday had Taranaki favourites at $1.62 to win and the Magpies at $2.35, but the “boys”, while the outsiders, were “quietly confident,” Campbell said.

In a heart-stopping season, the Magpies have won 6 of their 12 games in the NPC by 3 points or less, and one loss was by three points.