Rugby World Cup 2023: All Blacks announced in Napier, Retallick still sole Hawke’s Bay rep in France

There were only two things missing from tonight’s grassroots announcement of the All Blacks Squad for the September 9-29 Rugby World Cup in France.

Given that the New Zealand Rugby Union packed the Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale with about 1000 fans as it doffed its potae (hat) to those who’ve endured Cyclone Gabrielle and the still-early days of the recovery, it might have been nice to (1) see what they call a “bolter” and (2) let it be that there could be a new Hawke’s Bay Rugby World Cup player named.

There was unlikely to be either and when All Blacks legend Richie McCaw announced the name of Brodie Retallick – called out for a third Cup in a row – it was becoming clearer by the minute that the number of Hawke’s Bay Magpies who’ve played World Cup rugby would remain at just six in the 10 tournaments since the first in 1987.

The first was hooker Norm Hewitt in 1995, Israel Dagg and Zac Guilford were in the 2011 squad, prop Ben Franks was in the 2015 squad, Retallick was there in 2015 and 2019, and Brad Weber was in the squad in 2019. Coach Ian Foster did, however, confirm to Hawke’s Bay Today that Weber would be one of three players heading to Twickenham for the test against South Africa on August 25.

Foster also said Samipeni Finau and Weber will travel to France as injury cover, alongside uncapped hooker George Bell.

Others who’d grown up in Hawke’s Bay but who made World Cup squads from representing other unions were John Timu, Josh Kronfeld, Taine Randell and Greg Somerville.

But it’s not the first time Hawke’s Bay has had a significant role in the All Blacks’ fortunes at a Rugby World Cup.

In 1987, Hawke’s Bay expected the last it would see of the action was a match between Canada and Tonga at McLean Park, Napier, on May 24.

But the coach, the now-late Sir Brian Lochore had other ideas, basing the 26-man squad, which had no Hawke’s Bay players, in Napier for several days preparing for the playoffs, including training at the park.

It was part of a plan to get the public to buy back into the All Blacks after the traumas of a 1985 South Africa tour cancellation and the short suspension of most of them for their role in the 1986 rebel Cavaliers tour, which led to the fielding of the rookie team which became known as the Baby Blacks.

Despite the Baby Blacks’ win over France, the All Blacks had what still stands as the worst results of any senior New Zealand men’s team going into a Rugby World Cup, with just two wins in the last five matches.

Yet with Lochore’s innovation – the Hawke’s Bay sojourn and having the squad billeted in his home Wairarapa territory for a night – the team hammered all-comers in the Cup, the 29-9 result against France in the final being as close as it got for anyone else.

In 1994, McLean Park also played another prominent role in an All Blacks’ World Cup build-up, as the venue for the trial which catapulted a 19-year-old Jonah Lomu into the side for the first time and the legend status that followed in the 1995 World Cup in South Africa.

World Cup squad announcements have taken different forms, ranging from simply by media release as players were coming home from Brisbane in 2011 to spread out around the provinces, waving the flag ahead of the tournament in New Zealand, to a bit of fanfare at Parliament in 2015 and a launch in 2019 at Eden Park in Auckland.

So, it’s back to the regions again, with the new team being quickly deployed to dig in for a working bee at Tangoio Marae, which was severely hit when the cyclone struck Hawke’s Bay on February 13-14, and making it back to McLean Park for training on Wednesday morning.

Apart from occasional small-group appearances, it’s the first All Blacks visit to Napier since the September 2014 test match against Argentina at McLean Park, which had in 1996 been the venue for the first test the All Blacks had played at night in New Zealand, against the side then known as Western Samoa.