Magpies head coach Brock James has announced his first Magpies squad to defend the Ranfurly Shield against King Country today.

The 23 man squad lead by Tom Parsons includes 19 players that have been regulars in the Bayleys Commercial club competition across 8 clubs. The blend of experienced NPC players and promising talent includes 13 debutants.

James confirmed ‘’We have had a group of players who have worked extremely hard for the opportunity to play this game throughout our Wider Training Group program and while we could have rushed many of our returning Super Players into this squad, the men selected to wear the black and white hoops deserve this opportunity through great club form and performances in our HB trial games’’

Parsons, who has recently returned from playing with Uraysau D-Rocks in Japan forms an experienced tight five including a front row of Tim Farrell, Joel Hintz and recent Hurricanes hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes.

The backline includes Moana Pasifika and Tongan winger Anzelo Tuitavuki but is otherwise an inexperienced but talented backline. MAC’s exciting fullback Johnny Ika will make his debut for the Magpies at 32 years of age after being named on the Magpies bench against Waikato in 2019 but never taking the field.

James added ‘’This will be a special day for the 13 men who are all excited to be representing the Magpies for the first time and with it defending the Ranfurly Shield. The squad hope all of Hawke’s Bay can knock off work or school early and come down and cheer them on as we know King Country will be here to take the game to us and be an extremely tough challenge for our squad’’

Kick Off at the Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park in Hastings on Wednesday is at 3pm.

Havelock North Primary, Hastings Christian School, St Marys, Te Mata Primary and Bridge Pa schools will form part of the curtain-raiser playing rippa rugby from 2:00pm

Free entry on the embankment while tickets in the stand are $10 for adults and $5 for kids at hbmagpies.co.nz or from the venue from 2pm on game day.

Article added: Tuesday 25 June 2024