2023 Hawke's Bay Club Rugby
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If, and it's a big if at this stage, one or both of the Sullivan brothers return home, I can't see them with any other club than Pirates. One of them (I can't remember which brother) even posted his support for the club on his instagram page not too long ago. Unfortunately, in his instagram stories, so it has disappeared, but I noticed it.
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@Higgins I just saw this post from Tech on their instagram page:
napier_technical L o a d i n g ⏳
Gibson Popoalii, Midfield
Liam Udy Johns, Loose forward
Nathaniel Hauiti, Prop
Waitangi Tuisuga, MidfieldIs the fourth name the other new midfielder you were talking about?
I googled him and he played for Mid-Canterbury in last year's Heartland Competition, but was on loan from Canterbury, where he played club rugby for Sumner.
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@Stargazer Y0ur powers of discovery continue to amaze me! All I know was when I was talking to Team officials in the Nest at Whitmore Park after returning from Clive about Mr. Popoalii and remarking that I was thankful that I did not have to try and tackle him was the comment along the lines of "wait until you see his mate who is coming to play and should be here very soon" or words to that effect. AS I said I did not enquire as to what his name was but you seem to have probably provided the answer anyway. Well done.
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@Billsy111 said in 2023 Hawke's Bay Club Rugby:
@Higgins Here's another name who I believe has signed with the Magpies. Blake Gibson.
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Some teams have published their team sheets:
NOBM
1 Johnny Faleiva
2 Dylan Homan
3 Pulea Faleiva
4 Nicholas Ennor
5 Boris van Bruchem
6 Josh Gimblett
7 Ricky Hayes
8 Hannon Brighouse
9 Kade Manuel-Green
10 Jonty Stewart
11 Michael Beech
12 Duff Penitito
13 Josh McIntyre
14 Kere Penitito
15 Paoraian Manuel-Harman
16 Reilly Hannan
17 Lee Moleli
18 Tulitaluai Faleiva
19 Matthew Monaghan
20 Mitchell Gibson
21 Pedro Bezanilla
22 Ioane Lauano -
Taradale
1 Wiremu COTTRELL
2 William Fonohema
3 Aloese Aiolupotea
4 Sam Combs
5 Angelo MUFANA
6 Josh EDEN-WHAITIRI
7 Kinghouse TUPUOLA
8 Iakopo Petelo Mapu
9 Karl HEWITT
10 Ezra Malo
11 Junior Saufoi
12 Nathan RAMSAY
13 Hemaua SAMASONI
14 Flynn Allen
15 Brayden-Trevaughn Lansdown-Cunningham
16 Jackman BYRNE
17 Jayden WALKER
18 Levy Aiolupotea
19 Thomas EDEN
20 Ryan Spice
21 Dylan RAMSAY
22 Majella TUFUGA
Ex-Lindisfarne Kinghouse Tupuola playing for Taradale. I'm surprised he's not in the HB academy. I liked what I saw from him, last year. Played both at hooker and loose forward. -
I'm waiting to see whether the Tamatea line-up on the HBRU website changes, or not. Or until Tamatea publishes it on their socials. On the HBRU website, Lincoln McClutchie is listed at 10, which is weird as he's supposed to play for MP, tonight. The situation must be pretty dire squad-wise, if he has to return to the Bay to play for Tamatea tomorrow as well.
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By the way, Taradale have posted a clip introducing their full premiers squad here:
TARADALE RUGBY AND SPORTS CLUB | Welcome our 2023 premier Squad , All...
Welcome our 2023 premier Squad , All the best to all the club teams this year 💪
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@Stargazer said in 2023 Hawke's Bay Club Rugby:
Ted Walters on the bench.
I'm disappointed about that. All the effort last Saturday night I made to bribe my way onto the bench obviously to no avail! I'll still be taking my boots though just in case!
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@Stargazer said in 2023 Hawke's Bay Club Rugby:
By the way, Taradale have posted a clip introducing their full premiers squad here:
Goodness, two of their locks have played 345 games between them. Interesting to note they also have a lot of players that have not played a single match for their Prems in their squad. Does your research indicate they are down from Auckland trying out for NPC spots as I don't recognise a single name amongst them? Looks like about three or four of them are starting tomorrow.
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@Higgins About Taradale's newbies:
- William Fonohema is a first year HB Academy player out of Feilding HS
- Kinghouse Tupuola (I mentioned him above) is an ex-Lindisfarne loosie, who also played at hooker for the school. First year out of school, too.
- Levy Aiolupotea (midfielder) played for the HB U16 in the same year as Kereru-Symes, McClutchie etc. and made Hurricanes U16 tournament team and Hurricanes U17 training squad with them. He must have been in the Hastings Boy 1st XV squad with them, too, but I can't find much more info about him.
- Halfback Ryan Spice is a local, too. I couldn't much info about him, but he played for Napier West in the Wakely Shield comp in 2016.
- Junior Saufoi played for Tech, the last few years.
So the answer is no. These newbies are no rejects from other provinces trying for a spot in this year's Magpies squad.
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Clive's team to play Pirates:
Surprised to see Tyrone Chrystal at hooker. I thought he was still at school, but apparently not. Was very good for Napier Boys, last year. Should be in our academy, but he wasn't on the list published more than a month ago.
