Magpies 2023
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@Stargazer But is he a prop? In the 2022 and 2023 seasons I have yet to see him play that position.
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@Stargazer Well I certainly await with great anticipation to witness how they are getting on as I have never seen him in anything other than a loose forwards jersey in the fifteen or twenty club games I have seen him play. Neither have I seen him fill in at prop when injuries might have seen any of his starting props go off.
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@Stargazer said in Magpies 2023:
Full time:
Manawatū Evergreens 42 - 10 Hawke's Bay XVNot surprised by that score. I think we always lose this game in preseason. I don't like it, but nothing to worry about.
Sheesh, this has been an awful day, Magpies and Hastings Boys results!
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@Stargazer Hopefully the Sullivan boys.
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Josh Syms has resigned as Magpies head coach and signed on as a coach to Italian club Zebre in the URC.
Brock James has been promoted to Magpies head coach.
Shock for Hawke’s Bay rugby as Magpies coach heads for Italy
Head coach Josh Syms' departure is announced by the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union.
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Mixed feelings really, fancy ditching a decent performing team at reasonably high performing level for a poxy Italian outfit that could not win a game in the United Rugby Championship finishing a distant 13 points adrift from the next most inept team (Dragons from Wales). At least his Zebre outfit had a perfect record with 18 consecutive losses, something he no doubt will be keen to rectify!
On the other hand he certainly gave us plenty of entertainment in keeping the Magpies on the winning trail so for that we must thank him and be forever grateful for.
Not sure about the new head coach who presumably ran the backline last season. A backline that was rather stodgy and unimaginative in my eyes (or at least when compared to the display in the two or three years before Mr. James' arrival.)
We must cut him a bit of slack to see what he can do with our Magpies but the pressure will certainly be on him, especially i) he looses to BoP, ii) he looses to Manawatu and iii) if there is any further sliding down the NPC Points table under his stewardship.
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I rated Syms as an assistant coach under Ozich, but I have no doubt that we have to thank mostly Ozich for the success that we've had with the Shield and promotion to the Premiership. Syms' first season as head coach wasn't great and there were some questionable signings and selections. I can't really form an opinion on what he's done for HB rugby outside the NPC. People seem to rate him, so I'll go with that.
What pisses me off is that Syms resigns such a short time before the season starts! I don't think we can blame Syms completely for the bad timing (he probably just got the gig at Zebre), but I can imagine the HBRU weren't impressed. Such a short time isn't enough to search for a new, good head coach, so I can understand the promotion of James.
It's hard to say how Brock James will go, as he's quite an inexperienced coach. There's a big typo in the article where it says he has "about 15 years of coaching experience in Europe and Australia". That's playing experience, not coaching experience. No doubt he'll make mistakes, but I'll cut him some slack. This whole situation isn't his fault. I just hope he'll do better than Syms. A big challenge for him. We'll see.
So is Francisco Deformes now the assistant coach? Will he be responsible for the forwards now, and not just the scrum/set piece?
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Hopefully Syms departure means we wont be hiring any of his mates as players this year.
The Magpies looked a lot worse coached last year than under Ozich. It's a pity that Tafai has gone to Whanganui and can't be brought in as an assistant.
@Number-10 might have some inside knowledge of how annoyed HBRU are?
@Higgins said in Magpies 2023:
especially i) he looses to BoP, ii) he looses to Manawatu and iii) if there is any further sliding down the NPC Points table under his stewardship.
I wont hesitate to point out he's an Australian who played for the Naki so what do we expect, if this happens.
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It's far from ideal but you would think James would have been heavily involved in the planning for this season and would at least have a decent idea of the club scene and what positions we need to strengthen.
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@kiwimatrix I think the timing is very piss poor, I get it but it's bloody poor. Leaves Brock James in a prick of a position, and under heavy pressure to deliver at least what we've done in the last few years. Could also make recruitment difficult. I hope other coaches get behind him and support him. George Konia would be a great help. I hope the recruitment is good because with the super Rugby players coming back, then we stand a chance of not slipping down the pecking order on New Zealand Rugby
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Responding to this here:
@Higgins said in Highlanders 2023:
You mean players of the likes of Richard Buckman? Spotted him at Whitmore Park on Saturday with family, but without his rugby boots. There is certainly not an ounce of fat on him and would qualify for the All Blacks Under 85kgs team when they get round to establishing one!
Have you asked him whether he's available for the Magpies, this season? We might need some experience and leadership in our midfield if Toala and Ili are both in the Samoa RWC squad. Especially if the HBRU doesn't succeed in signing Bailyn Sullivan.
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It was after the game had finished and I was busy racing to head off the queue at the bar so only waved a greeting in his direction in passing. He certainly looks in good trim but after the time away from rugby in NZ you wonder whether he still has the desire to subject his body to the physical demands on it that you get at an NPC level when he might be able to pop over and pick up a decent pay packet and play the lower level intensity MLR in the states.
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Just back from Park Island where the HB Saracens smacked the 'Poo Evergreens 43 - 24 in the early season trial. Not much could really be read into that as both sides ran out what looked to be completely different teams for each half and in the absence of team lists for any of them it was a little difficult to get a gauge on who was playing. Goodness players look harder to identify in the dark and out of their club uniforms so I really only recognised about 1/3rd of those in the Saracens teams at the start but a few more after listening to the players using each other's names as the game wore on. The XV run out by the Saracens in the first half looked to be the stronger of the two home sides and fair rocketed out to 26 nil after 27 minutes and then failed to score any more points (but not letting in any either) up to the halftime. The home side had almost a 100% lineout win rate in the half no matter which team had the throw in which certainly helped and the guy playing on the right wing certainly whizzed past his opponent a number of times in searing runs down the far side of the field from me. Not sure who he was but he looked to have a fair turn of pace and acceleration. They guy on the left wing did not have as many opportunities but did have a couple of nice runs. Keinan Higgins at second five only lasted about five minutes before limping off with a right calf strain of some sort whilst the loosehead who might, or might not have been Tim Farrell (hard to tell for sure in the dark and also wearing headgear), lasted even less before a right knee problem sidelined him so there was a number of unexpected changes way earlier that the coaching staff would have liked.
The second half was almost a complete reverse to the first with the Evergreens having a large possession advantage but not quite the ability to convert that into then number of points they should have. Despite the lack of possession the Saracens did manage to keep the scoreboard ticking over and got out to a convincing 43 - 19 lead with four minutes left with some long range tries from deep on defence only to let the visitors in for a very nicely worked long range try right on time (aided admittedly by about six missed tackles).Those calling for night games would not have been impressed with Napier turning on one of those special HB winter nights where it is dead still with little in the way of cloud cover which usually means a really nice warm day the next day but sadly means a devilishly cold night and tonight was no exception, although thankfully it did only get down to about 7 or 8 degrees during the game!!!
Oh and another bug bear, why do night games seem to see all the play take place on the other side of the field and down the other end to where you are standing???? On a brighter side at least there was a game of rugby to watch live in person to fill in part of midweek night. Will have to hope that someone from the press who was privy to the exact lineups writes a review so we know who was playing where for sure.
One thing I did like was the fast crisp passing of the HB backs, especially in the first half but having said that there were none of the changes of direction or switch backs etc that you could expect with the players having had more time together.
The tackling in the first half by the Saracens was sure and strong but the that's easy when you have most of the possession but the second half saw a couple of tries gifted with missed tackles leading to scrambling tries round the side of breakdowns let in to my annoyance where you were left wondering how the hell did that happen on account of it looking so easy. The game was played at a fairly good pace and the Saracens did construct a number of attractive tries which pleased the reasonable crowd in attendance that would have been over 500. Might even have spotted someone that resembled Darren Larsen wandering the sidelines inside the crowd control ropes but it can't have been him as only team officials etc were allowed on that side of the ropes and he is most certainly not one of those (unless he has defected to Manawatu?).
The 'Poo were a strange mix in that they looked to have a number of really slim youngish hostel dwelling students living on starvation rations whilst a good number of their team mates seemed to be hogging more than their share of the food come feeding time! There were certainly some big munters in the visiting uniforms.
Overall an enjoyable night.
United Rugby Championship standings for season 2024 / 2025