Stags get crack at Log o’ Wood
A first-round Stag Day and second round Ranfurly Shield challenge are highlights of the Southland Stags draw for the 2024 Bunnings NPC.
Another positive is the return of Friday and Saturday night fixtures at Rugby Park Stadium.
Otago travel south to face the Stags in the NPC opener on Saturday, August 10, for an afternoon kickoff, with Rugby Southland hoping to match the 2022 crowd of 5500.
The Stags then head to Napier for what will hopefully be a crack at the Log o’ Wood against the Hawke’s Bay Magpies on August 17.
The Magpies first have to negotiate Ranfurly Shield defences against Heartland opposition King Country and South Canterbury, in June and July, for it to be at stake alongside NPC points.
In week three, the side will be at Rugby Park for the first of their night fixtures as defending champions Taranaki come to town, which will also double as a yet to be determined community celebration.
Whangarei’s Semenoff Stadium in Northland is the venue for round four as the Stags chase the Heta Te Tai Trophy. Eight days later they will play Wellington at a yet to be determined ground in the capital city.
The following Friday, Canterbury come to Rugby Park, to start the home side’s storm week of three matches in nine days.
The Stags will be targeting the second of these matches, against the Manawatu Turbos in Palmerston North on Wednesday September 18, with the memory of their only win in 2023, at the same venue, still fresh in their minds.
They will come up against a familiar face in former Southland Stags back Robbie Robinson, who has been announced as an assistant coach of the Turbos. He last played for the Stags in 2022.
A Sunday afternoon contest against Auckland at Eden Park looms as a tough way to finish that week.
The Stags’ final two pool games are at home against Waikato and North Harbour.
Meanwhile, Conor McLeod and Blair Ryall, who were shaping up to be key players for the Stags in 2024, have suffered injury setbacks. The pair were among a 14-strong contingent of Southlanders who played for the Highlanders Bravehearts against the Crusaders Development XV at Pleasant Point last weekend.
While the news was better for 2023 Supporters Club Stags Player of the Year Ryall, it was not so flash for McLeod, who was bought down from Hawke’s Bay last year to don the Stags outfit and had opted to stay on this year. He suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and the Highlanders training squad member now faces 12 months out of rugby.
It means Liam Howley, Jahvis Wallace, Jay Renton and new Star Rugby Club signing Lachlan Albert shape as the contenders for the No 9 jumper.
Loose forward Ryall, picked up a medial cruciate ligament injury and would be sidelined for three months.
Two players worth keeping an eye on in club rugby are halfback Albert, who has been part of the Brumbies squad in Super Rugby Pacific and former Samoan international outside back Johnny Vaili.
All Blacks and Stags loosehead prop Ethan de Groot has been named captain of the Highlanders to take on the Waratahs in Sydney this Friday night in round three of Super Rugby Pacific.