| Home team | Hawkes Bay |
| Away team | Manawatu |
| Venue | McLean Park |
| Competition | NPC |
| Kick-off time | 8:10 am (UK) 7:10 pm (NZ) |
| Watch Live in the UK | NPC Youtube Channel |
Hawkes Bay vs Manawatu NPC preview as the sides meet in round four of the competition.
Hawkes Bay currently sit top of the table with 15 points after three games and are one point ahead of Canterbury in second. Manawatu have won one of their three games and are on six points so far.
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Hawkes Bay vs Manawatu confirmed lineups
| Hawkes Bay | Manawatu | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Castets | 1 | Hala-Ngatai | |||
| Kereru-Symes | 2 | Fakava | |||
| Goulton | 3 | Yates | |||
| Cridge | 4 | Allen | |||
| Morrison | 5 | Harley | |||
| Miramira | 6 | Howden | |||
| Lochore | 7 | Woods | |||
| Fabish | 8 | Roiri | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Fakatava | 9 | Viljoen | |||
| Godfrey | 10 | Worboys | |||
| Lancaster | 11 | Tapueluelu | |||
| Ripley | 12 | Tofa | |||
| B Sullivan | 13 | Filimone | |||
| Benn | 14 | Wild | |||
| Z Sullivan | 15 | MacDonald | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Taito | 16 | Finau | |||
| Hay Horton | 17 | Pratt | |||
| Apikotoa | 18 | Ta’ufo’ou | |||
| Allen | 19 | Prouting | |||
| Flanders | 20 | Johnson | |||
| McLeod | 21 | Philipson | |||
| Paenga-Morgan | 22 | Kennedy | |||
| Cole | 23 | Laumape | |||
Recent Form:
Hawkes Bay (Home team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Won | 15th August 2026 | NPC | Auckland | 31-44 |
| Won | 8th August 2026 | NPC | Tasman | 50-19 |
| Won | 2nd August 2026 | NPC | Wellington | 33-52 |
| Loss | 18th October 2025 | NPC Playoffs | Canterbury | 43-19 |
| Won | 11th October 2025 | NPC Playoffs | Taranaki | 26-12 |
Hawkes Bay have continued their winning run with a strong 44-31 victory over Auckland at Eden Park. The Magpies went out to a flying lead after Auckland got an early red card. They were sitting 17-5 ahead by 28 minutes. They conceded the next three tries in the game and after both sides scored a try, they were 31-24 behind on 56 minutes. Hawkes Bay would then score two tries and kick two penalties to win 44-31.
Manawatu (Away team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 15th August | NPC | Otago | 27-29 |
| Won | 9th August 2026 | NPC | Southland | 36-35 |
| Loss | 2nd August 2026 | NPC | Northland | 40-14 |
| Loss | 4th October 2025 | NPC | Hawke’s Bay | 10-38 |
| Loss | 28th September 2025 | NPC | Counties Manukau | 48-24 |
Manawatu were defeated in round three by a late comeback by Otago. After conceding the first try, Manawatu had dominated to go 24-7 ahead and kicked another penalty with 15 minutes to go put them 27-12 ahead. In the final 10 minutes, Otago scored there tries including a winner by Samuel Nemec-Vial to hand Manawatu a heartbreaking 29-27 loss.
Hawkes Bay vs Manawatu head-to-head record (last five matches):
| Date | Competition | Winner | Score |
| 4th October 2025 | NPC | Hawkes Bay | 10-38 |
| 1st September 2024 | NPC | Hawkes Bay | 26-38 |
| 15th September 2023 | NPC | Hawkes Bay | 57-7 |
| 21st August 2022 | NPC | Hawkes Bay | 17-43 |
| 30th October 2021 | NPC | Hawkes Bay | 31-40 |
Hawkes Bay have won the last 10 meetings against Manawatu dating back to the 2014 playoffs. They scored 38 points in the last two meetings and have scored at least this amount of points in the last six meetings.
