Rugby family split over final

Will Johnston

A Taranaki rugby family is at loggerheads ahead of the national provincial championship final in New Plymouth on Saturday.

Taranaki made it through to the final after a heroic semi-final clash against Canterbury, while Hawke’s Bay beat competition frontrunners Wellington comfortably in the capital on Saturday night.

Former Taranaki front rowers and brothers Phil and Hamish Mitchell (pictured) will be cheering for the team they played for in the early 2000s from the grandstand, but their sister Kirsty Kupa is torn between the two teams.

Not only is Kirsty married to former Hawke’s Bay age group player Richard, who stems from a strong rugby family, but she also serves on the board of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union as a director. The situation has created plenty of discussion ahead of the final, which will be the Bay’s first and Taranaki’s second.

Hamish admits the banter started after Hawke’s Bay’s Ranfurly Shield saga and now has extended into the buildup of the match.

“It’s now mostly around how she would look very out of place in her Hawke’s Bay blazer in amongst a sea of amber and black,” he said.

“She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

The Kupa family is from Otane 20 minutes outside Napier and Hastings and Hamish admits if the family were to come over for the match, they could fill two or three buses by themselves.

The trio’s mother Sue, who died in April 2020, was a long-time rugby administrator for the New Plymouth Old Boys club and Taranaki Rugby. 

Hamish said although Kirsty is on different sides of the fence to her mother, she is following in her footsteps by being involved in the governance of the game.

Kirsty quipped she’s not sure how her mum would feel about the situation.

“I might have to wear a splash of amber and black somewhere in her honour,” she said.

Her two sons are both “rugby mad” but she admits they might be more sympathetic to supporting their nana and grandfather John in Taranaki.

As for the banter, Kirst said it’s been tame so far.

“The family is happy, it means we’re coming home for the weekend, but I expect it will ramp up in the coming days. I’m sure both the boys [Phil and Hamish] will have something to let rip that they’re saving up for us.”

There is another Taranaki connection in Hawke’s Bay’s camp. Coach Brock James played nine games for Taranaki in 2004 and after a stint overseas, he’s based in New Plymouth with his wife Libby and children.

Both teams will be named on Thursday.