'Rugby can be humbling': The rise of breakout Magpies star Hunter Morrison

Hunter Morrison has packed a lifetime into a few years. He represented New Zealand at the Barbarians, Under 19, and Under 20 levels following instrumental spells in the First XVs at Whanganui Collegiate and Palmerston North Boys’ High School.

The 23-year-old former age-group cricket and basketball rep also crashed his car, broke his jaw, overcame concussion, won three Maddison Trophies with Taradale, played for Urayasu D-Rocks in Japan, and has been on the periphery of the Crusaders.

Yet the Hawke’s Bay lock might just be warming up. In his first start since 2023 for the Magpies, Morrison was rampant in the opening round of the Hilux NPC.

In a 52-33 hiding of Wellington on Sunday, he made 16 tackles, snaffled two turnovers, secured three lineouts, scored a try and created a try in a full-throttle 56 minutes.

The Magpies achieved their second-highest score in 104 matches against the Lions, falling just short of the 58-8 win achieved by the legendary 1926 Ranfurly Shield team.*

Meanwhile, Wellington conceded a half-century for just the second time in 143 matches at Hnry Stadium.

“That’s pretty impressive; unreal actually,” Morrison told RugbyPass.

“It was one of those games where everyone was firing on all cylinders. It’s fun, you’re cracking up, not overthinking, just playing what’s in front of you and trusting those around you.

“We’ve had a good pre-season with games against Waikato and North Harbour. It’s a credit to the coaches Brock James, Sam McNicol and Ellery Wilson that we can play with confidence in round one.”

Hawke’s Bay was ahead 26-0 in 20 minutes. The try Morrison scored was an early contender for best of the season. It was sparked by a strong break in midfield by Maori All Blacks captain Bailyn Sullivan. He linked with his winger Neria Fomai, who then found the rampaging Morrison 25 metres out. The lock fended off Hurricanes Super Rugby winner Callum Harkin and carried another would-be tackler over the chalk. Later he burst from Wellington’s 22 to halfway in a run that set up Fomai’s 24th try in 54 games.

“I guess I was in the right place at the right time for my try. It was a ripper run by Bailyn, then Neria put me in a good position. I only saw Harkin coming late. I didn’t expect him to be there. I put my shoulder into him; fortunately, he dropped.

“It’s great to be in a team where we’re encouraged to play eyes up footy. The guys around you give you a lot of confidence. Bailyn, Joanh Lowe, Folau Fakatava, these guys have been around for a while.”

Morrison debuted for Hawke’s Bay in a 23-21 win against North Harbour in 2022. Due to injury and depth – Isaia Walker-Leawere (50 games) and Tom Parsons (106 games) have been immediate competitors – Morrison has struggled to permanently establish himself. Confidence and purpose are not issues.

“Sometimes it’s difficult not being in the starting XV, but everyone has a role to play. Finishing the game strongly is just as important as starting it strongly. Sometimes the finisher has more pressure when it’s close,” Morrison said.

“I’m lucky to be here. If I’m playing 80 minutes, 20 minutes or doing another role that helps the team, then I’m going to do my best. Having great players like Izzy and Tom around has grown my game and helped me mature as a person.

“You always have a feeling of belief when you go out on the field. I’ve never had non-belief or felt like I don’t belong. A lot of it comes down to timing and opportunity. While individual success is nice, what’s good for the team is most important. The main goal is to win the NPC.”

Originally from Whanganui, Morrison was part of the Whanganui Collegiate First XV in 2019 that made the Taine Randall Cup final in the Central North Island competition, Collegiate’s best result in that tournament. With fellow NPC players Adam Lennox and Harry Godfrey, the likes of St Paul’s Collegiate (26-19), Lindisfarne College (46-26) and St Peter’s School Cambridge (39-19) were dispatched in a best season since winning 17 of 20 games in 2004.

However, Morrison was not focused in the classroom, so he chose to move to Palmerston North Boys’ High School, driving 75km each way just to make class.

One day, too tired, he crashed his car. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured, but that was the catalyst to relocate permanently to the Manawat?.

“At first, Palmy was hard man. Logan Love (brother of All Black Ruben Love) broke his shoulder that year, I reckon because I was hanging off it all the time,” Morrison laughed.

“When I came to Palmy, I didn’t have ambitions of making it big in rugby. I didn’t even make the First XV until after pre-season. Ironically, my first game was against Whanganui Collegiate.”

In 2021 Morrison was selected for the New Zealand Under-18 Barbarians. In 2022 he went on the unique New Zealand Under-19s tour of South Africa. The visitors won all four matches with Morrison scoring three tries. His two appearances for the New Zealand Under-20s in 2023 were in wins against Georgia (50-26) and Japan (62-19).

However, his momentum wasn’t always linear. Joining the Taradale club helped change that. In 2024 and 2025, the Maroons comprehensively swept to the Maddison Trophy, at one point winning 25 consecutive matches.

The 2026 season was far more complicated. A shocking 70-12 loss to fierce rival Napier Marist on Anzac Day struck like a jolt of lightning.

“We didn’t see that one coming,” Morrison laughed.

“It was one of those games where nothing went right. Rugby can be humbling like that sometimes. We were completely outshined. We thought we were where we wanted to be, but we were nowhere near it.

“We couldn’t let ourselves be defined by it. We had to flush it and move on with the learnings. We did get a lot of injured players back throughout the season like Joe Apikotoa, CJ Mienie and Harry Godfrey, and that helped. But I think the culture of the whole club was the biggest thing. We’re all mates, on and off the field.”

Like the roller coaster that has been Morrison’s rugby career, the Maroons suddenly burst on an upward trajectory. In the next meeting against Marist, Morrison scored a hat-trick in a 53-27 win to secure top spot for the semi-finals. The powerhouses met again in the final and Taradale won 54-24 with Majella Tufuga scoring a hat-trick. Taradale have been in the last seven finals and won 19 titles in the last 50 years.

Morrison credited Taradale as his “support network” and attributed coaches Namatahi Waa, Andrew Horrell and Andrew Gardner, and club chairman Tim Combs as father figures.

This Saturday at McLean Park in Napier, Hawke’s Bay hosts Tasman, whom they’ve only beaten four times in 19 matches. Morrison, who’s also working towards a Sport and Exercise Science degree, will start consecutive matches for the first time with the Hunter cat out of the bag.

*The biggest win Hawke’s Bay has had in any Division I NPC match was 57-7 against Manawatu in 2023. Their biggest ever win in any game is 99-0 against the Cook Islands in 1995. The late Jarrod Cunningham scored 34 points and even prop Orcades Crawford (111 games) scored three tries. They also beat Mid Canterbury 99-8 in 2003. Remarkably, Wellington scored five tries against Hawke’s Bay but still lost by 19 points. Wellington have scored five or more tries in 146 NPC matches and won 134 of them.

Morrison’s display would rank as one of the best by a forward in any match against Wellington in the NPC. Last year Otago openside Lucas Casey played a blinder, scoring two tries in a 46-41 win against the Lions. Otago’s score of 46 was their highest against Wellington since an 82-10 win in 1998 in which Tony Brown scored 30 points. All Black Damian McKenzie scored 33 points, the last time Wellington conceded a half century in a 53-28 win by Waikato in 2021. In 2016, Manawatu beat Wellington 50-28 in Palmerston North with loose forward Antonio Kiri Kiri scoring four tries. That match was the last time Wellington conceded eight in a match. Canterbury and All Black lock Andy Earl scored three tries against Wellington in a 48-11 win in Christchurch in 1989.