Two people have been arrested following a shooting in Heretaunga/Hastings on Saturday.
A season-opening third division game between home team Tamatea Arikinui and the visiting Young Māori Party, from Raupunga north of Napier, went without incident until a heavy tackle in the second half.
"There was an element on the sideline that was rather threatening. Weapons were displayed," club chairman William Culshaw told Newshub.
As the team was leaving 20 minutes after the game, they noticed they were being followed.
"We noticed a car ran a red light to catch up to us and then a few seconds later a vehicle pulled out in front of us. A white truck tried to prevent us getting any further," Culshaw, who was driving, told Newshub.
Culshaw said they spent the next 15 minutes in survival mode, "during which time the van was shot at".
On Friday, Detective Inspector Martin James said after multiple search warrants, police have seized several vehicles involved.
"Those arrested face charges of reckless driving and unlawful assembly, appearing in Hastings District Court yesterday," he said.
They are expected to reappear in the coming weeks.
It was a "targeted incident" where a group of people chose to resort to violence at a rugby game, Det Insp James said.
“We have rugby fans spread throughout our community and the expectation is that people who attend games do so for the right reasons, not to agitate and commit offences,," he added.
“Police will come down hard on any retaliation connected to last weekend’s incident."
Enquiries are ongoing to locate the others involved and police said further arrests are imminent.
