News

ANZ Preview: Otago v North Harbour

August 11 2009

Little motivation is needed for Otago as they aim to kick-start their Air New Zealand Cup campaign with a victory over North Harbour in Dunedin on Thursday.

The southerners are yet to record a win in 2009, and must feel the time is now to get the ball rolling if they are to stand any chance of making an impact in this year's tournament.

Two close defeats in consecutive weeks to Wellington and Southland respectively, have at least given the Dark Blues two losing bonus points to show for their efforts.

Losses aside, their have also been encouraging signs from Otago in the first two rounds. The gut-wrenching Ranfurly Shield challenge against the Lions showed the South Islanders have what it takes to travel on the road and compete with the big guns.

Whilst they will be disappointed with their defeat to Southland last week (it was just the third time the Stags have won at Carisbrook since the provincial competition began in 1976), Otago didn't go down without a fight.

There are two changes to the Otago starting line-up which lost 19-26 to their neighbours from the deep south. Midfielder Luke Herden will make his starting debut at inside centre in place of Andrew Parata and Sam Hibbard returns in place of Kees Meeuws at tighthead prop.

Meanwhile, North Harbour were unable to back up last weekend's shock win over Canterbury in Round One when they lost 19-15 to Tasman at North Harbour Stadium.

Having shown such promise in the opening round against the defending champs, coach Craig Dowd and his team went from hero to zero in the space of one week.

But the former All Blacks prop has acted accordingly by making seven changes to the North Harbour side. Michael Mayhew will start at hooker in place of James Parson, who is out for an indefinite period after breaking an arm against Tasman.

Scrum-half Chris Smylie is being rested to treat a troublesome hamstring, with his jersey to be filled by Matt France. Openside flanker Malakai Ravulo, prop James Afoa and number eight Richard Mayhew have also been named to start, in front of Robbie Colhoun, Michael Reid and Viliame Ma'afu respectively.

But the biggest team news was that of All Black Luke McAlister who has been installed at fly-half, demoting goal-kicking ace Mike Harris to the bench.

In this crucial season where the new ten-team Premier League will be defined, the northerners know they have to make ammends to make an impact.

Harbour, who have largely built their reputation around adventurous play, will need a bit more tenacity and defensive steel to lay any sort of foundation required for a victory away from home against Otago.

Prediction: In Round One we didn't think Harbour would cope against Canterbury. We got that one wrong. In Round Two, we apologised for our previous misconception and went for a Harbour win over Tasman... we got that one wrong too. So what now? It really is anyone's game to win, but we feel the home side might just want it more. Otago to win by four points.

Otago: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Luke Herden, 11 Ryan Shortland, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Sean Romans, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Alando Soakai (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Hayden Triggs, 3 Sam Hibbard, 2 Jason Macdonald, 1 Ben Nolan.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Kees Meeuws, 18 Hoani Matenga, 19 Paul Grant, 20 Johnny Legg, 21 Glenn Dickson, 22 Andrew Parata.

North Harbour: 15 Jack McPhee, 14 Anthony Tuitavake (c), 13 George Pisi, 12 Andrew Mailei, 11 Ken Pisi, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Matt France, 8 Richard Mayhew, 7 Malakai Ravulo, 6 Chris Smith, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 James King, 3 Ben Afeaki, 2 Michael Mayhew, 1 James Afoa.
Replacements: 16 Joe Royal, 17 Michael Reid, 18 Viliame Ma'afu, 19 Robbie Colhoun, 20 Nalu Tuigamalu, 21 Michael Harris, 22 Nafi Tuitavake.

Date: Thursday, 11 August
Venue: Carisbrook, Dunedin
Kick-off: 19:05 (07:05 GMT)
Referee: Chris Pollock