Jone Macilai will be on the right wing for the Northland Taniwha in the clash against the Southland Stags. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Jone Macilai will be on the right wing for the Northland Taniwha in the clash against the Southland Stags. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Conan O'Donnell is poised to make his debut for the Northland Taniwha from the bench at home against the winless Southland Stags this weekend.
Head coach George Konia has named a largely unchanged line-up from last weekend, when Northland stunned the Wellington Lions in Porirua, minus centurion Matt Wright and All Black Jack Goodhue, who picked up injuries and won't feature in tomorrow's NPC match at Semenoff Stadium.
Both teams will play for the Heta Te Tai trophy, named after Northland-born Heta (Peter) Te Tai, who has lived in Invercargill for more than 50 years and is the doyen of Southland Stags rugby.
He will be the Northland Rugby Union's (NRU) guest of honour at the game, together with officials from Rugby Southland, and will present the trophy to the winning captain.
The Northland Kauri will miss Krystal Murray when they play the Taranaki Whio in their quarter-final at Semenoff Stadium, prior to the NPC match.
Murray is with the Black Ferns and has been named on the bench against the Wallaroos in Adelaide tonight.
The Northland Kauri will play the Taranaki Whio in a Farah Palmer Cup quarter-final at Semenoff Stadium. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The Northland Taniwha are looking for their third win after taking the scalps of Taranaki and Wellington. Their only loss was to Waikato in Whangārei.
Prop and All Black Ofa Tu'ungafasi will man the tighthead side in the front row tomorrow, with Waipu's Jarred Adams on the loosehead and hooker Matt Moulds completing the front row.
Moulds will captain the side in the absence of the injured Tom Robinson. Tall timber Allan Craig and Liam Hallam-Eames have again been picked as the prime lineout jumpers to get the backs good front foot ball to launch the attacks.
Feisty Rob Rush, hard-hitting openside flanker Jonah Mau'u and the omnipresent Sam McNamara form the loose forward trio that will be expected to do most of the heavy lifting up front, especially on attack.
In the backs, halves pair Lisati Milto-Harris and Rivez Reihana have been rewarded after shining in all the games so far, while Heremaia Murray and Jone Macilai will be the twin wings.
Reihana will oppose superboot Marty Banks - an astute No 10 who also possesses the attacking elan of a winger.
Northlander and former Taniwha player Scott Gregory will turn up in the Stags colours for the first time at Semenoff Stadium, opposite Blake Hohaia who starts at 12 in place of veteran Rene Ranger for Northland.
Jone Macilai will be on the right wing for Northland Taniwha in the clash against the Southland Stags. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Tamati Tua will form the midfield partnership with Hohaia.
New signing Josh Moorby will man the fullback's berth.
There's quality on the bench. Sam Nock, Matt Matich, Josh Goodhue, Coree Te Whata-Colley, Bruce Kauika-Petersen, Dan Hawkins, O'Donnell and Ranger are the reserves.
"We've got another tough opposition and we know they won't go away and we are making sure we prepare ourselves to continue improving our game. It's a great opportunity for us to collect more competition points," Konia said.
NRU chief executive Cam Bell said if anyone thought Southland was coming up here to roll over, they were horribly wrong.
"Southland, even though they've had three losses, they are going hard right till the last minute, and they are fired-up for this game so there's no ounce of complacency at all."
Once again, children under 14 can watch the double-header for free as part of an initiative to grow the game in Northland as well as giving back to the community.
The women's quarter-final kicks off at 2.05pm and the NPC at 4.35pm.
The Northland Taniwha have a short turnaround, hosting Auckland on September 3.
