Injuries force coach's hand

Selecting a rugby side often involves making unpopular calls and Northland coach Bryce Woodward concedes that replacing one of his best forwards may require him to put business first.
Faced with replacing Joel McKenty - at least temporarily - after a medial ligament rupture in Wednesday's match against Auckland, Woodward may be forced to look for another loan player.
"While we'd like to pluck kids straight out of club footy, we're under some pressure to succeed and the fans aren't going to give us any encouragement for regularly losing so we've got to make sure that anyone we bring in that has the skills to cover the position is physically up to it," he said.
At the start of the season, Woodward had four openside flankers available, including McKenty, Matt Clutterbuck, Sam Barker, with Mikaele Tuu'u an extra option covering hooker and openside. Since then, Clutterbuck has dropped out for the season, while waiting for a shoulder reconstruction and worse was to come after McKenty was injured on Wednesday.
McKenty's injury saw  Tuu'u switch from hooker into flanker and Tim Dow come on to fill the hooker's role.
Later in the match Tuu'u received a gash on his head that needed seven stitches and the team's medical staff are monitoring him for signs of concussion.
As it stands at the moment, Barker is the only fit player but even he has a slight back strain after the North Harbour match in Kaitaia - and now Woodward has to at least consider covering the position ahead of Thursday's opening ITM match against Taranaki.
"As we take the game around the province, people are beginning to realise what kind of step-up from club rugby is needed to play at this level and unless you've been doing a huge amount of physical preparation you'll probably be found wanting at the provincial level ... but we've got to be careful not to panic until the medical assessments are completed," he added.
It is a shame for McKenty, who was the outstanding loose forward during last season's campaign, but there is a good chance he will be back before the end of the season, with the best prognosis being four to six weeks recovery.

 If Tuu'u is unavailable for  Thursday's opener against Taranaki in New Plymouth, then Woodward might have to seek cover outside of the area - something he knows isn't always a popular decision for a Northland coach to make.
Auckland loan prop Paea Fa'anunu, called into the squad to cover Justin Davies' injury in Kaitaia, came on late in the Dargaville match - just in time to take a hit to his ribs causing bruising - but he hopes to be available for the Taranaki match.
The only good news to come out of the match was that the Taniwha skipper's thumb injury may not require an operation. Jared Payne played the first spell without noticeable problems and hopes to be cleared to play after further consultation with the specialist.