Intensity levels expected to lift for Taniwha

We're going to have to be at the top of our game if we want to hold them out.Blair Larsen, Northland's assistant coach MugCaption1  Blair Larsen was to return to his old stomping ground tonight for what  could be a season-defining moment with the Taniwha,  but he's not expecting any favours from his old mates at North Harbour Stadium.
Northland's assistant coach completed his playing career for North Harbour with 96 appearances and warns that the home side will be desperate to beat their northern neighbours after a disappointing 9-29 result against Otago last Friday night.
"Since we've been scheduled to play them fairly early in the season, I've been keeping an eye on them. They've been creating plenty of opportunities and that's something we have to be aware of," Larsen said.
Harbour uncharacteristically had trouble crossing the line last weekend but Larsen didn't expect them to strike the same problems two weeks in a row and identified defence as a key weapon in Northland's armour.
"So we're going to have to be at the top of our game if we want to hold them out," he said.
Unlike last weekend against Auckland, Northland will have to protect  any ball they have - particularly at the breakdown - but Larsen said the signs  were good for the Taniwha with  the  forward pack still a work in progress.
"There are a few players that haven't played any Air New Zealand Cup -  for Northland anyway - and every game that they play, they become more experienced and the game last week against Auckland taught them a lot about the levels of intensity they can expect, and they'll be all the  better for it."
The former All Black said the line-out, which had started off so poorly against Bay of Plenty, had been improving every week - a fact helped by the emergence of Cam Jowett as the go-to man.
Jowett began the season still recovering from injury but, after putting in almost 60 minutes against Auckland, he is now approaching full fitness.
Like Northland, Harbour have had just one win from their three games so far this season and the pressure is on both teams to win tonight. Northland coach Bryce Woodward said while the match  was hardly the dance of the desperates  so early  in the season, a win  would be crucial to both sides' chances in the competition.
Northland will field a largely unchanged side from last week's starting line-up against Auckland. Winger Troy Woodman  [dislocated shoulder] will be replaced by Brook Gilmore.
Mikaele Tuu'u will start at hooker  and Junior Endolo will replace blindside flanker Joel McKenty who goes after breaching team protocols following the Kerikeri match game.
 
Northland team: 1 Bronson Murray, 2 Mikaele Tu'u, 3 Karl Haitana, 4 Dan Goodwin, 5 Cam Jowitt, 6 Junior Endolo, 7 Matt Clutterbuck, 8 Cameron Eyre, 9 Luke Hamilton, 10 Lachie Munro, 11 Rene Ranger, 12 Derek Carpenter, 13 Damien Fakafanua, 14 Brook Gilmore, 15 Jared Payne. Reserves: 16 Tim Dow, 17 Matt Wallis, 18 Daniel Faleafa, 19 Joel McKenty, 20 Rhyan Caine, 21 Jon Elrick, 22 Sione Fonua.