Northland have to make do

Northland will have to do without dynamic midfield back Rene Ranger for the rest of the season with All Blacks medical staff requesting he has extra time out to recuperate from his hamstring injury.
Ranger was disappointed about the news yesterday but said if the All Blacks staff had decided he deserved more time to recover, then at least it's very likely they want him ready for the end of year tour.
"I'm gutted about not playing this week, I've been so keen to get out there for Northland again but hopefully this will turn into a good thing and I get selected to go on tour," he said.
Coach Bryce Woodward confirmed the bad news for Northland.
"The All Blacks medical staff want Rene to have four weeks off, which counts him out of the last two games of the ITM Cup, because they assemble on the same Thursday of our last game, so we've just got to live with that," he said.
Northland has lost two games on the hop since the Taniwha centre was injured in the Counties-Manukau match at Pukekohe and their backline attack has lacked menace without Ranger running off Jared Payne's shoulder.
"Since Bryce Heem has been called back to Auckland and Rene's been injured we've lacked that physicality and that has been putting pressure on other players and making us less effective on attack than earlier in the season," Woodward said.
Ranger is stuck playing a waiting game - something that doesn't sit well with him. He has been on the sidelines for three weeks and his hamstring has healed well.
"I probably would have been fairly sweet to play on it this week against Tasman because I ran yesterday, and although it was a bit tired, it was okay and I'm running again today," Ranger said.
But there are worse things than an enforced period of relaxation at the end of a long season and Ranger is already well placed for World Cup selection - even at this early stage.
"I suppose there are higher honours to think about, if I'm picked for the ABs and hopefully I can have a good tour, then start fresh again for the Super-15 and I'll be hoping to go on from there," he said.
The 30-strong squad will be named on Sunday to travel to Hong Kong for the final Bledisloe Cup match before going on to the UK for four tests against England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Meanwhile, there's little for Ranger to do except to encourage his Taniwha teammates to end their season on a bright note in their two remaining ITM Cup games.
"It's a real shame we're not in contention for the top seven anymore, but I reckon the boys will be amped to get out there and have a bit of fun, and they'll do quite well against Tasman, I think," he said.
Northland travel to play Tasman in their penultimate game on Friday at Trafalgar Park in Nelson before playing Bay of Plenty the following Thursday at Toll Stadium.