Payne fighting handicap

Northland fans are dealing with a sense of deja vu as skipper Jared Payne battles injury in a race to be fit for the ITM Cup campaign.
Last season Payne took over the skipper's armband as Justin Collins tried to regain fitness to lead the team - in vain as it turned out - for the national provincial competition.
The prognosis is more promising for Payne. He injured his thumb during training in the lead-up to Wednesday's pre-season game against North Harbour in Kaitaia but is hoping to make a brief cameo at least, in next week's game against Auckland.
Payne was the Taniwha's top try-scorer last season and remains determined to play his part in the campaign but after medical consultation, he has elected to take a wait-and-see approach with the injury.
He will train this weekend with the hand strapped and if it comes through without further complications, he will get some game time in Dargaville on Wednesday.
"I'm going to try and play on Wednesday against Auckland and see how it goes. If I can get through a game and play all right with it, then I'll probably play the season as it is. If I can't then I'll look at an operation and I could be out for a while."
Coach Bryce Woodward said Payne's injury would be monitored but if the injury does require surgery, he'll be back looking for another loan player to replace him.
He has already been forced to find another loan player this week after prop Justin Davies picked up a season ending injury in Kaitaia.
He is on the verge of signing the powerful Paea Fa'anunu, who already has 17 Auckland caps to his name.
"Auckland's agreed to loan him to us and they've spoken to him and he'll give us his decision sometime this weekend," Woodward said.
Fa'anunu played against Northland for Auckland at the sold-out Kerikeri match last season and at 131kg, he is a devastatingly powerful prop, who could well be the biggest forward in this year's ITM Cup.
The 21-year-old has stacked up some notable experience in his young rugby career, representing New Zealand at the World Under-19 and Under-20 tournaments.
Davies is still waiting on the results of a scan to determine how serious his injury is but it looks as though his season is over - ended much in the same way his season was wrecked last year in a pre-season match against Counties - with a serious tear to his pectoral muscle.
There was some good news for Northland fans with David Holwell to start at first five-eighths against Auckland in Dargaville next week, after taking some time off club rugby to rest his shoulder.