RUGBY - Coach seeks big change in attitude

After watching his team train like chumps, Northland rugby coach Mark Anscombe is hoping his players can finish the sporting cliche when they play Hawke's Bay in Napier tomorrow night, and play like champs.
But, as of yesterday, a combination of injury and ill-discipline was taking a toll on the Northland team as they line up a must-win game against the darlings of the new-look Air NZ Cup competition.
Northland locks Brad Taylor and Dan Goodwin are both battling injury, props Tony Coughlan and Bronson Murray were hobbling and then strike winger Fetu Vainikolo was stood down from the starting team after showing up late to training.
It all added up to a frustrating day for Anscombe in the lead up to a crucial fixture tomorrow night.
"The players are sore. We have tried to keep them fresh but again, with a couple of days not doing much, training was average. They were lethargic," Anscombe said. "Words have been said, but hopefully the players understand how enormous the challenges are (tomorrow)."
The decision to stand down Vainikolo, who had initially been named to start but was subsequently pushed to the bench when he and Leo Taliu were late to yesterday's training run, had only added to constrained atmosphere yesterday.
There will need to be a quick transformation today, because Hawke's Bay are riding high as they seek an unexpected chance to host a quarterfinal this season.
"It is stuff you don't need. These guys are looked after, things are put in place for them, they know what the timings for everything are, there's no excuse for it and we are not going to tolerate it," Anscombe said after standing down Vainikolo.
"We have just got to get up for it. We have got to balance that recovery for freshness but not by getting complacent. Playing at home, the enthusiasm they play with, the energy they bring to the game and their ability to make the most of opposition mistakes - which is our weakness - means Hawke's Bay are a huge threat to our season."
Former Hurricanes rugby prop Tim Fairbrother will make his debut for the Hawke's Bay tomorrow. After an 18-month injury-forced spell, Fairbrother wants to use the remainder of the campaign to resurrect his career. He is eager to regain a berth in the Hurricanes side later this year.
Magpies coach Peter Russell said Fairbrother had trained with the Magpies for the past fortnight and impressed. Fairbrother's arrival is one of six changes Russell has made to the starting XV used in last week's unsuccessful Ranfurly Shield challenge against Canterbury in Christchurch.
Other changes to the pack see Matt Egan replace Lua Lokotui at lock and in the regular reshuffle of the loosies Karl Lowe replaces Michael Johnson at openside flanker and Johnson replaces George Naoupu on the blindside.
In the backs, New Zealand sevens star Lote Raikabula will make his first start in the Cup campaign in place of winger Jason Kupa who suffered a hamstring injury at Monday night's training and Davis Norman replaces Sam Giddens at second five-eighth. Giddens is having a week off with his calf injury collected in the 44-6 loss to Canterbury.