RUGBY - Status quo likely as Anscombe stands by his preferred line-up

It might not be a maxim Graham Henry has stapled to the front cover of his All Blacks coaching manual, but when it comes to driving the Northland rugby team Mark Anscombe seems keen on this motto: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
And despite a frustrating defeat to Southland in an Air NZ Cup match in Invercargill last week, obviously Anscombe reckons his Northland team are far from broken.
Unless injured players Hayden Taylor and Rene Ranger are not back on the playing roster today, Anscombe seems poised to name an unchanged team tomorrow to play Taranaki in round six of the championship at Homeworld Stadium in Whangarei on Saturday.
That will only underline his faith in the players that have carried the Northland team to seventh on the table so far this season. When it comes to selection, Anscombe has been the most faithul coach in the competition this year.
Anscombe has only made one unforced change to his starting line-up this year when prop Tevita Mailau started ahead of Bronson Murray at tighthead prop. All the other starting personnel switches have been injury enforced, and even then there have only been five.
But it hardly rates a mention from Anscombe as he starts preparing his team for another rural battle against one of the non-franchise base provinces.
"This game grows in importance in the fact that we could go from seventh to 12th in one week. We could see four teams zip past us in one afternoon and that's something I would rather not happen," Anscombe said.
As it stands, Hawke's Bay are the only non-franchise base team ahead of Northland on the competition ladder, having beaten both Wellington and North Harbour.
The Northland draw is about to become more demanding, with Auckland looming and Hawke's Bay immediately after. They will finish the round robin section of the competition with a run against Waikato.
So there was some obvious discomfort after the result to Southland at the weekend. The competition quarterfinals are now a goal, and Northland can ill afford to get through a weekend without at least banking a bonus point if they want a spot in the play-offs.
"It was a very disappointing game, we did not deliver like we should have. We can't dwell on it, we have to move on, but there were a lot of bad calls went against us and we never really recovered," Anscombe said.
The injuries to Taylor and Ranger are still being monitored, most significantly Taylor's mysterious neck strain which is still being assessed. Ranger has a dodgy hamstring that has kept him sideline for two weeks now.
But if they both get medical clearance this morning they are expected to march straight back into the starting team. If not, then the same starting team that was fielded at Invercargill will emerge from the tunnel on Saturday.