All Black Codie Taylor joins us in the studio ahead of his game against Fiji this weekend. Video / NZ Herald
Standing in Eden's way of a first ever Gallaher Shield victory is the formidable presence of Ponsonby, but the underdogs, who finished fourth on the table to Ponsonby's No1 ranking, will bring confidence and a likely large travelling support to their semifinal at Western Springs on Saturday.
Eden will also take the field in the knowledge that they handed Ponsonby their only loss of the regular season. It happened back in round two when Eden travelled to beat Ponsonby 20-5 in a minor upset.
Since then Eden have lost only two games – and both to the other semifinalists Grammar Tec and College Rifles by fewer than 10 points on both occasions.
"We're pretty big rivals with Ponsonby – we get on pretty well with the coaching group and we're friends," Eden's head coach David Bateman said. "We're three apiece over the last five years – three wins, three losses each.
"We know the formula and they know what we're going to bring. We know each other well. It's not a case of changing what we're doing, we're just going to try to do what we do better."
Ponsonby with the Gallaher Shield in 2019. Photo / Photosport
The line-ups will be different to the round two fixture. Eden are without Tonga and Auckland No8 Sione Tuipulotu as he is on international duty. They are also without New Zealand Under-20s No8 Vaiolini Ekuasi and halfback Manu Paea, while Ponsonby will have Blues players Blake Gibson and Jordan Trainor starting for them, a state of affairs that brought a quip from Bateman: "We don't have a pool of Super Ruby players to call on like Ponsonby do."
But Bateman said his players had developed as a result and were looking forward to what will be quite an occasion.
"We're in a good spot," he said. "We've been in semifinals over the last two years. We know what it's about. We've been quite relaxed.
"We've never won the Gallaher Shield in 99 years. These games are pretty big for our club. We'll have a massive support along. It's our aim to win the Gallaher Shield before next year's centenary."
Eden captain Ignacio Costa. Photo / Photosport
Ponsonby head coach Peter Leulusoo acknowledged his side, who hold the Sir Fred Allen Trophy after a narrow win over Grammar Tec in May, have the form and momentum and probably the more experienced players, including fullback Trainor and loose forward Gibson, although not Stephen Perofeta, the Blues first-five who turned out for Ponsonby earlier in the season.
"Jordy has been with us throughout the year and it's great to have him," Leulusoo said. "We don't plan or expect to have any of our Super Rugby players. Blake reached out to us to play and he's more than welcome to join back up with us. He's really added to the coaches too – the small detailed stuff, because we're not in that high-performance environment all the time.
"They're a good team," he said of Eden. "They have really good coaches and are like us – community based. They've had a core of good players for a while.
"We've got some real momentum, but when it comes to finals footy it's all on the day. The boys are ready. We'll approach it as our final. We have some experienced guys who have won Gallaher Shields before and we've got some guys who are new to it. You could feel that pressure on them on Thursday night."
College Rifles will be favoured to win the other semifinal, which they will host, despite their surprise 42-10 defeat to Grammar Tec last weekend.
Both teams have relatively high-profile inclusions to their starting line-up on Saturday; in Rifles' case it's Blues' fullback Zarn Sullivan, a 20-year-old who impressed hugely in his first Super Rugby season, while Grammar Tec have named Sullivan's Blues teammate AJ Lam on the left wing where he will form a partnership with the similarly pacey Caleb Tangitau on the right and fullback Jack Gray.
Both matches start at 2.45pm.
Eden
1 Franck Friconnet 2 Blake Hill (VC) 3 Emmanuel Ioane 4 Jack Casey-Pickering 5 Cameron Rutherford 6 Paulo Sasulu 7 James Rutherford (50th cap) 8 Conor Lawson 9 Nicolas Costa 10 Ignacio Costa (C) 11 Tapulaaia Pauli 12 Andrew Kaveinga (50th cap) 13 Olivier Roux 14 Sione Katoa 15 Tevita Hala 16 Derrick Soqeta 17 Vunga Hala'ufia 18 Joshua Devine 19 Junior Toailoa 20 Siaosi Malupo 21 Sam Nash 22 Simeon Latu 23 Lawrence Taufa
