Injuries delay naming of NPC line-up

By WYNNE GRAY

Make of it what you like. Auckland have delayed naming their next NPC selection for Saturday's match against Otago until much later in the week.

They have a long list of players with minor injuries, a situation which will affect training plans, while the coaching staff will also be brooding about how to rectify the deficiencies from the loss against Waikato.

Do they retain the same group for this weekend at Eden Park, do they have that option after the medical reports are complete, do they make some minor adjustments, or do they get more radical at this stage of the competition?

Those answers will not become public just yet. The regular routine of announcing the team tomorrow has been altered with just two rounds left in the scramble for the playoffs.

The immediate opponents are Otago, the final foe are Wellington. Nothing is sure in this competition, but on the evidence so far, it may be that Auckland's away match against the Wellingtonians will decide the fourth and final place in the semifinals.

There is also the prospect that Otago, who trail the series leader Waikato by a solitary point, could still fail to make the playoffs if they lose their final two matches against Auckland and Canterbury and other results also hurt them.

Auckland were well wounded after their 25-16 defeat by Waikato. There was a lack of enthusiasm in their play which distressed coach Wayne Pivac.

He lamented the defence, which had been running at a success rate of about 90 per cent until Hamilton but then fell away markedly.

There had been some poor lineout communication and the scrum had its stuttering moments as well. Turnovers at the breakdown had also been too high, "they competed and we did not get up and compete".

Pivac assessed that Auckland played for only about one quarter of the match against Waikato.

How he will find a remedy against a dogged Otago side, one which chews away at the opposition rather than mauling them, will be fascinating.

He needs his senior players to show by example, but they were missing against Waikato. It was left to the younger brigade to offer some decent resistance.

* Otago and All Blacks halfback Byron Kelleher is in doubt after straining a hamstring on Friday.