Meeuws vital to shore up Auckland scrum

By GRAHAM REDDAWAY

Auckland coach Wayne Pivac will welcome the return of loosehead prop Kees Meeuws from the All Blacks squad to help beef up his team's scrum for the opening round of the NPC against Taranaki on Saturday.

In a warm-up match against second division Counties Manukau at the weekend, the Auckland scrum had problems gaining the upper hand, something that was also exposed in their warm-up game against Northland.

Auckland beat Counties 65-22, thanks to the brilliance of their backs.

Malili Muliaina touched down twice, shaking off any suggestion of jetlag from travelling back from the Commonwealth Games sevens competition.

Although he arrived back in New Zealand only on Thursday, he was all speed and aggression on the right wing.

Muliaina is likely to be used at fullback when All Black Doug Howlett returns.

Pivac was delighted by the performance of Sam Tuitupou, who slotted in at fullback after Ben Atiga pulled out with a tweaked hamstring, and by halfback Steve Devine in the second spell.

He used Otago loan player David Gibson in the first half, but Gibson had a difficult 40 minutes behind a pack that only battled into a strong wind.

Devine, on the other hand, used his deft passing and sniping runs from rucks and mauls to open up play, and his backline responded to that freedom.

He had not played since March 9, against Canterbury, having had surgery on an Achilles tendon.

Lee Stensness at second five-eighths and Eroni Clarke at centre, who between them have chalked up more games in the blue and white jersey than the rest of the team, probed the gaps and epitomised the attitude of the Auckland side to run the ball from anywhere.

James Arlidge was safe and scored 20 points with his boot, but Pivac will have a bit of a selection dilemma at pivot for this Saturday as Carlos Spencer is rated a 50-50 chance to be over his hamstring strain.

Counties Manukau coach Bruce Robertson was delighted by the effort from his side in the first half when they only trailed 29-22. But he said their lack of match fitness counted as the game wore on.

He had four teenagers in the backline - Sitiveni Sivivatu, TeKori Iuteru and Casey Laulala in the three-quarters, and Stephen Donald at first five-eighths.

They did not disappoint and their running game would have heartened Robertson.