City's field day at country's expense

The biggest fear about the new domestic championship is set to be exposed in brutal technicolor in Palmerston North today.

When the New Zealand Rugby Union opted to give all 14 applicants a free pass into the Air New Zealand Cup, instead of sticking to their initial plan of a 12-team format, they had some good intentions, but they also ensured a dilution of talent. And that brings the flipside of credibility, and defending champions Auckland are poised to raise that with a capital C when they visit Manawatu.

Manawatu have been out of the top flight of provincial rugby for 17 years. They finished sixth in last year's second division. Certainly, there is pride in past achievements within the union but things are grim when the main topic of conversation is who'll get the most tries - the player, not the team - and how close Auckland can get to three figures.

Don't blame Manawatu for this. They'll give it their best shot today but it has the potential to be embarrassing.

Auckland must put all that out of their minds, and treat it as they would any other competitive match. There are enough new faces in the starting XV to suggest those players will be keen to impress coach Pat Lam - such as wings Chris Mahony and David Smith, newcomers to championship rugby, but who earned their places with good club form and solid displays on Auckland's pre-season trip to Fiji and Samoa, according to Lam.

Then there's lock Joe Tekori, who fills a big space in the lineout, and centre Jamie Helleur, who's had a handful of opportunities but can make a statement of his intentions today.

The Auckland bench will include three ex-All Blacks, in prop John Afoa, utility back Ben Atiga and halfback Steve Devine.

Lam hasn't given all his senior players a breather today, though. The loose forward trio of Brad Mika, Jerome Kaino and Daniel Braid could have a field day, and Isa Nacewa, Brent Ward and Tasesa Lavea provide the older heads in the backline.

The pre-season trip was a success, according to Lam. He won't hear any talk of lingering issues over the dismal Blues Super 14 campaign, which included many of those in his cup squad.

"Not at all. That was a totally different team. For us, the guys are excited to be back. They love playing for Auckland," he said.

"I'm confident the guys we took away are ready for the season."

Lam would probably have got a better gauge of that had they been running on to, say, Carisbrook today rather than the FMG Stadium in Palmerston North.

But as far as hooker Derren Witcombe is concerned, he's just happy to be playing competitive rugby. Anyone would do first up for the former All Black, after his serious neck injury last year.

"We've got to play it game by game and they'll be committed to doing the same, so we're not complacent at all," he said.

By halftime today, that might be easier said than done.