Auckland need more of the second-half commitment which saw them steal victory from Wellington when they face Bay of Plenty in today's crossover clash in Rotorua.
Paul Feeney's charges need victory to stay in touch with the Premiership pacesetters, but will not want a repeat of first-half mistakes against the Lions which saw them concede a 24-point halftime deficit.
"This team is pretty motivated and focused after that second-half performance. We showed ourselves more so than anyone else what we can do if we put together a good 40 minutes. We just need to do that from the outset. So we're looking forward to the boys' reaction [today] coming off last week's display," said Feeney.
They will also be anxious to retain the John Drake Boot. The Steamers cleaned them out 37-16 on this ground two years ago, but Auckland turned the tables at Eden Park last year.
Once again, All Blacks Charlie Faumuina and Charlie Piutau were not released, but there are four changes, with 19-year-old Blake Gibson taking the No 6 jersey after a top second spell last week, while Liaki Moli returns to lock and halfback Leon Fukofuka wins his first start at halfback. Ben Lam replaces the injured Vince Aso on the wing. Francis Saili, while penetrating on attack, will want to eradicate his costly errors from last week, as TJ Faiane is waiting in the wings for his Auckland debut. The Simon Hickey-Gareth Anscombe 10-15 act remains intact.
