KEY POINTS:
Hawkes Bay Magpies coach Peter Russell is not one to skite.
But he's proud of his unbeaten run on Auckland's Eden Park and naturally he's eager to maintain it when Hawkes Bay take on Auckland.
His record on the hallowed turf? "It's one from one but it was a biggie," he recalled.
Russell's 1999 Wellington Colts side was given little show, similar to what fans north of the Bombay Hills are giving his Magpies tomorrow night, against an Auckland outfit that included former All Black No 8 Xavier Rush, former New Zealand Sevens star Orene Ai'i and Finau Maka.
"We spanked them by 40 points," said Russell.
And the calibre of his Wellington Colts team?
"Not too bad," he replied before rattling off some of the names. They included All Blacks Jerry Collins and Rodney So'oialo and Super 14 players Ross Filipo and Luke Mahoney.
While not a skiter, Russell doesn't lack confidence going into the semi-final. Although his troops lost 38-11 to Auckland five weeks ago they have improved considerably.
"We've worked on areas of our game which were exposed then. We were also missing three key players that night too," he said, referring to prop Tim Fairbother, centre Jason Shoemark and fullback Israel Dagg.
Russell is rapt with the way his side has trained this week and also with the way his players have recovered from their physical 38-35 quarter-final win against defending champions Waikato at Napier's McLean Park last Sunday.
Winger Jason Kupa, who suffered a knee injury, is the only Magpie unavailable.
Waratahs Super 14 player Ben Batger switches from fullback to take Kupa's berth and world champion New Zealand under-19 player Dagg will start at fullback.
Former New Zealand Sevens star Justin Wilson, also a former Auckland representative, will take Dagg's berth on the subs bench.
