Rugby: ITM Cup week five preview

Former All Black halfback Andy Ellis will start for the first time this season following injury. Photo / Getty Images

Canterbury assistant coach Tabai Matson does not think his team will lack motivation for their national provincial championship rugby match against Auckland on Saturday.

Contests against Auckland are normally enough to fire up the southerners but Matson said they had extra reason to be focused after last weekend's loss to Tasman.

"The result was an embarrassment to be honest. We turned the ball over every two minutes,'' he told NZPA of the 25-27 setback, the first time in five matches Canterbury had lost to their Crusaders Super franchise partners.

"But a loss is not a failure unless you don't learn from it and we've had good learning this week."

Canterbury may not yet have Sonny Bill Williams - he will play a club match in the curtainraiser in Christchurch - but they do welcome back hooker Corey Flynn from the All Blacks, which Matson said was "gold".

Another All Black, halfback Andy Ellis, will start for the first time this season following injury.

"He's been eager to start but we've been drip-feeding him into the group. It's his first start for the campaign and I'm sure he'll go gangbusters."

Matson said the clash with Auckland was always one which meant a great deal to Canterbury.

"I'm probably biased because I'm from Canterbury but I think some of the greatest rugby games ever played in the country have been Canterbury-Auckland. There's just something about this game that players lift for.

"It's going to be a doozie, I'm picking it to be the game of the round."

Auckland welcome back All Blacks Benson Stanley and John Afoa as they seek their first win over Canterbury since 2007.

Waikato have taken the opposite step to Canterbury this week, sending All Blacks halfback Brendon Leonard to the reserves bench for their match against Chiefs neighbours Counties-Manukau.

Leonard has been replaced by New Zealand under 20 halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow as ninth-placed Waikato try to get closer to second-placed Counties-Manukau.

The other Saturday match will see Wellington and Northland both looking to move up from mid-table positions when they clash in the capital.

Bottom-placed Otago will be looking for their first win when they host fourth-placed Taranaki in the first match of the round tonight.

Tomorrow's match sees competition leaders Southland, the only unbeaten team after four rounds, face a potentially tricky away match in Blenheim against a Tasman team who had their confidence boosted with their win against Canterbury.

The round is completed on Sunday with two matches featuring teams at the lower end of the competition table.

Manawatu, one spot ahead of Otago, take on Hawke's Bay, who are one position ahead of them, while the two teams above them, Bay of Plenty and North Harbour, meet in Rotorua.

Catch live scoring of tonight's clash between Otago and Taranaki from 7pm.

Week five fixtures:

Thursday:
Otago v Taranaki, 7.35pm

Friday:
Tasman v Southland, 7.35pm

Saturday:
Waikato v Counties Manukau, 2.35pm
Wellington v Northland, 4.35pm
Canterbury v Auckland, 7.35pm

Sunday:
Manawatu v Hawke's Bay, 2.35pm
Bay of Plenty v North Harbour, 4.35pm

- NZPA