Rugby: Squaring up to face old friends

Andrew Van der Heijden and his Auckland team have fallen out of the top four. Photo / Richard Robinson

A couple of years ago Andrew van der Heijden captained Counties Manukau to a rare victory against Auckland.

Tomorrow the lock will be the enemy at Growers Stadium in Pukekohe, one of the city slickers Counties need to bowl if they are to maintain their search for a top-seven finish in the ITM Cup.

Auckland face a similar predicament. They have fallen out of the top four and are sitting just ahead of their opponents on the points table. If the weather co-operates, the stadium should be a cauldron of anticipation and colour for tomorrow's match.

"I'm expecting a fair amount of noise out there for the game, they'll be after us for sure," van der Heijden said.

The 26-year-old began his provincial rugby life with Counties, pulling on the red-black-and-white jersey 46 times before switching to Auckland last year in a push for Super rugby selection.

"When I started, there was not much chance of getting into Auckland so playing for Counties was a good way to get started. I was tempted to stay to play 50 games, but my heart was in Auckland," he said.

This season's competition had been a tough slog with tough conditions and a high calibre of opponents. Teams always find bogey opponents and Hawkes Bay proved that to Auckland last week and also last year. The 2m tall lock said he hoped to snare a Super Rugby contract next year, but if he missed, he would think about playing overseas or using the mechanical engineering degree he finished last year.

Someone else with selection options is John Afoa. The regular prop will play hooker for Auckland B against Bay of Plenty at Mt Maunganui tomorrow so he can get a better feel for the lineout duties he is being groomed for at international level.

Auckland coach Mark Anscombe said they'd planned to use Afoa in that role for Auckland but the opportunities had not eventuated. He would play for the Bs this week but return to the ITM Cup next weekend.

Auckland have made five changes from the side which drew their last match with Hawkes Bay. All Blacks Joe Rokocoko and Jerome Kaino come in for a rare start, Ash Dixon is being used at hooker with Tom McCartney switching to loosehead prop, and there is a new halfback-five eighths combination of Brenton Helleur and Gareth Anscombe.

"We played too much in the middle of the park and we need to be playing field position better," coach Anscombe said. He left the selection of his backline to his assistant Andrew Strawbridge, who had decided to promote his son Gareth for his first start for Auckland.

"Counties are a tricky side, they play with a lot of confidence out at Pukekohe and I am hearing through the grapevine that taking a big scalp like Auckland would put the icing on their cake for the season," the coach said.

The man known as Ice has made it back to the Auckland bench. Isaia Toeava has been out of rugby for about five months after an operation to trim some bone spurs on his hip. There are plans to give him about 25 minutes on the park in his comeback match.

"I've been working hard on fitness, but the body will get sore with contact," Toeava said. "It's good to be back, though. I'm just focusing on what I can do for Auckland and hoping to get some games in.

"The rehab was horrible but I have worked hard. I've been running for the last few weeks and the injury feels good. Before that it was boxing and grinding away in the gym. The injury feels much better, I'm not restricted, not thinking about it. It used to play on my mind, I could feel it and that got angry. Once I make the first tackle and touch the ball I'm sure the nerves will go away."