Rugby: Auckland keep feet on ground

By Richard Boock

Auckland will seek a return to their best NPC form against a backdrop of testimonials and retirements when they square off against Counties Manukau at Eden Park this afternoon.

Auckland, the competition leaders, hope to use their final round-robin match - already significant as a tribute to Michael Jones - to reassert their authority after last weekend's scare against Taranaki, while Counties would love nothing more than to farewell coach Mac McCallion and veteran lock Jim Coe with the upset of the season.

Seldom have so many plaudits been showered on so few in such a short space of time, but Auckland assistant coach Grant Fox has rejected a suggestion that his players could be distracted by the fuss, particularly the predicted retirement of Jones.

"We talked about that at the start of the week," Fox said yesterday. "In fact, Michael spoke to the team about it, about how important it was to get our house back in order before the semifinals.

"No-one's looking past the game. If anything, we're paying more attention to our preparations this week."

The narrow 18-17 squeak against Taranaki was another reminder of how little a team needed to deviate from its set flightpath to crash, but encouraging in other ways for Auckland, who managed to receive the fright of their lives in New Plymouth without squandering any competition points.

A great believer in a side not having to lose to learn, Fox said the narrow win was in stark contrast to what was happening last season, when lessons were not learned even when the side lost often.

In terms of last weekend's result, Auckland had emerged from a demanding section of their campaign with wins over Canterbury, Otago and Waikato and struggled to keep their intensity at the same level for a fourth consecutive week, perhaps understandably, Fox said.

"But we let things drop off too much and almost paid the ultimate price. The lesson we learned was that in this sort of competition your preparation has got to be spot-on every week or you'll get burned.

"Taranaki did us a lot of good. They gave us a reality check. We got away from what we were trying to do, and I think we all recognise that. Now the task's to get back to what we do best, because we don't want to be going over this again approaching the semis."

On the face of it, they should have few problems getting back on track against a Counties side languishing third from the bottom with wins only against Southland and Northland, but Fox has never been one to take things for granted, particularly against such dangerous opponents.

"Counties are one side you'd never underestimate," he said. "They showed that when they roared back against North Harbour last weekend, and there's no way we're taking them lightly. They're very capable."