KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks have Mike Cron, the New Zealand Maori have Greg Feek.
Given the pace and athleticism of Fiji's backs, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that up front might be the place to get the better of them.
To that end, Maori coach Donny Stevenson called in a scrum doctor of his own this week, inviting Feek, the former Crusaders and All Blacks prop, to help drill his front row before the team departed for Lautoka.
Giant Chiefs prop Ben May, teammate Aled de Malmanche - perhaps the man with the least Maori-sounding name ever to play for the side - and Hurricanes prop Jacob Ellison are the players primarily tasked with sticking it to the Fijians in the scrums.
After watching Fiji dismantle Samoa last weekend while his own side struggled to subdue Tonga, Stevenson has every right to be a tad nervous about this afternoon's contest, a game he believes could be the toughest his side faces in a five-match Pacific Nations Cup campaign.
"Everyone knows that this is the big game," Stevenson said. "We have had some real ding-dong battles in Fiji. They seem to lift their game [at home]. "But we are confident we have got the team to do the job."
Despite making 10 personnel and one positional change to the team that beat Tonga, the Maori team is still littered with Super 14 talent. Daniel Braid gets the start at openside flank, Crusaders midfielder Tim Bateman comes in at centre and Stephen Brett and Chris Smylie form a new partnership in the halves.
Locks Jason Eaton and Isaac Ross again start after Ross Filipo was ruled out with a niggling injury.
Stevenson knows his side looked rusty against Tonga but he is expecting a more cohesive display today.
"We are just hoping that was down to lack of time together. We have asked the boys to step up in terms of their accuracy and communication. There has been a real lift in that and we know we have to pick up our efforts around the contact area as we let ourselves down there against Tonga.
"Fiji are going to be just as big, just as physical but probably not as direct as Tonga," he said. "But we know that if we turn over ball and have poor kicks they are a team that can really hurt us."
