Rugby: Whole new ball game for Auckland

Last season Auckland often had teams "on toast and did not make the best use of the leads we built up," says Auckland skipper Paul Thomson.

He said this happened again in Auckland's warmup game against Canterbury last week on Waiheke Island.

Canterbury started turning around a 3-21 deficit two minutes before halftime and ended a brilliant spectacle with a 31-28 win.

In an interview before last Saturday's loss to Northland 6-24 in another warmup game, Thomson said "We will have to take a hard look at what happened."

When Auckland met Canterbury in the NPC round "they will believe we are vulnerable. I am not too pleased about that."

Auckland plays Canterbury under lights at Eden Park in the fourth round of the NPC.

"We have to approach it game by game. And you have to remember that there are a lot of new players in the squad. Some of the most experienced players from last season have gone, so we have to take stock and move on."

Enough was seen in the Canterbury game of Auckland's younger brigade to confirm that there was an array of talent that would attract the fans, he believed.