Tietjens battling on despite lack of depth

Bay of Plenty coach Gordon Tietjens must look with envy at the player riches of New Zealand's fat-cat provinces.

While the big boys bring in reinforcements from the All Blacks and overseas to bulk up their teams, Tietjens is forced to dip into the Bay of Plenty development squad.

Several changes have been made to the Bay side hammered 72-3 by Canterbury last week for tomorrow's clash with Taranaki at Rotorua International Stadium .

Tietjens has promoted three players from the development ranks - tighthead prop Francis Cameron, flanker Dave Gorrie and first five-eighths Tyronne Taiepa.

Cameron is rushed back into the starting lineup in place of Aleki Lutui, who switches to hooker in place of Thompson Tapsell, who is on the bench.

Former Australian colt David Duley is in at lock in place of injured captain Mark Weedon, Nick Collins slots in at second five-eighths with Dale Rasmussen nursing injured ribs, and Scott Barton replaces Todd Blythe on the right wing.

Tietjens was confident the players added to the squad would cope.

"A couple of the changes were forced on us through injury. The development team is there to promote players who are good enough, and I think the guys we've brought up will do the job."

Taranaki mauled Waikato out of the game last weekend, their big and rugged forward pack paving the way for a 20-15 victory, their first of the season.

They will be jumping out of their skins to have a crack at the Bay pack, who were soundly smashed by Canterbury in Christchurch.

"We're going to be targeted by Taranaki up front, the guys all know that. We were pretty disappointing against Canterbury," Tietjens said.

After a three-loss start to the season, Taranaki's victory in Hamilton lifted them off the bottom of the points table. They are now level with the Bay on five points.

"Sunday's game is one we must win - if we lose we're back to where we were," Taranaki coach Colin Cooper said. "We can't expect things just to happen for us. We have to go out and make them happen."

Cooper was particularly pleased with the way Taranaki changed tactics in the win over Waikato, switching back to their tried and true driving, forward play after having little success moving it wide in the first 30 minutes.

- NZPA