Time to please home crowd

Taranaki coach Colin Cooper has the luxury of fielding an unchanged lineup as he goes in search of a third successive win, against Southland in New Plymouth tomorrow.

After a miserable start, with three successive defeats at home, Taranaki have found the formula on the road. Wins at Hamilton and Rotorua have put life back into their semifinal campaign, and victory over Southland would put them firmly in the frame for the top four.

As part of that unchanged composition, Cooper has resisted the temptation to bring Hurricanes prop Tony Penn back and instead has stuck with Jason Hooper at loosehead prop.

"Jason is playing good rugby and he's put the pressure on us to retain him in the starting lineup," Cooper said. "Tony will get some game time."

Cooper has detected a change in mood within his team, who now have a spring back in their step after a depressing start to the competition.

"They've been training well for the last couple of weeks. There's a real urgency to perform well in front of our home crowd after dropping the first three matches at home. We owe the home crowd a good performance."

However, he is expecting a tough challenge from a Southland side buoyed by their win over hapless Wellington last weekend.

"They're a very physical side and they've got some good ball-runners."

Taranaki have never been known to shirk the hard stuff up front, with rugged performers including captain Andy Slater, Gordon Slater and Paul Tito.

Daryl Lilley had a field day in the win over Bay of Plenty last weekend, scoring 24 points. If he is on form again tomorrow, Southland will have a difficult job.

- NZPA