Waikato's blood still pumping

By CHRIS RATTUE

Victory over Auckland will always get the blood stirring in Waikato rugby veins.

It extends to Super 12 level as well - a leading Chiefs player was heard to remark during a pre-season golf tournament: "I don't care what happens this year, as long as we smash the Blues."

And after Waikato had eked out a victory against Northland a fortnight ago, Waikato captain Jono Gibbes said their next clash against Auckland would be the major test of their progress, particularly as the game was at Eden Park.

Auckland were the traditional enemy, said Gibbes, although he was not sure if Auckland viewed the match in the same terms.

So fresh from a convincing triumph at Eden Park, Waikato should be in the sort of mood to start pushing hard for another appearance in the playoffs, starting with tonight's match against NPC leaders and TAB title favourites Otago.

Coach Ian Foster said of Waikato's 33-15 win over Auckland: "We will take confidence from that and it was a great result, although we've still got our actual performance to look at.

"We've got new combinations and new people coming in to this team and you don't just gel straight away. We know we are not there yet."

Otago had scratched their way to three opening wins before dismantling a Canterbury side who were struggling to find cohesion and some individual form.

Foster said the key to playing Otago was having a strong defence around the forward fringes, where Greg Cooper's side makes a lot of headway.

"They really confront you in that area and if they get momentum there they are very hard to defend against," Foster said.

Goalkicking wing Loki Crichton, who suffered a thigh injury early in the week, will play.

Otago, who are four points in front of Waikato, have lost wing Aisea Tuilevu to the Fijian side, in contrast to Waikato whose hooker and Fiji captain Greg Smith arranged extended time for himself in the NPC.

Prop Carl Hayman is back in the Otago line-up after injury, and centre Ryan Nicholas returns via the reserve bench after recovering from a broken collarbone.

Otago captain Kelvin Middleton is adamant there is plenty of improvement still left in his team.

"We played well against Canterbury, but we didn't play to our full potential." He said the pressure was on Otago before the Canterbury game after some lacklustre performances.

"And rightly so. The most pressure came from within the side itself.

"We got quite tight within the team and we were determined to play to something like our true ability."

"The biggest thing we got out of the game against Canterbury was confidence."

Middleton said Otago had a tight five with the ability to dominate and when that happened other areas of their game fell into place.