Caretaker coach faces tough task

As the Bay of Plenty coaching crisis lingers into another day, Northland weren't buying into talk of favouritism heading into tomorrow's Air New Zealand Cup opener.
Bay of Plenty's coaching structure remains in a state of flux with Greg Smith's future still unresolved after he took leave from the team earlier this week.
Sean Horan has emerged as the caretaker coach, taking the side through their final intensive training session yesterday ahead of hosting Northland in Rotorua tomorrow.
Smith returned to Hamilton on Monday and Bay of Plenty chief executive Jeremy Curragh confirmed it could be "several days" before the former Waikato and Fiji representative's future was clarified.
Curragh denied claims there had been a bustup at training last week and that player power had been behind Smith's isolation.
"We're looking at a whole gamut of things," he said.
Smith was due to have talks at the union's headquarters in Tauranga, though there was no confirmation they took place.
All the drama has sharpened expectations going into tomorrow's match, although Northland coach Bryce Woodward dismissed talk the Steamers would be a blunted force.
"They've got some real threats playing for them like Luke Braid, James McGougan, Colin Burke and Michael Delany," Woodward said. "They were fourth in the round-robin last year and have a fairly settled side, so they're going to be a challenge for us, there's no two ways about that."
Northland have their own problems with a severe shortage of quality locks to partner former Te Puke player Dan Goodwin.
The Taniwha have had to call in Auckland loan player Daniel Faleafa for the match, with the 19-year-old having recently starred at the IRB under-20 world championships.
The 1.92m, 105kg lock is the third loan lock to have been approached by Woodward as cover while the Taniwha's two injured locks, Cameron Jowitt and Pat O'Connor, come right.
Like Bay of Plenty, Northland have also had a mediocre pre-season campaign - they did beat Counties-Manukau last week but Woodward came away far from happy.
"If we defend like that against the Bay then we'll be beaten by 20-plus so we've got to tighten that up and play with more control and patience when we've got the ball," Woodward said. "We have to play to our potential to have a chance of victory."
At least the onfield problems have been all he's had to worry about - Horan admitted the coaching issue was disruptive to his team but he was confident the team was focused on Northland.
"We're just caretakers at the moment," he said of his combination with assistant Steve Miln. "We're sticking to the preparation and focusing on the team, nothing else."
Goodwin, meanwhile, isn't the only Bay of Plenty link in the Northland team. Former Steamers prop Matt Wallis has earned a spot on the bench.
There's also Bay interest in the Wellington team defending the Ranfurly Shield against Otago tomorrow, with Ruki Tipuna named on the bench just seven weeks after he last played for Rangataua in the Baywide competition.