Injuries cloud Bay selection

Bay of Plenty sevens coach Charles Baxter won't finalise his 12 to take to the national provincial tournament in Queenstown until today after fresh injury concerns.

Having already lost winger Sikeli Sikeli Vorenasu, experienced players Adam McGarvey and Lance MacDonald picked up ankle injuries at Monday's provincial tournament at Mt Maunganui and are rated by Baxter as 50:50 prospects.

On the plus side, Baxter has been given use of New Zealand rep Toby Arnold by national coach Gordon Tietjens and is going through the paperwork to get Auckland flyer Ben Paltridge included in the Bay of Plenty line-up as a late addition.

"Ben's a guy I've had my eye on for awhile but we're working now on getting clearance from Auckland to use him. We need him because we're desperately short of wingers but I want to get sign-off from his home province before it's in the bag."

Bay of Plenty fell well short in their quest for a third consecutive title at Mt Maunganui this week, topping their pool with wins over Horowhenua-Kapiti and Bay of Plenty Invitation before bowing out 19-5 to Canterbury in the first knockout round.

Baxter said it was a hard tournament to get up for, coming so close to the national event.

"We'd always anticipated it wasn't a tournament we'd win this year, not that we'd publicised it, with our focus on getting players right rather than winning this one at all costs.

"It didn't serve any purpose going all out and guys were thinking about saving their bodies for Queenstown or were injured so it was difficult getting the most out of them.

"If there's one good thing though, it is that we barely fired a shot, let alone all of them, at the Mount so we will go to Queenstown as underdogs."

Their poor showing last year in Queenstown has landed Bay of Plenty a low seeding this week, with pool games against North Harbour, Canterbury and Tasman.

Auckland has been the dominant team since the national sevens tournament shifted to Queenstown in 2004, winning five of the eight editions held in the resort town.

Bay of Plenty:

Jack Wilson, Adam McGarvey, Matt Clutterbuck, Ilaitia Lomani, Paul Tietjens, Quentin Gardiner, Lance MacDonald, Whakataki Cunningham, Zar Lawrence, Toby Arnold, Marnus Hanley, Ben Paltridge.

National Provincial Sevens:

Pool A: Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Mid Canterbury; Pool B: Taranaki, Otago, Horowhenua Kapiti, Southland; Pool C: Counties Manukau, Waikato, Wellington, Northland; Pool D: Bay of Plenty, North Harbour, Canterbury, Tasman.