Rugby: Paringatai to play 50th

Rupeni Caucaunibuca will be hoping to make a few more breaks tomorrow evening against North Harbour. Photo / Ron Burgin

Northland will be looking to make tomorrow's clash against North Harbour a memorable one as Jake Paringatai brings up his 50th cap for the province.

Paringatai's milestone comes nearly 10 years after making his debut for Northland as a hard-running 24-year-old.

Now 33, Paringatai is still a hard-running loosie whose experience will be vital if Northland is to get back-to-back wins.

While the occasion is a special for one the former Marist player, he was not losing any sleep about ways to make his mark on the match.

"I just want to get out there and play well for the boys," Paringatai said. "To be honest I'm just lucky enough to get to play 50 games for Northland and to finally get there it's special.

"If it wasn't for Northland I wouldn't have had half the opportunities I've had. After all the years it's nice to help them out and get 50 under the belt."

As for whether or not he would be leading the side out of the tunnel, Paringatai said he had not thought about but wouldn't be surprised if captain Rene Ranger was happy for him to do so.

"Ranger might let me lead the team out. He's a pretty laid back sort of character. It's just nice to play 50 for the union, and it's been for one union which is something I'm proud of."

Coach Derren Witcombe also credited Paringatai for notching up 50 matches for the one province.

"To top off 50 is a big milestone, so credit to him," Witcombe said. "The team will be wanting to win for him, as well as for the sake of winning."

Witcombe hoped tomorrow's match would be a step up from last week's scrappy win, saying they would be focusing on making sure they looked after their game.

"We need to focus on our game and our game only. If we get our game right - our set piece needs a lot of work and our handling and decision making - we'll be hard to stop.

"One thing we did show [last week] is guts and ticker. Basically that win was on guts and the culture we have, [which is] still building and becoming tighter."

Northland have made two changes to the starting line-up which beat Southland 13-9 last weekend at Toll Stadium, with Ross Wright and Paringatai returning at hooker and No8.

On the bench sees a few minor changes with former Wales under-20 representative Will-Griff John getting his first experience in the Northland jersey, while Otamatea's David Morgan has the chance to add to his sole ITM Cup cap.

A major threat for Northland is the return of All Blacks squad member Francis Saiili, who has been given the all clear by the national selectors, to Harbour's backline.

Last time the two sides met, Northland came away victors 18-17 thanks to the boot of Ash Moeke who kicked six penalties for the win.

Tomorrow's match will also be Bronson Murray's 99th appearance for Northland. The match kicks off at 5.35pm.

Northland: 1 Bronson Murray, 2 Ross Wright, 3 Scott Vessey, 4 Tom Murday, 5 Bryce Williams, 6 Dan Pryor, 7 Jack Ram, 8 Jake Paringatai, 9 Sonatane Takalua, 10 Ben Seymour, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 12 Derek Carpenter, 13 Rene Ranger (c), 14 Jone Macilai, 15 Whiria Meltzer. Reserves: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Will-Griff John, 18 David Morgan, 19 Roy Griffin, 20 Mac Sykes, 21 Daniel Hawkins, 22 Warren Dunn.