Rugby: Taniwha tweaked for Southland task

Northland halfback Sam Nock will get his first start in the Cambridge blue versus Southland. Photo/ Michael Cunningham.

Northland ITM Cup coaches Richie Harris and Dale MacLeod have made three changes to their starting line-up to play Southland at Toll Stadium tomorrow.

Sam Nock will start at halfback in place of Kurt Davies while Northland's sole try-scorer from the Hawke's Bay Magpies clash, Troy Gilbert, will start in the No 12 jersey.

Also getting his first start of the season, Namatahi Waa replaces Dominic Robertson-McCoy at prop after having a successful run for the Northland development team last weekend.

After losing 39-10 to Hawke's Bay last weekend, the classic North versus South battle will provide the Taniwha another difficult contest -- especially with All Black first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga being released to play for the Stags.

Although the battle looks good on paper, Northland head coach Richie Harris is expecting Southland to be confident after drawing 23-all with Auckland in round one.

"Our scrum's a big worry. It was virtually non-existent versus Hawke's Bay, so we've worked hard on that this week," Harris said.

Despite a poor scrum and lack of attacking finesse, one positive coming out of the Hawke's Bay match was the Taniwha lineout completion rate. Sitting second behind North Harbour, with a 93.3 per cent lineout success rate, Josh Goodhue helped to bolster Northland's possession and took seven clean takes to put himself first-equal with Southland's Josh Bekhuis and Bay of Plenty's Keepa Mewett after round one.

"Although we won ball, Hawke's Bay were good at disrupting the ball post lineout so that's something we've worked on but, yeah, the lineout's been working well," Harris said.

With an emphasis on scrum work and attacking shape at training this week, the Taniwha will now head into a captain's run at Toll Stadium today to iron out any remaining creases.

The match kicks off at 5.35pm.

Northland: Howard Sililoto, Matt Moulds (c), Namatahi Waa, Josh Goodhue, Michael Stolberg, Shane Neville, Kara Pryor, Taniela Manu, Sam Nock, Dan Hawkins, Jone Macilai, Troy Gilbert, Dave Thomas, Waisea Lawbuka, Mathew Wright. Reserves: Jordan Olsen, Ross Wright, Matt Talaese, Sean Sweetman, Jaycob Matiu, Kurt Davies, Jordan Hyland, Filipo Nakosi.