Toll Northland coaches Bryce Woodward and Blair Larsen have named an unchanged 22 from the brutal game against Waikato, for tomorrow night's ITM Cup match against Hawke's Bay.
It was a bruising battle between Waikato and hosts Northland at Toll Stadium last Saturday, where the visitors withstood second-half pressure to come
away with a 45-33 victory - boosting them into the ITM Cup's top four, and leaving Northland in ninth spot with 22 points. Despite the quick turnaround between fixtures, Northland will be looking to come back strongly against a tough Hawke's Bay outfit who are positioned one spot below Northland in tenth on 19 points, at McLean Park tomorrow night.
"It is a big ask for us with the five-day turnaround but in saying that Hawke's Bay have only had a six-day turnaround [after their match against Auckland where they drew 34-all] - only one extra day than us," Woodward said.
Despite experiencing a sickening head clash with Waikato halfback Brendon Leonard on Saturday, Northland's top points scorer Lachie Munro has been named in the starting lineup after remaining symptom free so far this week and passing a fitness test at training.
Cam Goodhue (concussion), Rene Ranger (hamstring), Aden Dewes and Dan Pryor are all unavailable to play due to injury. Kick off tomorrow night at McLean Park is at 7.35pm.
Northland: 1 Matt Wallis, 2 Tim Dow, 3 Bronson Murray, 4 Pat O'Connor, 5 Mark Burman, 6 Dean Budd, 7 Joel McKenty, 8 Cameron Eyre, 9 Rhyan Caine, 10 David Holwell, 11 Mateo Malupo, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 13 Jared Payne (c), 14 Simon Munro, 15 Lachie Munro. Reserves: 16 Mikaele Tuu'u, 17 Ross Wright, 18 Roy Griffin, 19 Justin Collins, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Adam Clarke, 22 Iwi Hauraki.
Hawke's Bay: 1 Kasiano Lealamanua, 2 Hikawera Elliot, 3 Anthony Perenese, 4 Bryn Evans, 5 Ross Kennedy, 6 Michael Johnson, 7 Karl Lowe, 8 Michale Coman, 9 Chris Eaton, 10 Khan Fotualii, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 12 Ryan McLeod, 13 Jason Shoemark, 14 Richard Buckman, 15 Mark Jackman. Reserves: 16 Eugene Smith, 17 Clint Newland, 18 Brodie Retallick, 19 Trent Boswell-Wakefield, 20 Dan Kirkpatrick, 21 Star Timu, 22 Gillies Kaka.
