Four Northland players will have a very good reason to remember this weekend's centenary rugby league test between the Kiwis and Australia in Wellington.
Jarom Wihongi-Henare, Shane Pumipi, Blair Young and Cruz Neho have all been selected to take part in one of the two curtain-raisers for the historic test match
at Westpac Trust Stadium on Sunday.
They will play a second match for the New Zealand Maori under-18 team against the Australian Aboriginal under-18 side.
The two teams met for the first time on Saturday in Rotorua, with the New Zealand Maori side coming out on top 27-16.
Wihongi-Henare and Pumipi started in the match, while Neho and Young started off the bench, with Neho scoring one of the team's six tries.
Team manager Mel Rutene said they were expecting a tougher match on Saturday from the tourists after they had played a Taranaki selection midweek.
"They'll have had a bit longer together to get their combinations working because before the game (on Saturday) they had the same amount of time together as us to prepare for the first game," she said.
The Maori team, like their counterparts, had a three-day camp at Turangawaewae to prepare for the match.
Team members fly individually to Wellington on Thursday and on Friday both teams will be hosted at a Parliamentary reception by Maori MPs at the Beehive.
Saturday will see them get the chance to watch the Kiwis' final training and meet the players from the New Zealand and the Australian teams.
The game starts at 12pm on Sunday and is followed by the Junior Kiwis' match against Australia, before the main game starts at 4.10pm.
The team is (from Auckland unless stated).-
1 Nafe Seluini, 2 Zane Faulkner (Waicoa Bay), 3 Jarom Wihongi-Henare (Northland), 4 Kurt Kara (Waicoa), 5 Arved Johnston (Canterbury), 6 Shane Pumipi (Northland),7 Elijah Taylor, 8 Dillon Smith, 9 Nathan McNamara (Wellington), 10 Blair Young (Northland), 11 Cruiz Neho (Northland), 12 Matthew Robinson (Wellington), 13 Rusty Bristow, 14 Harmony Hunt, 15 Cruz Rauner (Taranaki), 16 Jesse Bromwich, 17 Sam Aupouri (Wellington), 18 McGrath Leuluai.
