RUGBY - Northland face tough test

An appointment with a medical specialist yesterday was to determine if Northland fullback Hayden Taylor would be available for a critical Air New Zealand Cup encounter with Southland in Invercargill tomorrow night.
Taylor was bracketed to start when the team was named yesterday after complaining of phantom muscle spasms in his arms, and is unlikely to play with concerns about a possible neck injury.
If he is ruled out today then his Kamo team-mate Mike Davis will start at fullback.
But if Taylor is cleared to play then Northland will field the same starting line-up that tackled Tasman last week _ a feat the team has not managed in more than three years of trying.
In the end that decision was as much determined by the fact that strike winger Rene Ranger is still battling a hamstring strain than a selection based on form. But it is a point worth contemplating nonetheless.
Coach Mark Anscombe is keen to keep the momentum building after scoring two consecutive wins, but cagey about disturbing the balance of his starting team.
His decision to stick with his first pick players has paid dividends but is notching up the workload.
That and the obvious travel factors in just getting to Invercargill will test his team tomorrow night. But those are hardly the challenges Anscombe is worried about. He is nervous about the way Southland have been playing.
Despite hovering near the foot of the table with just one win from four games, Southland are one of the most robust teams in the competition, Anscombe said.
"They will be desperate. That's the biggest factor and it is no secret. They have had just one win, they are at home and they will be targeting us," Anscombe said.
"Nobody can afford to be on four points after four rounds of this competition, so that means they are going to be that keyed up and focussed that I think this will be one of the hardest games all season for us," he said.
"They will back their scrum because they gave us trouble there last year. They will think their lineout can put us under pressure so once again, look out, and they have hard running midfielders who I think will bring the action back into the forwards a lot," Anscombe said.
That gameplan sounds familiar, and for good reason - it is almost a blueprint of the Northland tactics so far this season.
By maintaining his selection faith in players like Brad Taylor, Dan Goodwin and Bronson Murray it is obvious Anscombe is are confident Northland can compete in the forwards.
The return of Josh Levi in the No.13 jersey will only reinforce the belief that the Northland gameplan is based on forward dominance.
Painted in those colours, the injury to Hayden Taylor is hardly critical then, and may yet give Davis a long-awaited chance to show his wares. The former Canterbury development player has yet to play in an Air NZ Cup game for Northland.