Canterbury v Wellington
First five-eighth Andrew Mehrtens has been ruled out of Canterbury's Ranfurly Shield match with Wellington today.
Canterbury's key playmaker's name suddenly vanished from the team sheet published yesterday after failing a fitness test.
After narrowly making the deadline for last Saturday's defence against Waikato, the hamstring injury Mehrtens suffered in that game proved too severe to run off.
The No 10 jersey will be filled by Cameron McIntyre, while Charlie Hore will take McIntyre's place on the bench.
Canterbury, for the third consecutive challenge, will face the top team on the NPC ladder.
Taranaki were leading the NPC when they challenged, as were Waikato last weekend.
Both were given every chance to lift the shield by most critics because Canterbury were struggling to attain their best standards at the time but, with the defenders playing so well last week, favouritism has swung back in Canterbury's direction.
This is Canterbury's 23rd defence of the shield in this tenure and, if successful, they will equal the record of their illustrious predecessors from 1953-56.
It will also put them only two behind the 25 defences by the 1982-85 squad.
fusixpoint
Canterbury: Scott Hamilton, Joe Maddock, Casey Laulala, Mark Robinson, Alisi Tupuailei, Cameron McIntyre, Ben Hurst (capt), Sam Broomhall, Johnny Leo'o, Scott Robertson, Norm Maxwell, Matt Dalzell, Campbell Johnstone, Tone Kopelani, Greg Feek. Res: Jed Vercoe, Chris King, Daniel Turner, Andrew Morgan; Jamie Nutbrown, Charlie Hore, Doug Tausili.
Wellington: Christian Cullen, Lome Fa'atau, Conrad Smith, Paul Steinmetz, Sireli Bobo, David Holwell (capt), Jason Spice, Thomas Waldrom, Scott Waldrom, Kristian Ormsby, Ross Filipo, Luke Andrews, Tim Fairbrother, Luke Mahoney, Kas Lealamanua. Res: Jason Macdonald, Neemia Tialata, Ross Kennedy, Iva Motusaga; Piri Weepu, Riki Flutey, Jimmy Gopperth.
Referee: Paul Honiss. Kickoff: 2.35pm. TV: Live on Sky Sport 1.
- NZPA
NPC points table
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