KEY POINTS:
Mose Tuiali'i may be an ex-Auck, but nothing fires him up more than playing his old teammates.
And that could be bad news for the challengers when Canterbury defend the Ranfurly Shield in what will be the defining match of their 2007 season on Saturday at AMI Stadium.
In two seasons with Auckland in 2002 and 2004 either side of a year with Northland, the No 8 never got to play a shield match.
He's more than made up for that since he adopted red and black, and the former westie's form in the Air New Zealand Cup suggests he could break his old teammates' hearts on Saturday if he is on his game.
Since losing the shield to Auckland in 2003, Canterbury have beaten them the last three seasons in the NPC.
"It's always the big one, mate," says Tuiali'i. "I always look forward to playing Auckland every year. I always try and get up for that and it's always exciting playing against your old mates."
Auckland's influential skipper Sam Tuitupou was a team mate of Tuiali'i in the Kelston High team that won the New Zealand secondary schools title, and the txts were quickly flying back and forward between Tuiali'i and his old Auckland mates this week.
Canterbury looked as though the Auckland challenge was at the back of the minds when they struggled to subdue Tasman on Friday, and Tuiali'i admits some players had been probably thinking about this match a fortnight too early.
But he promises Canterbury will play with the same intensity this week that they did in their mighty win to strip Waikato of the shield.
As they did in Hamilton, they had to get a grip on the match early, he said.
"It's going to be a game where possession is going to be the main factor and obviously, in the old cliché, you've have to attack to win the shield, and that's going to be one of our main goals, to really attack Auckland as much as we can and get hold of that ball."
He's confident you'll see a different Canterbury on Saturday from the Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and Tasman games. "You can see it on the boys' faces that they'll be really up for it."
As usual Auckland were a good team with a lot of flair right across the park, he said. "They like to throw the ball around and offload and stuff like that and it's really good footie to see, and when they pull it off and score those awesome tries it's good for the crowd and everyone watching."
But he's "quietly confident" Canterbury can stop them doing that with their different brand of tighter football.
Tuiali'i quickly put personal disappointment in his omission from the World Cup team behind him and has turned in some towering performances for Canterbury.
He "knew the writing was on the wall" for All Black selection. "And I went into the coach's office and just told him I really want to give my all for the red and black."
Tuiali'i said playing against their old union was the big match for him and fellow Auks Kevin Senio and Casey Laulala every season.
And although it has been all fun and games txting with their old mates, it was "going to be pretty serious out there at the weekend," he said.
- CHRISTCHURCH STAR
