Big guns ready for battle

By Wynne Gray

Auckland lose Carlos Spencer but Canterbury will be without four of their weekend demolition squad when they duel in the NPC highlight on Friday.

Spencer is moving into World Cup rugby mode along with Canterbury All Blacks Reuben Thorne, Scott Robertson and Mark Hammett, while crackerjack wing Afato So'oalo is also unavailable because of his selection for Samoa.

Those world tournament matches begin next month, but referee Paul Honiss seemed to have his World Cup kit on already as he delivered the sort of obtuse rulings yesterday which will become more commonplace at the fourth global competition.

Honiss awarded three penalty tries, disallowed what appeared to be a legitimate intercept try and found a number of penalties which the Otago and North Harbour players struggled to comprehend at Carisbrook.

The final act, a Brendan Laney penalty, allowed Otago to scrape home and stay with the top four, who have opened up a split on the rest of the field.

Auckland are leading after a lacklustre win against Southland, while Canterbury, Ranfurly Shield holders Waikato and Otago round out the top quartet.

Last season Auckland were flogged 50-17 by Canterbury at Eden Park as they slumped to eighth in their worst finish since the NPC started. But a steady, unbeaten start this year under new coach Wayne Pivac and the expected strong showing from Canterbury has set up a huge game this week in Christchurch.

"They have a very strong front row," said wary Auckland skipper Paul Thomson.

"We have got fantastically skilled players out wide and in close. If we can get the ball and control it and get our patterns on the game, anything can happen."

After their draining shield defence with Taranaki, Waikato travel to Invercargill without All Blacks Rhys Duggan and Royce Willis to tackle Southland, while Otago are away to Counties Manukau.

There were a few tremors within the All Black ranks, with Willis damaging his ribs, Craig Dowd in hospital because of an infected ankle, Spencer and Tony Brown suffering minor injuries and lock Ian Jones missing what was to be his final game yesterday with Harbour because his son had taken ill.

All the problems were sorted last night. Dowd and Jones' son were out of hospital, Spencer (back) and Brown (nose) were recovering, while Willis was sore but without any lasting damage.

Most harm had been done to Counties, pasted 82-22, with a scoreline which mocked their manager's recent claim that they deserved more Super 12 recognition from the Chiefs. After the Friday resignation of chief executive Gary Wilton, the problems have expanded.