Newcomers won't be over-awed

With less than three weeks to go before the inaugural Air New Zealand Cup kicks off, two of the "promoted" sides - Counties-Manukau and Hawke's Bay - signaled they may be tough opponents by beating first division sides North Harbour and Taranaki respectively in pre-season matches.

Counties-Manukau beat North Harbour 28-11 and Hawke's Bay won 35-30 over Taranaki in matches against opposition from the other pool. In the Air NZ Cup, two pools - A and B - are contested before playoffs to find semi-finalists and finalists. Counties are in pool B, as are Hawke's Bay, along with Canterbury, Otago, Waikato, Northland and Southland, while Harbour and Taranaki are in pool A, with Auckland, Manawatu, Wellington, Tasman and Bay of Plenty.

While it would be unwise to read too much into any pre-season game, Counties and Hawke's Bay showed they may be a handful for their more fancied opponents this year. Played at Ericsson Stadium in poor conditions but on a good surface, Counties showed plenty of pace and attacking ability, despite their lack of size.

Both sides traded penalties early on with the home side going to the break 6-3 ahead before captain Waka Setitaia scored from a forward rumble early in the second spell.

Replacement Alesio Petelo scored Counties second try before Harbour fullback Jack Phee crossed the line with 10 minutes remaining. As a final nail in the coffin for Harbour, who were semifinalists in last year's NPC, winger Koiatu Koiatu scored on full time.

For North Harbour, ex-sevens player Rudi Wulf showed good form in his comeback game after a broken neck. Playing at centre, he was difficult to combat whenever he had the ball, while Zar Lawrence also showed pace on the wing.

Meanwhile, Hawke's Bay and New Zealand sevens winger Lote Raikabula re-appeared on the rugby scene after winning a gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March. Unknown to most New Zealand rugby followers, Raikabula was one of the stars of the sevens team with some jolting defence and pacy running and could be set to star in the provincial competition this year.

Raikabula, who had pre-NPC outings for the Magpies in 2004, told Hawke's Bay Today that he feels he's left one family and joined another.

"At halftime I felt disappointed... I had let the boys down," he said, referring to the two tries his opposite John Mow scored in the first half at Mclean Park in Napier.

"But in the second half, with the rest of the family helping out, the forwards providing some go forward for us backs, I was able to make up for it," Raikabula said as he reflected on his two tries in the match.

He also praised the offload from 18-year-old replacement fullback Israel Dagg which led to his match-winning try in the 79th minute.

Coach Brendon Ratcliffe had every right to be pleased standards didn't drop when he made numerous changes at halftime and again with 20 minutes remaining. He won't be short of depth. While likely first stringers No. 8 Mutu Ngarimu, lock Lua Lokotui and flanker Michael Johnson all displayed the benefits of their experience, their back-ups, including prop Josh Maynard and No.8 Pene Tokakece, relished their respective steps up to the big time.

Several Magpies displayed their versatility comfortably - Bryn Evans playing lock and flanker, Ben Allen playing centre and wing and Jacob Kennedy playing fullback and wing.