Rugby: Auckland resist wholesale dumping

Mark Anscombe. Photo / Northern Advocate

Miracle makeovers are not on Auckland coach Mark Anscombe's mind ahead of tomorrow night's match against Canterbury at Eden Park.

Their embarrassing 47-13 flogging by Hawkes Bay last weekend has resulted in a dose of soul searching, plus some hard talking and Anscombe reckons progress has been made this week.

But that's as far as he'll take it ahead of the second round national championship match against the defending champions.

"Sessions have been longer than normal because a lot needed to be covered off, but we feel we're getting there," he said yesterday. "We were frank and honest in our review and what was required. Everyone faced up to that.

"It's still not going to be 100 per cent but we're progressing nicely."

If Anscombe briefly entertained the notion of a wholesale dumping, he's resisted the temptation, making four changes for the Canterbury match and one positional switch.

Captain Benson Stanley makes his debut as Auckland skipper at second five-eighths after a serious hamstring injury at the start of the Super 14 and lengthy subsequent layoff; Teddy Stanaway takes over at centre from Winston Stanley, who shifts to left wing in place of young flier Atieli Pakalani; Grayson Hart replaces out-of-sorts Taniela Moa at halfback and All Black John Afoa returns at tighthead prop in place of Paea Fa'anunu.

Anscombe said the players had been told a horses-for-courses policy would be used and while he maintained a pile of changes were not going to be made whenever things went wrong, he likes healthy competition among his squad.

Canterbury have made one change from the side beaten 22-19 by North Harbour last weekend. No 8 Mike Coman will make his debut in place of the injured Nasi Manu.

Across the bridge, North Harbour are getting their minds on the long haul, after their first-up win at Albany last weekend. They play Tasman tonight and should win, with confidence up and having seen their game plan work well against Canterbury.

"Let's be honest, there's no surprises now," co-coach Jeff Wilson said. "They would have seen the footage and we're not going to catch teams out with what we're doing.

"[The display against] Canterbury wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We made a number of mistakes. "We've got a long way to go. It's a marathon, 13 weeks, not a sprint, and it's going to be very competitive as we saw in week one."

Beefy former All Black Sione Lauaki returns to the Waikato side to host Manawatu tomorrow. Captain Liam Messam moves to blindside flank and the XV includes two returning All Blacks, hooker Aled de Malmanche and halfback Brendon Leonard.

Bay of Plenty welcome back All Black flanker Tanerau Latimer for their visit to Pukekohe to play Counties-Manukau on Sunday, when they will be chasing a second consecutive win after beating Northland last week.

Hawkes Bay have withdrawn their ambitious bid to become the 15th Super rugby franchise.

The NZRU had "made it clear to our union ... that our bid is highly unlikely to succeed. We are unsure of the reasons for this," Hawkes Bay union chairman Richard Hunt said yesterday. Hunt said the union remained "very serious" about its ambition and felt the expression of interest would make it clear it wants to be part of future Super rugby expansion.

Eden Park, 7.35pm tomorrow

AUCKLAND
Paul Williams
Dave Thomas
Teddy Stanaway
Benson Stanley (c)
Winston Stanley
Daniel Bowden
Grayson Hart
Peter Saili
Onosai Auva'a
Kurtis Haiu
Jay Williams
A van der Heijden
John Afoa
Tom McCartney
Tevita Mailau

CANTERBURY
Colin Slade
James Paterson
Tim Bateman
Ryan Crotty
Sean Maitland
Dan Carter
Tyson Keats
Mike Coman
G Whitelock (c)
Michael Paterson
James Broadhurst
Sam Whitelock
Peter Borlase
Ti'i Paulo
Wyatt Crockett

Auckland: Francis Smith, Paea Fa'anunu, Dean Budd, Hamish Paterson, Taniela Moa, Ash Moeke, Atieli Pakalani.

Canterbury: Will Catherwood, Andrew Olorenshaw, Luke Romano, Matt Todd, Willi Heinz, Stephen Brett, Adam Whitelock.