By Wynne Gray
North Harbour have lost international tighthead prop Fosi Pala'amo for the NPC rugby season, while Auckland are becoming more hamstrung as they look towards that series start on Friday.
Pala'amo ruptured the medial ligament in his left knee during Harbour's final 38-26 trial victory against Northland, and will not
only miss the opening rounds of the NPC but may struggle to be part of Samoa's World Cup campaign.
New recruit Simon Halford will take over for Harbour's NPC opener on Saturday against Waikato, a team who glowed hot in their latest Ranfurly Shield defence against Hawkes Bay.
"Waikato went extra well and while we did not play too well against Northland I think Harbour are a side which tends to play to the level of the opposition," said assistant coach Alan Pollock. "So in no way are we any more concerned about Waikato than any other team."
On Saturday at Whangarei, loose forwards Troy Flavell and Ron Cribb both picked up two tries in Harbour's win, in which fullback Glenn Davis and wing Aisea Tuilevu showed some classy form.
Meanwhile, Auckland had their second straight trial win, 38-17 against Canterbury at Blenheim on Saturday, but have a few more injury worries ahead of Friday's NPC beginning against Wellington.
Wings Rico Gear and Iliesa Tanivula and flanker Mark Carter all have hamstring problems, an injury which has also afflicted lock Leo Lafaiali'i. And with lock Charles Reichelmann battling a knee problem, Auckland have a few selection dilemmas.
However, they expect to have All Blacks Carlos Spencer and Craig Dowd back and in action on Friday.
In the trial game, Auckland's backs looked a class act, with the brilliance of first five-eighth Orene Ai'i backed up by the experienced midfield duo of Eroni Clarke and Craig Innes, while Michael Jones was in strong form in the pack.
Up front, Canterbury held an edge, especially at set-piece time, where their lineout driving produced two tries and their scrum had Auckland under pressure.
"We turned over far too much ball in the first half and gave away what I would term three soft tries," said coach Wayne Pivac. "We did not have the ball for long periods of time, but when we got it we scored some good tries. In the last 20 minutes our fitness showed through."
