Rugby: No prisoners taken at Albany

By Chris Rattue

Sudden death. That's the attitude North Harbour and Canterbury will take into tonight's final round NPC match.

The loser of tonight's clash between the third-placed sides at North Harbour Stadium will still have a chance of making the semifinals, if champions Otago can upset Wellington at Athletic Park on Sunday.

But even then, should Wellington gain one bonus point they would eliminate either Canterbury or North Harbour if they finish level, because the side from the capital won against those two teams.

North Harbour showed what sort of battle they expect by calling 30-year-old club lock Clayton Moors to the bench.

Moors is an icon on the North Harbour club scene, captaining Takapuna who have won the past six club titles.

The 1.95m North Harbour B captain has 10 first-team appearances over the past four seasons but a burst as a replacement in 1996 is his only NPC game.

North Harbour have survived on a pack dominated by loose forwards and lightweight locks. Their starters this season, Ian Jones and Lio Falaniko, are at the World Cup and they lost tough Tongan lock Feliti Fakaongo to injury.

They have brought in Moors, in place of Manaco Tonga, as they expect a torrid test in the scrums and tight.

Assistant coach Allan Pollock said Moors would offer them some genuine scrum work if needed.

"We've got loose forwards all over the place and they're not always the best pushers in scrums," said Pollock.

"Canterbury tend to be pretty tough up front."

In another change to the side that held off Counties Manukau's comeback last week, coach Wayne Shelford has continued to rotate his wings with Karl Te Nana replacing Aisea Tuilevu.

Canterbury coach Robbie Deans has stuck with the side originally named to take on Wellington, which includes openside flanker Angus Gardiner.

There were hints from Canterbury yesterday that Deans might pull some positional switches.

It is surprising that he has not signalled any changes to the side which were blown away by Wellington in Christchurch in round eight, apart from the return of original selection Gardiner in place of Johnny Leo'o.

Captain Todd Blackadder, who has played mainly at lock this season, struggled on the blindside flank against Wellington, and he could make an early shift back to lock with Clark McLeod coming on. There were also suggestions Ben Blair could go back to fullback.

Goalkicking has also proved a worry for Canterbury with All Black Andrew Mehrtens away.

Whereas Frano Botica has goaled all 14 attempts in his last two games, Canterbury have struggled in the last half of the championship with Blair landing just nine of his last 17 attempts, and Daryl Lilley four from eight.

But Canterbury have other goalkicking options in Aaron Mauger and Leon MacDonald.

North Harbour's big concerns will be matching the Canterbury tight five, and their concentration and reading of the game after the woeful lapse in the last 20 minutes against the Steelers.

Canterbury, minus half a team of All Blacks, have a better recent history than North Harbour in getting through to playoffs. Harbour's last semifinal was in 1995, while Canterbury have appeared in the playoffs in every season since and won the title in 1997.

But prop Greg Somerville said: "We're not relying on history to pull it off. It's a new game on Friday night. It's a must-win game and we're hell-bent on winning it."