Rugby: Shades of Buck versus Brooke

There is a host of differences between Southland and Auckland - as well as population, climate and availability of oysters, add No 8 rugby players.

Tonight's NPC match at Eden Park will feature a clash of two distinct styles of back-row play, with Auckland's Xavier Rush up against beefy Paul Miller, the anchor of the Southland pack.

Auckland coach Wayne Pivac noted the difference yesterday and acknowledged that there is just a trace of a Zinzan Brooke-Wayne Shelford match-up about that individual contest - a wider- roaming ball player against a rugged, tighter, no-frills opponent.

"Both of them are doing a great job for their sides," Pivac said. "Paul Miller gives Southland a lot of go-forward from the base of the scrum, and close to the line he's very hard to stop. He's very much a powerhouse.

"Xavier is a little more mobile. He gets wider and with the sort of game we're playing, he's doing very, very well. It'll be an intriguing battle."

Pivac said Rush had come on in leaps and bounds and believes he was unlucky not to make the World Cup squad.

Miller illustrated the threat he poses from close range when he barged through three tacklers for Southland's try against Counties Manukau in the mud at Pukekohe last month.

He provides the grunt for a Southland side hoping to build on their gritty draw against Otago last weekend. They would have picked up four points had they not conceded a late, equalising try.

Southland have not won a first-division game away from home and their prospects of ending that run tonight are not bright. Fullback Andrew Flint has been dropped, with wing Pailate Fili taking over at the back.

Auckland have a worry over prop Craig Dowd. Initially Pivac believed the blow on an ankle Dowd suffered at home on Thursday would not be sufficient to count him out of tonight's match.

But yesterday he said there had been a reassessment. A final decision on whether Dowd would be fit might be left until lunchtime today. Scott Palmer will take over if Dowd is ruled out.