Justin Marshall: Three match-ups that will decide tonight's derby

Brodie Retallick (left), Patrick Tuipulotu. Photos / Getty Images

Herald columnist Justin Marshall identifies the three big match-ups that will determine tonight’s northern derby

1. Brodie Retallick v Patrick Tuipulotu

From Tuipulotu's point of view, there's a lot of competition for All Black lock positions with the continued emergence of Jeremy Thrush and the return of Luke Romano. There is no better platform on which to test himself and where's he at than against the best player in the world.

If he can match Retallick's skillset - hard-nosed high work rate allied to an attacking game that has suprising finesse - then he will hold himself and his team in good stead. Tuipulotu is tough, there's no doubt about that, and his work rate is high, though it's probably not at Retallick's superhuman levels.

Where there is a big gap is in the finesse side, the passing and ctahcing side of the game. In many ways Retallick is redefining the way lock's play. He has all the core skills required in that position, plus the exceptional skills of a modern-day loose forward.

2. Aaron Cruden v Daniel Bowden

We are starting to see the Cruden we know so well re-emerge after a slow start. When he gets back to that level he is a gamebreaker because he's confrontational at the gain line.

Cruden works well in combination with Sonny Bill Williams because the latter commands attention at the gain line, defenders tend to hedge their bets and that's when Cruden's game elevates. When he's on form he manages the game very well with all his options; when he's reaching for form slightly he tends to fall back on speculative kicks, but we have seen less of those in the previous couple of weeks.

The challenge for Bowden is to get himself near Cruden's level. That's All Black level and it's somewhere Bowden hasn't yet been in his career.

The simple fact is the Blues need him to be if they are to have a chance. He needs to manage the game like an All Black, take the right options and have the Blues in the right places at the right times.

This is a key match-up in terms of determining the result of this game.

3. Damian McKenzie v Charles Piutau

The battle of the young guns at the back.

For me, Piutau's best position is on the wing, but he definitely has the skillset to play well at fullback.

Piutau has had a huge week. There's no doubt it's been a distraction and it's never nice when your name is dominating the headlines, but he has to be able to put that to one side.

It sounds like he has done his All Black chances a huge amount of harm by announcing so early that he is taking up a contract in Ireland next year, but the selectors would be fools to dismiss world-class talent. He still has everything to play for.

On the other side, McKenzie is one of those players who stands to gain from Piutau's departure although I'd mark him as a longer-term prospect. He'd need a few injuries or big drop-offs in form from incumbents to force his way into World Cup reckoning.

Having said that, he has all the talent and obvious maturity and age, 20 later this month, should not automatically disqualify him.

The All Black selectors will be keeping a close eye on how Piutau deals with all the fuss tonight, but they might also be keeping a closer eye than usual on the man wearing the Chiefs No 15 jersey, too.