Crockett Props Up Cantabs
12/10/2005 Duncan Johnstone
Rising young prop Wyatt Crockett comes in for the injured Greg Somerville in the only change to Canterbury's starting XV for Friday night's Air New Zealand NPC semifinal with Otago in Christchurch.
All Blacks front rower Somerville is out with a torn calf muscle from last week's win over Auckland and faces a race against time to be fit for the Grand Slam tour.
Crockett has deputised most of the season for Somerville while he has been away on test duties and stepped in early against Auckland. He handled that job comfortably and is clearly a youngster on the move.
All Blacks utility back Leon MacDonald has again failed to overcome the knee injury that kept him out of last week's match and will sit this semifinal out.
There are two changes on the bench. Fit-again hooker Tone Kopelani returns for the back-up job to Corey Flynn while Ben Franks is the prop to come on to the bench with Crockett stepping up.
Canterbury are out to avenge their only loss of the season against Otago. The blue and golds beat the Cantabs 24-19 a fortnight ago at Carisbrook.
CANTERBURY: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Caleb Ralph, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Andrew Ellis, 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Reuben Thorne (c), 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: 16 Tone Kopelani, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Hayden Hopgood, 19 Johnny Leo'o, 20 Jamie Nutbrown, 21 Vilimoni Delasau, 22 Steven Yates.
No Panic, As Otago Stick With Troops
Assistant coach John Haggart told XtraMSN Rugby that now was not the time to be veering too much from a formula that has largely worked well this year.
"We were obviously disappointed at not winning [in Hamilton]," he said. "We thought we were going to be there mentally, but in hindsight we were a bit off the pace and Waikato were a bit more desperate.
"And at this level if you're not quite on top of your game you're going to get beaten."
But the former standout Otago first five who is now playing a key role guiding a much-improved blue and gold backline said the players were far from disillusioned with a final stumble in the round-robin, with their semifinal spot secured.
"We've proved over the last five or six weeks with pretty much the same team that we can foot it with the best, including Canterbury.
"We've stuck with the form players and if we can mentally get up there we're in with a good shot."
That means Otago continue to stick with former Manawatu fullback Craig Clare who's made a pretty solid fist of his work thus far. And Matt Saunders and Glen Horton stay on the wings where they will be eager to see as much ball as they did in Dunedin during the 24-19 upset of the Cantabs.
Despite that success on Carisbrook a fortnight ago, the blue and golds are up against it this time round. Back at Jade, with their returning All Blacks now well and truly bedded in, the Cantabs have an ominous look about them as they typically switch up their title defence a gear.
But Otago will have one factor working in their favour when they run out on Jade on Friday night for yet another huge occasion on a ground that has been a graveyard for their hopes.
The 22 players wearing the game jerseys will know, unlike anyone else in this year's NPC, that they can beat this champion Canterbury outfit. The trick will be repeating their Carisbrook magic.
OTAGO: 15 Craig Clare, 14 Glen Horton, 113 Neil Brew, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Matt Saunders, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Chris Smylie; 8 Grant Webb, 7 Josh Blackie, 6 Craig Newby (c), 5 James Ryan, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Chris King. Reserves: 16 Jason Macdonald, 17 Grant Polson, 18 Filipo Levi, 19 Alando Soakai, 20 Toby Morland, 21 Ryan Bambry, 22 Jason Shoemark.
Semifinals......
GAME 1
Fri 14 Oct Canterbury v Otago Christchurch 7.35pm
Whose your pick? Not a foregone conclusion!
Cheers,
Baz
