Preview: North Harbour v Auckland
Isaia Toeava will get a chance to press for a Tri-Nations jersey when playing for Auckland during Sunday's clash against North Harbour.
Isaia Toeava will get a chance to press for a Tri-Nations jersey when he lines up for Auckland in Sunday's ITM Cup clash against North Harbour.
The outside shout to make New Zealand's squad of 30 for the World Cup will be pushing hard to impress this week due to the form of his rivals.
Toeava was handed 40 minutes off the bench against Taranaki last week, but is expected to play at least an hour in Sunday's Battle of the Bridge.
“They (the All Black selectors) want us to use him and give him more game time. They haven't told us where so we've decided for our game this week we want to play him at fullback,” Auckland head coach Mark Anscombe told the side's website.
“He's not going to play the full 80 minutes but we'll see how he's going at the hour mark.”
Along with Toeava's inclusion, Anscombe has made a further five changes to his line-up that defeated Southland against their local rivals.
Tom McCartney shifts to hooker in place of Ash Dixon as Pauliasi Manu moves to loosehead. With Josh Townsend and Richard Haddon both ruled out due to concussion, Josh Katene has been drafted into the team and will make his debut for Auckland in the second-row alongside Steven Luatua.
Sean Polwart has overcome a partial tear in his quadricep tendon to slot back into flanker, while Toby Morland will start ahead of Alby Mathewson.
Anscombe has stuck with the same midfield combination of Hadleigh Parkes and Teddy Stanaway but changed his outside backs, with Toeava's inclusion seeing Brent Ward pushed out to the wing as George Moala makes his first start in place of Joe Rokocoko.
Blues and Auckland lock Liaki Moli is also poised to play his first game of rugby this year after being named on the bench.
While Anscombe believed the Battle of the Bridge may have lost some of its significance to the media, he said it still meant a great deal to the players.
“Our guys are really looking forward to it and don't want to lose to Harbour, and I'm sure if there's one game Harbour want to win it's against us,” he added.
More to follow…
The teams:
North Harbour: tbc
Auckland: 15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Brent Ward, 13 Teddy Stanaway, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 George Moala, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Chris Lowrey, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Nathan Hughes, 5 Steven Luatuam, 4 Josh Katene, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Tom McCartney (c), 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Tevita Mailau, 18 Liaki Moli, 19 Ben Masoe, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Piers Francis, 22 Joe Rokocoko, 23 Angus Ta'avao.