Otago centre raring to catch Wellington
Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:38
Otago have made just one change to their starting XV that will take on Counties Manakau in an Air New Zealand Cup clash at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland on Thursday.
Flyhalf Chris Noakes has been drafted into the side at the expense of Daniel Bowden, who drops to the bench.
There is also a change on the bench, with Eben Joubert moving into the No.19 jersey. He will be making his Otago debut, should he take the field at any stage.
Otago centre Aaron Bancroft feels that his side will be desperate to pick up all the points on offer against Counties, if they are to keep pace with runaway leaders Wellington.
Otago are currently in fifth spot on the log standings after three rounds of Air New Zealand Cup action. Otago's tally of nine points already means that they are six points behind Wellington at this early stage of the season.
"Five points will be huge, especially coming into the harder games towards the end of the season," Bancroft told sportal.co.nz. "So we need to get as many as we can in this early part of the season to put us in good stead.
"I think if we look to get stuck into Counties Manukau in the set piece we can get on the front foot.
"I guess with the new rules there is a lot more pressure on the first five to make tackles and make decisions and so I think that will be an area where we'll look to attack."
Otago managed a nail-biting 23-18 win at home to Northland last Friday to get them back on track after suffering a loss at the hands of Canterbury a week before.
"We were happy with the win first and foremost," said Bancroft.
"We played territory quite well. Obviously Northland are no Canterbury but our set-piece went very well from the previous week and hopefully that builds confidence amongst the forwards."
The centre also revealed that his partnership with Brett Mather has come a long way since they started forming a combination in the Super 14.
"Time in the saddle is all it is. Once you're actually in there and settled and playing week in week out, you get more comfortable and get used to the standard," said Bancroft.
"My main goal was to take my form and level of intensity and bring it to this campaign and I think I've been doing that to date so I'm pretty happy with my progress."
Otago: 15 Glen Horton, 14 Lucky Mulipola, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 11 Karne Hesketh, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Craig Newby (captain), 6 Seko Qaraniqio, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Ben Nolan, 2 Jason MacDonald, 1 Keith Cameron.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Jed Vercoe/Sam Hibbard, 18 Paul Grant, 19 Eben Joubert, 20 Sean Romans, 21 Daniel Bowden, 22 Ben Smith.
Date: Thursday, August 21
Venue: Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
Kick-off: 19.05 (07.05 GMT)
Referee: Josh Noonan
Television match official: Matt Stanish
