North Harbour VS Otago: ITM Cup match preview - Rugby News
ITM Cup 2011, the domestic rugby tournament of New Zealand, is kicking off on July 14, as North Harbour takes on Otago at Carisbrook Stadium, Dunedin. New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chief executive, Steve Tew, is expected to launch to the eight-week long
competition in which 14 local teams are participating. The opening clash of the event between North Harbour and Otago is anticipated to be a very tough competition because of the extreme weather conditions of Dunedin.
Both sides have met 31 times before this contest and Otago has got the upper hand over North Harbour. Otago remained successful on 20 occasions whereas North Harbour carried the day 11 times. The last time the teams met in August 2010 at Albany, North Harbour
clinched victory with a handsome margin of 35-23.
The North Harbour side is currently surrounded by a controversy as All Blacks and Blues player Luke McAlister, has walked away from playing for his domestic team after he was discarded by All Blacks for the Tri-Nations squad. McAlister did not join his team
in the training for the opening match and North harbour’s coach Liam Barry took stern action against the former All blacks and dropped him for the inaugural clash.
Harbour coach Barry was left fuming by McAlister’s absence and he slammed him for his irresponsible attitude. Barry said that, "All our Blues players have done that, and Ben Afeaki from the Chiefs was here on Monday. It's pretty simple. That's what you expect
from professional footballers."
The North Harbour side will be led by Chris Smylie and Otago will follow their skipper Eben Joubert. The Harbour side has definitely lost a key player before the crucial match and now they will be depending on their skipper Chris Smylie, fly-half Rudi Wulf,
Michael Reid and James king. Meanwhile Otago will be looking towards Tom Donnelly, Gareth Evans and Ben Atiga.
Talking to the media the North Harbour skipper claimed that his side is in full spirits and will give their best on match day. He added that, "There's a lot of words you can come up with, like unfulfilled potential and so forth over the last few years. We
can say so much, we're going to do this or that. But at the end of the day actions speak louder than words."
North Harbour side is considered the better side compared to Otago thanks to the depth in their forward pack. However, they really have to work on their defense to gain better results.
Both sides will enter the field with following players:
Otago: Glenn Dickson Joe, Hill Ben Atiga, Sam Giddens ,Buxton Popoali'I, Tony Brown, Sean Romans, Gareth Evans, Eben Joubert (c), Regan Tamihere, Tom Donnelly, Daniel Ramsay, Kees Meeuws , Jason Macdonald and Halani Aulika
Reserves: Liam Coltman, James McGougan, Scott Manson, Rob Verbakel, TJ Ioane, Johnny Legg, Jayden Spence, Matt Faddes.
North Harbour
Codey Rei , David Raikuna, Rudi Wulf Brendon, Watt Nafi, Tuitavake Ben Botica, Chris Smylie (c), Mat Luamanu, Brent Wilson, Solomon King, James ,King Chris Smith, Ben Afeaki, James Parsons and Michael Reid.
Reserves: Michael Mayhew, Taione Vea, James Afoa, Irwin Finau, Scott Uren, Luke Hamilton, Willie Walker, Ken Pisi.
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