Otago has made three changes to its starting XV for Sunday's championship semifinal against Hawkes Bay.
Two are in the tight five, where the younger legs of Craig Millar and Tom Franklin return after being rested from the win over Auckland last Sunday.
Millar, who has had an impressive debut season, replaces Tama Tuirirangi at loosehead prop, while new Highlanders signing Franklin replaces Charlie O'Connell at lock.
The only change to the backline is an injury-enforced switch at fullback, where Peter Breen starts in place of Tony Ensor.
The luckless Ensor has suffered a second major injury of the season.
He missed six weeks after dislocating shoulder in the Ranfurly Shield challenge against Waikato, and now has a knee problem.
''Tony's ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament,'' Otago assistant coach Phil Young said yesterday.
''He'll get an operation and be out for a few months, I'd imagine. It's really rough for him.
''He brings a lot to the team. You just can't buy that speed that he's got.''
Another hard-luck story is rising flanker Hugh Blake, who is no stranger to the injury list and is now gone with an Achilles injury.
''Both those boys have come back from injuries, and got injured again. It's really unfortunate,'' Young said.
The Otago coaching staff has faith in Breen, who has appeared at fullback, first five and second five this season.
''Peter won't let us down. He's a good footballer and a big part of our team.''
Otago is monitoring the fitness of impact loose forward TJ Ioane, who has a shoulder strain and is bracketed with Willis Scott on the bench.
The build-up to the ITM Cup semifinal has played second fiddle to the All Blacks this week, but Young said the Otago team only had eyes on Sunday's game.
''We haven't really thought about the All Blacks, to be honest. We're very focused on what we're doing.''
Hawkes Bay will name its team this afternoon.
