Rugby: Player headaches continue for Pirates

Josh Clark.
Josh Clark.
Pirates will front for its game against Taieri at Peter Johnstone Park today but it will be missing its best player.

The team was on the cusp of defaulting because of a severe player shortage.

The side has lost 16 players to injury since the start of the season five short weeks ago and there was doubt it had enough front row players to put a team on the field.

Now it appears dynamic loose forward Josh Clark will also be unavailable for the remainder of the season as he eyes a provincial future further south.

Pirates chairman Conrad Stedman confirmed Clark was ambitious to play provincial rugby and understood Clark has either signed with Southland or was about to.

"I don't know if he has actually signed the paper work but it is looking that way,'' Stedman said.

Clark is easily the best player week in and week out for Pirates and his absence will be felt all around the park but particularly in the lineout where he is a constant source of possession.

Clark had been the player-coach of the team last year.

While Clark's departure is a blow, Pirates' biggest problem is its lack of front-rowers.

"The rules with regards to reserves for the front row have been softened in order to play [against Taieri],'' Stedman said.

Safety regulations mean teams have to include two props and a hooker on the bench but Pirates were unable to met that requirement.

It is understood the team has a reserve hooker but no back-up props which means the game will go to "golden oldie'' rules, where the scrums are uncontested, if a prop is forced to leave the field.

"Taieri were OK for us to start the game under golden oldies but at the end of the day we won't be doing that. But if someone does get injured then we'll obviously go to that.''

Pirates called a special meeting midweek to discuss its player shortage and asked the Dunedin Metropolitan Rugby Committee for help finding replacement players.

Pirates had hoped to loan four players this weekend but has been able to put a team together without loan players.

Stedman said the club has been busy trying to recruit players and an English prop is expected to arrive in the city next week.

A Fijian midfielder, who had been lined up to fill a hole at centre, has been delayed, while an outside back from South Africa is also in the pipeline.

"It is not like we haven't been doing recruiting. It is just that these guys just haven't been able to get here in time,'' Stedman said.

When you take 16 players out of the mix, it makes it very hard to put a team on the park let alone a competitive team, he said.

But Pirates was determined to push through and remain part of the competition.

Clark played six games for North Otago in 2013 and 16 in 2014.

He was named in the New Zealand Heartland team following the 2014 season.

He has never played for Otago and is a capable footballer with a good turn of speed.

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