BoP game chance to end run of losses

Dave Hewett
Dave Hewett
It's time to put to bed the most talked-about stat in Southland sport at the moment.

Yes, the dreaded 18 straight Mitre 10 losses. A stat that seems to have  captured  attention and created some excited talk even outside  the Southland borders.

Lose to Bay of Plenty at Rugby Park in Invercargill tomorrow and the Stags will join Northland’s 19 in a row, which it recorded from 2014 to 2016.

The stars have aligned for the current Southland team to ensure it does not join a club no-one else wants to sign up for.

Tomorrow it takes on Bay of Plenty, which heads into the game on its own six-game losing streak.

Tomorrow will also be Bay of Plenty’s third game in just 10 days and it is without its two frontline first five-eighths —  notably Mike Delany.

Southland Stags coach Dave Hewett is eager for a victory.

Not because of that dreaded stat that everyone keeps talking about, but to provide his players with the shot of confidence he feels will kick-start them.

But he knows Bay of Plenty will come to Invercargill desperate to find some confidence of its own.

"They’ll be looking for the same thing as us because they’ll be smarting from the performance against Otago [on Wednesday night].

"This is their last game of the storm of the week, this is our first game of the storm week.

Ethan de Groot
Ethan de Groot
"But in order for us to get a win, we need to execute our basics.

"If we do our job around the catch, pass and tackle, and our decision-making, there is no reason why we can’t win."

The former All Black prop has handed Ethan de Groot his first start at Mitre 10 Cup level with the Southland Boys’ High School product and Blues club man starting at loosehead prop tomorrow.

He replaces Shaun Stodart but Hewett said it was a simple straight rotation, rather than any sort of selection preference.

De Groot was not initially part of the Stags squad this year but was called in as injury cover. It seems he has since leapfrogged Reuben Northover in the pecking order.

De Groot’s Blues club-mate Ray Tatafu also gets a start against Bay of Plenty on the blindside flank, despite playing the majority of his rugby as a lock.

He will add size to the Stags pack, something that Southland has lacked this year.

It means Tony Lamborn will this week wear the No8 jersey.

With Wade McRae still sidelined and Jack Capil breaking his thumb last week, Hewett has called in Presley Tufuga, who will join Bill Fukofuka as loose forward cover on the bench.

While the forward pack has been tweaked, the starting backline that took  the field in the Ranfurly Shield loss to Waikato remains the same.

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 2.05pm.

- Logan Savory

 

Southland Stags
Team to play BoP

Tauasosi Tuimavave, Isaac Te Tamaki, James Wilson, Ray Nu’u, Lewis Ormond, Broc Hooper, Jay Renton, Tony Lamborn, Phil Halder, Ray Tatafu, Manaaki Selby-Rickit, Ben Fotheringham, Morgan Mitchell, Jesse MacDonald, Ethan de Groot. Reserves: Andrew Ready, Shaun Stodart, Rueben Northover, Presley Tufuga, Bill Fukofuka, Nico Costa, Tayler Adams, Matt Johnson.

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