The Highlanders may be in for a brutal night on Friday.
Certainly, they will enter as favourites to beat Moana Pasifika and snap their four-game losing streak to start the Super Rugby Pacific season.
They will probably have to take a physical battering to do that, however.
The Moana Pasifika defence was nothing short of brutal in the new team’s opening — and, so far, only — game against the Crusaders two weeks ago.
The islanders made a lot of tackles, the majority of them bone-crunching .
While the scoreline ended 33-12 in the Crusaders’ favour, there was enough to show this will be a formidable opponent.
Moana Pasifika defence coach Dale McLeod made no secret of the fact the Highlanders are likely to be in for a similar experience.
"Our system is about being connected, working for each other," he said.
"We’ve had a lot of time with it. I think the boys were keen to go and smack someone else, instead of smacking each other.
"We’ve spent a lot of time having pretty physical defensive challenges. We had a really good one [yesterday].
"I think the boys were really keen to get out and do that.
"We’ve got athletes that can go all day long and now we’ve got a system around them. They’ve got good confidence, they’ve worked hard, we’re just going to go out and do what we did two weeks ago."
It will be just the second time Moana Pasifika has taken the field.
After missing the first two rounds through a Covid-19 outbreak, it missed last week’s match due to an outbreak in the Hurricanes squad.
The team remained in Queenstown, and experienced first five Christian Lealiifano said the time together had its benefits.
He felt the team’s one game had been encouraging, especially given the inexperience of many players at Super Rugby level.
"There was plenty of positives we got out of that, considering our situation — being isolated, guys being unhealthy and ill," Lealiifano said.
"Then to be able to produce the performance we could be proud of was something we took out of that.
"Then just to see the guys get that exposure at a higher level, against a really quality opposition, was really pleasing for our boys and just something we can build on and grow some confidence from."
-- New Zealand Rugby has announced more schedule changes due to Covid.
The Hurricanes-Chiefs game scheduled for Wellington on March 19 has been pushed to March 20, to allow some Hurricanes players an extra day to prepare as they return from isolation.
It means the Crusaders-Blues game will now be played on March 19.
The revised schedule also means a slight shift in kick-off times for Super Rugby Aupiki games being played in Hamilton on March 20.
Matatu v Hurricanes Poua will kick off at 5.45pm, and the Blues-Chiefs Manawa game will kick off at 7.45pm.
-- JEFF CHESHIRE
