Ben Morris’ absence was notable from the team named to play Poverty Bay in Oamaru today.
The lock has been picked up by Southland and will remain with the Stags for the rest of the season.
North Otago will have the services of loose forward Charles Elton this week, though.
Elton was released from the Otago squad to join the Old Golds for today’s match.
He will pack down at No8, rejoining the team he helped to Meads Cup glory in 2019, before putting in a useful season for Otago last year.
Coach Jason Forrest was thrilled with both situations.
Picking up Elton would be a boost for the team, while seeing Morris use North Otago to take another step was also exciting.
Captain Sam Sturgess coming off the bench was the other notable change — the hooker having picked up a niggle and Forrest opting to give Jake Greenslade a chance to start.
After an impressive win against Mid Canterbury, Forrest said the team was in good spirits.
‘‘We don’t get results like that against them up there very often.
‘‘To come away with a result like that, we took a lot of confidence out of it. That’s why the energy levels when we walked in the door on Tuesday were good. We’re still buzzing from it.’’
He said Poverty Bay would offer a tough game.
Both teams are on 10 points in a tightly contested Heartland Championship table after three rounds.
Forrest knew how big the next few weeks were and carrying on the form of last week would be key.
‘‘They are a big, physical, very good side,’’ he said of Poverty Bay.
‘‘They’ve had a couple of very good wins over the past couple of weeks, beating Buller and West Coast. We’re going to have to be really good at the breakdown and around our contact areas.
‘‘Then they like to throw the ball around. They play an unstructured form of rugby. So we make sure the boys, as good as we were last week, we have to be better than that this week.
‘‘There’s no use in having a result like we did last week and then come back with an under par performance this week against a very good Poverty Bay side.’’
The game kicks off at 2.30pm.
Limited tickets were available to fit the 100-person gathering limit.
