Saunders: 'There is so much to play for for our guys'
The Southland Stags will wrap up its preseason preparation with a hitout against Otago in Dunedin on Friday.
Plenty of spots appear to remain up for grabs as the Southland Stags eye a stern test in their final preseason hit out in Dunedin on Friday.
The Stags will take on Otago on Friday before their first National Provincial Championship game against Waikato in Invercargill on Sunday, August 6.
Rugby Southland director of rugby Matt Saunders previously indicated the team named to play Otago would probably mirror the one which would line up against Waikato.
Although Saunders concedes there are still plenty of head-scratching decisions to make around several positions.
“In all honesty, we are not real sure yet. The wings, props, hookers, locks, halfbacks - every position. We don’t really know, and that is the honest truth.
“There is so much to play for for our guys and maybe that’s the big difference compared to other years. There’s a wee bit of depth there, if they don’t perform, they know there is someone else.
“[I] can’t compare [trainings] to previous times but I just know there are guys that have lifted in the last week or two because they can see what is there. Our wings are a prime example, there are four legitimate wings there that could start.”
The Stags have named an extended 27-man squad for Friday’s game against Otago.
Jahvis Wallace, Marty Banks, Rory van Vugt, Grayson Knapp, Mike McKee, and Noah Foster will miss the game through injury, while New Zealand Under-20 hooker Jack Taylor also will have the weekend off.
Props Shaun Stodart and Quinn Harrison-Jones, and centre Angus Simmers will skip the Stags game in Dunedin and instead lineup for the Southland Development team against Mid Canterbury in Oamaru on Saturday.
Saunders said instead of those players potentially playing 10 minutes for the Stags the Development team’s game was viewed as a better option to get some extended game time.
While Southland has cut down its squad to play Otago, Otago has named 31 players and intends to roll out two different 15s in each half.
Otago will have a strong team take the field in the second half and will come up against a Stags team with many of the players already coming off 40 minutes.
Saunders is aware of the challenge ahead of Southland but said the quest remained the same despite the preseason status.
“We are going to put it all out there and try to win the game. We are there to try and win and see what happens.
“You turn up every Monday to win a game in the weekend, and this is one of them. It’s irreverent it’s a preseason game, we are here to win games of rugby so that’s what we are going to try to do.”
Stags team to play Otago:
1, Jonah Aoina
2. Jacob Payne
3. Morgan Mitchell
4. Danny Drake
5. Josh Bekhuis
6. Blair Ryall
7. Hayden Michaels
8. Dylan Nel
9. Jay Renton
10. Dan Hollinshead
11. Michael Manson
12. Scott Gregory
13. Matt Whaanga
14. Gabriel Hamer-Webb
15. Greg Dyer
Reserves; Ben Strang, Joe Walsh, Paula Latu, Shneil Singh, Grayson Knapp, Leroy Ferguson, Semisi Tupou Ta'eiloa, Liam Howley, Tevita Latu, Viliami Fine, Rintaro Maruyama.
The Stags are replicating the All Blacks by playing two first fives, one at fullback.