Auckland will recall its last minute preliminary round loss to Waikato in the ITM Cup but will be looking to reverse that in the semi-final contest being staged on the revamped Eden Park on Saturday.
VENUE & TIME: Eden Park, Auckland, Saturday October 30, 19.05 NZT.
HEAD TO HEAD: Auckland VS Waikato
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Both teams had injury concerns through the week. Auckland had a list of four, with Andrew van der Heijden definitely out after breaking his arm against Tasman. The others were day-to-day: Gareth Anscombe, with a foot problem, Dave Thomas, who sprained an ankle, and Ben Atiga, with a thumb injury, were racing the clock to get ready but all made it. Waikato had issues of its own: Matt Vant Leven, who suffered a head knock and has a badly cut mouth, misses out while Alex Bradley needed time to get over a hit from Steve Fualau and Sosene Anesi will have visible facial scars from last week’s battle. Sitiveni Sivivatu has some knee issues, but Waikato was playing this one close to the chest and he is bracketed in the starting lineup with Henry Speight.
Both these sides have made strong runs to the finish, with Auckland finding its scoring mojo in the last month and running up four consecutive 30-pointers on its way to second place on the table. After a solid start that owed a lot more to punishing defence that devastating attack, Auckland now has its game in better balance although the defence remains rock-soild; its 200 points conceded was, by a long way, the lowest in the competition. Waikato also rattled home, winning five straight and playing very impressively last week as it thumped Canterbury by 20 clear points. The forwards gave their best display of the season, both individually and collectively, and used the scrum and loose exchanges to set the platform for ultimate victory. While some have been a little critical that Waikato didn’t try for a bonus point a win was essential and at no stage did the Mooloos let their foot (or is it hoof?) off Canterbury’s neck.
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