Focused on finishing as Canterbury get set to repay Auckland in Quarter Final

Drawing on the energy of a passionate home crowd will be key for Canterbury as they look to repel old foes Auckland in Friday night’s NPC Quarter Final.

With their season on the line, Head Coach Marty Bourke is calling on the people of Canterbury to turn out and be the difference. “There’s no doubt the boys get a real kick out of playing in front of the people that we represent, especially when they’re vocal and cheering us on. When the crowd get in behind the boys it brings a real energy to the team.”

Bourke has challenged his charges to stay in the fight right through to the final whistle. “We’ve had opportunities to finish the game and control the results in the past few weeks but haven’t managed to do that on a couple of occasions, so let’s not sugar coat things, we know that our season is on the line, we will need to be at our best on Friday. They got one over us earlier in the year, so there’s plenty of motivation.”

Experienced props Oli Jager and Daniel Lienert-Brown have been given the task of building the foundations, along with Zach Gallagher and Sam Darry in the second row. George Bell has been challenged to be on target, finding Gallagher, Darry and Cullen Grace as lineout options. Skipper Billy Harmon will start in jersey six with Tom Christie at openside flanker. “We’ve got the team to do it, we’ve prepared well, it’s a case of putting it all together,” said Bourke.

Chay Fihaki has been welcomed back to fullback after sitting out last week’s road trip to Hamilton, partnering Manasa Mataele and Solomon Alaimalo in the back three. Mitchell Drummond and Fergus Burke will drive the backline at 9 and 10 with Rameka Poihipi and Dallas McLeod linking up in the midfield.   

Bourke’s desire to close out the match has seen a vastly experienced bench named, with Willi Heinz (75 caps) at half back, Ben Funnell (89) jersey 16, Reed Prinsep (81) covering the lose forwards while Ryan Crotty (75) will cover the midfield.   
 
Kick off is at 7:05 and is live on SKY Sport