Tasman clash awaits Canterbury at Triple Header

Manasa Mataele returns to the Canterbury backline replacing the injured Ngatungane Punivai in an otherwise unchanged backline for Saturday’s historic Triple Header in Christchurch against Tasman.

After grinding out their 5th victory of the year over Southland last week, Coach Marty Bourke was pleased with the timely return of his Fijian flyer, with outside backs in short supply. “Manasa was in great form earlier in the season and was having a real impact for us, so to get him back now as we head into crunch time is a credit to him and our medical staff.”

The return of Alex Harford and the ever-combative Dominic Gardiner to the bench has seen a smile return to the face of Bourke as he looks to roll out a one of his strongest sides for the clash against third placed Tasman. “We know they’ll be tough and want to pick us off at home, so we need to be ready for that. This year has been extremely physical, so having guys that are ready for that is extremely important for our season to continue as we want it too.”

Carisbrook Toomalatai gets his second start at Tighthead prop, alongside Joe Moody at Loosehead and George Bell at Hooker. Mitchell Dunshea and Sam Darry will pack down in the second row, while skipper Billy Harmon returns to the side of the scrum combining with Tom Christie and Cullen Grace to form the Loose Forward trio.

Youngsters Tahlor Cahill and Gardiner will cover the Locks and Loosies, with Seb Calder, Ben Funnell and Daniel Lienert-Brown the front row.

Willi Heinz, Harford and Jone Rova will reinforce the backs of Mitchell Drummond, Fergus Burke, Mataele, Rameka Poihipi, Dallas McLeod, Solomon Alaimalo and Chay Fihaki.

The Bunnings NPC match between Canterbury and Tasman will see the Lionel Hunter trophy go on the line with hosts Canterbury the current holders. Neighbors Mid and South Canterbury do battle in the earlier match of the day, kicking off at 2:05pm, before Buller and West Coast go head-to-head at 7:05pm rounding out the first ever Bunnings NPC and Heartland Championship triple header. 

Tickets for the Triple Header are available from Ticketek here.