ABs veteran overlooked for play-off
The Wellington Lions' drive to dethrone defending champions Canterbury, when they meet in the first of the NPC semifinals on Friday, has been clouded in controversy.
Forgotten All Blacks loose forward Rodney So'oialo was a very unhappy man when he was informed on Wednesday that he would not feature in the Christchurch encounter.
So'oialo, who was captain at the start of the season, has not played for just on two months - after suffering a serious shoulder injury early in the Lions' campaign.
However, the 65-Test veteran made himself available for the semifinals after overcoming the shoulder problem, which has the 31-year-old to just three appearances for the province this season.
But Wellington coach Andre Bell said So'oialo did not have enough game time under his belt to be considered for this match and he will be watching from the sidelines.
Discarded All Blacks loose forward Victor Vito, Faifili Levave and Brad Shields have been named as the Lions' loose trio in a team that shows just two changes from last week.
The changes to the Wellington starting XV see Shaun Treeby displace Charlie Ngatai, who drops to the replacements bench, and Levave coming in for Brad Shields, who is also on the bench.
There is also just one change to the Canterbury team for Friday's game.
Lock Luke Romano, who injured a knee in the Ranfurly Shield victory over Southland in Invercargill three weeks ago and who has missed the past two matches, returns to start.
Rob Verbakel, who made his starting debut for Canterbury against Waikato last weekend, drops to the bench.
Wyatt Crockett will again captain the team.
Canterbury beat Wellington 37-30 in front of a crowd of 32,000 in Christchurch five weeks ago, but Canterbury head coach Rob Penney said that match would have little bearing on this sudden-death play-off.
He said: "There are personnel changes to both sides and it's fair to say there's a lot more riding on this game. The winner goes on to contest the final so there are different pressures there.
"But we're confident we'll give a good account of ourselves in front of our home crowd."
Canterbury players unavailable due to injury include Corey Flynn (calf), George Whitelock (knee), Adam Whitelock (concussion).
The teams:
Canterbury: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tu Umaga-Marshall, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Telusa Veainu, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Matt Todd, 6 Ash Parker, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Peter Borlase, 2 Steve Fualau, 1 Wyatt Crockett (captain).
Replacements: 16 Paul Ngauamo, 17 Andrew Olorenshaw, 18 Rob Verbakel, 19 Brendon O'Connor, 20 Takerei Norton, 21 Stephen Brett, 22 Sam Monaghan.
Wellington Lions: 15 Apoua Stewart, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Tajhon Mailata, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Scott Fuglistaller, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Api Naikatini, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Dane Coles, 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 Reg Goodes, 18 Brad Shields, 19 Dean Brunsdon, 20 Ruki Tipuna, 21 Fa'atonu Fili, 22 Charles Ngatai.
Date: Friday, October 29
Venue: AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Kick-off: 19.35 (06.35 GMT)
Referee: Keith Brown
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson, Nick Briant
TMO: Ben Skeen