Canterbury scrum anchor, prop Wyatt Crockett, says it is important the forward pack maintains its high standards in set pieces to keep Northland on the back foot in their seventh round ITM Cup clash at Whangarei on Saturday afternoon.
The Canterbury scrum, with Crockett to the fore, demolished Bay of Plenty in the previous round and that supremacy went a long way to setting up Canterbury’s 19-point victory and taking it to atop the points table.
The big loosehead prop will not have the company of All Blacks, hooker Corey Flynn and tighthead Owen Franks, for this week's match, but he is confident that their respective replacements, Steve Fualau and Peter Borlase are up to the task.
There are six changes to the Canterbury which beat Bay of Plenty, 28-9, in Christchurch, with Flynn, Franks and Sam Whitelock on All Blacks duty and injuries ruling out No. 8 Nasi Manu, wing Tu Umaga-Marshall and second five-eighth Ryan Crotty.
As expected, Sonny Bill Williams will have his first start coming in for Crotty, while Fijian wing Patrick Osborne replaces Umaga-Marshall, Luke Romano takes Whitelock's place at lock, and Ash Parker returns for Manu.
"We're going really well as a scrum and the last few weeks have been really good. We're putting in some good work there and getting a lot of support from our back five which makes life that much easier," Crockett said after Canterbury's training on Thursday.
Crockett, who will play his 58th game, has been harshly penalised in the scrums by some referees in earlier rounds, but Wellington referee Garratt Williamson has been more understanding in the last two weeks.
"Garratt's done a good job in terms of the scrum – most of the time he's been on the money which helps."
Crockett said the scrum intensity needed to be maintained to restrict possession to a Northland team which has a backline, spearheaded by Crusader Jared Payne, willing to attack from anywhere.
"We've talked about cutting off their supply at the source – it's up to us as a forward pack to disrupt their ball at scrums and try and limit their supply. They'll have a few tricks up their sleeves that we have to be wary of such as quick lineouts."
Crockett said it was hard to know how the players would react after the emotional scars caused by the big earthquake in Christchurch.
"There'll be guys affected in different ways, but we can't control that stuff and when it comes to rugby we've got to go out and play. It will be hard for some to keep their minds on the game if there's trouble at home but I think most have been pretty lucky.
"Today we were a lot more focused on rugby and I think it's been good that the guys have been out in the community helping where they can."
Northland has run Canterbury close in recent clashes, but its last win was in Whangarei in 1999.
Team:
1.Wyatt Crockett, 2.Steve Fualau, 3.Peter Borlase, 4.Luke Romano, 5.Isaac Ross, 6.Matt Todd, 7.George Whitelock (c), 8.Ash Parker, 9.Andy Ellis, 10.Stephen Brett, 11.Telusa Veainu, 12.Sonny Bill Williams, 13.Robbie Fruean, 14.Patrick Osborne, 15.Sean Maitland
Reserves: 16.Marcel Cummings-Toon, 17.Andrew Olorenshaw, 18.Rob Verbakel, 19.Brendon O'Connor, 20.Willi Heinz, 21.Sam Monaghan, 22. Robbie Flynn