Makos' big moment to make history at Eden Park [Joe Wheeler]

This year's Makos are all about creating history and we have a great chance to do just that in Auckland on Sunday.

As was all too clear to the Wallabies last weekend, Eden Park is a very tough place to pick up a win as a visitor and the Makos have never won there. In fact, no team I've been playing for has won at Eden Park.

Auckland have long been one of the top provincial sides. I think they have won the NPC more than any other team, they have some outstanding players and we're under no illusions how tough they will be. On top of that, I think Auckland will have a few All Blacks returning, which is great, because it's always exciting to test yourselves against the best. We like taking on the big boys - that's what you play rugby for, those big moments and those big games.

We're starting to realise we're a good team, but to be a great team you have to step up when you're faced with the tough challenges.

I guess in that we can take some inspiration from the All Blacks, who showed just how ruthless they can be when their backs are to the wall. They are the benchmark for all rugby players and for world rugby and we'll take some lessons from them. Like the importance of guys doing their own jobs well, and doing the little things well, and the key of a good forward pack performance.

Even though we got a good result against Bay of Plenty last Sunday, we were not that thrilled with the process of how we went about it. After a good win against a really good Hawke's Bay outfit, we knew that Bay of Plenty would be less of a challenge but we tried to guard against complacency. The truth in theNational Provincial Championship is that any team can put up a good challenge, especially on their home turf.

We got away from our game plan and, perhaps because we had an open game, we became a bit individual and we forwards were a bit random on attack. This week we want to work on keeping our shape on attack, getting out of our own half efficiently and our transition defence. Our scrum came under a bit of pressure too.

So we've got plenty to focus on this week as we prepare to make some history. We always get good support in the North Island - there must be lots of expat Nelsonians and Marlburians up there, especially around Auckland - so we should get some good support.

Keep it deep and keep it on.