Clash of the Marshalls [Fairfax]
The brothers Marshall will be staring each other down at Trafalgar Park tonight in what could end up to be a significant match in determining the final makeup of the NPC premiership table.
Although second-placed Taranaki has played one more game than Tasman, they sit two points ahead of them with the potential to increase the margin to seven.
The decision to rest midfielder Charlie Ngatai has seen Taranaki captain James Marshall shifted from fullback to second five-eighth to mark his younger sibling Tom.
"It's going to be interesting," James said after his side's captain's run in the match buildup.
"Mum and Dad are going to be there and they'll have the Taranaki colours on, hopefully. I'd have to get them some first though, I think."
Having hosted Tasman at Yarrow Stadium for the past four years, Taranaki make a rare trip south to face a team many have billed as a definite top-four contender.
Even though they were reluctant to talk themselves up to any degree, Taranaki must be starting to consider they also deserve to be involved in the same conversation. Tonight might just give the best signal either way.
"They [Tasman] are right up there as one of the best sides in the competition along with Canterbury and it's going to be a real challenge for us to go down there.
"Saying that, everyone is playing well and the boys are confident and there is a good feeling in the camp."
Despite comfortably winning their last three in a row, there was little doubt in Marshall's mind that Taranaki would need to improve in a number of areas to win.
"We are going to have to be a lot more accurate because the mistakes we have been making, they will be punished compared to what we have got away with in the last few games."
Tasman refused to rein in their risky style of play during their last-gasp win over Waikato on Friday and Taranaki had prepared believing little would change with their arrival.
"That's the way they like to play but I thought Waikato did a good job of getting stuck into them and slowing down their ball because they thrive on getting quick ball."
The blueprint provided by Waikato meant Taranaki would look to attack some rucks with more numbers, although they were mindful of how dangerous over committing players could be.
Not that it was likely to be one-way traffic. Far from it when you consider how well Taranaki had developed their attack.
Expect Taranaki's line speed in defence to also be sharper as they look to shut Tasman down from the outside in, while there remained an emphasis on being more aggressive in the tackle and preventing too many offloads.Although Ngatai was missing, Taranaki have been bolstered with the return to the starting lineup of fullback Kurt Baker, a player with the potential to cause Tasman problems if he worked closely with his outsides, particularly Waisake Naholo.
That could be crucial given the ability of players such as Liam Squire, James Lowe, Marty Banks, Kieron Fonotia, Bryce Heem and Robbie Malneek to break the line.
There was a late change in the Taranaki side after Doug Tietjens failed a fitness test
Despite wishing to give Berny Hall a breather, the openside has been named to start in Tietjens' place.
- The Nelson Mail
