By: Glenn McLean

Yarrows Taranaki Bulls captain Mitchell Brown will return to the starting XV for the first time since round one of the Mitre 10 Cup as the side heads to Invercargill to meet Southland on Saturday night.

Brown returned to action via the bench during last week’s dramatic 29-28 loss to Premiership side Auckland after recovering from a hamstring injury.

He will start at blindside flanker in place of Mitchell Crosswell in one of three changes made by Yarrows Taranaki Bulls head coach Willie Rickards.

Veteran prop Ben May has been handed a two-week suspension for dangerous play during the Auckland match.

His absence sees Reuben O’Neill switch sides in the front row with Jared Proffit returning to loosehead prop.

The only other change comes in the second row where teenage lock Josh Lord replaces Kaylum Boshier who moves to the bench.

That sees the backline remain the same, with Daniel Waite (20th) to play his blazer match for the union.

Despite the nature of the loss to Auckland, Rickards was pleased with the improvements in a number of areas.

“The big thing we wanted to see change was a real focus on our discipline and for the most part I thought we got that,” he said.

“While it was obviously disappointing to lose to Auckland after we got into a strong position, it was another vital lesson for our young group to learn and improve on.

“When you look at our season to date we have played three of our four cross over matches and we just have to be totally focused on our remaining matches and winning as many games as we can against our fellow Championship sides to get a spot in the top four.

“That obviously starts against a quality Southland side that has been playing some outstanding rugby and they will bring some real passion at home against us.”

Kick-off on Saturday night is 7.05pm.

Article added: Thursday 15 October 2020