The SIT Zero Fees Southland Stags have again adopted a next man up mentality ahead of its Week 6 Mitre 10 Cup clash with Northland at Toll Stadium, Whangarei on Thursday night.

Loose forward Phil Halder, who has been one of the Stags’ best over the opening five matches will miss the game after leaving the field with a knee injury in Saturday’s loss to Otago.

After initial fears of a serious injury, Stags’ Head coach Dave Hewett says Halder’s prognosis is more positive, with the livewire number 7 likely to only be sidelined for a couple of weeks.

Star Rugby Club’s Jack Capil moves from the bench into the starting 15 with Waikaka’s Brenton Howden coming onto the bench.

In the other injury-forced move, Tayler Adams’ ankle injury is continuing to bother the Melbourne Rebels flyhalf after he made a limited return last weekend. He is being given the week off, in an attempt to reach full fitness, with Broc Hooper to start in the number 10 jersey.

In other changes, Jay Renton returns to the starting line-up at halfback, after providing an injection from the bench against Otago while Tauasosi Tuimavave is over the illness and hamstring injury which kept him out of the starting fifteen recently.

The full side for the match which kicks off at 7:35 Thursday evening is:

No.    POSITION    SURNAME, FIRST NAME
1    Loosehead Prop    Stodart, Shaun
2    Hooker    Thomas, Flynn
3    Tighthead Prop    Mitchell, Morgan
4    Left Lock    Fotheringham, Ben
5    Right Lock    Selby-Rickit, Manaaki
6    Blindside Flanker    Capil, Jack
7    Openside Flanker    Lamborn, Tony
8    Number Eight    Fukofuka, Bill
9    Half Back    Renton, Jay
10    First Five Eight    Hooper, Broc
11    Left Wing    van Vugt, Rory
12    Second Five    Wilson, James
13    Centre    Johnson, Matthew
14    Right Wing    Te Tamaki, Isaac
15    Full Back    Tuimavave, Tauasosi

REPLACEMENTS IN ORDER FROM HOOKER TO FULLBACK
16    Hooker    MacDonald, Jesse
17    Prop    de Groot, Ethan
18    Prop    Apoua, Christopher
19    Lock    Tatafu, Raymond
20    Loose Forward    Howden, Brenton
21    Half Back    Costa, Nicolas
22    First Five Eight    Nu'u, Raymond
23    Outside Back    Ormond, Jackson
 

Article added: Tuesday 18 September 2018. Image via Getty Images