Rocked by first round losses, Canterbury has named an Aucklander and Auckland a Cantabrian among minor selection changes for today's Super 12 rugby union match at Christchurch.
The replay of last year's final has been charged with new importance by the Canterbury Crusaders' 43-19 loss to New South Wales Waratahs and the Auckland Blues' 44-27 defeat by ACT Brumbies in the opening round.
Coaches Robbie Deans of the Crusaders and Peter Sloane of the Blues have demanded urgent improvements from their teams but have made only trifling changes to their beaten lineups.
Meanwhile, the Brumbies host the Cats in Canberra on Friday and the Waratahs are at home in Sydney to another South African franchise, the Sharks on Saturday.
In other weekend matches, the Waikato Chiefs are hot favorites on the road against the Queensland Reds after upsetting the Wellington Hurricanes, semifinals last season, in the first round.
The Reds lost last week in Dunedin to the Otago Highlanders, who're traveling to Cape Town, South Africa, to play the Stormers this week.
The Bulls, the best of the African squads in 2003 but first-round this season, are hosting Wellington at Pretoria on Saturday.
Deans has included Auckland draft player Tony Koonwaiyou -- an athlete who intended a career as an Olympic sprinter if he failed at rugby -- on the wing for the Crusaders and has restored All Blacks flanker Richie McCaw to his starting XV.
He has resisted pressure to promote prolific All Blacks flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens from the bench, saying the record pointscorer was not yet fit enough to start.
The largest cheer Canterbury received from its home crowd during its four tries to one loss to the Waratahs was saved for Mehrtens, who came off the bench with minutes to play.
That seemed to send a message to former All Blacks assistant coach Deans to start the 66-test veteran.
"No-one in New Zealand has more respect for Andrew Mehrtens than me, but he needs more time," said Deans, who also resisted an urge to make more than two changes to his match XV.
"I'm not happy with the performance from the mix we had last week," he said.
"We've opted for continuity this week but are obviously seeking a lot better performance. I've avoided making wholesale changes and now there's an opportunity for this group to address the issue."
Sloane has included former Crusaders and All Blacks prop Greg Feek in a new-look front row. John Afoa replaced injured All Blacks tighthead Kees Meeuws and Keven Mealamu steps up from the bench.
Sloane has also tinkered with his back three, benching All Blacks flyer Joe Rocokoco and moving Mils Muliaina from center to fullback.
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