Try: W Ripia
Pens: J Cameron (5)

Given that we've now lost five on the trot, it'd be much too easy to bitch and moan about the coaching and to demand that heads roll and that we hunt the North Shore Yeti as a scapegoat for global warming &c. &c. So let's take a wee step back: four of our losses have been by within 7 points and the other one turned on an abysmal refereeing call. In fact, this recent loss turned on one, too, and although bitching about the referee is inane and exclusively the domain of losing sides, it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for the lads when they work themselves into a reasonable position only to have it undone by men who are unable to see. This is a tight competition and in tight competitions, split seconds matter. Two of our split seconds have been gifted to the opposition.

Truth is - and maybe I've been drinking too much and enjoying the Spring sunshine - I reckon that we're a small psychological shift from being a force. Part of this psychological shift needs to be taken by backs' coach Wilson. The backs are all about combinations and his constant adjustments are not allowing combinations to work. Again, Botica was the best player out there and he has proved most of our correspondents wrong, but who is our second-five? Who is our fullback? Who are our wingers? Who am I and where do I live? There've been so many changes that my head hurts. Unlike Mairangi Murray, I think McPhee is still worthy of his place in the side. Some character pointed out that the average age of our team is 22. That's young. Four years out of high school young and probably why McPhee has been persisted with: he's got a bit of experience and a ton of guts. Now, Goldie, is he a fullback or a winger? Is Harris your first-choice or is his defence suspect, hence your use of Mailei? Is Pisi the Even Younger better than Nafi or only on Friday games? France looks great off the bench but less great when he starts - is that why you went back to Smylie? How many backs have you used exactly, and could you slot my mate in for a quick run?

The forwards again looked pretty good apart from this one-off crash-ball running that we revert to every time we get in the opposing 22. It's been a long time since I've seen a Harbour scrum punch the panties off some finest Taranaki shank but we owned them. Honours looked even at the breakdown, too, and although they had us at lineouts, the pack seems to have developed into a reasonable unit. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if the coaches can find a settled line-up and not drop their sacks every time we get shaded by 4 or 5 points, we'll win four on the trot some time this season and finish comfortably outside the bottom four. It'd be nice if they started that run this week coz then we'd be able to go Scum-hunting at Eden Park. And we might not get relegated.