Brown to direct Razorbacks
Otago Razorbacks coaches Andy Hunter and Phil Mooney have named a squad of 28 players to travel to Invercargill to play Southland in a pre-season match on Friday.
Veteran flyhalf Tony Brown will look to dictate matters while former All Black prop Kees Meeuws will lend his considerable experience in the front row in what is otherwise a relatively inexperienced team.
The enlarged bench indicates that the Razorback coaches will be looking at as many of their options as possible ahead of the start of the National Provincial Championship.
Otago Razorbacks: 15 Matt Faddes, 14 Joe Hill, 13 Ben Atiga, 12 Glenn Dickson, 11 Buxton Popoalii, 10 Tony Brown, 9 Sean Romans, 8 Paul Grant, 7 Eben Joubert (captain), 6 Regan Tamihere, 5 Rob Verbakel, 4 Daniel Ramsay, 3 Kees Meeuws, 2 Jason MacDonald, 1 Halani Aulika.
Replacements from: Liam Coltman, James McGougan, Tom Franklin, Tom Donnelly, Adam Hill, TJ Ioane, Scott Manson, Gareth Evans, Hanipale Galo, Jayden Spence, Johnny Legg, Sam Giddens, Tony Fenner.
Date: Friday, July 8
Venue: Rugby Park, Invercargill
Kick-off: 18.00 (06.00 GMT)
Referee: Kane McBride
