Preseason rugby is more about finding out about players and trying tactics out than it is about the score.
The Highlanders play the Crusaders in Weston today and coach Tony Brown is keen to see how the jigsaw is coming together.
Two weeks out from the start of Super Rugby Pacific, everybody has been thrown a curveball.
The teams are relocating to Queenstown for the first three or four weeks of the competition to combat the threat of a Covid-19 outbreak among the players.
Night games will be played in Dunedin rather than Invercargill as originally planned.
That development had the potential to be one big distraction heading into the Highlanders’ opening preseason match.
But Brown has, well, kept his eye on the ball.
He is very keen to see "where we are at as a team".
"We’ve had three weeks of preseason and we need to test how that has been going. And then just giving individuals the opportunity to press their case for selection for round one [against the Chiefs on February 19]," he said.
Brown has named a 33-man squad which features the return of exciting halfback Folau Fakatava. His season was ruined when he picked up a knee injury following some impressive form in the early stages of Super Rugby Aotearoa last year.
Outside back Thomas Umaga-Jensen and midfielder Fetuli Paea also return from season-ending injuries in 2021.
"They’ve all got individual X-factor," Brown said.
"Folau has been really impressive at training and it is really exciting to see him back to hopefully the form he showed in 2021.
"And Thomas Umaga-Jensen has had a horrible run of injury over the last sort of three years.
"He is probably one guy in our team that, if he has a good campaign, will put his hand up for All Black selection."
Alongside the returning talent is a solid core of emerging players.
Wingers Mosese Dawai and Vereniki Tikoisolomone have shone at training, while Otago players Sean Withy, Fabian Holland and Christian Lio-Willie get an opportunity at the next level.
The Crusaders have named a couple of Otago players in their ranks as well.
Prop Abraham Pole has been bracketed with Seb Calder to start in the second half, while outside back Freedom Vahaakolo will start on the right wing in the second half.
Teams will observe a moment of silence before kick-off to acknowledge the death of David Rhodes.
Rhodes served as vice-president then president of the New Zealand Rugby Union from 2013-2017, and served on the Canterbury Rugby Union board for 12 years, including six as chairman.
He also sat on the board of the Crusaders for seven years.
