An Otago XV was set to play North Otago in a match at Maheno Domain on Friday as both teams look to get ready for their respective seasons.
But that has now changed to about 40 minutes of training tomorrow night, still at Maheno.
Otago coach Tom Donnelly said there were various reasons for the game being changed into a training exercise.
He was keen to get the players to play another round of club play this Saturday and not playing a game on Friday should help them do it. The squad would really benefit from playing in different roles and it would be a good way to get the players together. No score would be kept.
Donnelly said everyone in the squad of more than 30 players, who had been training twice a week, would be able to play for their clubs this Saturday.
The Dunedin club competition has two rounds left and there is plenty to play for with seven teams chasing six spots.
Donnelly said the training tomorrow night should have a bit more intensity than normal and it was a better way to test the players rather than a game.
Players would be checked on Thursday for any injuries and then made available for their clubs if fit.
North Otago is looking to get ready for a Ranfurly Shield Challenge against Canterbury in Christchurch on August 28.
There will then be an Otago trial at Waikouaiti on August 26.
It will be a proper match with two teams named. One of the teams will be coached by the Otago coaches while Jamie Joseph will coach the other team.
Joseph, the former Highlanders coach and the current coach of the Japanese national team, has been back in Dunedin for the past six months because of the suspension of rugby in Japan.
Joseph is helping out the Southern premier side and Donnelly said it would be a real buzz for the players to be looked after by a coach of such high international prestige.
The full Otago squad would be named the following day.
He said players might be released for club rugby on August 29 but this would be on a case-by-case basis.
He did not want to overload players and some of them would be just coming out of a gruelling Super Rugby campaign.
At the moment, the Mitre 10 Cup is all set to go. Otago’s first game in the competition is against Auckland at Forsyth Barr Stadium on September 12.