Milestone memories
Tupou Sopoaga on bench
WHEN Tony Brown made his 100th Super Rugby appearance — against the Bulls in Pretoria in 2011 — he played outside a reserve halfback on debut.
Little did he know he would one day be coaching that same halfback in his 100th match.
Aaron Smith will bring up his century for the franchise tomorrow night against the Rebels at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Now the shoe is truly on the other foot for the halfback, with a likely new cap being named on the reserves bench.
‘‘We had a bit of a chat about that when I came back from South Africa to help out the Highlanders,’’ Highlanders coach Brown said.
‘‘He played his first game, I played my 100th in Pretoria.
‘‘So that was a pretty special occasion for myself and him.
‘‘It’s just one of those things in rugby.
‘‘Now I’m his coach, so he must have played well that day.’’
Loose forward Tupou Sopoaga, younger brother of Lima, has been included on the Highlanders bench.
The former Cronulla Sharks second rower has been with the Highlanders for the past six to eight weeks.
He appears set to make his debut in the second half on Friday night.
‘‘The impressive thing about him is he’s a professional athlete obviously with his league background.
‘‘He’s trained really well and what we like about Tupou is I think he’s going to have real ability to impact the game in the second half.
‘‘His skill set and what he does on the rugby field is pretty impressive.
‘‘So we’ll inject him in that second half and see what he can do.’’
Several changes have been made to the team from Saturday night’s win over the Brumbies, as it looks to rotate its players.
Marty Banks comes in for Fletcher Smith at first fiveeighth, while Tevita Li returns on the right wing.
Brown said Sio Tomkinson, who played on the right wing on Saturday, had impressed on debut.
However, the coaching team sees him as a midfielder, whereas Li was suited to the right wing.
In the forwards, Aki Seiuli comes in for Daniel LienertBrown at loosehead prop, while Joe Wheeler replaces Alex Ainley at lock.
Gareth Evans gets the nod at blindside flanker ahead of Elliot Dixon, who moves into the reserves.
There was little improvement on the large injury list, with noone an option to come back this week.
‘‘We really wanted to bring Liam Squire back this week, but he’s just not quite right.
‘‘So, hopefully, he’s going to do a bit of work this week and we can get him back out there for the Blues.
‘‘But other than that there’s noone else that’s really close.’’