North-south match takes a kicking over the timing

HIGHLANDERS captain Jamie Mackintosh supports the principle of a North v South game but believes the date of the fixture is wrong.

There has been plenty of negativity about next Sunday’s game in Dunedin and ticket sales have been slow.

Mackintosh has put his hand up to play and says he likes the concept of the game, believing it could be an annual fixture, but says organisers have got the timing of it wrong this year. ‘‘Ideally it would have been great to have it in the middle weekend [of the three-week test window]. It would have given us a week off and everyone would have been a bit more excited about it,’’ Mackintosh told Sunday News.

‘‘We’ve had eight games in a row, so it would have been nice to have had a week off and then played it. But for me, it’s helping out Otago.

‘‘I am the Highlanders captain and they’re a strong part of where we’re from. So I’m going to put my name forward and get out there. It’s a great chance to play a game with some guys I haven’t met before.’’

The teams are drawn up according to which franchises the players are with but Mackintosh would like to see it changed to where each player played his first club game, making it similar to State of Origin in rugby league. ‘‘Going forward, it would be nice to be based on where you played your first senior club game, so you get a real South Island v North Island feel to it.

‘‘A game like this could be something a bit different and could grow. If we get the days and the times right it could be pretty exciting.

‘‘It would be great to play on a Saturday and have a few beers on the Saturday night, as opposed to on a Sunday.’’