Hamstring injury sidelines Dixon

Twenty-one-year-old No 8 Elliot Dixon injured a hamstring at training yesterday and has been ruled out of the Stags' Ranfurly Shield defence against North Harbour in Invercargill tomorrow night.

Dixon has made a promising start to his debut national provincial championship season to date but will now take a forced break because of the injury.

Stags forwards coach David Henderson said late yesterday he wasn't yet able to put a likely timeframe on just how long Dixon would be sidelined for.

Hamstring injuries tend to take a while to heal.

Southland wing James Paterson missed the majority of the first five weeks of the competition because of a hamstring injury.

The Stags' second No 8 in the squad, Kane Thompson, was also in doubt heading into tomorrow night but was named in the starting lineup.

Their third No 8 option, Hua Tamariki, was earmarked to replace Dixon on the bench but he is out with a shoulder injury.

That means usual flanker Dion Bates will provide the No 8 cover off the bench and lock Alex Ryan comes on to the bench to replace Dixon.

Bates started on the flank against Northland but has been replaced by John Hardie, who reunites his combination in the loose with the hardworking Tim Boys.

In the other change to the Stags forward pack that lost to Northland, veteran hooker Jason Rutledge returns to hooker, replacing Brayden Mitchell.

The backline is the same as the one that started against Northland.

Meanwhile, Rugby Southland marketing manager Caroline Whethey-Te Whetu said yesterday the grandstand for tomorrow's game was almost a sellout but she feared the crowd would again fail to reach the 10,000-mark hoped for at all the Ranfurly Shield games.

A massive crowd of 16,500 turned up for Southland's defence against Otago on August 7.

Whethey-Te Whetu hoped, with the Stags having been on the road for three weeks, that people might be eager to watch them attempt to defend New Zealand's premier prize, the Ranfurly Shield.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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