Jamie Mackintosh looking for right test

The Stormers are the sort of test Highlanders prop Jamie Mackintosh relishes as he tries to plot a course back into the All Blacks.

Mackintosh senses things are coming right for himself and his team as they get set for a showdown in Cape Town on the back of their first win of the campaign last week against the Cheetahs. Coach Glenn Moore today named an unchanged starting lineup to face the Stormers.

Mackintosh concedes this will be a step up. But he's clearly up for it.

"It's pretty exciting for the forward pack against the likes of Schalk Burger and Andries Bekker - they have a couple of great players there," said Mackintosh.

"But our forward pack is pretty proud of how our set piece is going. The scrum has been doing the job and our lineout has been going pretty good. So there is plenty of motivation there to set up another win."

And Mackintosh says he isn't lacking motivation to try to add to his one test cap against Scotland on the 2008 Grand Slam tour.

As injuries hampered his Super 14 last year he fell out of favour but certainly not out of the national selectors' thinking.

He believes he regained some momentum with the Junior All Blacks and particularly with Southland in the Air New Zealand Cup as they collected the Ranfurly Shield. Now he's looking to build on that.

"Last year was a bit of an unlucky year for me. I was pretty gutted to miss out on the All Blacks but I got in the Juniors and had a great time.

"I felt like I came back to Southland and settled into the NPC really well and played some of my best rugby.

"I've just been really hopeful of carrying that form over the Highlanders. With the games preseason and the first three games I feel I have been trucking along alright.

"I've been pretty happy with how I have started and last weekend I got a bit of the ball in hand to run around the field and that was pretty exciting.

"I just want to keep working hard and try to put my name in the hat for the All Blacks at the end of the competition. But there's a long way and a lot of rugby to go yet."

Mackintosh feels the new rulings are suiting him. There's a better contest in the scrums and certainly the pace of the game plays into the hands of a prop whose mobility belies his 130kg.

The Highlanders will find themselves up against a Stormers side anxious to bounce back from last weekend's last-gasp loss to the Brumbies.

HIGHLANDERS: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Michael Hobbs, 9 Jimmy Cowan (capt); 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Alando Soakai, 6 John Hardie, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Clint Newland, 2 Jason Rutledge, 1 Jamie Mackintosh. Reserves: 16 Jason Macdonald, 17 Bronson Murray, 18 Hayden Triggs, 19 Tim Boys, 20 Sean Romans, 21 Matt Berquist, 22 James Paterson.

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