The Southland Stags scheduled clash with North Harbour on Friday night has been shifted to the end of the season and its next home assignment against Counties could follow suit.
MacLeod was after “actions and intent” from his players and said he saw plenty of that. He said they let themselves down in areas such as the lineout and exiting from their own half, but that was a lot to do with the limited preparation time for many of the players. MacLeod got to have a look at various players who had not played a lot at a level above club rugby, and he said those players would have learned a lot from that outing. He said some players were waiting for players to come to them in defence, while those more accustomed to the next level were getting up quickly and “smacking” opposition players in defence.