There's been an injury blow for Auckland ahead of Friday night's provincial rugby championship match against Bay of Plenty in Rotorua with a cut arm ruling out the experienced forward Kurtis Haiu for the rest of the season.
Haiu, who's played 49 games at flanker and lock, put his arm through a window in a freak accident at home.
Coach Shane Howarth is replacing Haiu with Dean Budd while fielding an unchanged backline for another week .
Howarth's looking for an improvement on last week's lucky home win over Southland and says patience is the key word.
After three wins from six matches Auckalnd are ninth on 12 points, 11 behind Bay of Plenty.
The Steamers are third behind Wellington and Canterbury.
