Magpies rejigged as hammy hits Lowe | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

A recurrence of a hamstring injury has forced Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby flanker Karl Lowe out of Sunday's sixth-round ITM Cup clash against Otago in Dunedin.

The New Zealand Maori and Hurricanes representative, who has played 63 first-class games for the Bay since 2004, missed the third-round match against Tasman in Blenheim with the same injury. Lowe's unavailability has forced Magpies co-coaches Peter Russell and Tom Coventry to rejig the loose-forward trio used in last weekend's win against Manawatu.

Trent Boswell-Wakefield, a 2008 under-20 world champion, will start in Lowe's No7 jersey, Mike Coman switches from No8 to blindside flanker, replacing veteran Michael Johnson, and Grant Webb, who like Boswell-Wakefield got time off the bench last week, will start at No8.

Russell told SportToday Coman would give the Magpies more ball-carrying options one off the ruck, while Boswell-Wakefield would provide another lineout option and bring more speed in the tussle for the loose ball. It will be Boswell-Wakefield's first Cup start as an openside flanker.

Another significant change to the Bay's starting XV sees Chris Eaton replace Kahn Fotuali'i at halfback.

"We want to get more control of the forwards so we can get in behind Otago faster and move the ball to space faster," said Russell.

The other change for the Carisbrook (or House of Pain as it was once known) was predictable - Mark Jackman replacing Israel Dagg at fullback because of Dagg's commitments with the All Blacks. It will be Jackman's blazer game (20th appearance) for the Magpies.

Changes to the forwards on the subs bench see Johnson replace Webb and lock Leighton Price replace Boswell-Wakefield.

While Fotuali'i replaces Eaton on the subs bench, Ryan McLeod replaces Star Timu and Sinoti Sinoti replaces Luke Rooney, who has a groin injury, in other changes to the back subs.

Rooney joins Lowe, prop Kaas Lealamanua and second five-eighth Andrew Horrell as the Magpies unavailable because of injuries.

The Magpies will complete their buildup to the clash with a Captain's Run in Napier tomorrow and will fly south on Saturday. Hawke's Bay have won the last two games between the two provinces.

However with Otago winless, they will be desperate for a win in front of their home crowd and SportToday is predicting another tough encounter for the Magpies similar to last week's win against the Turbos. At the same time we won't be surprised if the Magpies get plenty of support from university students from Hawke's Bay based in Dunedin.

They have been known to make Otago supporters work over-time for vocal superiority in the past. They made the Magpies' 2008 win against Otago at Carisbrook particularly memorable.