Northland rugby fans will once again see centurion Rene Ranger in action for the Cambridge Blues in this year's NPC campaign.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland rugby fans will once again see centurion Rene Ranger in action for the Cambridge Blues in this year's NPC campaign.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
George Konia knows too well this year's revised Bunnings Warehouse NPC competition presents a baptism of fire for Northland Taniwha and any slip in form can prove costly in the end.
As excited as the Northland head coach is about the new competition format that will see all 14 teams playing for one title for the first time in over a decade, Konia is acutely aware his side cannot afford a repeat of last year's disastrous campaign where the side finished last.
A notable absentee this year will be skipper Jordan Olsen who pulled away from first-class rugby to focus on work and his young family.
Fullback Jordan Hyland has retired and is now a Northland Rugby Board member. Backline utility Scott Gregory also won't feature for the Cambridge Blues due to family commitments.
Despite losing all that experience, Konia said the Taniwha has signed proven campaigners and retained a core group of young and experienced players capable of playing consistently well.
Chris Apoua and former captain Matt Moulds return to Northland this season while Conan O'Donnell, who played for Counties Manukau and the Highlanders, boosts the propping stocks.
Moulds is playing in Major League Rugby in the US and returns to Whangārei in June. Crowd favourite Rene Ranger, first five Rivez Reihana, lock Sam Caird and Blues players Sam Nock, Josh Goodhue, Tamati Tua and Tom Robinson will all feature for Northland.
Another recruit is halfback Lisati Milo-Harris, son of former Northland coach Richie Harris, who's part of the Blues Super Rugby campaign this season.
Hurricanes outside back Josh Moorby has also signed with Northland for this year's NPC season.
Konia said some contracts that were still available would be finalised during club rugby.
"We're not only looking at a good performance this year but also future-proofing ourselves for future years too. I am really looking forward to seeing players return to our environment and put their hand up and say 'yeah, I've done the work, I am ready to go, and I wanna be a starter'.
"We need to have that internal competition to really push people for places. We've got two warm-up games but the first game is really important and with the format this year, it's going to be a sprint, it's going to be pretty ruthless so we've got to really rely on the depth of our squad."
Northland's first match is against Taranaki in New Plymouth on August 7 and the inaugural home game at Semenoff Stadium the following week against Waikato — the only team the Taniwha beat in 2021.
George Konia is excited about this year's NPC format and will prepare his team to play at a consistent level during the competition.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Like other teams, Konia said his side also wanted to measure itself against the best which the new NPC format allowed.
"With us, a big part of it is preparation but also the mindset. An example of that is last year when we had a poor season, we won one game but the one game we did win was against the premiership champions.
"It shows us if we prepare right and our heads in the right space, and our mindset and attitude is good, we can beat anybody, and that's why I am really excited about preparing for this year.
"We were on the right track in 2020 and then we had a big slump in form last year but we need to get back to where we were, regaining that momentum, probably making sure we live up to those standards on and off the field and having that mindset of continuously improving week by week."
Konia has been impressed with the performance of Northland-based players playing in Super Rugby who'd bring their own flavour to the NPC.
