Matt moulding a promising rugby career

PROGRESS: Northland's Matt Moulds, seen here laying the ball back during a training sessions, is looking to make his mark in the Blues this season and will be right at home when the Blues start their camp at Tutukaka today.

A lack of depth in the national hooking stocks means the sky is the limit for Northland's Matt Moulds if he can make an impression at the Blues in his debut Super Rugby season.

Moulds is revelling in his rugby after finally making the big decision to choose the 15s version of the game over a promising sevens career with the All Black Sevens team.

"You can't really do both, so I had to make a decision and I looked at how New Zealand is with hookers at the moment and made the decision to go with 15s because in the long run, that's where I want to be," he said.

Trying to play both forms of the game was becoming counterproductive and Moulds is thrilled to finally to be a full-time professional and to be able to take a big step forward in his 15s career.

"I'm pretty excited about where I am at the moment; I want to work on strength and conditioning all year round, rather than doing the ITM Cup for four months and then hunting around for a job," he said.

He is currently working on strengthening his legs to add more power to his scrummaging. Mould's line-out throwing has come a long way in a short time and was a big improvement in this year's ITM Cup campaign.

"My throwing has already come a long way - when I transitioned into hooker that was always going to be a work-on and I've picked up on a few technical issues and that has helped my confidence," he said.

The 22-year-old had an impressive ITM Cup season, picking up the team's award for most improved forward, but he knows he has still got a long way to go. However, with role models like All Black and Blues veteran Keven Mealamu to learn off, he knows he's in the right position to learn.

"He's been at the top level for quite a while so he really knows his stuff, and it will be good just to be able to hang around him and learn off him."

After just a couple of weeks of pre-season training, his new Blues teammates head north today to attend camp at the Ngunguru Sports Club at Tutukaka for the next five days and he couldn't be happier to be back in the north.

"My old man's organising a pig on a spit on Monday night and we're doing a bit of fishing on Wednesday

The former Otamatea High School student was raised on a dairy farm in Ararua, near Matakohe and played in Northland age-group teams before polishing his rugby while away studying geology at Canterbury University.

He is the Taniwha's only current Blues' player, but with former Taniwha Daniel Bowden returning from England to play another Super Rugby season - before joining the Taniwha once again - that number is set to double in the New Year.

The Blues will hold an open day at the Ngunguru Rugby Club tomorrow from 10am and fans will get the opportunity to meet the players.