Changes will bring more intensity, says Woodward

Bryce Woodward is looking forward to starting his new coaching position with the Blues this week and says the changes made to the competition will reinvigorate the next Super-15 season.
The expansion to 15 teams has seen the introduction of a new three-conference system, with the five teams in each country making up nationally-based conferences. Each team play their local rivals on a home and away basis with those eight matches complimented by a further eight, featuring matches against four of the other five teams in each of the other two conferences.
Woodward said the changes would add intensity to the contest.
"I think it's a very good idea, the change means there will be more intense rugby because the local derbies are the most fiercely fought - and that should appeal to the players and spectators alike," Woodward said.
That means that the Blues - like each New Zealand franchise - will miss out on playing one team from South Africa and Australia every season in round robin play. The teams the Blues won't play next year are the 2010 champions, the Bulls, and the Brumbies. "I'm pretty happy about missing out on those teams in my first year to be honest, it was a good first up draw," Woodward chuckled.
The coach has been finishing up his duties at the Northland Rugby Union ahead of starting his new position as the Blues assistant-coach this week.
"There is a selection meeting on Tuesday, followed by fitness tests and profiling for individual players and talking about their work-ons before we send them off on a break before team training starts," he said.
Woodward will also be trying to organise a break after feeling tired after the ITM Cup campaign ended a couple of weeks ago.
"I know it's going to be hard work, so I'm going to try and switch off a bit when I can, so I can start the season fresh," he said.
He said 27 of the Blues 28 original contracts have been signed already and when the final contract is signed the four final players can be drafted into the squad - but they are open to competition from the other New Zealand franchises.
"We basically know who we want but there's a chance they could get taken away from us [in the draft], so then we might have to cast the net wider to see who's left after that," he said.
He said there were always a few injury concerns, which further complicated the selection process, but said Northland players like Dean Budd could still be in with a chance of selection.
"He's not out of the running yet, if a franchise has an interest in a player but didn't want to contract him straight away, you had to make sure that he was named [as a player of interest], so they can be contracted at a later date," he said.
The Blues have identified five Northland players: Mark Burman, Dean Budd, Dan Prior, Aaron Bancroft and Rhyan Caine, so they could still be selected for the franchise's squad.