Ferris searching for club talent

While pleased that three of Northland's Super-15 players were in scoring form against the Hurricanes, new Northland Rugby coach Adriaan Ferris is looking forward to the start of the club rugby competition.
He already knows what the four players can do for the provincial team - but right now he is concerned with how their prospective teammates will fire when club rugby kicks off in two weeks' time.
"We've identified a number of local players over the past few months that we feel are in the picture for the team and they have been training hard, but now with the club competition starting we can see how they are progressing in a game situation," he said.
A squad of 35 players have been training since Christmas under the guidance of ITM Cup trainer Nick Collins.
"We've identified a number of players that we feel have the potential to play at a higher level and what we're trying to do is get them conditioned and ready to play at ITM Cup level - whether that's this year or next year, that's really up to the individual players," he said.
Only 14 - or around half - of the squad's players have been contracted at this stage, with three or four other contracts under negotiation. Club form will ultimately affect how Ferris and forwards coach Derren Witcombe assess which players will make the cut, when they contract the rest of their ITM Cup squad.
Ferris spent Saturday with the rest of the Northland management team at Tauranga Bay, planning their 2011 season, and said they were pleased with the training squad's progress so far but would not rule out more players joining the squad.
"Another reason we're waiting for the club competition to start is so that we can see some new talent in action. There have been some players that we are aware of that have been working hard outside of our own system and through a good club form could still be included in the squad at some stage," he said.
He said the union wanted to make sure the club competition was as competitive as possible. He had attended a few club trainings - and was hopeful that 2011 competition newcomers Otamatea could make the step up to play premier grade this year.
They will need all the help they get after dropping out of the premier grade last season because they failed to raise enough players for two teams. Ferris said that moving up from the second division was a tough ask.
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