LEAGUE - North v South grudge match could shake pecking order

A southern team may be Northland club rugby league champions, but the North versus South interzone fixture at Moerewa this weekend might revise the pecking order.
2008 champions Takahiwai may well be in the majority in the Southern team, but they will be up against it when they join with Portland, Northern Wairoa and Marist players to take on a Northern side that was picked two weeks before the grand final.
The southerners on the other hand, will show up at Moerewa without having had a practice together.
Portland coach Sam Te Namu has been handed the difficult task of organising a run-on squad to compete with a northern outfit made up of the best players from Kaikohe, Moerewa, Hikurangi and Bay Slayers.
The match will act as a chance for Northland selectors to pick a team for two representative fixtures against Bay of Plenty Coastline, after both regions were locked out of the New Zealand Rugby League provincial programme this season.
Large financial losses caused the NZRL to rationalise both junior and senior competitions for 2008 and, like the Bay of Plenty province, Northland was told at the beginning of the season that it did not fit the profile for participation in the national competition this season.
They were then forced to scout around for their own provincial fixtures.
Chair of the Whangarei and Districts Rugby League Sharon Bird said although the league had addressed the concerns of the NZRL there was no indication at this stage that Northland would be back in 2009.
"We've heard nothing at all from them at this stage, but we have heard there is more than one competition review under way at the moment," she said.
She said veteran sports administrator Chris Ineson had already interviewed her as part of his review of the NZRL and she had also filled out a questionnaire on behalf of the Northland league.
"I'm confident that we'll get back into the national competition next year. I mean, with Northland rugby looking as though it might drop down a grade, it's too much of an opportunity for our code here to miss," she said.
• The Northland Under-14s play a trial match at Simson Park tomorrow before the main game kicks off at 2.30pm.