Rugby: Ai'i and Kopelani will beef up Taniwha

While Lachie Munro's absence is a great loss for Northland in their 2012 ITM Cup campaign, the Northland Rugby Union has announced several key signings it hopes will bolster the Taniwha.

"We have signed Orene Ai'i as a direct replacement for Lachie at first five/fullback, while we have also acquired hooker Tone Kopelani," Northland head coach Adriaan Ferris said.

The 32-year-old Samoan born Ai'i played for Auckland in the late 1990s and made his debut for the Blues in 2000 against the Brumbies.

He was also a New Zealand Sevens representative and was named the IRB 7s Players of the year in 2006.

More recently he has been playing rugby in France and in Japan, and will join Northland once he has finished with Japanese side Toyota Verblitz.

Meanwhile, 33-year-old Kopelani will join Northland after several years playing in France for Bourgoin and Grenoble.

The former Junior Kiwi switched to rugby union in 1998 and was picked up by Canterbury. He played for Canterbury and Wellington in the National Provincial Championship, and made his debut for the Crusaders in 2004. He also played for the Hurricanes before heading offshore. He also played for the Junior All Blacks in 2007.

"Tone will add more depth at hooker. We have Ross Wright but we want to create competition for places in the squad and we want the guys to put pressure one another," Ferris said.

The Northland wider training squad have been training all year, and Ferris said recently they re-established better standards within the squad.

"We're very, very happy with how the squad is progressing. We asked more of the players and they have all stepped up.

"We know there's a long way to go, we just have to make sure we are putting in the hard yards now."

Most of last year's ITM Cup team were training, with the exception of Jared Payne, who is playing for Ulster, and Tim Dow who has retired.

A 32-man squad will be named in early June, which will be cut down to 28 in time for the ITM Cup.