RUGBY - Hard graft pays off

Glenn Martin is an oddity in the Northland rugby team. Not odd as in weird, but odd as in unusual, especially when it comes to how he has finally emerged in the starting team for tonight's all-or-nothing Air NZ Cup rugby clash with the high-flying Hawke's Bay team in Napier.
Martin is one of the few who plugged away at club rugby level with enough aplomb to catch the eye of the Northland selectors. Nearly everyone else involved in the team started the club season with a contract in the back pocket.
But working hard to win your place has its merits and, when it comes to training-field endeavour, there aren't too many in the squad who can rival Martin's work ethic.
It might have taken a huge dollop of hard-earned sweat just getting the starting spot on the wing tonight, but what waits him looms even larger.
Among a myriad of aspects Hawke's Bay have unveiled this season have been a cache of fleet-footed outside backs who have set their season alight. Tonight Martin marks up against Lote Raikaibula and Zac Guilford, two youthful wingers who are rated as try-scoring threats.
Not that Martin is exactly shaking in his boots at the prospect. A try-scoring effort against Auckland last week has obviously boosted his confidence.
"I thought I would be second string all year to Fetu Vainikolo and Rene Ranger. The way things have worked out it has been pretty good to get in there and get a few starts instead," Martin said.
"You have always got to think you can knock someone off their perch otherwise it is not worth turning up at all. You have just got to get stuck in and really work and your time will come.
"I marked a pretty highly rated speedster (Aucklander David Smith) at the weekend and seemed to keep him in check. The blokes in Napier might be a bit faster but it is all about the angles you run and shutting their pace down. If they can't run, they got no speed, have they?"
But even with his new-found self-belief, Martin still has that new-boy-on-the-block feel to his rugby career. It helps too that his family are firm rugby disciples who are not shy in offering analysis, asked for or not.
That it took three years of trying to finally win a fulltime contract with Northland meant Martin had a lot of advice to ponder too.
"This is the first time I have been in an (provincial) squad fulltime. Last year I got a few games at the end of the season with a few injuries. I love it. Just being amongst the boys with the same goal in mind.
"Mum and Dad are pretty keen on watching me play and watching the boys play as well. Dad is pretty good, usually there is a Sunday-morning call to discuss the game or breakfast the next day for a full match review, not just myself but the whole team. I take mental notes to give to the boys."
The plan is for Martin to have another similar debrief to listen to tomorrow morning that he heard last week. The game against Auckland was perhaps the best from the Northland team this season.
But Hawke's Bay loom as a team on the rise, bolstered by a rabid hometown support base.
* NORTHLAND V HAWKE'S BAY
McLean Park, Napier, 7.30pm, tonight Mike Davis 15 Ben Batger Glenn Martin 14 Zac Guildford Tony Koonwaiyou 13 Jason Shoemark Dan Bowden 12 Davis Norman Rene Ranger 11 Lote Raikabula David Holwell 10 Matt Berquist Corey Tamou 9 Danny Lee (c) Jake Paringatai 8 Grant Webb Joel McKenty 7 Karl Lowe Justin Collins (c) 6 Bryn Evans Brad Taylor 5 Matt Egan Steve Baker 4 Michael Johnson Bronson Murray 3 Tim Fairbrother Tim Dow 2 Hika Elliot Tony Coughlan 1 Sona Taumalolo
Reserves.- Northland: Justin Davies, Tevita Mailau, Dan Goodwin, John Cocker, Rhyan Caine, Fetu Vainikolo, Josh Levi. Hawke's Bay: Jamie Muir, Tom Symes, Lua Lokotui, George Naoupu, Chris Eaton, Aayden Clarke, Justin Wilson.