RUGBY: No need for flatmates to toss toast at each other

Mark Anscombe was quick to defuse what had, at the very least, the potential to make life between rugby-playing flatmates Fetu Vainikolo and Rene Ranger very tense indeed.
The two rugby try-scoring machines might both be listed to wear the No.11 jersey in the Northland rugby squad announced by coach Anscombe today, but they need not start throwing burnt toast at each other at the breakfast table just yet.
In Anscombe's eyes Vainikolo and Ranger are both good enough to play either side of the field. Just because they are written on the squad list as specialist left wingers doesn't mean they can't both be on the paddock.
"I can see them both on the field at the same time, in fact I think that could be quite exciting. So, no, they are not in a head-to-head battle to win one spot on the wing, because they have to have to flexibility to play either side," Anscombe said.
Ranger, who was one of the star players in the Northland team last year, is definitely on notice though. Buried in the detail of the 25-man squad named for a training camp in Taupo Bay next week are five players capable of playing on the wing, including former Blues and Crusaders star Tony Koonwaiyou.
And topping the list of potential stars is Vainikolo, whose 37-try tally for his Wellsford premier club team has suddenly thrown him into the limelight even before a tackle is made, or missed, in the representative season yet.
The question Anscombe is hoping Vainokolo can answer positively though is about to be asked: Will Vainikolo continue his rampant try-scoring form once the real stuff starts?
"Well I certainly hope so," Anscombe said. "He is not going to have the space and time that he gets in club games, and the challenge to us and him is to ensure he can keep his head in tough situations."
Four newcomers - lock Steve Baker, Vainikolo, centre Leo Taliu and utility back Mike Davis - are named in the squad.
But two more - midfield back Damian Fakafanua and veteran lock Vula Maimuri - will arrive at the training camp to boost the squad to 27.
Fakafanua comes in as Koonwaiyou and Hayden Taylor have niggling injuries. Maimuri stays in the frame, pending the selection of the Fiji Rugby World Cup team. If Maimuri makes the cut with Fiji he will be replaced; if not, he will be added to the Northland squad.
While it is not the final selection for the impending Air NZ Cup campaign, the team to play Tasman in a pre-season game at Okara Park in Whangarei in three weeks will be selected from this list and will also form the bulk of the final squad.
"This is not the final 26 we will list to the New Zealand Rugby Union, so there's still time to look at where these guys are at. There are no loan players listed here either, but there are things ongoing there with the union talking with a few players," Anscombe said.
The squad assembles in Whangarei on Sunday for the second pre-season training camp to be held at Taupo Bay starting on Monday.
The squad.-
Northland: Tony Coughlan, Justin Davies, Jamie McQueen, Tim Dow, Bronson Murray, Dan Goodwin, Steve Baker, Brad Taylor, Justin Collins, Junior Gadolo, Joel McKenty, John Cocker, Jake Paringatai, Rhyan Caine, Corey Tamou, David Holwell, Dan Bowden, Rene Ranger, Fetu Vainikolo, Josh Levi, Leo Taliu, Glenn Martin, Tony Koonwaiyou, Hayden Taylor, Mike Davis.
Also: Damian Fakafanua, Vula Maimuri.