RUGBY - Stalwart in call-up for 101st turnout

Jason Hammond claims, tongue-in-cheek, that he is the only Northland player to have 200 provincial games to his credit.
In a strange twist of fate his claim has some substance. When Hammond retired in 2003 he did so in the firm belief he had banged out more than 100 games for Northland. Once more he had the blazer to prove it.
But shortly after he decided his provincial rugby career was over, he was told by editors of the Rugby Almanack, the sport's equivalent of the Bible, that they had revised the amount of games actually qualify as "official Northland rugby fixtures".
As a result his total went from 104 to 99.
He wasn't alone either. Other Northland stalwarts like Tony Monaghan, Hayden Taylor, Glenn Taylor, Norman Berryman and even Justin Collins, all felt the sting of the Rugby Almanack's cut.
Last weekend Hammond got the chance to set the record straight. His unexpected call-to-arms against Tasman means he now meets strict Rugby Almanack standards for what in rugby terminology is called a "centurion" but in grammatically correct terms is a "centenarian".
Now he is set to officially move into three-figure territory in style. His sanctioned 101st game is a starting spot at loosehead prop against Canterbury tonight.
He's quite happy about the prospect too.
"I reckon I'm the only Northland player to have 200 games. I must have, I have played 100 games twice," Hammond said.
"I am pretty sure that, with promotion-relegation games and other pre-season and touring games and stuff like that, I had played about 104, 109 games, something like that, but if they want to make a point of it then okay, I played 100 last week," he said.
Hammond has spent the past two weeks being hurriedly schooled in the intricacies of the Northland play book. Having not been involved at all until answering an injury enforced plea for help from the coaching staff last week, there were lineout calls, scrum moves and the avant garde "sequence moves" to learn.
Not that Hammond has been to phased about the whole experience.
After piling into training on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, he was pleased to head back to work as a cabinet maker on Wednesday, the team rest day. Yesterday's work schedule was interrupted by a captain's run at Okara Park.
"I am quite keen. From my angle it's about time we gave Canterbury a hurry up. If we make a few tackles and get stuck in when we get the chance we can do alright I reckon," he said.
But even with his rediscovered status as a Northland rugby "centurion", Hammond won't be asking for a new blazer to denote the achievement. He still has his old one, issued in 2002, and doesn't think the new version, with a redesigned monogram, quite makes the grade.
"I saw the one Justin Collins is wearing, it just doesn't measure up, mate."