With the ITM Cup season over, focus now shifts to the shorter form of the game.
The Northland club rugby sevens competition hits fields in Wellsford today.
Northland Rugby Union sevens manager Kyal Collins says he and coach Peter Nock will be on the lookout for players to take ontwo overseas tours before finishing up at the national sevens competition.
"We've started a month earlier to try and get our players better," Collins said. "Obviously fitness is a large part of it. We're wanting guys who have a lot of ticker, sevens is a fast and furious game and we need guys who are going to push through that barrier and leave it all out there."
This weekend will be the second round of the club sevens competition. The first was held last weekend in Waipu and was won by Mid Northern, with Collins adding he hoped teams would continue to build as more ITM Cup players returned.
Already at this stage in the sevens season, a 40-odd man Northland training squad has been selected with a number of strong performers from round one and ITM Cup players.
The two overseas tournaments which Northland are targeting are in Singapore [October 29] and Fiji [mid-November].
