Soft spot for Taniwha not about to deter Shoemark

A season of contrasting fortunes sees Hawke's Bay captain Jason Shoemark hopeful of sewing up his new side's semifinal place against his home province on Friday night, while Northland will be playing for pride alone at Okara Park.
The   Pompallier College old boy has more than 40 Northland caps  but knows his new side won't have it easy, despite  the home team's underdog status.
"We'll start as favourites but Northland's my  favourite team in the competition - apart from Hawke's Bay of course - and I've watched their games. They  haven't been easily beaten by anyone this year," he said.
 He  felt the two teams couldn't be at more different stages in their development at the moment.
"Our boys have been building for awhile now, so we think this would be a good year to push our claim for the title ... and as we showed the other night (against Canterbury last Friday) we're peaking at the right time," he said.
Hawke's Bay were controversially denied a try in the final play of  that match, which would have given Zac Guildford a conversion attempt to level the scores against the competition leaders. The extra point would have helped them in their semifinal quest but for Shoemark the job wouldn't have changed at all - he wants to win and win well against the 13th-placed team.
Northland have showed they can compete with on the best in the competition and Shoemark said the Taniwha had done well, despite starting behind the eight-ball.
"They've struggled to keep the same team together year in, year out, and they've also got new coaching staff this year, whereas we've managed to stick together for three years now and that's helped us to become the side we are."
Shoemark may have been still playing his rugby for Northland if he hadn't spent so much time on the bench during the 2002, and particularly the 2003, Super-12 seasons with the Blues.
"It was pretty tough as a midfielder for the Blues back then, there was Sam Tuitupou, Rico Gear and a few others as well, and I wanted to get a bit more game time," he said.
He transferred south to Otago and the Highlanders but once again found himself with plenty of competition.
"It was a good experience at the Highlanders but I didn't get a lot of rugby down there either, so I had to move again but it's all come together for me in the Hawke's Bay," he said.
Now in his third season in the Bay, his stunning Air New Zealand Cup form last season earned him a recall into the Highlanders for the 2009 season. When  Hawke's Bay captain Danny Lee left at the end of last season there was only one real choice for coach Peter Russell.
Shoemark said: "After Danny  left, I don't think they had too many other options but it's been good and I've grown into the role throughout the year and got a bit better at it as I've gone along."
The 28-year-old may not be as quick as he once was but believes he is reading the game better than  ever.
"I'm very happy here at the Bay at the moment, and I'm here until the end of next year, and staying with the Highlanders and New Zealand rugby, and we'll have to see what happens after that," he said.
He still sees Northland as home and is happy to be heading north for a game this weekend - when usually these days it is rugby keeping him away.
"I don't get up there as much as I'd like to, obviously with rugby going pretty much all year around now, but I try and get up and catch up with my family at least once a year, usually at Christmas at the family batch at Pataua."