Chiefs coach looks for options after losing Senio

Chiefs rugby coach Ian Foster is ruing the loss of Kevin Senio to Canterbury and the Crusaders, who are already well off for halfbacks.

The man who calls the shots when it comes to Chiefs squad selection intimated it would probably force him to look outside the franchise for a backup to All Blacks test halfback Byron Kelleher.

Senio confirmed yesterday he had signed a two-year contract with Canterbury and would move there from Bay of Plenty at the end of the year in time to play for the Crusaders in the 2006 Super 14.

That was offset by the news All Blacks openside flanker Marty Holah had signed for another two years with the Waikato and New Zealand rugby unions after talk he was looking overseas, but Foster is still keen to have a quality backup for the injury-prone Kelleher.

Senio, who was called into the All Blacks squad during the Tri-Nations series as backup to Piri Weepu when Kelleher suffered a severe concussion in New Zealand's opening match in Cape Town, had previously been understudy to Kelleher in the Chiefs squad and started the last few games when Kelleher was injured.

"We don't enjoy losing anyone and it's disappointing a player has made a decision to go somewhere else, particularly when it appears that franchise is already well covered in that position," Foster said.

It doesn't make a lot of sense."

But while Canterbury already have established Crusaders player Jamie Nutbrown and highly promising New Zealand Colts halfback Andrew Ellis in their ranks, they have made no secret of their desire to grab Senio to replace Justin Marshall after he left for Leeds in England.

Senio can now play for the most winning franchise in the 10 years of Super 12 rugby that have preceded next year's expanded Super 14, starting in an All Black-laden Crusaders side instead of sitting on the bench at the Chiefs and therefore getting the chance to push for a regular black jersey.

Foster said Senio's departure left a big hole in the Chiefs behind Kelleher.

Obviously Canterbury now had a surfeit of halfbacks but Foster said how Bay of Plenty went about replacing Senio was up to them. If a player did not transfer to the Chiefs region the draft was an option.

"There are still a few more games of NPC to go and it's an interesting market place out there with a number of halfbacks putting their hands up," Foster said.

"We didn't want to lose Kevin but as it stands now we've got to look at our options and we've seen three or four halfbacks out there that we've been interested in."

While halfbacks might be in short supply in the franchise, Kristian Ormsby's transfer back to Counties-Manukau from Wellington adds to the glut of tight-loose forwards.

- NZPA