Harbour want All Blacks in NPC opener

North Harbour coach Allan Pollock wants any surplus All Blacks to be released for the Battle of the Bridge opening round of the NPC.

That August 13 game coincides with the first Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney and Pollock intends petitioning national coach Graham Henry about player releases.

"Of course we will have to wait and see what happens in the Tri-Nations this weekend against the Springboks, see if there are injuries and who they pick for the game against the Wallabies," Pollock said.

"But it may be that Luke McAlister is outside the 22 players needed for Sydney and it may be the same for John Afoa.

"It doesn't matter what province they come from, I will be asking if they can be released," Pollock said.

"It is only a short trip across the Tasman and if something happened late in the week and they were wanted back, it is not far."

Harbour start their NPC campaign with a new captain, Rua Tipoki, for the clash against Auckland at North Harbour Stadium.

"Rua is one of our elder statesmen. He has a wealth of rugby knowledge He is a leader of men and will be a very powerful leader," said Pollock.

Tipoki, who turns 30 this month, has been an itinerant player for Harbour, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Japan with a combustible reputation. Pollock acknowledges Tipoki's temperament, but thinks the midfielder can use it to his advantage.

Meanwhile, new Blues coach David Nucifora will be watching the Battle of the Bridge, which pits the Super 12 franchise cohorts against each other, two sides who underachieved in last year's NPC.

"The start of this competition is very important; it does not get much bigger than the Battle of the Bridge," said Pollock. "We hold the trophy from last year [a 34-32 victory] and we intend to keep it."

Players not available this season because of serious injury are wings Jonah Lomu and Rudi Wulf and loose forwards Villiame Maafu and Francis Stowers.

Harbour accounted for Northland in one pre-season trial match, but are expected to have a much sterner test against Waikato on Saturday in their final hitout before the NPC.

* Veteran halfback Ofisa Tonu'u is likely to be loaned to Northland for this NPC season and Taranaki flanker Chris Masoe is being tipped to transfer to Auckland and a possible Blues contract.