King Country goes local

By PETER MARTINEZ

King Country coach Gary Crossman reckons he's got the recipe right for his team to recapture the fan base that snubbed the team in last year's NPC.

Crossman replaced former Western Samoan international Peter Fatialofa, promising "jobs for the locals".

He's done away with Fatialofa's policy that produced a side stacked with Auckland players and brought back players such as prop Glen Mulgrew (70 plus caps), second five-eighth Eddie Robinson (50) and centre Kevin Weinberg (30).

"All were available to play last year but either sat on the bench or were not picked.

"We are seeing terrific support now from the community and local sponsors," Crossman, from Hamilton, said.

However, as with Horowhenua-Kapiti team manager Stuart Pescini and South Canterbury coach Steve Tarrant, he thinks the division is something of a trip into the unknown for every team.

All three felt that the traditional change in the division's player rosters every year made it difficult to predict who would be in the top four playoffs at the end.

"We don't quite know. It's wide open," Pescini replied when asked to pick the front-runners - "King Country, Wairarapa-Bush perhaps and South Canterbury ... "

One thing Pescini does know though - Horowhenua-Kapiti's match against King Country tomorrow, the second and third-place finishers from last season, will have an extra edge to it because the Lochore Challenge Cup will be at stake as well.

"The Lochore Cup came to us because holders North Otago got promoted and we were the next best team in the division - it's certainly going to spice up the match."

Pescini is reasonably confident his team can make the top four and then push for promotion given that it is the second term for coach Peter Kemp who has retained the core of players that went through to the division final last season.

"Because it is the same management team, we are better prepared and organised and the players know what is expected of them."

He picks Wairarapa-Bush as a possible big mover in the division.

Wairarapa-Bush were eighth last season, but are in good spirits after flanker Germaine Anaha was picked for New Zealand Maori and have young players such as Bevan Gray, top try-scorer in Manawatu club rugby, and Fijian Asesela Lagola.

Tarrant's team finished fourth in the pool round last year. But he could not say how the team would do this time because for him, it was a question of starting all over again.

"We don't have the luxury of continuity - we had 16 changes in 2001 and last year, we had eight or nine. Really, we have to go back and start again. Last year's results don't really count."

Tarrant thinks Wanganui will be a top four challenger, and Horowhenua-Kapiti favourite to win the division.

For Crossman, it is not so important where King Country finishes.

"At a recent three-day camp, I could see the team had gelled. There was a passion coming through and Colin Meads came in and talked to them for over an hour."

Tomorrow's season opener against Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin Domain will put King Country's renewed pride to a stern test.

- NZPA