ITM Cup: Club form continues for Auckland hooker

Kurt Eklund in action for University. Photo / Getty

Auckland coach Paul Feeney sought to reward club form with his squad selection this season and University hooker Kurt Eklund epitomises that approach.

The 23-year-old made his first start for the union in Wednesday night's 45-28 win over the Manawatu Turbos at Eden Park, and got through an impressive 76 minutes of work.

Eklund found his lineout targets, invariably tall blindside flanker Taleni Seu, made his tackles, and might have scored the first try but second five George Moala ripped the ball off him to score in trademark fashion close to the line.

You will often see Eklund grappling for the ball at the breakdown. He plays like a fourth loose forward and in fact turns out there for his Varsity club on occasion. An injury to Greg Pleasants-Tate gave him the opportunity he was waiting for at rake.

"I was blowing a bit out there, because it was the first game I have played more than half since the club final (July 25), but I enjoyed it," he said.

"The boys came out firing in those first 30 minutes. We wanted to continue where we finished last Saturday in Waikato. Unfortunately we couldn't keep it up in the second half."

Eklund played well enough for his club in 2014 to make the Auckland squad, but missed out, as Tom McCartney was skipper. He refocused and made it very hard to leave him out in 2015.

"When you miss out it only makes you want to work harder. I was lucky enough the coaches gave me an opportunity and I'm grateful for that. They were pretty open about picking on club form so I just had to have a good season with Varsity."

A builder by trade, he was able to put that on hold for the duration of the ITM Cup.

"Rugby is fulltime at the moment. I hung up the hammer about two months ago, but the boss is right behind me and once the season is over I'll be back into it."

Feeney said Eklund did "a lot of things well" against Manawatu.

"Kurt's a very good player. He's been doing a really good job for us coming off the bench. He brings a lot of energy so it's great to see him get his first start."

Auckland are now setting their sights on reclaiming the Lin Colling Memorial Trophy off Championship side Otago at Eden Park on Sunday. A bonus point victory there would see a notable 15 points banked in eight days and cement third position on the Premiership log.

"Otago will be a test for our defence. They throw the ball around and play up-tempo rugby... but if we keep scoring 50 points and giving up 28 I'll be happy. We're not the finished product but we're travelling at about 7 or 8 out of 10," Feeney said.