Rugby: Harbour, Manawatu join forces

By Chris Rattue

North Harbour have secured 30-year-old Manawatu prop Simon Halford for their NPC campaign.

And despite some prickly moments in negotiations with Manawatu over Halford's move north, North Harbour have also formed a "special relationship" with the second-division union so it might help in the development of players and even act as a feeder.

Halford, who has also played for the now defunct Central Vikings, is a tighthead specialist who will cover for the loss of Fosi Pala'amo when he joins Manu Samoa's World Cup campaign after four rounds of the NPC.

He will be on the bench when North Harbour play Northland in a warm-up match at Whangarei today, moving ahead of Takapuna's Les Bone in the prop pecking-order.

Halford had 40 minutes of action with North Harbour against Auckland this week but even late on Thursday, his transfer north appeared stymied by transfer demands, according to Harbour chief executive Doug Rollerson.

"It was all off on Thursday but we struck a deal late that night and it was ratified this morning," he said.

"Manawatu's original transfer payment request was out of the question. We've ended up paying a bit more than the $3000 for second-division transfers, but a long way short of the $20,000 for first-division players."

Manawatu had already resisted attempts by Taranaki to lure fullback-wing Chris Woods, but Halford pushed his case by saying he had no intention of playing for Manawatu this year, and he and his Irish-born wife had already booked tickets overseas. There are claims in the Manawatu that the union was paid a five-figure sum by North Harbour.

Manawatu chairman Craig McNeill said every case had to be judged on its merits, when asked to compare the Halford and Woods situations.

"Halford would have been lost to New Zealand rugby otherwise," he said.

North Harbour chased Halford hard because their prop contenders included players like Bone and Heath Wallace, who have no NPC experience.

Halford, whose brother Greg is in the Hawkes Bay side, is still expected to go overseas but North Harbour considers he will be in their future plans. Full transfers can only be completed in November, so he is officially a loan player.

Halford joins a host of players like Christian Cullen (Wellington), Danny Lee (Counties Manukau), Roger Randle, Mark Ranby, Chresten Davis (Waikato) and Tim Kareko (Northland) who headed to first-division sides from the Vikings, the Manawatu-Hawkes Bay combination which lasted just two seasons.

Unions like Manawatu are now in the tricky position of deciding whether to cling to their best players and drive for a first-division spot, or readily release them so they can pursue their aims to play at higher levels.

The special relationship, which Rollerson said would be formally ratified by his board, should include Harbour players on the rise being loaned to Manawatu to gain experience, if they agree to the move south.

North Harbour hope they will get the inside running on top Manawatu talent, but that is something which could cut across Manawatu's own aspirations.

"A lot depends on the NZRFU. If the New Zealand union keeps the first division at 10 teams then it could be fairly difficult for us to break into the top flight," said McNeill.

"If they increase it to 12 teams then they may look at the top two from the second division. It remains the goal of our board to get Manawatu back into the first division, and our first allegiance is also to the Hurricanes.

"The special relationship should be of mutual benefit for the two unions with such things as loan players, but it is very difficult to give you an answer at the moment on whether it might lead to our players joining North Harbour."

Rollerson, who made the All Black ranks out of Manawatu, said his contacts with his old union had helped to form the new link.