Rugby: NPC invasion by Aussies

By Chris Rattue

The Aussies are coming!

New Zealand's National Provincial Championship rugby teams have been labelled the "raiders from the east" in Australia, with three ACT players confirmed as starters in this year's NPC.

And the players' agent, Grant Richardson, said: "Over the next week to 10 days there will be other [Australian] players moving and they won't be from ACT."

The NPC squads will be depleted this year because of the unavailability of the All Blacks.

ACT Brumbies back-up tighthead prop Rod Moore arrives on Tuesday intending to play for Waikato, and is being lined up as a member of next year's Chiefs squad, although he will have to prove his ability first.

Ben Darwin, a fringe Brumbies player and also a tighthead prop, will play for Counties Manukau, although the 23-year-old is still under contract to the Brumbies next year and has no ambition to play for a New Zealand Super 12 team.

Otago had chased Darwin because they will lose their All Black front-rowers for this NPC campaign. But he signed for Counties Manukau instead and is due to arrive today.

A former under-21 international, Darwin played in a warm-up match against the Chiefs this year when he broke an arm trying to tackle Jonah Lomu and did not figure in the Super 12 campaign.

The 28-year-old Brumbies centre Craig Wells, who hails from New South Wales, will play for Southland. And Auckland are still negotiating with former Auckland, New South Wales and Australian World Cup test back-rower Daniel Manu.

The most significant of the imports is probably Moore, who plays for the Eastwood club in New South Wales, because he is seen as having a future part to play in the Super 12.

His contract with ACT ends this season and the Brumbies have stipulated that he must be available for their matches against New Zealand A and the United States next month, and against New South Wales and Queensland in early-August, which means he will not be available for Waikato's match against Southland on September 12.

But Waikato are hoping that if selected, he will be part of the squad who leave for Japan on July 7 and play one match against a national selection four days later.

It was confirmed yesterday that Moore, a 28-year-old tax consultant, will play for University in the Waikato club competition. It is believed his contract with the Waikato union will extend to next season.

The Chiefs are understandably coy about any suggestion that he has a direct route into the Super 12 squad, and chief executive Gary Dawson said the prop's NPC contract would be reviewed if he was not up to the mark.

"We heard he was interested in playing here and we increased our interest when [Waikato coach] Kiwi Searancke watched the Brumbies play against the Blues," said Dawson.

"Our development manager, Denis Brown, coached in Sydney last year and also knows quite a bit about him.

"Paul Martin played very well for the Chiefs, especially at the end of this season and Rod has to prove himself over here, but we have been struggling for depth at tighthead prop."

Moore has played second fiddle to the Brumbies' top props, the now-retired Ewen McKenzie, plus Patricio Noriega and Bill Young, and is searching for a more prominent role in the Super 12.

The Chiefs' scrum had its share of problems this year, with a lot of the trouble arising from playing Lee Lidgard out of position on the tighthead side. But the scrum steadied when Martin, a tighthead specialist, was returned to the line-up.

Meanwhile, Auckland chief executive Geoff Hipkins downplayed the significance of their attempts to sign Manu, who has fallen out of favour with both Australia and New South Wales.

Hipkins claimed Manu was one of several Australian-based players Auckland were negotiating with, and he described suggestions that Manu was being lined up as the Auckland captain as "media rubbish."

Manu headed to Australia in 1994 and made his test debut in the World Cup the following year. He appeared in 15 tests but his career was hit by a shoulder reconstruction.