Full service is resumed as Senio returns

Almost 50 players featured in the first Super 12 warm-up game of 2005, but Kevin Senio can be fairly sure no one trudged off the paddock with the same sense of relief.

On Friday night the Chiefs halfback got through his first 40 minutes of competitive football since rupturing ankle ligaments while playing for Bay of Plenty in August last year.

It was a low-key return, largely because the Chiefs forwards were given a frightful doing by the Hurricanes. But Senio, who was tipped to make the end-of-season All Black tour last year, was tidy enough.

He wasn't too concerned about the acutal quality of his performance. He simply wanted to get through the game, testing the ankle, ensuring that the surgeon had fixed it as well as he claimed.

"It felt pretty good to be out there," said Senio.

"At the moment I am just trying to build my confidence game by game. It has been a while since I played and the injury was pretty serious. The ligaments had come right off the bone and I was lucky I had a great surgeon who could patch me up. I think the confidence will keep coming the more I play."

It certainly looked as if it was beginning to flow towards the end of his stint before making way for veteran Rhys Duggan. Playing in front of a healthy and passionate Pukekohe crowd, Senio appeared to be forming a useful understanding with promising first five-eighths, Stephen Donald.

The crispness of Senio's service was a feature and was presumably the reason his name was being bandied around last year as a potential All Black.

It seemed a somewhat fanciful claim as it was being made on the strength of a few impressive games for the Steamers. He hadn't featured in the Super 12, losing out to Byron Kelleher and Isaac Boss at the Chiefs.

But it must be remembered that there are few halfbacks in New Zealand right now who could list passing as a key strength of their game.

"I don't really know if I was in the All Black frame," Senio says. "All I can do is keep playing as best I can and see where that gets me."

He hopes it gets him a regular starting spot with the Chiefs. A tough ask when the other halfback in the squad is the All Black incumbent.

Senio, though, is not daunted at the prospect. He'll play it how he sees it and hopes the selectors see it the same way. 

- HERALD ON SUNDAY