Super 14 cup full to overflowing for Nucifora

David Nucifora faces a massive challenge sifting the Blues' talent for his debut season as the franchise head coach in next year's Super 14.

However, the Australian import believes Auckland and North Harbour's surge to the NPC semifinals will assist as he tries to unravel the logjam of players.

"The intensity of the football goes up, the depth and quality of the teams is better and that gives me a better picture of how guys respond at a slightly higher level and under a bit more pressure," he said yesterday.

"I think that is the most telling time to find out whether a player is up to the next level of football or not."

Nucifora and his assistant Joe Schmidt have studied first-hand as many games as they can involving teams in the Blues catchment area.

They were in Whangarei yesterday to watch Northland almost achieve a rare victory to join their franchise partners on the weekend winning rostrum.

Forwards such as Jake Paringatai, Isoa Domolailai, Allen Tubbs and seasoned five-eighths David Holwell will be considered for the Blues from Northland but the reality will be the Super 14 squad will be made up of Auckland and Harbour players.

The intrigue will be the split between the franchise neighbours after the acrimony in recent years built on suggestions of selection bias favouring Auckland.

"They have both been in terrific form and it will be great we are going to get another look at them in the semis," Nucifora said of the senior sides.

"There is no doubt some of the selection choices will be very difficult. I have been schooling myself up on what I learned on the periphery last year," he added.

Nucifora will be able to protect only 24 players from inside the franchise when he goes to the final Super 14 selection haggle in Wellington on October 27.

At that meeting, involving all the New Zealand franchises, Nucifora will discover whether he has enough talent left within the Blues area to round his squad out to the maximum 28 players or whether he has to go to the draft.

Nucifora, who succeeds Peter Sloane, said he was leaning towards a 16 forwards-12 backs split with the greatest selection issues in the backs.

"If you look at the good form of the Harbour backs, numbers 10, 12 and 13 have all gone well and you could say that they have done the same in Auckland. So there are those healthy problems but I am happy about having a choice.

"At some stage we have to make the hard decisions and hope we get it as right as we can."