Big wing demands Bay spot

It took Craig Hudson all of 6mins 50secs to make a rather emphatic point in Baywide club rugby on Saturday.
That's how long it took the 1.98m Tauranga Sports wing to cross the line in their 53-8 mauling of Rotoiti, a day after missing out on the Steamers squad to play in this year's Air New Zealand Cup.
Hudson admitted the snub hurt, especially after scoring four tries against Poverty Bay for a Bay selection last month.
Newly-signed to the union this year, the New Zealand sevens player felt he'd done enough to be given a chance but he and clubmate David Johnston were overlooked in favour of young, super-quick darting players like Teu Nafe, Lance MacDonald and Charlie Baxter.
"I'm still extremely gutted but I've got to get over it pretty quick to be able to move forward and carry on and keep building," the 27-year-old said.
"I haven't played a lot of 15s this year so I've just got to get more game time and get fitter. Then whatever happens, happens."
Hudson is one of the more unusual players around, in that he started out as a lock while growing up in Tauranga but ended up on the wing after falling through a plate-glass window in Christchurch.
The accident, when he was contracted to Canterbury after leaving Tauranga in 1998, left a very decent scar across his left thigh and proved the catalyst for Canterbury selectors to test his natural pace out wide.
Billed as one of the biggest wings in world rugby at 110kg, he's the same height as current Steamers locks Mark Sorenson and Bernie Upton, and admitted it had crossed his mind that switching back to his old position might pave a smoother path into representative rugby.
"Honestly yesterday I was thinking about it. I figured I could just go in and play club footy at No6 or lock like everyone keeps telling me ... but I'll keep persevering on the wing."
It's a positional switch that has taken him around the globe, playing professionally with Cardiff, Worcester and La Rochelle after heading offshore in 2000.
His try on Saturday was a classic piece of wing skill, using fast first-phase ball to gas around his opposite, Rotoiti's Tom Tiaki, and finishing with a flourishing dive across in the corner.
He proved a handful for the Rotoiti markers, constantly bumping off tacklers and making room to get his big legs striding out.
All of it was done in front of Steamers coach Andre Bell, who agonised over the makeup of his debut squad but decided he hadn't seen enough of Hudson after the big man missed the entire club first round with niggling injuries.
Hudson's reaction to the omission would have Bell rubbing his hands, though, with the wing determined to prove his worth in club play and possibly get a shot if injury hits the Steamers.
"Selectors always have a hard call to make and it's up to them to make the right call and it's up to us now to keep the pressure on.
"I've got a little bit more experience.
"I think I've got a little bit more to offer to a team than just the playing side of things."
Wing has suddenly turned into a position of previously unplumbed depths for the Steamers _ Baxter scored two tries for Te Puke on Saturday and Johnston also collected a double against Rotoiti.