Halfback off the Steamers radar

The riddle that is Ruki Tipuna continues.
The smallest bloke in Bay of Plenty rugby had a large hand in the Bay of Plenty development team's outstanding 53-24 win over their Canterbury counterparts in Christchurch on Saturday.
But the Rangataua halfback remains outside Steamers consideration until he has completed strength and fitness tests and proves he's fully committed.
It's a process he needs to start soon. Kevin Senio makes his decision this week whether he'll accept big offers from either Canterbury or Auckland to switch provinces.
Even if Senio stays, his elevation to the All Blacks means he's unlikely to play much NPC anyway.
If talent was the sole selection criteria, Tipuna would be competing for a starting spot with Senio. He has superb rugby instincts and sharp skills, as he showed in the first half of Saturday's game by probing the blindside and superbly marshalling his forwards.
After making his NPC debut last year when Senio broke his ankle against Taranaki, the 1.60m Tipuna - a thoroughly likeable chap who answers to the nickname `Rat' - should have had the inside running as Senio's backup this year.
Instead, he had his Bay of Plenty contract torn up earlier this year after failing to meet fitness requirements for the Steamers during preseason.
He was dropped from the union's academy, and was quickly usurped in the halfback pecking order by Charles Hubbard, Kyle O'Brien and newcomer Garrick Cowley.
Tipuna differs on the the exact chain of events and causes, although he concedes his training ethic left a lot to be desired.
The simple fact is he needed to get a lot stronger to cope with the demands of first division rugby, and didn't.
There are some mitigating circumstances - Tipuna wrecked his shoulder against Otago last year, although he battled on through the rest of the season as he and Hubbard fought for the No 9 jersey in Senio's enforced absence.
Tipuna discovered in the last week that he'll need an operation - although it's not urgent - to fix his leftshoulder which could put him on the sidelines for a lengthy spell.
In the meantime, he's starred for the Bay of Plenty Maori team earlier in the year, played a full club season for Rangataua and on Saturday showed the injury had not adversely affecting his ability to play the game.
Rugby, however, is a profession now and the days when players could rely on natural talent and the odd gallop around the streets have gone the same way as halftime oranges and the wing-forward throwing the ball in.
Tipuna is now 22. His days as a brilliant schoolboy player for Rotorua Boys' High - he went on the make New Zealand Schools' - are well and truly past and he stands at the crossroads of his rugby future.
He can either bite the bullet or dodge it. He can put some serious effort into a rewarding rugby future or sit on a barstool in 10 years time and ponder what might have been. By that time the riddle will definitely be solved.