Northland lose battle for Bronson Murray

Two weeks ago Northland prop Bronson Murray was in the middle of negotiations about returning to the province that had been home for a lifetime, with 100 games for the Taniwha within reach.
Yesterday, if they didn't know already, Northland got their answer about where those negotiations were at when Murray he was confirmed as the latest on a growing list of players signed by Bay of Plenty for this year's ITM Cup.
The Steamers were one of several unions in the hunt for the Northland, and Highlanders prop, who has also been capped seven times for New Zealand Maori, and his arrival here was hinted at several weeks ago following the surprise departure of Bay's James McGougan to Otago.
Bay approached the raw-boned prop, who can play on either side of the scrum, some time ago with an offer but head coach Sean Horan said they had left him alone to make a decision. "A lot of the time you make contact with guys then let it sit for a while so they can focus on Super rugby campaigns or whatever it is they're doing, essentially giving you and them time to assess whether it's a right fit," Horan said.
"What we get with Bronson is a physically robust and extremely mobile frontrower for the next two years. He has a wealth of Super and NPC rugby miles under his belt and we're also keen to utilise that experience to mentor our young frontrowers."
Murray played his 96th game for Northland - a 36-24 win over Bay of Plenty last October - and told the Northern Advocate two weeks ago the lure of achieving the ton in Cambridge blue was strong. "I definitely want to come back up north. I'm only four games away from 100 games. I've played for Northland since I was 18-years-old and I've only missed five games in the 10 seasons I've played for them - either because I was banned or injured," he said.
But Northland's well-publicised financial struggles, which limits their player budget, and a desire to be playing his provincial rugby at the highest level this season won out.
Murray joins Tristan Moran, Josh Hohneck and Pingi Talaapitanga as Bay of Plenty's contracted props, with Cory Marsters and Wade Pereiera pushing their case with strong Baywide clubs seasons.
Murray - 1.84m and 114kg of Northland beef - debuted in the Super 14 for the Blues in 2008, moving to the Crusaders for the 2009 season before heading further south to the Highlanders in 2010, where he was re-contracted again this year.
Horan saw Murray's provincial ties as a plus rather than a hindrance as he makes his new home in Bay of Plenty. "That's part of the subtlety of playing professional rugby at provincial level - it's their state or home for a lot of guys and where their heart is and I'm all about that. But Bronson's been a pro now for 10 years and given our ambition is to stay in the top seven (in the ITM Cup championship), you need quality and sometime's that quality is from outside the union."
Contracting Murray might have signalled an end to a busy period in the transfer market for Bay of Plenty... or possibly not. Horan hinted there could be a couple more players to add to the squad for the condensed provincial campaign, where player depth will be as important as playing riches as teams play multiple games in a short seven-week timeframe pre-Rugby World Cup.
"We might have seemed active in the transfer market but I don't think we've been any more or less active that anyone else. We just happen to get our player announcements out there when they happen whereas other unions chose to announce later.
"There's always holes to fill, with guys like Mike Delany and Brett Mather moving on, and out of the 30 we had last year we'll have 20 or 22 players back. We've come up with a squad we believe will get us over the line."
One player missing from Bay's lineup will be former Auckland utility Jarek Goebel, who was signed back in February as a potential midfield replacement for Grant McQuoid and Cory Aporo but has since reneged, opting to stay in the Queen city.
Horan has no hard feelings, saying Goebel had bought a business that was requiring more time than he'd anticipated. "He resigned from his contract, giving us a lot of notice. We could have made the guy come but he was coming to reignite his rugby career and it wasn't big money we offered so you've got to be realistic."
Bay of Plenty's off-season signings
Prop Bronson Murray (Northland)
Halfback Jamie Nutbrown (Ospreys, Wales)
Midfielder Steve Kefu (London Wasps, UK)
Lock Leon Power (Taranaki)
Lock Leighton Price (Hawke's Bay)
First-five Chris Noakes (Otago) Rugby