Rugby: Fresh faces to help seal Northland ITM Cup hopes

Crusaders and Taniwha speedster Jone Macilai will return for Northland once he shakes a foot injury. Photo/ Duncan Brown

The dawn of a new-look Northland ITM Cup outfit has risen with Taniwha selectors settling on a well rounded 32-man squad to tackle the 2015 provincial season.

New coaches Richie Harris and Dale MacLeod will have 13 debutants available for the first fixture - a Ranfurly Shield match against Hawkes Bay on August 16 - including New Zealand Under-20s lock Josh Goodhue and New Zealand Schools and future Blues halfback Sam Nock.

Other fresh faces in the squad are Mid Northern's Wise Lawebuka, Isimeli Taqea (Awanui), Jordan Hyland (Otamatea), Dave Thomas (Grammer TEC, Auckland), Tyler Landsdowne (Wellsford), Daniel O'Rourke (Awanui), Hayden McCaw (Mid Western), Sean Sweetman (Wellsford), Dominic McCoy-Robinson (Hikurangi) and Argentinian imports Matias Navares and Tomas Ramirez.

While the squad includes a healthy mix of Super Rugby talent, question marks still hover over the fitness and injury woes of Dan Bowden, Jone Macilai, and Dan Pryor.

"The squad has been picked with a bit of view to knowing those Super [Rugby] players are outside bets of actually playing," head coach Harris said.

"All things going well, we'll present a team which might be down on big names in that round one game, but a team that should be fit, well, healthy and have good clarity on what they're doing."

To accommodate injuries and players currently on rehabilitation programmes, Harris said "the squad is a wee bit bigger than usual," but key performance indicators were looking positive in the build-up to the round one Ranfurly Shield match.

One feature of the 2015 Northland ITM Cup team is representation from all three Northland premier competitions - Mangonui, Bay of Islands and Bayleys Southern Districts.

With nearly a month to kickoff, Northland will play two pre-season fixtures in the coming weeks; one against a Northland development side on July 31 at Maungakaramea and a match versus Waikato in Silverdale, August 7.

2015 Northland ITM Cup Squad:

Props

Dominic McCoy-Robinson (Hikurangi)
Matias Navares (Kamo)
Tomas Ramirez (Old Boys Marist)
Howard Sililoto (Old Boys Marist)
Matt Talaese (Wellsford)
Namatahi Waa (Hikurangi)

Hookers

Matt Moulds (Otamatea, Blues)
Jordan Olsen (Mid Northern)
Ross Wright (Wellsford)

Locks

Josh Goodhue (United Kawakawa, New Zealand Under-20s)
Shane Neville (Otamatea)
Michael Stolberg (Hikurangi)
Sean Sweetman (Wellsford)

Loose Forwards

Cam Goodhue (United Kawakawa)
Jaycob Matiu (Mid Western)
Hayden McCaw (Mid Western)
Daniel O'Rourke (Awanui)
Kara Pryor (Old Boys Marist)

Halfbacks

Kurt Davies (Christchurch)
Sam Nock (Kerikeri)

First Fives

Dan Bowden (Blues)
Dan Hawkins (Otamatea)
Tyler Landsdowne (Wellsford)

Midfield

Warren Dunn (Horahora)
Troy Gilbert (Old Boys Marist)
Jordan Hyland (Otamatea)
Dave Thomas (Grammar TEC -- Auckland)

Outside Backs

Wise Lawabuka (Mid Northern)
Jone Macalai (Awanui, Crusaders)
Filipo Nakosi (Awanui)
Isimeli Taqea (Awanui)
Matt Wright (Wellsford)

Injured

Dan Pryor (Old Boys Marist, Highlanders)

International Duty

Jack Ram (Kerikeri, Blues, Tonga)