Blues will travel north to play a Northland selection

While Northland has been denied a pre-season fixture by the Blues, they have instead arranged a deal which looks to be more appealing to the region.

Rather than hosting a pre-season match at Toll Stadium, which in the past has pretty much been a given, the Blues will travel north during the three-week Super Rugby break to play a Northland selection.

Northland Rugby Union chief executive officer Jeremy Parkinson noted that while the region was initially excluded from pre-season fixtures the Blues had been practical in remedying the disappointment.

"Under the new Blues structure, with the new management, they went ahead and committed to a number of pre-season fixtures and overlooked Northland," Parkinson said. "But they've been very pragmatic, hence why they've come back with a game in June.

"I think that a game in June would probably appeal more to the Northland public, especially with having a Northland team play the Blues.

"Traditionally that Blues pre-season fixture has fallen in the first week of February and we've clashed with international cricket fixtures, and people still enjoying the summer, so it's always hard to get a decent crowd and make it a worthwhile fixture.

"We did get the opportunity put to us that they [the Blues] wanted to play an earlier game in January but that would not sit well with us so as a compromise the Blues have offered to play a game in June against a Northland 15."

He said while the June clash was something different for Northlanders he expected the public would get behind the match, thanks largely to an increased number of Northlanders involved with the match.

"All we can do is try our best and get behind it," Parkinson said. "We believe that it will appeal to the rugby public, and act as a good lead into ITM Cup - also it will be a good gauge of where our boys are at against a fully professional team, so it's quite exciting."

The match will be on a Friday night and won't be televised which will hopefully encourage Northlanders to get behind it, Parkinson said.

He added that it would be on a Friday night.

"It won't be televised so people will need to get along to see it.

"It's a good opportunity and we're hugely excited by it.

"It won't be televised, it's during rugby season, and it's the night before the All Blacks play England in Dunedin so there's no other games on in the area.

"We believe it'll be a good night.

"Hospitality-wise, we're hoping Graham Henry will be our guest speaker in our level three lounge and everyone who's involved in ITM Cup rugby will support us and watch us play the Blues."