New Blues boss holds North hopes

FEEDER: Taniwha coach Richie Harris. PHOTO/JOHN STONE

The fiasco surrounding John Kirwan's demise as the Blues head coach "bruises our franchise", Northland's ITM Cup head coach, Richie Harris, says.

However, he hopes Northland's feeder role for the Blues Super Rugby franchise will improve under the direction of a new head sherang.

"It'll be interesting to see in the near future how much of a sweep they have through the organisation," Harris said.

"If there was one thing we would like to see, [it would be] better representation of Northland boys at that level."

In the wake of Kirwan's resignation from head coaching duties at the Blues, the door for Northland players to earn their way in will hopefully sit ajar.

After a prosperous training run this week, which comprised of yoyo and speed testing, Harris pinpointed Dan Hawkins, Corey Evers and Matt Wright as key performers at the early stage of the season.

Speed testing also identified Northland representative players Troy Currie and Hayden Jurlina showing pace through the lights. "Looking at the yoyo we had really good results," Harris said.

In comparison to New Zealand norms the Northland wider squad produced pleasing results with "less reds" and "more greens".

The development squad's next training, in two weeks, will focus on position-specific skills and conditioning.