Relief for coach Woodward as NZRU keeps status quo

No one heaved a greater sigh of relief than Northland  coach Bryce Woodward when he heard the news that the Air New Zealand Cup competition would remain unchanged for the 2010 season.
The NZRU decision makes his job for 2010 a little easier.
Rather than an immense amount of pressure on him to win a new second-tier competition in its first year to gain promotion back into the premier Air New Zealand Cup, Northland now will line up in the same 14-province competition as they did this year.
The pressure on Woodward now becomes to improve on the Taniwha's 13th position in this year's competition and let the political considerations take care of themselves.
"I don't think any year is more special than another, there is always the need to perform well but obviously next year will be another important year for Northland (as a union)," he said.
That may be a lot easier with a team that will spend its second season together under  Woodward's direction. The coach said the NZRU board decision with certainly help the union to retain and recruit players into the team.
"We are talking to a couple of players at the moment to add some depth to areas we felt we weren't as strong as we would have liked to have been, and those players now will know that they'll be coming to a first division union and that will certainly make a difference," he said.
The union are now certain that they will be able to retain the services of their Super-14 players Jared Payne, Rene Ranger and Bronson Murray.
A good performance by the Taniwha in next year's Air New Zealand Cup will help the Northland union argue its point to remain in the top flight - something it failed to do this year - unlike provincial unions Hawkes Bay and Southland, who both made this year's semifinals.
The NZRU decision to follow the same path for 2010 - a 10-team premier competition and a six-team first division - nonplussed the Taniwha coach.
"Obviously it's great we're in the first division next year but it appears they'll still be sticking to their guns for the year after that.
"I thought that the Players Association proposal of a seven-seven split had more appeal than the 10-six split but we'll just have to wait and see what happens like everybody else."
Northland's main hope for success next season lies in the fact that the team's core will be retained for a second season - unlike this year where they largely started from scratch.
One area that they will be forced to recruit in will again be the locking department with the news that the Warratahs won't release their recent signing, Cam Jowitt, for the Air New Zealand Cup next season.
"But apart from him we're hoping that most of this year's team will be back next year, which is encouraging for continuity's sake, and we're looking to secure a couple of extra players to strengthen us above and beyond to what we were this year," Woodward said.
The squad are already back  in training, with another round of fitness tests due on Monday.