RUGBY - Coughlan signs with Northland franchise

Former Hurricanes and Blues prop forward Tony Coughlan has followed Mark Anscombe and left North Harbour to link up with Northland for the Air NZ Cup provincial rugby competition this year.
Coughlan signed a one-year contract yesterday and is now part of the Northland training squad preparing for pre-season games against Manu Samoa, Manawatu and Tasman.
He might not be the only player ushered into the Northland ranks ahead of the Air NZ Cup either, with a summit meeting in Auckland on Monday with Northland, North Harbour and Auckland rugby coaching staff and Blues chief executive Andy Dalton set to thrash out player transfer issues within the Blues franchise.
Northland are hoping some sort of Blues player sharing concept may emerge from the meeting.
But in the meantime Anscombe was pleased to add Coughlan to his playing roster saying the 30-year-old prop is a significant signing for the Northland union.
Coughlan has had four years in the Super 12 with the Blues and Hurricanes and has played more than 70 matches for North Harbour. He has just finished playing for the Ilkley in Yorkshire after coming off contract with North Harbour at the end of last season.
"What he brings is more experience to the tight five. He can play both sides of the scrum and just has the kind of experience that will be invaluable to us," Anscombe said.
"We have a couple of young guys in Justin Davies and Bronson Murray who he can pass on a lot of experience and game knowledge to and it gives us cover in a position where you always need depth," Anscombe said.
Coughlan acknowledged his decision had an element of risk as he steps away from a successful North Harbour outfit, but said a long standing association with Anscombe had helped sway his mindset.
"Since I got here I have been sort of energised by the enthusiasm of everybody involved up here. It has rubbed off on me already," Coughlan said.
"A lot of my old friends from North Harbour have gone now. Joe Ward has gone to England, Marty Veale is in Japan and Mark (Anscombe) had shifted so it seemed like a good time to have a change," he said.
Coughlan may only be a short-term prospect though, as he still harbours ambitions of playing fulltime overseas.
The meeting on Monday though may yet throw up some more candidates to add to Anscombe's list of playing prospects.
"We will see what transpires with the meeting. Hopefully we can get some cover in certain positions. If not then we will see where we are at and what we might need to do.
"As I see it we need cover at lock and I am concerned about depth on the wing," Anscombe said.
Meanwhile Northland rugby officials are warning of possible disruptions to club championship games in the next two weeks. Games in Whangarei on Saturday are likely to be severely affected by ground closures while all Northland wide club rugby scheduled for Saturday next week may yet be pushed to Queen's Birthday Monday to cater for the Northland match against Manu Samoa in Whangarei on Friday week.