Bay of Islands put on a display of forward dominance to retain the Harding Shield, beating their arch rivals Whangarei 30-21 at Kaikohe on Saturday.
The Bay of Islands players made the most of their chance to impress the Northland ITM Cup selectors before the provincial training squad is namedlater in the week.
Some of them may have done just that according to BOI team manager Brent Hewitt.
"The Bay boys really see this as a chance to step up and play a slightly higher level of rugby every year and it's just possible a couple of them might turn up in the training squad," he said.
Bay of Island players like Cam Goodhue and Justin Davies are already certainties for the squad but players like Kerikeri flanker Jack Ram and Mid Northern's Buster Tahere and Dylan Horne would also be included if their performances on Saturday were the sole measure of selection.
The Bay of Island pack was responsible for the side taking a comfortable 24-8 lead into halftime but, spurred on by a slick backline, Whangarei came back in the second half.
"You have to give Whangarei their due - they threw everything at us and we were forced to make tackle after tackle for almost the entire final 20 minutes," Hewitt said.
He praised his players' attitude particularly when under the pump in the second spell.
"You could tell what it meant to them to win after the whistle - and that's why this competition is important, it's a chance to discover representative players on our own doorstep by giving club players something higher to play for," he said.
BOI try scorers were Quinn Butler, Ram, Matere Tauroro, Steve Watene and Morris Cooper.
Earlier, the Northern Wairoa-Rodney selection beat Mangonui 41-7 for third place in the competition.
The games were followed by a presentation, function and a hangi.
