RUGBY - Southern man out to make impact

Like many included in the Northland rugby training squad, all Mike Davis knows about his imminent date with his new representative team-mates is what he has managed to glean from his new sporting comrades.
But to date they haven't been too forthcoming.
So it is with some trepidation that Davis is approaching tomorrow's club game for his new Kamo team, which will be followed the next day by a road trip to Herekino for the Northland rugby pre-season training camp.
It is a prospect all the more foreboding as Davis is a Canterbury boy who has never ventured north before.
"I don't even know where Herekino is. I have spent all my life in Canterbury so it is going to be an adventure for me for sure. Apparently the camp was very tough last year but from what we have been told we have a lot of new things in store this time around," Davis said.
Davis is one of the new faces, and there are quite a few, who have been named for the camp. They are all wondering what is planned, because the stories about last year's boot-camp style drills are still circulating from last season.
"A few of the guys from last year have told a few stories but most of us are unaware of what is coming apart from being told it will be a bit different," he said.
It looms as an important weekend for Davis and the other new faces.
A fullback who played for Canterbury and Canterbury B and was a member of the New Zealand sevens training squad, Davis chose to head north to try and get some representative exposure. But his form in club games to date has been patchy and his place in the Northland team is not yet assured.
There are many players who have been imported into the province with plans to launch them into the representative scene - Davis among them - who are being watched very closely by Northland rugby stalwarts.
Wellsford have produced the largest contingent of representative propositions, many of them straight out of the Auckland club scene, players like midfield backs Leo Taliu and Fetu Vainikolo.
But there are others who will be unfamiliar to Northland rugby folk, like Kamo lock Steve Baker and winger Tony Koonwaiyou.
Koonwaiyou is still battling back from stress fractures in his legs and has yet to even play club rugby in Northland. Baker, a former Whangarei Boys High School first XV rugby star, is in his first season of premier rugby in Northland after spending several seasons in Waikato.
The impending training camp is sure to be a distraction for the players when they line-up at various club venues tomorrow.
Davis and Baker will be in the Kamo side facing the likes of Vainikolo, Taliu and flanker Junior Gandolo at Wellsford. Wellsford are unbeaten and will bank the first round honours no matter what the result tomorrow.
Hikurangi, who are looming large among championship contenders, head north to play Moerewa at Moerewa while the Western Sharks need a big effort against Waipu at Waipu to get some leverage in their bid for a top-four spot this year.
Mid Northern host Marist in the other match. Hora Hora have the bye.