RUGBY - Urlich celebrates return with one-year contract

Blair Urlich was still unpacking his suitcases when the rugby delegation arrived at his door.
Small town and outstanding bush telegraph systems, Urlich reckons, meant his Whangarei arrival from a five-year rugby playing contract in Japan soon reached the ears of the talent scouts.
Now his form has caught the eye of the Northland selectors and seen him scratch his moniker on a one-year representative contract. Now 33, it is a significant signing for the Northland Rugby Union (NRU), as he will step in where Jake Paringatai left vacant at No8.
But Urlich admits he never came to town with rugby on his radar. "I had only just got here really when Doug Te Puni and Mark Seymour came round one afternoon to see if I was keen to play club rugby.
"I wasn't really thinking rugby, that's not why we came to Whangarei, it was more for family with my sister living here. I needed some time off really after five years of playing all-year-round basically in Japan, so put them off for a bit."
He came around though, slipping into the Hora Hora premier side after a month of recovery. "I have really enjoyed being able to help the young guys at Hora Hora a bit and have been slowly working on the fitness to get back to somewhere near where I need to be," he said.
"Everything has changed so much since I left, the rules, the competition, everything, but I want to try and make a difference.
"If a young promising No8 comes along then maybe I can help him out to learn a few bits and pieces, but right now I am looking forward to the challenge of playing for Northland and trying to get the team back up there again."
NRU board member Andrew Golightly said Urlich had impressed him as a player with a real ambition to play for Northland and that Urlich's experience with North Harbour (60 games) and the Blues (15 games) would be invaluable.
"I think that experience will be a bit of a bonus for us. This is something of a homecoming for Blair who grew up in the Far North and played for the Northland under-19s," Golightly said.
Urlich is now the captain at Hora Hora and making an impression leading a young team that is now sitting atop the standings in the Joe Morgan Memorial club championship.
He is relieved to be back on "home soil" but is equally glad he opted for Japan.
"No regrets here, at the time I went I had a few moments thinking I might have made a mistake. But I earned more money there than I ever could have here, which was one of the reasons I went, for family and things," he said.
"We stayed for as long as we were both enjoying the experience but then looked at our son who is now 9-years-old and thought he needed to know what being a Kiwi kid was all about.
"He speaks fluent Japanese but had no idea about New Zealand and we thought it was time to come home."
Urlich will be on deck for Hora Hora tomorrow when they play Mid Western at Maungakaramea.
In other premier club games Waipu host Wellsford, Mid Northern meet Hikurangi in a key game, and Kamo play Marist in a big match up at Kensington Park.
Whangarei Old Boys host the Western Sharks in the other premier game.