For 22 Northland primary school players aged under 13 and weighing under 57kg, the moment has arrived to wear the provincial club rugby jersey with pride and passion for the first time.
The Northland team begins its 2014 Roller Mills Tournament campaign at Ngatea near Thames this Sunday by attendingthe official opening ceremony tournament before playing its first game against Bay of Plenty at the Ngatea Rugby Club later in the day.
Instead of the usual week-long tournament at a fixed venue, this year's championship will be contested over six weekends. This restructuring appears to have had some deterrent on players from the three Far North unions making themselves available; those named in the Northland squad last month included Troy Hona, Chad Boyed, Leighton Hamuera (BOI), Allan Craig, Michael Tangimetua (Mang) and Tamatoa Gunn (Hoki).
The side had been training hard twice a week and been on a few camps as well as playing two pre-season games including a 34-17 win over North Harbour at Toll Stadium earlier this month.
Northland's draw for the 2014 Roller Mills is, August 31: vs Bay of Plenty, 12.15pm Ngatea; September 6: bye; September 13: vs Thames Valley 11am Waipu; September 20: vs North Harbour 1pm Silverdale; September 27: vs Auckland West 12pm Dargaville; October 4-5: finals weekend at Tauranga.
The side invited the wider Northland community to get on board with as much support as possible, reminded that offers of sponsorship were still being accepted as the majority of games required players to stay overnight, thanked existing sponsors and the Northland Rugby Union for their support, and advised that details, images and updates of Northland's progress can be viewed on Facebook.
