By George! Northland mission the catch of the day

Ranfurly Shield challenging coach George Konia (left) at a Northland trial earlier this year. Photo / File

Former Magpies rugby star and assistant coach George Konia has every reason to come back to Hawke's Bay three to four times a year.

There's the family – parents still in Waipawa where he grew up - in-laws in Wairoa and the fortnight at Blackhead Beach each summer with what he reckons is some of the best diving and fishing around: "It's beautiful."

Back in the Bay for two days, it's not fish that will be the big catch, but the Ranfurly Shield he hopes, as coach of challengers the Northland Taniwha, to take back to Whangarei on Saturday for a welcome unlike any other in the 41 years since the Cambridge blues last held the shield in 1978-1979.

Split allegiances don't come into it for Konia, who says that no matter who one coaches or plays for, the allegiance is only to the team engaged at the time. Having said that, there will perhaps a little extra bite in the 80 minutes from kickoff at McLean Park in Napier at 7.05pm tomorrow.

He played two Ranfurly Shield matches, one for Manawatu while at Teachers Training College in Palmerston North, and one for the Hawke's Bay Magpies, in which he made his own particular mark in the 115 years of Log o' Wood history.

It was at Eden Park, Auckland, in 1993, during the Queen City's 61-match, eight-year grip on the Shield that Konia scored three tries for the Magpies, in a challenge in which they scored 31 points, yet were still beaten. The problem was the 69 points run up by Auckland.

Starting his coaching career with the Magpies in 2005-2006 and appointed coach of the Taniwha last December, Konia has had one Shield challenge as an assistant coach, with Northland - against Waikato in 2013 - the same season that Hawke's Bay won it for the first time in more than 40 years.

Konia played 58 games for Manawatu (1989-1992), 53 for Hawke's Bay (1993-1996) and five for Northland (1997), along with seven Super Rugby matches for the Hurricanes, 33 for national selections including the New Zealand Colts, Maori and Divisional teams, and including the 2003 Rugby World Cup, six matches for Japan, where he played eight seasons.

He said that in 1993, his first season back in the Bay from training college and in which he was in the side that beat the British Lions 29-17 at McLean Park, the Magpies were brimming with talent, and took a "nothing to lose" approach into the Ranfurly Shield match later in the season.

Similarly, Northland are on a roll this season, going into tomorrow night's match at the top of the Mitre 10 Cup Championship division table, closely followed by the Bay.

His team have focused on two big motivating factors this year – the meaning of Taniwha (as kaitiaki or protector), and earlier this week, the meaning of the Shield.

He says it would be "huge" for the region in which he and his wife have now made their home to have the Shield and to protect it.

While it's a case of taking the season each game at a time, he says the Northland team has been building stronger with each game, it had developed confidence in being able to "finish off", and was able to select a strong side for the match.

"It's a brutal competition," he said, but stresses it's a "community" team which accepts its obligations to the fans, reiterating comments made when his appointment was announced 10 months ago:

"We have a fantastic rugby community here in Northland and it is our job to provide a positive culture for us all to be a success," he said at the time.