Northland hope Coughlan not only coup signing

Former Hurricanes and Blues forward Tony Coughlan has left North Harbour to follow Mark Anscombe to Northland for the provincial rugby competition.

Coughlan has signed a one-year contract and is now part of the Northland training squad preparing for pre-season games against Manu Samoa, Manawatu and Tasman.

He may not be the only player ushered into the Northland ranks ahead of the Air NZ Cup: Northland, North Harbour and Auckland coaching staff and Blues chief executive Andy Dalton are set to meet in Auckland on Monday to thrash out player transfer issues within the Blues franchise.

Northland are hoping some sort of Blues player-sharing concept may emerge from the meeting.

But in the meantime Anscombe is pleased to add Coughlan to his playing roster, saying the 30-year-old prop is a significant signing.

Coughlan has had four years in the Super 12 with the Blues and Hurricanes and has played more than 70 matches for North Harbour.

He has just finished playing for Ilkley in Yorkshire after coming off contract with North Harbour at the end of last season.

"What he brings is more experience to the tight five," Anscombe said. "He can play both sides of the scrum and just has the kind of experience that will be invaluable to us.

"We have a couple of young guys in Justin Davies and Bronson Murray who he can pass on a lot of experience and game knowledge to and it gives us cover in a position where you always need depth."

Coughlan acknowledged his decision had an element of risk as he steps away from a successful North Harbour outfit, but said a long-standing association with Anscombe had helped to sway his mindset.

"Since I got here I have been sort of energised by the enthusiasm of everybody involved up here. It has rubbed off on me already," he said.

"A lot of my old friends from North Harbour have gone now. Joe Ward has gone to England, Marty Veale is in Japan and Mark [Anscombe] had shifted so it seemed like a good time to have a change."

Coughlan may be a short-term prospect, though, as he still harbours ambitions of playing fulltime overseas. The meeting on Monday may yet throw up some more candidates to add to Anscombe's list of prospects.

"We will see what transpires with the meeting," said Anscombe.

"Hopefully we can get some cover in certain positions. If not then we will see where we are at and what we might need to do.

"As I see it, we need cover at lock and I am concerned about depth on the wing."

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE