Bay grab Nutbrown after losing Senio

Bay of Plenty have snared a "gutted" Jamie Nutbrown from Canterbury in a tit-for-tat grab after losing Kevin Senio to the defending NPC champions.

But that move does not signal plans to snare a platoon of players to replace the core of experienced men who are departing overseas.

Finding another halfback was the top order of business for the Bay, who were semifinalists in the NPC last year but slumped to eighth this season. They have lost inspirational captain Wayne Ormond, long-serving lock Paul Tupai and fullback Adrian Cashmore, along with All Black Senio.

But chief executive Paul Abbott believes there is reasonable depth and sufficient up-and-coming players to cover those holes.

"Halfback was the priority because it's a pivotal position in any team," he said yesterday.

"We knew from day one it was going to be a tough battle to retain Kevin when Canterbury were in the mix, given the options available. We couldn't afford to sit around and wait until the end of the season."

So, figuring out three into two wouldn't work for the Crusaders - with Senio, Nutbrown and New Zealand Colt Andrew Ellis in the frame - they began serious talk with Nutbrown about 10 days ago.

Nutbrown, who has played 15 Super 12 games for the Crusaders and made his debut for Canterbury in 2003, took Senio's arrival hard.

"I certainly wasn't expecting it," the born-and-bred Cantabrian said yesterday.

"It was a bit gutting having grown up here and played all my rugby down here and to find I wasn't wanted. But I'll grab this opportunity and I'm quite excited about it.

"I've got no regrets. It will be good to come up against the Canterbury guys and try and prove myself."

Nutbrown, a national secondary schools representative in 1999 and under-21 representative two years later, made his Crusaders debut last year and is highly regarded. But so is Ellis, who has had the inside running in the closing weeks of the NPC.

Abbott hopes the Bay lifestyle will appeal to 24-year-old Nutbrown and persuade him to lengthen his stay.

"We like to believe we've got the environment where we can keep them a few years and get maximum value out of them, and them out of us."

And there's the incentive of a Chiefs Super 14 spot. Byron Kelleher will clearly be coach Ian Foster's first choice halfback, but Nutbrown would be a good asset as backup.

"I'm excited that the Bay have replaced someone like Kevin with someone of similar experience and I'm fully aware that Jamie is coming up very ambitious, not only to play really well for the Bay but also really ambitious to play well for the Chiefs," Foster said.

"It's great to have that option at selection time."