The testing ground awaits

Northland coach Mark Anscombe puts the pack through its paces. Picture / Northern Advocate

It's a week out from domestic rugby's rejigged championship. Fine-tuning is the order of the day round the country.

The All Blacks will remain the focal point for the next few weeks. That will be the bedding-in period for the Air New Zealand Cup.

And what can we expect? We should all be hunkering down for a mix of tight, competitive matches mixed with some cricket scorelines.

Over the three months, All Blacks will come and go, and the seasoned names of those immediately below the top tier will mingle with players to date unheard of outside their provincial orbit.

The heavyweights are expected to dominate the inaugural cup. So step forward defending champions Auckland, and the usual suspects, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.

Much of the interest will be how the teams lifted out of the old second division will cope: Counties Manukau, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, the merged Tasman at the top of the South Island, and the perennial first division battlers like Northland.

What about the coaches? One perk of the cup is that it brings some familiar names back, and opens the door for others to imprint their mark.

Kevin Putt can't wait to begin proceedings at Counties, who host Otago in round one next Saturday at Mt Smart Stadium.

He couldn't give a hoot for all the talk about puzzling formats; he's delighted with the progress made so far, including wins over Manawatu, North Harbour and Bay of Plenty, but knows ultimately they'll mean little.

"We're stoked with the results but at this stage they don't give us points," Putt said. "They do give a lot of self-confidence and belief, and that's hugely important.

"The most important thing we've made is a step up in physicality. At the moment we're there or thereabouts, we know it's probably a two-year process in that development, but it's a real positive start."

Putt's aim is having his players get the small things right, which will lead to positive results. Solely thinking in terms of wins and losses is the wrong way to approach the campaign. That, Putt believes, would be "the nail in the coffin".

Other coaches echoed Putt's view, which is understandable. The big unions will look at things differently but each union has to cut its cloth to fit.

"There's still a hell of a lot of work to do, but I'll guarantee a lot of provinces are saying that as well," Putt added.

Dave Rennie is well behind his rivals, having just stepped in to take over as Manawatu coach. It's shaping as a thankless task. Their three pre-season games have been lost and they have a look of a team others might fancy kicking around.

But Rennie hopes gloom and doom talk will act as a motivational tool for his squad, who are keenly aware of how they are viewed round the country.

"We've talked a lot about earning respect from the rugby public," he said.

"Lots of people are assuming there are going to be cricket scores. Certainly the boys are pretty keen for a challenge. It's an opportunity to measure up."

Rennie pointed out that Manawatu has produced 13 national secondary schools representatives in the past couple of years, more than any other region. Yet only two remain in the province.

"There's a lot of good kids and if we gain a bit of respect for the top side and work hard to hold on to these guys, it'll be a few years down the track before we gain the benefits, but that's where we've got to get to."

Former All Black captain Todd Blackadder jokes that he's the "general dogsbody" at the Tasman Makos operation. Officially he's the director of rugby. He oversees the club rugby, and puts together programmes at junior levels and for the women's teams.

He keeps his hand in looking after the kickoffs and lineouts for the top team. And he's loving it.

He returned from Scotland to take up the position and while you'll hear plenty of people willing to bag the format as hard to fathom, Blackadder's not among them.

"I know there may be sceptics who look at the competition and format and say they don't quite understand it. What I'll say is every region in New Zealand is covered.

"Guys in Marlborough and Nelson have a real opportunity to play at the highest level. You no longer have to travel to major centres and what the sceptics don't realise is the interest that's been generated. Sponsors now want to be part of the Makos footing it with the best. Kids can identify with the cup jersey. It's done so much good in clubs and the communities."

And prospects? "I think we're going to do quite well. This is going to be a big step up. If you're playing the likes of Canterbury or Auckland, you've got to show a bit of character and not lie down. I think we'll be really competitive."

At Northland, new coach Mark Anscombe is aware his team lacks high class in several areas, but he's got a core of Super rugby players, like forwards Tim Dow and Justin Collins and backs David Gibson, John Senio and David Holwell.

They have perennially been at the tail of the old first division table but Anscombe, who has spent 14 years coaching and moved north from being North Harbour's assistant coach last season, is after improvement.

He said plenty of work had been done to improve what was poor conditioning, to reinforce professional attitudes and to ensure his squad played with heart.

Critical among his aims is to push players to take ownership of what they do on the park.

"So that under pressure they make the right decisions and back each other. That's the biggest challenge. We have to lift the bar of our own expectations of ourselves."