Rugby: Southerner mulls over big move

Jamie Mackintosh has made it clear that it will be pull factors rather than push ones that could take him to the Hurricanes next season.

The giant All Black prop is mulling over an offer to sign with Wellington and be available for the Hurricanes and then be loaned back to his beloved Southland.

"I have some options to maybe play my Super Rugby somewhere else and stay with Southland," said Mackintosh after the Stags' 27-13 loss to Auckland yesterday.

"I guess it would be about playing rugby with a new group, pushing myself into a new environment. It's all up in the air at the moment.

"I have tried not to think about it for the last few days as I wanted to focus on playing well [against Auckland]," he said. "I will have to make a decision in the next week or so and it's not going to be easy."

Mackintosh, who toured with the All Blacks last year, lost his place this season and slipped down the pecking order. Owen Franks and Wyatt Crockett leapfrogged him and Mackintosh is now considering whether a shift of franchise will be the catalyst he needs to win back his place in the national squad.

While the Highlanders played some structured and engaging football last season, they lost their way towards the end of the campaign. They lack star quality and the attraction of joining the Hurricanes is the knowledge he will be in a squad capable of making the semifinals.

The unknown for Mackintosh, however, is how much game time he'll win.

The Hurricanes have been pursuing Mackintosh to add some bulk and depth to their front row options.

This year they had Neemia Tialata, John Schwalger and Jacob Ellison.

There is no guarantee Mackintosh will force his way into a regular starting role but that could be the challenge he needs. He will have to fight to win a starting jersey, which he doesn't have to do with the Highlanders.

But he has to be good enough to make the Hurricanes if he's going to make the All Blacks.

Mackintosh also said he was aware that with franchises likely to be allowed to contract players directly from 2011, the idea of playing Super Rugby in one region and provincial football in another is going to become commonplace.

"I already spend six months away from home with the Highlanders," he said. "And I think with direct contracting coming in that is what will happen more."