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ROBERT CHARLES/Taranaki Daily News

ANCHOR MAN: Taranaki prop Michael Bent is hoping for an excellent national provincial championship to push for a spot in next year's Super 15 competition.

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The find of last year's forward pack is back and more than ready to touch, pause and engage his opposition.

Tenderlink Taranaki tighthead prop Michael Bent's reputation grew rapidly last season as he found himself moving off the bench to a starting spot and finally a place in the Hurricanes wider development squad.

The 24-year-old Hawera man is now seen by many as a scrum anchor that Taranaki's tight five can build a future on as the provincial union aims for a top-seven spot in the ITM Cup.

While the swiftness of his rise to automatic first choice has been a steep learning curve, Bent wouldn't have it any other way.

"Coming into the team straight out of club rugby, you don't do a lot of game analysis, so coming into the Taranaki and the Hurricanes environment, you really have to take note of what you are doing around the paddock and what lines you are running, so my game awareness has picked up a lot," he said.

Bent said he lost several kilograms not long after going into pre-season camp with the Hurricanes, due mainly to the heavy cardiovascular work they put in, although most of it has come back on through some heavy gym sessions.

While he wasn't one for getting too far ahead of himself when it came to setting long-term goals, there is no doubt Bent wants to be a mainstay in the Taranaki squad.

"Playing 100 games for Taranaki would be a big honour and if you're good enough to do that, it would be definitely something I'd be interested in doing," he said.

There is also the small matter of doing enough to catch the eye of incoming Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett, no easy feat given the depth at prop within the franchise.

Being one of only a handful of homegrown players in the starting lineup, Bent could be in for some extra favouritism from the crowd when Northland appear in town tomorrow night, although he believes it matters little where his team-mates are from.

"I've grown up supporting the team, so to play for them is a big honour. But I think the guys that have come in realise there is a lot of history behind the jersey and have bought in to what it means, there is no doubt there is a lot of pride involved."Asked to comment on the differences between last year's team set-up and that of new coach Colin Cooper, the 115kg front-rower pauses.

"Well, it's hard to say just at the moment. I think Coops has been really good with his feedback and that, he's been a bit more hands-on possibly than we had last year," he said. "He's good at giving you a tap on the shoulder and giving you little pointers you need to work on."

- © Fairfax NZ News