Benji Marshall met Blues coach Sir John Kirwan in Auckland on Friday amid rising speculation that he will play for the Super Rugby franchise in 2014.
Marshall is quitting Wests Tigers and the National Rugby League at the end of the season, and Kirwan has no doubt the former New Zealand Kiwis rugby league captain will star in rugby. "This is the Blues, this is Auckland, and we're about a little bit of razzle-dazzle as well," Kirwan said on Radio New Zealand. "If Benji Marshall's coming to town, Aucklanders will turn up."
Marshall's manager, Martin Tauber, who flew to Auckland from Sydney with his client, meanwhile told 3news.co.nz that the playmaker had "a great desire to win and be part of a winning culture, and having listened to John Kirwan and Andy Dalton and meeting Murray [Bolton] today has been exceptional".
Tauber was non-committal when asked whether he thought Marshall would sign for the Blues, saying "that's a decision for him to make, which hopefully we'll make it in the next few days", but he told 3news that Marshall was motivated by the opportunity to be coached by Kirwan and by the potential to be selected for the All Blacks.
Tauber told 3news that Australian franchises that had shown interest wanted him to commit to the Wallabies but "[Benji] will never, ever wear anything else but the silver fern".
Just arrived in Auckland and the first person we saw at our Hotel was Benji. Nick McArdle and I thought the paparazzi were waiting for us!
— Greg Clark (@greg_clarkie) August 2, 2013