Warren Kearney (Ranfurly) has hung up his rugby boots for the season and will now spend his spare time on the ice preparing for the Pacific Curling championships in South Korea in November.
Kearney (25) captained the Pirates premier team into the semifinals of the Dunedin premier rugby championships.
He has just been named as third in the New Zealand men's team for the Pacific championships.
The other team members are Sean Becker (Ranfurly), Kris Miller (Ranfurly), Warren Dobson (Mt Ida) and Kenny Thomson (Auckland).
"It is the first year for Olympic qualifying for the Winter Olympics in Russia and we must get into the top two to get to the world championships to gain qualifying points," Kearney said.
The development officer with the Otago Rugby Football Union has been a loose forward in the Pirates premier team in Dunedin for the past six years.
He started curling in Ranfurly at the age of 15 and first played internationally for the New Zealand junior team in 2003.
He has been in the senior team for the past four years.
This will be his fourth Pacific championships.
"We finished third in 2007 and 2008 and we can make it into the top two this year," he said.
"We can get individual training time on the ice at Dunedin and Naseby but the key is to get team training together to develop our strategies."
Sean Becker (Ranfurly), who took a break from international curling and did not compete in last year's Pacific championships in Japan, has returned to the team as skip.
The Maniototo farmer showed he is one of the best curlers in the world when he and sister Bridget won silver at the world mixed doubles championships in Russia last April.
Kris Miller (Ranfurly), a physical education student at the University of Otago, will be contesting his second senior Pacific championships.
He was the reserve in the team in Japan last year.
A newcomer in the team is Kenny Thomson (Auckland), a Scotsman who is now living in New Zealand.
The high performance manager for New Zealand curling, Peter Becker, said from Ranfurly yesterday two players unlucky to miss selection were Scott Becker (Ranfurly), who is gaining curling experience in Scotland, and Rupert Jones (Dunedin).
A newcomer in the women's team is Katie Bauer (Auckland), who has been in the junior team for the past two years.
The top four members of the team are Bridget Becker (Ranfurly), Brydie Donald (Dunedin), Marisa Jones (Ranfurly) and Natalie Campbell (Alexandra).
They beat China and Japan at last year's Pacific championships.
China is the world women's champion and Japan is ranked fifth.
The men's and women's senior teams will play in the world championships in the United States in April next year.
