Wellington, Oct 7 NZPA - Twenty players have so far transferred to new provincial unions for 2009, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) confirmed today.

Players who transferred by last Friday are available first to the franchise covering the provincial union they have transferred to, as part of the selection process for 2009 Super 14 squads.

The squads will be announced on October 31.

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew said provincial unions and a player could agree for the player to be loaned to another union, including back to the union they had transferred from.

"This is becoming increasingly common practice and it means that the top players are available for selection for a particular franchise team, but can then return to their province of choice to play in the Air NZ Cup."

Player transfers:-

Ross Filipo from Wellington to Canterbury, Tom Harding from Wellington to Waikato, Jayden Hayward from Taranaki to Otago, Nigel Hunt from Wellington to Bay of Plenty, Tasesa Lavea from Counties-Manukau to Auckland, Zar Lawrence from North Harbour to Bay of Plenty, Johnny Leota from Manawatu to Otago, Faifili Levave from Waikato to Wellington, Ben May from Tasman to Waikato, Bronson Murray from Northland to Canterbury, Clint Newlands from Hawke's Bay to Otago, Jared Payne from Northland to Canterbury, Joe Savage from North Harbour to Bay of Plenty, David Smith from Auckland to Wellington, Sona Taumalolo from Hawke's Bay to Waikato, Hayden Triggs from Manawatu to Otago, Fetu'u Vainikolo from Northland to Otago, Thomas Waldrom from Wellington to Canterbury, Ali Williams from Tasman to Auckland, Paul Williams from Canterbury to Auckland.

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