by Brendan Bradford – No one likes starting on the bench, but with the National Rugby Championship’s rule variations ensuring a faster game with the ball in play for a significantly longer period of time, there’s a chance to change that way of thinking. With two Super Rugby-quality halfbacks to choose from in Matt Lucas and Josh Holmes, that’s the way North Harbour Rays coach, Geoff Townsend views it. “We don’t have a number one halfback, we have two number one halfbacks – one’s the starter and I suppose one’s the closer for any particular game, that’s how we’re looking at it,” Townsend told Rugby News. “The ball is in play for at least eight minutes more so you’re playing a lot more footy and in some sense, you’ve got your starters and your closers.