The Orange

Based on the media response to the Sevens loss at Hong Kong, there is a collective sense of failure at the results.

The Herald made a particular point of noting that it’s been five rounds without a victory:

It means they will go without success for a fifth time in the series, leaving them with a huge task to fight back and defend their title.

Later, the Herald pointed out that the team that was so dominant last year was now struggling to beat a team like Kenya:

New Zealand, who were so dominant last year, once again paid for errors and a lack of cutting edge against a Kenyan side who have risen to become a consistent danger team. The speedy Africans also beat the more-fancied New Zealanders in pool play at the San Diego tournament last month.

Host broadcaster TVNZ noted that the “quarter final curse had struck again”.

Without a doubt, NZ’s performance has been noticeably worse than recent years.

To me, it’s no surprise given the improvement in the other countries coupled with the lack of depth we are now seeing in the Super 14.

It’s not unfair to say that the Sevens team gets those who aren’t considered good enough for Super rugby.

The role of Sevens in the pecking order is core to this.  For most administrators, sevens rugby is entertainment and the reason for a great pissup once a year in Wellington.

Problem will emerge if the Sevens team can’t get back to where it was an at least be regularly in the running to win.  NZ rugby fans expect all NZ teams to win, regardless of the situation.

It’s similar to what used to happen before Sevens got picked up seriously – NZ used to send the provincial winner of the National Sevens tournament then we would scratch our head when we didn’t win at Hong Kong.

It’s early days yet but we risk a return to the future if the Sevens team is made up of also rans.

The time will likely come when we will have to choose whether or not we are serious about Sevens.

Based on the number of searches about Bendan Telfer, there’s a lot of interest in the man’s health which I’m sure is appreciated by his nearest and dearest.

As is often the case, events like this bring out raw emotions and quite clearly The Telferman is acknowledged for the contribution he makes to sport, regardless of his own particular views.

The interesting aspect to this is the perceived lack of information about his health. I understand that for the family of Telfer, there’s a real privacy issue.

The other side of the coin is that if you live in the public spotlight – and more importantly make a living off living in the spotlight, you can expect some interest in your health and well-being.

Put it down to the celebrity obsessed culture we live in.

I was almost tempted to not blog about this as it’s akin to making good out of someone else’s misfortune. However, it seems there is still a lack of information out there in the real world.

Also, I thought I should clear up some misinformation that appeared in one of my earlier posts.

According to the latest update in the Herald, it wasn’t a stroke or an aneurism:

[Telfer's wife] McIntosh said some reports that her husband had a stroke or an aneurism were incorrect. “It’s neither of those.

It is a bleed on the brain and the medical term for it is a thing called a subarachnoid haemorrhage.”

Interestingly, that’s the latest report on the Herald and the report is over a week old.

I still note that as of today, Radio Sport’s web site still can’t account for the fact that Telfer is not actually on air at present. Nor is there any update of his health or progress (privacy issues accepted).

There is however a link to “Send Get Well Message” … as long as you scroll down the page otherwise you’ll miss it.

It’s back to the future for the Warriors after last night’s shellacking at the hands of the Broncos.

It wasn’t just the loss, but the size of the loss playing at home.

The Broncos embarassed the Warriors at home and it’s been a long time since that happened.

The deja va feeling all around Mt Smart (and most likely the whole of NZ) is that this seems to happen every time we dare dream that this may be THE season.

To make matters worse, the Warriors have now lost one of the their key strike weapons with Brent Tate likely out for the rest of the season.  Bugger.

Having said all that, it’s not the end of the world or even the end of the season.

The Warriors have had a pretty challenging start to the season and still find themselves 2 from 3.

You’ve also got to think that the game against Manly took a lot out of the tank that wasn’t there last night.

Finally, all teams have injuries at some time – hopefully for the Warriors, their injuries have come at the start of the season.  With Ben Matulino, Lance Hohaia, and Big Manu still to return, there plenty to look forward to.

Keep the faith!

From news reports it looks like the Maori-Boks game is back on.

On the sporting front, what could be better than the Boks fronting up to the Maori challenge at Soweto* in a 120,000 seater stadium.

The original problem was that the South African teams were not allowed to play against  teams selected on racial grounds.

The solution is admirably simple yet sensible:

The instruction came after SARU’s council accepted a recommendation from the management committee that the union should “accept matches against any teams sanctioned by the national governing body of that team”.

There is of course a certain irony.

As recently as 1970, New Zealand was prepared to accept sending a whites only All Black team.

Yet here we are nearly 40 years later aching to send a Maori-only team to South Africa.

The last word:  for a long time, I thought that Soweto must have had some  cultural meaning or significance … it had to be native word of some standing.

Imagine my disappointment when I found out that Soweto was actually short for South Western Township.  Not a Zulu word as far as I can tell.

OK, I put my hand up and say I had a bit of fun at Jesse Ryder’s expense.

You could say I took the piss out of a pisshead.

You call also call the Jesse’s had a reputation for having a bit of fun too.

Regardless of the past, it clear that right now he is happy to simply do his job.

In fact, he’s making it look quite easy.  Yep, Easy Ryder.

A maiden test century last test and now an unbeaten 137 with the distinct possibility of more to come.

What’s just as impressive is his consistency which naturally leads to an impressive average.  Check out his stats at Cricinfo.

In 14 test innings, he’s now hit 2 tons and 4 half centuries.  Not surprisingly, his test average is over 50 (and will increase after his second ton).

His ODI average is also pretty healthy, a touch under 40.

Without knowing the details, it’s hard to work out who’s been helping out in the background.  Having said that he still has to make it happen when it matters and that’s exactly what he’s been doing.

One interesting aspect to the double century partnership between Ryder and Ross Taylor was that it showed a significant cultural change for the NZ cricket team.

Two bros – one Maori, one Samoan – were out there doing the business for NZ cricket.

All power to them and let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come, both for NZ cricket and for both the players.

And Jesse – cheers mate!

We finally have confirmation that Michael Witt is leaving the Warriors to play rugger for Otago.

There’s a number of quite intriguing aspects to this.

For a start, while the Oz rugby union have been very active in raping and pillaging the ranks of rugby league, the NZRFU has shown little or no interest in trying to attract NZ league players to union.

Second, Witt performed well – at times – last year for the Warriors and his try against the Storm had to be right up there in terms of the tries of the year.

However, it became obvious with the recruitment of Joel Moon in particular that Witt’s long term place in the Warriors was very insecure.  Moon was brought to the Warriors on the promise that he would get a crack at number 6, something he wouldn’t get at the Broncos.

I did laugh when the breakfast tag team at Radio Sport breathlessly reported the shock news that Witt had been destined for the lower grades and was looking elsewhere.  You don’t need a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry to realise that once Moon was signed, Witt was checking out other team rosters.

The real surprise is that he’s staying in NZ to play rugby.

So much for the depth in domestic rugby that the the NZRFU is prepared to bankroll a deal to sign an Aussie rugby league player.

Mind you, it’s clear what the rugger boys are buying – someone who can kick goals.  It simply underlines the lack of depth in NZ rugby that someone with no record in the game – but an ability to kick goals – is signed to play for a NZ provincial team.

The thought that he could potentially play for the AB’s is a little disconcerting but that’s something to consider in the years to come.

For some highlights our what rugby is getting, check out last year’s First Round play off game Warriors v Storm – not only did Witt score the famous last try, he also kicked a brilliant sideline conversion to take the teams into half time on even terms.

Just checked and I’ve been a little slack on the Ryan Nelsen watch front.

When we last had a look, Blackburn were struggling in the relegation zone, admittedly with a game in hand.

Since then, it has been a real battle, not just for Blackburn.  While Blackburn haven’t been losing lots of games, they haven’t been winning either.

At least they have managed to get out of the relegation zone – just!

Blackburn are currently in 17th position on 31 points two ahead of 18th placed Newcastle.

But it’s close – just 5 points cover 12th-18th and Middlesborough aren’t out of it either a further 2 points behind Newcastle.

This time last year, Blackburn were happily bumping around 7-9th places and the biggest worry was whether or not they would make Europe.

The bad news is that in the 8 games to play to round off the season, Blackburn still have to play Liverpool AND Chelsea both away.

On the flip side, Blackburn’s last game is against WBA who are currently last.

Nevermind Ryan … there’s always a place in the Nix waiting for you!

Premier League table

Been a while since we checked in our Toulon’s top man, Tana.

It looks like Toulon have been ticking all the right boxes in recent weeks and have stormed to fourth.  Fourth from the bottom.

Still it sure beats being bottom two and the other big news is the $BW has signed on for more and has been scoring tries.

Check out Tana’s progress here:

http://frenchrugbyclub.com/Top-14-League-Table.html

Willie Lose was last week doing his best to deflect the positives from the first week of the NRL by throwing out a line about the Warriors not being a development club.

According to the gospel of Willie, the main purpose of the Warriors was to provide opportunities for local players.

And in fairness, there are currently a significant number of Aussie players – hell, it looks like Queensland C or D!

On the surface, it would appear that Willie has a valid point.  After all, shouldn’t there be more Kiwis in the Warriors?

In my mind, the first reply is really – who cares?  Once they pull on the Warriors jersey, they are part of my team and a Warrior.  I don’t care where they were born or whether they represent Queensland, NZ, NSW or Samoa.

Second point is it assumes that the only club NZ players can play for is the Warriors.  If only that was the case!

Almost all of the clubs have scouts based in NZ so the reality is that top youth players in NZ have 16 clubs to choose from, not just the Warriors.

Indeed, until last year, the Warriors didn’t have a youth team which many of the Sydney clubs had.

On top of that, the relative failure of the club made it less attractive to any player looking for a successful pro career.

So that kind of assumes that the Warriors HAVEN’T been a development team.

Acknowledging that there were six Ozzies on the park on Sunday, there’s still a fair bit of impressive development to savour:

• Simon Mannering, Jerome Ropati, and Big Manu are all one club Warriors as is new young gun, Sam Rapira
• In just over a season, the under 20’s has delivered regular first graders Ben Matulino and Russell Packer
• Lance Hohaia was injured – another one club Warrior
• And the little general himself is a one NRL club man albeit after a couple of seasons eating croissants!

The ideal scenario of course is that the Warriors is both a winning team and a development team.

Willie may have to accept that that looks very much like it’s starting to happen.

Another weekend and the Titanic aka NZ rugby charges further into iceberg territory.

On the one hand, we have the Super 14.  A sample of some of the “highlights”:

• 4000 yellow cards are dished out at the Hurricanes game (OK, it was only 4 yellow and one red card but you’d be excused for losing count)
• for the second time this season, the Blues lose by 30 odd points yet score a bonus point!!!!
• news reports suggest the NZRFU are preparing to contract a player who can’t make the Warriors first team (Michael Witt)
• the only good news is that NZ teams are all positioned 4th to 8th

On the other hand, we have the second week of the NRL.

The Warriors feature in big game on Sunday and score a brilliant come from behind victory.

It gets worse for the NZRFU.  The key to the Warriors win is the return of the prodigal son and living legend, Stacey Jones.

Rugby, almost unbelievably, struggles to have a name to compete with the Jones boy.

Now, all is not perfect with rugby league.  Brainless pissheads are a blight on the game while rugby league administrators in NZ have proven to be more inept than their cousins in the fifteen man game.

Yet when it comes down to the actual competition, the NRL continues to be leagues ahead of anything that rugby throws up.

One point that needs to be considered – the Warriors has a sizeable number of Ockers who sensibly realise life is better in NZ.  Some will see this as a negative.

Once a player pulls on my team’s jersey, I don’t care where they were born, what colour they are, and what they have for breakfast.  Sport is tribal and I simply want my team to beat the opposition.

The rugby dunderheads still think we want to see development teams of players from NZ who aren’t (in the main) good enough to get contracts in the UK.

Someone at rugby HQ needs to make a decision – are they running a professional competition, or are we developing players for the future.  We pay for it one way or another so if they don’t want to run a professional competition, could someone please let us know.