Super 14 – Week Negative 1

Well I know I can get excited about the game, but thought I would start early with a quick review of week negative 1.
The missus is o/s on secondment in Hong Kong, which means I can dedicate more of my time to the game. You have to feel sorry for our new puppy though, the [...]

Rugbyoracle.com update

Just to let you know I have made the decision to shut rugbyoracle.com down from the end of the Super 14 season while I figure out what to do with it.
I enjoy doing it and I think the stats aren’t bad.  It’s a good predictor, as good as anything that the betting shops have going, I [...]

Desiccation cup

World cups over, time to suggest every crazy idea you can suck out of a can of Speights/VB/Hansa and make sure you mention it first to your media mates before suggesting it to, say, SANZAR. 
The latest incarnation of which is O’Neill’s idea that we should extend the Super 14 to a half Japanese, half-Australian [...]

S14 Round One – Leason One – How to Catch A Ball

So the first week is off with a round of home wins and the usual sloppy start that you would expect.
Catching seemed to be a big issue for a number of teams, and the kicks certainly aren’t what you would expect from players who have had months of prep work since the World Cup.It [...]

Blatant anti dwarvish sentiment sweeps the nation

well well, and heres me thinking it was all an aussie plot to depower scrums and to keep the ball out of the darker reaches of those nasty forwards who have a habit of monstering their plucky little triers.
despite the blatantly anti-dwarvish tone of the last post i can only surmise that they are outlawing [...]

Aussie buying power

John O’Neill together with his new kiwi best friend are calling for the opening up of super14 recruitment process to external countries for Australia.
This is already the case for Kiwi and SA teams but they hardly use them, as they are keener to build up new internal talent through their provincial tournaments. The Aussies just [...]

The elv’s are coming!

So the rules are changing with the new ELV’s (Experimental Law variations)  and every team thinks it going to benefit them.  Its not going to benefit me.  I didnt understand the rules before.
For the quick throw in, the elv’s state that they can throw backwards towards the defenders backline.  I thought we already had this. [...]

Turning to the dark (well canary yellow anyway)side

Robbie nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Mr Deans has truly crossed the bounds of all that is decent, i can understand for reasons of charity but it really takes the piss.  The whole world waited with baited breath for the appointment of Alan Jones for his second stint as coach, for that refreshing blast of 80’s nostalgia, way back when the [...]

coaching trips

So, if I get this right the only coach who should have gone is the only one staying.  Graham Henry gets to keep his job after he failed to do the one thing he was hired to do, win the world cup.  What’s the phrase – not fit for purpose? 
Meantime the coach whirlwind might [...]