Let’s get down to it
and be honest right from the get go, James Tamou is a traitor. He might claim to be a Kiwi and a proud
Maori blah blah blah. What a
crock. If he was, he wouldn’t be
wearing green and gold come Friday night.
What a joke the Aussies have made International League………. Again. Just when it seemed the dubious
poaching of players was beginning to fade into the dishonest and disgraceful
past of league, the Aussies prove they don’t want to let go of it just yet by
the looks. Born and raised in
Palmerston North and now a Kanagroo, c’mon! One can only hope that the Kiwi boys remind master Tamou of
a damn good Six60 song with the lyrics, “Don’t forget your roots my friends
yeah, don’t forget your family”! In
saying that though, if he doesn’t want to play for New Zealand, fine, he
wouldn’t have been any good anyway if his heart wasn’t in it. Let’s hope that’s the case when he
lines up against his friends and family this weekend in the Anzac Test. Whilst I could never and would never
condone Issac Luke’s behaviour against his own traitor cousin when playing
against England last year, let’s hope a few of the Kiwi’s boys teach him a damn
good lesson for being a turncoat and Tamou leaves the ground as battered and
bruised as is possible (within the rules of the game of course).
Well done the Breakers
on getting through to the Grand Final series of the ANBL. Another stellar year and the boys are
trying their best to replicate last season as best they can by cutting it fine
in the semi’s before going on to take out the big one. Let’s hope they complete a successful
trifecta on Friday night with the Highlanders getting up, then the Kiwi’s and
finally the Breakers by overcoming Perth and lifting the trophy for the second
year in a row.
 |
| Jimmy Cowan is heading overseas after 12 seasons in NZ |
Well done to Jimmy
Cowan who over the last couple of days has confirmed at the end of the year he
will be moving to Gloucester.
Cowan with 51 Tests and counting, 100 Super Rugby Caps so far and 94
Southland Caps will go overseas with good wishes and everybody’s blessing. Cowan’s competitive spirit and
combativeness could never be questioned, he has always been a battler, even
with the bottle at various stages in his career, and to his credit his has
always risen above these challenges and comeback not only a better player but
better man, if only Jesse Ryder would take a look at how Jimmy Cowan has
managed this and started putting a system in place to stop him from becoming
the latest joke in world Cricket.
So hats off to Cowan, unlike Kaino you have given it your all, achieved
everything that you could have and now that you are probably slipping down the
pecking order in NZ, through no fault of your own, you have decided to head
overseas and gain a fresh environment and perspective. Good Luck.
The Blues saga has drawn
out for another week longer than it should have with Pat Lam suggesting that he
could be interested in reapplying for his position for next season. This coming at the same time that he
has been linked to a move with the Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership. Pat, the time has come pal, do everyone
a favour including yourself and bow out with some respect will you. Just leave now and try and leave the
Blues with some hope for next year before you make everything around them
crumble as well. And as for the
breaking down in tears due to racist remarks made about you on twitter and
talkback radio shows, really? Are
you that soft all of a sudden? No
wonder the Blues are in trouble, if you’re allowing anonymous comments from a
couple of ignorant bigots to get to you.
How do you react if someone disagrees with you face to face or you have
a debate about what the best tactics to employ are? Be a man, man. It’s time Andy Dalton stood up as CEO of the
Blues and earned his large pay-cheque instead of simply paying lip service to
the NZRU procedures when it come to the hiring and reviewing of staff, their
performance and their positions and proves to everyone that he does have a pair
of kahuna’s and fires the coach of the most underwhelming season a New Zealand
team has ever had in Super Rugby.
Don’t forget the fact that the Blues have the largest player base, fan
base and sponsorship market to answer to in New Zealand also, I bet more than a
few people are wondering why they are paying so much money for so little
leadership from either their Coach or their CEO.
But enough of the off
field stuff. What a round of Super
Rugby it was! As mentioned earlier
the Blues managed to disgrace themselves further by losing to the Sharks at
home and after the bye. Not sure
what game Pat Lam was watching when after the match he said he was proud of the
effort. The Sharks need to decide
if they are going to use all their Springbok power and actually challenge for
the title this year or not. One
week solid, the next week a disaster.
John Plumtree needs to figure out how to make this lot consistent, and
soon if they are to be the real deal.
The Force and Waratahs played out an underwhelming battle as one would
expect from an Australian Conference Derby. The Waratahs came out on top, as expected, but didn’t set
the world alight in doing so, as expected. The Crusaders for a second week in a row fought out a battle
of epic proportions, this time coming out on top of the ledger against the
Stormers. Both of these teams must
be considered finals material after their displays in the last couple of
rounds. Congratulations to Tom
Taylor who broke a Crusaders record points haul and equalled the number of
penalties in a match on his way to scoring all 31 points for the Crusaders, if
Dan Carter wasn’t already looking over his shoulder at the growing list of five
eighths in New Zealand, I’m sure Taylor’s performance would have reminded him
he needs to start doing so a bit more from now on. The Brumbies smashed the Rebels at home in Canberra and were
as dominant as any team could be against yet another of the Aussie no-hopers,
to confirm that they really do look like the best of the rag tag Australian
Conference. The Cheetahs went down
fighting to the Chiefs but what a game!
Both teams played entertaining running rugby as was expected with the
Chiefs managing to finish off the match with a bit more puff in their sails
than the Cheetahs. Surely though
the Cheetahs are putting their best foot forward this year in their case to not
be ‘culled’ (did you get it?) for next season. And last but not least the injury ravaged Lions went down to
the Bulls who are looking ever more confident and like the title contenders
they have been over the last four to five years.
Based on the last
couple of weeks there have been a few changes in the pecking order for the
Super Rugby title for 2012. The
Chiefs confirmed that they are a real threat but I think most of us had already
suspected that was the case after what we have seen from them so far this
season. However the rise of the
Bulls and Crusaders has been impressive over the last few weeks, as has the
Stormers ability to hang in their and prove that they are there or thereabouts
after having had the easiest life of anybody so far by playing weaker teams
each week and generally at Newlands.
If I were a betting man I would say the top six on merit come the end of
the season will be the Chiefs, Stormers, Crusaders, Bulls, Highlanders and
Brumbies.
Enjoy the next week of
sports team and remember, C’mon the Kiwis!!!!!
Til next weeks wrap,
Keep Going Balls to the Wall people.
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