Holy #$?%! Was that an update? I'm sure some of the pages just got shuffled
around (and some new bugs introduced no doubt) and our logo got some fancy footie
ball stuck on the end!

Yes indeed rumours of the death of RugbyHeads would appear to have been nothing
more than that. I know it may sound as unlikely to you as SBW transferring to
Canterbury and then getting fast tracked in to the All Blacks, but it's true!

Chief Rugbyhead Jules Cone is working on rebooting the site, "Batman Begins"-
style, we are bringing back the Articles section and hopefully getting things
cooking again for this big Rugby year ahead.

Feel free to check out the old articles right now, and stay
tuned for more details...

SA, it might be time to give us back that Tri-Nations cup you have been looking after for us. We have a
nice spot for it ready in the cabinet, next to the Bledisloe...

:D

BT

My Crusaders came up just short against the UnbeataBulls at home but damn they came close!

Holding onto a narrow lead the game finished dramatically with an amazing charge-down on a Steyn drop-goal attempt only to cruelly knock the ball back in the resulting possession into the hands of the racey little Bulls winger who scored the winning try. ARRGHH!!

The Crusaders interesting approach of running everything and even passing up kickable penalties in the first half just to keep the momentum up was audacious and almost worked.

Unfortunately when you play like that you really have to handle the ball well and a few handling errors and silly penalties let the foot off the throat. It was some of the new young Crusaders that were most guilty of it too, I guess they will learn from the experience, but only the coach can really take any solace from that sort of thing, for a fan it's just aggravating!

This let the Bulls back into the game, and as the commentators so rightly called it, the Bull's slow poison style got them back into the possession stakes, notching up penalty goals with their goal-kicking-bot Steyn and then counter-attacking well when they had the chance.

Good effort Richie and your boys, let's hope the two bonus points are enough to keep us in the race, although we may have to come back to the high-veldt to play a semi. Yikes!

Just the result we wanted, although it was a bit rough for the new Mac truck, Robbie Fruen, that the Crusaders have in mid-field to run over the top of little old Stevie Brett.

I certainly wasn't supporting his team but I was quite happy for him to have a good game all the same. He was doing alright up until the point of impact of his head with the ground as Fruen ran Lomu-like over the top of him.

Hope he's alright, we want him back for the ANZC!

Well after last weekends results you would figure both the Crusaders and the Blues are ready to turn on a ripper on Saturday night.

We know there has always been some animosity between these two sides and the current record is 8-8 from the 16 games they have played so it's not like the 'Saders have it all their own way as you might imagine from recent times.

Brett vs Carter is going to be very interesting in itself.

I can't wait.

Blues suck, go Crusaders!

Bah, I sit up late at night to watch a calming game of Rugby where my home town boys give the pineapple fancying Queenslanders a good shalacking and what happens?!? We lose big time, that's what happens!

What is the world coming to when you can't rely on a Crusaders win against the lowly Reds? Anyone would think it was 1996 or something.

I hope Toddy gave the boys a good bollocking and they can get back on track against the Sharks next week.

Well bloody hell, it's time for a new Super 14 season, the 6 Nations is already in full swing and the Black Caps have just played Bangladesh at the newly revamped AMI stadium, on the same pitch that the Crusaders will be playing the Highlanders tomorrow night.

It must be summer.

As some of you (assuming there is still someone other than GoogleBot visiting to read this stuff!) may have noticed, we had a few stagnent content issues in 2009.

This was mainly due to head-Rugbyhead Jules being out of action fighting leukemia, not exactly a bad excuse for ignoring rugby I guess.

However Jules is in full recovery mode now and we are keen to try and kick some life back into Rugbyheads!

The first change you may notice is that we have moved a bunch of the old features, that were a bit stale and required quite a bit of work to maintain, out of the home page and under the menu option, Tired Old Stuff, because, let's face it, that's what it is!

We may well resurrect some of those features, but for now we are going lean and mean. So as of today the main active sections of the site are, as always, the Discussion Board, and of course my wonderfully informative blog.

So let's try and send the word out to any and all ex-Rugbyheads that things are back on track. I'll be sending an email to everyone who has a discussion board account for a start.

Let us know your thoughts on the board or feel free to email us.

Cheers, BT

Bloody hell, I go away on long term sabbatical and the first thing I have to write about when I return is that Southland have come to Christchurch and beaten our young fellas up and stolen the Ranfurly Shield!

Well I guess it could have been worse, at least the shield is staying in the south, and both teams have made the semis which they both deserve. We'll look forward to seeing Southland again in the final!

Todd Blackadder let's Jules get his hands on the Super 14 and NPC trophies!

As some of you may know our Chief Rugbyhead Jules has been going through a rough time in the last few months, having been diagnosed with Leukemia in early November. He is currently nearing the end of treatment though, with a transplant due to happen on Saturday that hopefully will provide the cure.

As a special treat his sister Hannah organised a visit from Toddy and some of the girls from the CRFU.

As well as sorting him out with a bunch of Crusaders stuff (caps, posters, a scarf) they had a really good chat about all sorts of things including showing him Rugbyheads! Toddy thought it was a hoot, especially your's truely.

He invited Jules and his boys down to the training ground to visit the team, an offer that I'm sure will get taken up once Jules is out of hospital and on the road to recovery.

Cheers Toddy! You are a legend!

As always it seems too early to be talking rugby, but I'm sure we will all warm to the task!

The 2009 rugby season is in full swing, with two rounds of the 6 Nations and Round 1 of the Super 14 in the books. Check out the Scores and points tables below for the full details.

Scanning the results I would have to say that there haven't been too many surprises, no doubt the Hurricanes fans will see their lose to the Tahs as a huge upset but really it was a close result and the Tahs are no push overs, not really a surprise scoreline to me.

The only game I actually saw was the helter-skelter fumble-fest in Christchurch between the Chiefs and the Champs. For all the mistakes and turnovers in this match it was still very entertaining and the Chiefs really could have stolen it at any stage but as they have done so often in the past with the game on the line with 10 minutes to go the Crusaders cranked up the pressure, played field position and came away with the win. Fantastic. While I'm not too confident that these boys can repeat again you definitely can't write them off, which is all you can ask for as a fan. Lovely....

Once again the ABs just proved two strong in the second half as they blew England off the park to take a comprehensive 32-6 win and wrap up their Grand Slam tour and the new Ed Hillary trophy.

Not that the ABs were the only ones blowing the English off the park, the ref had a whistle happy afternoon too, binning 4 Poms for various indiscretions, most of which were deserved.

The scoreline could have been larger if Dan had put his boots on the right feet today, he missed at least 3 kicks that I can remember, a couple of them pretty simple ones too.

All in all another impressive season for the ABs and a great one for the trophy cabinet. Graham Henry and his coaching team have surely redeemed themselves after the RWC failure and have set themselves up for a stable season next year where they can just focus on building on what this young AB team have achieved.

One incredible stat from this tour is that the ABs only conceded 3 points in the second half of any match and that was today. Pretty much they just absorbed the pressure in the first half and then picked up the pace and poured on the points. Lovely!

That's the end of another great NZ rugby season which, on top of the All Blacks success saw the Crusaders win the S14 and Canterbury take the NPC from a strong Wellington team. It's still good to be a Cantab!

Have a great summer and see you back in Feb for the Wellington Sevens and the kickoff of the S14.

Tight Forwards:
John Afoa, Ben Franks, Jamie Mackintosh, Neemia Tialata, Tony Woodcock
Corey Flynn, Andrew Hore, Keven Mealamu
Anthony Boric, Jason Eaton, Ross Filipo, Brad Thorn, Ali Williams

Loose Forwards:
Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw, Liam Messam, Kieran Read, Rodney So'oialo, Adam Thomson, Scott Waldrom

Inside Backs:
Daniel Carter, Jimmy Cowan, Stephen Donald, Andy Ellis, Richard Kahui, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Piri Weepu

Outside Backs:
Hosea Gear, Cory Jane, Malili Muliaina, Josevata Rokocoko, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Isaia Toeava, Anthony Tuitavake

Not a bad looking squad really, a good mix of experience and some new talent that deserves a chance to stake a claim.

Add your thoughts on the squad to the discussion on the board!.

Ah, what a great victory! At 7-6 it certainly could have gone either way but from my perspective there is no way Wellington deserved to steal this one at the death. Canterbury had just defended far to well and Wellington hadn't played to the conditions.

It's particularly satisfying to win the games where for large periods you are biting your nails or bitching at the TV, whether it was at the ref (who at times has wearing number 16 for the Lions it seemed!) or some of the actions of a few thugs in the Wellington team, who just can't seem to help themselves when there is an opportunity to dish out a bit of niggle. I know this isn't TiddlyWinks but it is not actually cool to try and hurt the opposition players when you think the Ref isn't looking.

As usual Richie was a target of this sort of crap copping an early high shot from Lilo and then getting a little facial from former AB teammate Chris Masoe. What lovely guys they are, just makes it all the more satisfying that the Canterbury boys took it all, didn't back down and ultimately finished on top.

As a result I didn't feel any pity for Piri Weepu, speechless and drained trying to give his post match comments.

A dramatic end to the domestic season, bring on the end of year AB tour!

Finally we can all stop this PC crap of pretending that Taranaki, Tasman, Southland or Hawkes Bay really had a chance of stopping the two juggernauts of this year's competition and just be happy that THE matchup of the provincial season is about to take place, Wellington hosting Canterbury for the ANZC final!

Neither team has really looked their best in the last couple of weeks but both have shown that they play for the full 80 minutes and can punish the oppositions mistakes.

Unfortunately Canterbury suffered a few injuries in their semi against Hawkes Bay, with Andy Ellis, James Paterson, Casey Laulala and Isaac Ross all suffering at the hands of some stiff Hawkes Bay defence but reports out of the Canterbury camp are hopeful that Ellis, Ross and Laulala should come right in time for the big game, and Sean Maitland can come onto the wing in place of Paterson.

Stephen Brett is also still out injured but given the way Colin Slade ran the show against the Bay his loss doesn't appear so critical. Of course it would be bloody nice to have him available on the bench, but I've got faith that Slade can do the job.

No doubt the Wellington media will be trying to make out that Canterbury are the favourites, mainly because their beloved Wellington team have a chronic history of choking on the big occasion, but seriously the home side has to be favourites in this one! Not that I will expect anything less than a win for the boys in Red and Black!

GO CANTERBURY!!!

Here were are at the semis and while two Super 14 powerhouses remain, Canterbury and Wellington, who would have picked that the other two contenders were going to be Southland and Hawkes Bay? Sure as hell not me!

Mid-season I expected Waikato to sort their act out in time to get through, and I would have figured Auckland or Otago would manage to sneak in ahead of Southland. Not to be, with Waikato continuing their role as the Bay whipping boys and Auckland and Otago just simply not good enough.

Not that I'm complaining, hell I wish Taranaki had upset those cocky Wellingtonians in the quarter and then we could only have one powerhouse left, my one! :)

The matches on the weekend were all high scoring entertaining affairs, and I expect the two semis will be similar, tries aplenty with the underdog looking to stop the big boy playing his game but ultimately having to play keep up footie to keep in touch on the scoreboard.

Go Canterbury, and Go Southland!

As the cliche goes, history will show that Wellington beat Tasman by 26-20 to defend the shield for the first time in the current tenure.

As usual, the record book won't show the whole story! With about 9 minutes to go, and Tasman leading 13-11 the ref decided that the it was time to use his cards and sent Tasman half-back Kahn Foutali'i to the bin for hands in the ruck. Given the amount of hands in the ruck that there had been in this match it was a big call to make at this decisive point in the match, and really swung things in Wellington's favour. Weepu kicked the resulting penalty and then with the numerical advantage Wellington managed to score two tries, the second of which came from a turn-over as Tasman started throwing it around desperately.

To their credit both sides kept the ball alive well after the 80min was up in search of a bonus point. Tasman was the team that benefited, scoring a try to give them a bonus for finishing within 7.

Tough luck Tasman, but welcome back to the ANZC, you definitely deserve a spot in the competition!

Wellington fans rejoice! Finally your boys have managed to win the Ranfurly shield and in superb style, down-trouing the Orcs 27-0 in the garden of Eden.

A great result, but not unexpected. This young Auckland side has really proved vunerable this season, with Canterbury putting a similar dorking on them a month or so back. I just can't help but smile thinking of the wheels falling off the blue and white machine in such dramatic fashion. Lovely!

Of course two other traditional powerhouses, Waikato and Otago, haven't exactly looked flash this ANZC either, with Hawkes Bay and Taranaki handing out the pain this week.

It's going to be interesting to see who is left come playoffs time. The smart money is on a Canterbury vs Wellington playoff matchup at some point, which is bound to be a good one. Shame the Shield won't be on the line, it always did look good next to that Super 14 trophy... :D

As anyone who frequents the RH discussion board probably has noticed, Wellington is doing pretty well so far this season.

7 out of 7 is pretty flash really and the perfect build up to their Ranfurly shield challenge on Saturday night against the nasty Orcs.

Of course we all know that Wellington teams often falter when the real pressure comes on, so if I was a Wellington fan I wouldn't be feeling too cocky about this one, but I can't imagine too many fence sitting fans not hoping that they can pry the shield away from Auckland.

Of course those of us in the Mainland just want Wellington to win it so that Tasman can take it off them the following week, and then promptly be disbanded at the end of the season and get to keep the shield for ever!! MWWHAHAHAHAHA :)

Woo hoo! What a relief to hold on and win that one. Piri Weepu played very well but he has never made a bigger impact on a rugby field than kicking that final turn over to touch to finish the game!

The Dingo and his Wallabies certainly went close to winning though and it certainly wasn't a great performance from the ABs, and like so many kiwi fans the world over I felt like a victory was going to be stolen away in the dying moments when the Wallabies had clawed back to within 4 and were hammering away on our 22. Fortunately it was not to be, and in these big games all that matters is a win!

Congrats to Richie and the boys on retaining the silverware, and to Graham Henry and his coaching squad, if this doesn't get the gorilla off their back I don't know what will!

After their poor effort last week against the Wallabies the Springboks bounced back in incredible fashion last night, beating the same Wallaby team by a record 53-8.

If this was an athletics event then a drug test would be demanded, but as we know attitude and will are a huge part of this game we love and with there backs against the wall this champion Bok team showed a great determination to finish the competition on a high. As for Dingo's Wallabies, what the hell happened boys? And what are you going to do when it happens again in Brisbane! :)

Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th of August, 2008. A golden weekend in New Zealand sport.

On Saturday at the Olympic games the NZ team recorded their best day in Olympic history, picking up 5 medals in rowing, cycling and shot put (with potentially more to come on the track on Sunday night).

And then in the wee small hours of Sunday morning the All Blacks backed up their emphatic win over the Wallabies two weeks ago by thumping the World Champion Springboks 19-0 at home. The first time they have ever been held scoreless in a home match.

The win puts them back on top in the Tri-Nations comp, and retains the Freedom Cup (or should that be the Freedom Blender, you be the judge).

Then in the ANZC a young Canterbury team proves that they are better than their two first up performances might have indicated, giving the defending champion Auckland side a 34-3 butt kicking in Christchurch last night. Sen-bloody-sational result boys!

Well I guess a lack of updates for two weeks isn't really a broadcast of anything much more than a test pattern but hey, this is my soap box so bugger off!

In that time there have been some major developments in the world.

First, and most importantly, that upstart Dingo Deans and his motley Wallabies got a good bum shellacking from a revitalized All Black team. Great results boys, great response to all the pressure and a real signal that the 3N and Bledisloe trophies aren't going to be easy to prize away.

Secondly, the Air New Zealand Cup kicked off last week. Good thing it started the same day as the ABs great victory too, gave me something to take my mind off the first up result for my beloved Red 'n Blacks. Dammit, losing to the Turbos!?!

And thirdly, a little thing called the Olympics started on Friday the 8th. Bloody marvelous event the olympics, be that much better though if they added Rugby back to the list of sports! Then maybe we could see whether the USA could defend their Olympic Rugby Championship title!

All in all a lot of great sport on the box at the moment, and in the case of the Olympics, quite a bit to be found online too. Wouldn't it be nice to get online replays of rugby games online too? And no I don't mean naff quality uploads to YouTube by fans, I mean real high quality feeds of full games. I'd pay a few $$ for that I reckon.

Anyway, enough blather, go ABs, go Canterbury and go NZ!

*Shudder* I just woke up from a terrible dream.

I dreamt that a smarmy Australian stole the Crusaders coach, christened him "Dingo", taught him how to sing "Advance Australia fair" and then somehow convinced him to teach the Wallabies the "way of the Crusader".

Then said Wallabies proceeded to ram the Crusaders game plan down the throat of of my beloved All Blacks, including classic Crusaders hallmarks of showing incredible patient and a killer instinct to finish the game strongly.

What really had me waking in a cold sweat though was the way the All Blacks responded with a hot and cold Hurricanes game plan, with devastating counter-attack and periods of play that had you thinking "ah here we go, that's more like it!" closely followed by brain-numbing mistakes the next.

And many of them were classic "tit-for-hands" mistakes too, from a number of supposed "game breakers". Bloody hell, "breakers" is key part of that phrase, if it hadn't been a dream then I'm sure a few things in my house would have got broken while watching this one!

Anyway, a bit of a shame that they had to cancel the game in Sydney on Saturday night though eh? Making it a best of 3 for the Bledisloe seemed a fair enough decision, but I'm not sure why the Aussies got a bonus 5 points on the Tri-Nations table though.

Anyway, I hope this dream is not a premonition of things to come in Auckland because having to endure this nightmare for real would just be too much to bear.

All the attention that the Deans vs Henry situation is getting is starting to really tick me off.

Robbie will always be a Cantab legend, both as a player and a coach, but the day he quit his job for the Crusaders and accepted slimey Oneill's offer of employment was the day that I stopped supporting the team he coached, simple as that.

I can understand his own family members and friends having a soft spot for his new team but anyone else needs a good uppercut. How can you call yourself a kiwi rugby fan and support anyone other than the All Blacks!?!

Bloody ridiculous, next thing you know it'll be raining frogs and Carlos Spencer will be running for mayor of Christchurch.

So go All Blacks, let's roll those Wallabies and give their Dingo coach something to cry about!

Ah, that's what Tri-Nations rugby is supposed to be like! 19-8 to the All Blacks, nice.

The media have hyped up this game as a huge one and for once the hype felt warranted, and what's more the match lived up to it. Who would have thunk it!?!

You will never find me backing an All Blacks opponent but I must admit that this time round I wasn't betting Baz's next paycheck on my boys, the World Champion Springboks deserved the favourites tag this week.

Not so much next week I suspect. One thing that won't be different though is the intensity of the match, bring it on, I can't wait for round two!

Another NZ vs England test, another convincing win to the All Blacks.

On the scoreboard the English were even more anemic, and the slick All Black backline, directed by the maestro himself Dan Carter were just way too good.

In the tight though it wasn't quite so convincing, and the loss of Lord Richie and his court jester, Comical Ali definitely had an impact. With Richie now being out with a high-ankle sprain for at least 6 weeks (most of the Tri-Nations) it will be very interesting to see how the 3 wise men choose to fill their boots.

At least the All Black debutants Richard Kahui and Adam Thomson showed they can make the step up to international footie, although it was a shame that Stephen Donald didn't get more time running the ship. Surely DC had sewn the game up for us with about 30 minutes to go?

Anyway, no use crying about Richie and Ali's injuries, you can be sure they won't be. This isn't tiddlywinks, and injuries happen. For me it just adds some extra interest to the Tri-Nations. Can this new crop of ABs defend their 3N title and maintain their unbeaten home record?

Stay tuned, I know I will be!

A very impressive win at the garden of Eden by the All Blacks over an aimless England side tonight.

The English must be pretty happy with the final scoreline of 37-20 as they were looking shot to bits at 37-13 with about 30 minutes left in the game. At that stage the All Blacks chances of cracking the 50 seemed fairly certain but to England's credit they managed to control possession in the last 30 minutes pretty well, even though they achieved very little with it. All the AB substitutions didn't help either, none of them had much of an impact I reckon, which is a minor worry. Dan Carter's 7/7 kicking certainly helped the scoreline.

The only English backs who had decent games were Tindall and the flying hobbit (in name at least) on the wing Topsy Ojo. If he was in the village when Gandalf came calling Frodo wouldn't have had a look in as ring delivery boy I tell ya!

Anyway yet another good home win for the ABs and hopefully they can sort out their lineouts next week and run up another good scoreline.

Go ABs!

Tonight the Crusaders wrapped up Super Rugby title number 7, holding out a gallant Waratahs outfit to take a well deserved 20-12 win, and send off Robbie Deans, Reuben Thorne and Caleb Ralph in the best possible way.

You bloody beauties, great work boys!

Ahhh, that's more like it!.

Of course I knew they were going to win, but even I wasn't expecting that sort of convincing performance. Not only have they seen off the Hurricanes but surely that will put the wind up which ever motley lot wins the Tahs vs Sharks game tonight.

With another performance like tonight Robbie will get to enjoy his last win in NZ for the next few seasons of his coaching career. :)

Yep, you heard it here first. The Canes haven't managed to win in Christchurch since Adam was a cowboy and it ain't starting tonight!

Go Crusaders, put those cheeky Canes where they belong!

Ok so the title is a bit emotive but unfortunately it's not that far from the ugly truth!

After the Highlanders dismantled the Crusaders at home, for the first time in 12 seasons, in a game that really meant nothing to either team (in terms of the competition standings), I for one really have to question their mental state going into a semi final against the Hurricanes next week.

My boys looked seriously rattled, and their trademark strong finish never happened, if anything the Highlanders should have won by a lot more, dammit!

Hopefully going with our top 15 from kick off next week will make a difference (sorry Big Ruby and Ralph Malph, back to the pine for you boys!) but I doubt anyone will be betting 100 grand on the Red n Black machine this weekend!

Not that I'm saying they will lose of course, I would never admit that, just that they aren't the red hot favourites that they have been for most of the season. I'm still confident that home advantage will be a big factor in pushing hard for title number 7.

Go Crusaders!! Don't let those hapless Hurricanes beat us!

Hey Geeves, that title is for you... :)

I have many fond memories of Crusaders vs Reds games and I imagine that 10 in a row stat is a large reason why.

Maybe that is why there has been so much turnover in the Reds squads over the last 10 years? Each time they lose to the Crusaders again they have to cull out the ranks and bring in some young fellas who don't have the emotional scarring that no doubt comes with being another team's bitch for a decade. (Of course the Kangaroos obviously have a similar dominance over the Kiwis, but let's not go there!)

For a while it looked like this current crop of rookie Reds might halt the run at 9 straight, but as they tend to do more often than not the Crusaders came home strong in the end and took it out. Beautiful!

Rain or shine, these Crusaders showed tonight that they can grind out a win, whatever the conditions. And a tough win it was too, only sealed by Sheriff Crockett's late try, which gave them an 18-10 win over the nasty Sharks.

Bring on the Reds and Highlanders, and go the Chiefs and Canes! (We want another shot at those Mooloo Boys this season!)

Ah, regular service is resumed after last weeks hiccup which I won't discuss any furthur (because like the RWC, it's in the past... grrrrr).

The Crusaders held on to take it 26-22 over the Blues in a classic matchup between the big boys on NZ rugby, full of fast frantic rugby. Not exactly error free from either side but fortunately for the Crusaders the key errors were made by the Blues, and Nick Evans in particular.

With DC out of action it would appear that the next best first five in the country plays for the Chiefs, with both Evans and Brett putting in patchy performances, again. Come back quick Dan!

Bah! Just watched my first Highlanders (and Sharks) game of the season, and it was pretty entertaining, especially when the Highlanders were in front 14-3!

Unfortunately they just made too many mistakes to hold out the vastly experienced Sharks (270 international caps compared to Otago's 13 according to the commentators!), who went ahead after about 55 minutes thanks to a 51m penalty from scruffy kicking sensation Francois Steyn.

Highlanders had numerous chances to sneak the win in the final 5 minutes, but showed their inexperience and lack of patient by making crucial mistakes at crucial times. Final score 19-17 to the Sharks, who stay unbeaten this season and maintain 2nd spot on the table.

Congrats to Titch and the boys on adding the 2008 Hong Kong sevens title to their trophy cabinet.

That makes 7 titles in a row for the current squad, including all 5 tournaments so far this season. Awesome!

The highlight of this tournament had to be their 34-0 victory over arch-rivals Fiji in the semi-finals, a clinical display that would have had all of Fiji crying in their kava last night.

As usual the Crusaders vs Hurricanes clash was very entertaining, although the quality of the rugby was overshadowed by the sheer brutality of the defense as has often been the case in these clashes of late.

Also as usual Jerry Collins couldn't resist throwing a high shot. I laughed at Richie's comments to the ref after that about how "he has a history of this sort of thing" and should be sent off for it! Nice one Richie, just practising working the ref for the Tri-Nations eh?

After letting the Crusaders stretch out to a 20-6 half-time lead the Canes never seriously looked like winning the match but they definitely put some heat on the Crusaders, especially in the final 20.

Unfortunately the most significant event in the game was Dan Carter injuring his ankle, an injury that is likely to keep him out for the rest of the S14 round robin. With Stephen Brett already out for at least another month this is going to seriously test them. Can Rangi Macdonald lead the Red 'n Blacks past the Chiefs, and Blues? Hopefully Brett at least is back for the game against the Sharks, which could have siginificant ramifications on playoff seedings.

Ahhhh, the Red and Black juggernaut keeps on rolling, this week right over the top of Lote Tuquiri and his golden slippers and the rest of the WorryTahs.

Admittedly they took a while to warm up this week, but once the shock of the Tahs taking the lead (7-6) early in the second half they cranked things up and never looked back, running in four tries in the final 30 minutes to secure the bonus point win. Nice!

I must admit Lote's magic boots did seem to help his defense, especially on Richie Mccaw who he smashed twice in the space of about 2 minutes, but other than that the Tahs just looked ordinary.

The view from the top of the table is very nice thanks. :)

If the result of these new ELV (Experimental Law Variations) is that my Crusaders can thrash their old foes the Brumbies by 34-3 then I'm all for them!

Regardless of the result I think that so far these new rules look like they are really going to help speed the game up, and cut down on the defensive force-back kicking duels that often used to dominate patches of the game.

In other news the Reds held off a fiesty Highlanders challenge, and the Sharks beat the Force.

Every year, just when I am struggling to get enthused about the S14 kicking off while it's still hot and sunny, along comes the Wellington Sevens to whet the rugby fans appetite.

And every year it seems to deliver, even if the NZ team don't always do as well as they did this time around, it's still always fun to watch, and I imagine, a blast to attend.

For all the gory details on the Welly Sevens check out the Official IRB Sevens website, but if you want the abridged version, here it is.

NZ beat Samoa in the Cup final, with Wellington flanker/winger (flinger didn't sound right, and the other alternative was not very nice) Victor Veto doing a Jonah in the final. In the all-pacific semis Samoa beat Tonga and NZ thrashed Australia. In the battle of the biggest losers South Africa won the Plate, England won the Bowl and USA won the Shield. (Which I guess left Fiji with the Spoon.)

NZ has now won all 3 titles so far this season. Woo Hoo!

Feel free to throw in your 2c on the sevens on the discussion board.

Congratulations to South Africa, worthy winners of the 2007 RWC.

At least it was a Southern Hemisphere team that won the trophy this time around, here's hoping that in 4 more years time it can be another one.

In the meantime us Kiwi fans will just have to make do with winning back the Super 14 and beating the world cup champs in the Tri-Nations I guess. Contrary to popular belief being the best team between RWC's isn't actually a bad thing!

On the back of a perfect ANZC season the Aucks add the ANZC title to their unbeaten, shield winning run. Not that I really cared about the game at all but good on em, at least some of our ABs got to finish the year on a high.

I had a nagging feeling that bloody Wellington were going to roll my Cantabs last night in their ANZC semi.

Must be that "bad luck happens in 3s" rule. I never used to believe in that sort of stuff but now with this result on top of Auckland taking the shield and the ABs coming home early from the RWC maybe it's true.

Anyway, it sucks, and all you misguided AB fans who don't support Canterbury, look out, your bad luck is coming, I promise you!

Friggin' French! Dodgy Ref didn't help but really the ABs lost it themselves, and the French defense won it for them... Unfrickingbelievable!?!?!

Now that was somewhat unexpected! I guess it's "4 more years" eh Wallaby fans?

Not for little Georgie Grogan though, time for a new Wallaby halfback, Matt Dunning is the front runner for my money.

Yeah so we are a bit late getting the site up-to-date in time for the RWC, tough.

It's not like any of the games in the pool play were really important is it? So the Irish and the Welsh missed out on the Quarter-finals, boo hoo.

Did their misguided fans really think they were going to advance to the semis anyway! Come on lads, I know your beer googles are good, but they can't perform miracles!

It's nice for the Bula Boys and the Argies to get some time in the spotlight in any case, especially if it winds up the old guard at the IRB!

Anyway, we are pretty much up to date now, and I plan to make an effort to give you a piece of my mind now that the real RWC is about to start.

Go the ABs!