Did any of you with Stan watch the Australia A games? A draw with Bristol and a big loss to England A wouldn't have been what was hoped for.

@MN5 said in Boxing Thread:

A nice business transaction to get a cheeky 20 mill.

~$1M per punch thrown. 🤣

@Billy-Webb said in World rugby chair from the SH for the first time?:

@mohikamo said in World rugby chair from the SH for the first time?:

for those who dont know who benazzi is
he had a match winning try disallowed in WC95 semi vs SA
monsoon game, he definitely scored imo
no tmo in those days
would have meant a NZ v france final, and whole different rugby history
i wasn't concerned at the time, thought we were easily good enough to beat anyone

It certainly was close.
Having watched that game and that incident a few times - not sure whether he did or did not score.

Unlike Reuben Kruger in the final though 😛

Kruger didn't score ... it's not on the score sheet ...

As for Benazzi, agree it was not "clear and obvious". I recall he talked about it afterward (press conference?) and kind of played it down. Said something like "it was 'this' close".

Pretty cool seeing this in colour

Maybe if Scott Barrett had been aware that the Raeburn Shield was on the line, he would have told DMac to kick for the corner rather than take the three with 4 minutes to go?

Should be good. Southee retiring from test cricket after this series. I wonder if he got the nod, or if he just decided for himself. Looks covered in the other thread.

I have heard Brodie Rettalick wants to end his career by playing 2 seasons for the Magpies. Wouldn't be bad if he could talk his mate Sam Whitelock into playing the odd game for the Bay.

Prof is a very good host to be fair. Deadpan charisma.

I love when swoop is talking about a game he clearly hasnt watched and when Prof takes him to task on it he says

"I watched it whistle to whistle mate".

After the bad loss to the Jack Jumpers the Breakers needed a bounce back win vs Cairns. NZB started strong, Cairns fought back and took the lead early in the 4th as the Breakers went cold shooting, only to lose their import guard who fouled out after scoring 30 of the Taipans 60 points to that point. NZ finally warmed up again and took the lead back for good as Cairns could barely score the last 5 minutes. Far from vintage but they get a hard fought W and climb to 1st place with a 7-3 record. Not bad for a completely new team with a new coach

Aura still intact enough that the NH include wins over the ABs when rating a players career alongside 6 Nations trophies etc - Cian Healy tying with Coulda Doid for the most capped Irish player.

@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2025:

Plummer’s Tawa and Wellington Lions locking teammate Akira Ieremia is off to Japan for three years. It is understood that he was offered a training contract with the Chiefs but has opted for Japan, the land of his birth, for his immediate playing future.

Man thats a shame, he has great ball skills, I was impressed by him
Will see him playing for Japan very soon I guess.

@Chris-B said in Crusaders 2025:

@Chris Don't disagree with much of that.

Except if Fergus Burke had stayed fit, I think we would have done much better - and we need O'Çonnor or Reihana (most probably) to step up. So in terms of overall squad strength, I think that's the main question mark - someone needs to be as good as Burke (was at the back end of the season). To be honest, it's not that high of a bar.

Among the locks, I wish we had a young guy in the mix who is more than two metres. But if Scott is fit, we can pair him with probably any of the others and be highly competitive.

Williams, Taylor, Newell
Barrett, Strange
Blackadder, Kellow, Lio-Willie
Hotham, Reihana
Havili, Ennor
Reece, Fihaki, Jordan

Bell, Brewis, Bower, Shalfoon, Grace, Preston, OÇonnor, Aumua.

Pretty decent if they're all fit!

McLeod will be in the 23.

So Sanirevi has switched from the Chiefs to Moana? Hopefully that's a sign they've locked down Kolosi.

@Bones said in Highlanders 2025:

@frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

but if

And therein lies the rub.

By but if, I am referring to the fact that they can. When Renton played 8 for us, we largely had Parkinson and Dickson at lock, both of whom couldn't/didn't carry.

Withy has bulked up a lot, and Dunshea has the grunt to do the hard yards. I think that eventually Broughton displaces Renton as he is far more dynamic. Renton may well start the season, but if we want to progress, I think he gets replaced as a starter.

You compare him to Sotutu, Sititi, Iose and Lio-Willie, he simply doesn't have the ball skills that they have. If Broughton can continue his form from the end of the season and NPC, I believe he does give you that.

@gt12 said in NBA Season - now 24/25:

See Stewart get ejected for the fragrant on the Freak? Shit like that would turn my hair grey if I were a coach or owner; imagine having your star get hurt from a fluffybunny play like that.

stink guy

@Daffy-Jaffy yeah Northland rugby posted yesterday congratulating Northland contracted players which included an image of Lay, while I had heard they were in talks with him, it was a 'sneaky player' announcement.

1st ODI tonight. Weirdly, this is our first ODI this year. Sri Lanka have played 15 this year, so this is mostly an us thing. I'm a bit sad (I quite like ODI cricket), but also if dropping ODI in favour of more T20 cricket allows us to also run a full test program (by NZ standards) then I'm okay with that. The tour of India would not have been better if it had been three ODIs and two tests, for example.

@canefan said in All Blacks EOYT:

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks EOYT:

France will be tough, tougher than the Irish I suspect. Hope the ABs are up for it.

We are building each week. I expect significant improvement, win or lose

This for me. As long as we build on the Ireland game and don't regress to headless chicken stuff we saw against England, it'll be a really successful tour.

Now McMillan has to select the right 23, particularly the starting midfield and reserves.