I was at Dan's funeral earlier today, along with about six hundred to seven hundred others. It was really tough going saying goodbye to someone so young and who had his life all planned out and was making real good progress toward achieving those goals. A number of speakers spoke of the Dan they knew and loved, relating what a good all round, committed, loyal and hardworking guy they have grown up with. It captured all that I had experienced and come to love in my too short involvement in his life.

Dan was taken away from the service to a beautiful rendition of the song Daniel (don't think it was Elton John's version) which proved too much for many to handle. There certainly were not many dry eyes around where I was.

Dan was accorded a stirring rendition of the Wellington Football Club's Haka, E Toki, by those that had played alongside him as he was carried to the waiting hearse to leave the place he enjoyed so much for the final time.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/92877119/huge-turnout-for-funeral-of-wellington-rugby-player-daniel-baldwin

Gone but never will be forgotten

Daniel Nils Baldwin
20th November 1997 - 17th May 2017

@Stockcar86 said in AB's v Samoa:

Congrats @Higgins on Fifita making his AB debut

Thanks. I elected to watch the match up in the Isherwood Lounge at the Wellington Football Club along with the best part of 180 other Axemen, the place where it all began for Vaea. Managed to find a nice corner to myself where I was able to sit back and quietly contemplate and reminisce in solitude on the long and tough five year journey to get this far rather than get caught up in the general excitement of Vaea becoming the Axemen's 17th All Black (and first since Dion Waller back in 2001).

@booboo said in France 2023:

When do tickets go on sale?

Mrs Boo reckons we're going.

Will make sure we're there for the pool matches ... and see how flexible we can be during the knockouts ...

Collective thoughts on tours, touring parties, independent travel etc appreciated.

(Yes I'm deflecting, I don't want to dwell on the aftermath.)

Never mind that, when is the squad named?

The unofficial Hawkes Bay Chinese Checkers Championships concluded late this morning with the Hurricanes A contestant (yours truly) proving too strong for the Waratahs Development Representative in the final. Bronze went to the Melbourne Rebels player after a lengthy battle with the Hurricanes Development rep almost came to blows after the latter upended the board. The ruling has just come through from the MCC head office at Lords to uphold the decision to disqualify the guilty player by the innocent player's Nana!
Next up appears to be Cribbage after the Venue Manager has placed a one week ban on the playing of Chinese Checkers! It will probably also conclude in some sort of dispute............…
Ah the joys of board games turning up in Christmas Stockings. The competitiveness of games not lessening in the forty five odd years since the last time we dared risk playing any!

The combination of Crotty/Crotty functioned impressively when it was tried for a short period.

Can I be the first to congratulate Australia for winning the netball silver medal? Well done you lot.

I was at the game last night, one of very few that braved the chilly wind. It was an interesting match to view as a neutral with an equal dislike for both sides. The rugby on display was quite satisfying with the home side seeming to try to play at a higher pace than Tasman, something which did not always come off. Tasman looked to be well drilled and coached and seldom risked anything likely to cause defensive problems ie weighing up the options and taking the least risky one. Finlay Christie takes a fair bit of scorn on here but to me he looked to be an industrious guy last night always being behind his pack early ready to make the next move well in advance of the ball being made available to him. He also made a couple of jinky semi breaks, committing an extra tackler thus opening up a bit more space for Mitchell Scott. His pass and clearance times though could still do with a bit more speed. He looked quite a different player to the one I saw a couple of times turning out for Poneke during the club season.
David Havili looked to be a useful player at second five, once firing out a pass so quick it almost resulted in a sonic boom, well done to his centre for catching it. He seemed to have the ability to judge the pce of his pass and adjusted it nicely according to the situation. Eventually finished the match at fullback after his side suffered from a large number of injury changes (blood HIA etc). Disappointed the full back Will Jordan did not get much chance to show of his undoubted skills for me to witness first hand, he eventually went off with some sort of leg injury midway through the second half. Tasman seemed to have rather tallish players in most positions, something which I had not noticed in the past watching them on Sky. All their players looked to do their core roles without too much fanfare and seldom looked like making errors. Their scrum pulverized the Wellington one a few times which would have had Grumpy Muir wringing his hands if he was sitting in the stands wearing his Wellington hat but nodding admiringly if he was wearing his scrumming coaching hat.
Having said that I was quite impressed with Xavier Numia almost always being the first forward to reach the restart area be it scrums or lineout, running to get there rather than just ambling like a lot of others do. Without knowing exactly what the problem was he was part of an embarrassed scrum so obviously a bit of work to do to get a more stable scrum setting together with the remainder of his forwards.
I wish I could have got onto the field to kick Isaia Walker-Leawere to get him really angry and rark him up as a guy that size would be unstoppable if he was in that sort of mood, he was not last night. That could well have been because of solid tackling by Tasman, but the thought of him running at full speed and power must be really scary if you are lined up as the only one available to tackle him.
Not sure what was happening to the Wellington defensive line in the inner midfield inside and outside where the first five would be but Tasman did rip through there a couple of times to telling effect. Whether it was JGB or recent 5 year Hurricanes contracted Billy Procter, a lack of cover by loose forwards, a combination of those or something else it must be concerning to the Wellington coaching staff.
Ben Lam had a quiet match at fullback and that might not be his best position if last night was anything to go by. Malo Tuitama looked to be nicely skilled with a nice step and hip swerve but whether he has the overall size to make it to the next level is a big question. He arrived on the opposite wing in cover defence a few times which earned him a big tick from me. I like the way he plays.
Te Ariki Ben-Nicholas also looked to be a competent player that might be capable of stepping up to the next level. Not a headline grabbing type of player but did the basics well and seldom makes errors if last nights display is anything to go by. Took the right options at the right time, last night anyway. Also liked the way Tasman hooker Makalio hit the defensive line with good aggression always putting great pressure on the tackle to pull off a solid tackle or risk injury if they didn't!
All in all an enjoyable night.

@mariner4life Some of us are still struggling to get over Cardiff Arms Park in 1905!

@booboo said in NZ Politics:

@Billy-Tell said in NZ Politics:

Dec 23, 2020  /  World news

New Zealand's first Latin American MP says adopted country has many blind spots

Country’s ‘slick branding machine’ can’t hide ‘entrenched inequality’, says Ricardo Menéndez March

This guy sounds like a ball of fun.

Chooses to live in NZ but hates the culture.

Fuck off back to Mexico and see how that country cares for unqualified drop outs.

It is staggering that this person could possibly have met the requirements for a work permit after flunking their studies let alone meeting the minimum requirements for Permanent Residence and maybe even, horror upon horror, Citizenship.

@Stargazer said in club rugby:

Wellington 19-year-old rugby player dies after suffering serious injury during match

Really sad.

http://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/rugby/wellington-19-year-old-rugby-player-dies-after-suffering-serious-injury-during-match

I am an active member of Dan's club and believe me the last week has been very difficult to get through. The mood has been sombre all week and quite frankly the boys had great difficulty in getting through todays games, their minds and thoughts were understandably elsewhere.

Dan's team had yet to record a victory this season but they paid the ultimate tribute in breaking that duck with a 26 - 03 win today. The aftermatch function and speeches were truly emotional and had many present struggling to fight back the tears.
.
Dan was the second active playing member we have lost recently and it is no easier the second time round. I sincerely hope that no one has to go through what we have had to this past week. The outgoing support we at the Axemen (Wellington Football Club) have received from too many people to mention this week has been heartwarming.

One wonders how much influence Dan had from above in fellow Axemen Vaea Fifita's first try for the Hurricanes in 2017 tonight. A few members definitely benefitting from the $31.00 odds for Vaea being the first try scorer, say no more.

Remember we might have our differences from time to time but we are all members of the big family we call NZ Rugby. Never ever let that be forgotten.

@Stargazer said in Hawke's Bay Club Rugby 2022:

Tyrone Thompson scored both Tech's tries! Definitely going to watch that game, tomorrow.

The result was way closer than the actual play indicated it should have been. My guys should really have won by about ten points or more but Taradale did defend very well when under heavy pressure for about the first 25 minutes of the second half and came back into the game for about five to ten minutes before my guys got on top in the last five minutes. A bit of squeaky bumness right at the end when Taradale got a couple of penalties to get back to within kicking distance but a massive scrum on the Tech tight head side won a penalty and it was all over.

Taradale had the wind in the first half and scored a couple of penalties and a bitsy type of a try from a somewhat lucky situation early on to hold a halftime lead by about five points after my guys scored a try with about ten minutes left to the break.

Tech dominated the second half and it really was a case of how much we would win by but Taradale certainly made us work hard for the win, courtesy of a Sheridan Rangihuna penalty with less than ten minutes left. Tech certainly held the upper hand come scrum time but the lineout malfunctioned rather badly. There was not much backline play but Taradale did pass it along quite crisply a couple of times in the first half (without being overly threatening) whereas my guys played it tight most of the game. Just as well it was a nice sunny day and not too cold for the underemployed on attack Texan backs. Taradale had a big bruiser at No 8 and my guys player of the day was Nick Patumaka who shone out at blindside. Big things are likely from this promising player.
My guys now hold a comfortable lead of 7 points on the table and have got Havelock Nth at Whitmore Park next week. Needless to say but I had to get a taxi back to where I am staying!.

For @Magpie_in_aus information the Colts smoked the combined Napier Old Boys-Marist outfit 36 - 24 on the losers home ground, only a last minute converted try got the score so close in a much enjoyed result by myself. The Reserves got home over Takapau at Takapau by about 5 points and the ladies rolled CHB by about 70 on Friday night.

@Stargazer said in Hawke's Bay Club Rugby 2022:

Kianu at 6.

---

Hastings: TBA

---

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Taradale: TBA

Still no sign of any lineup having been made public for Taradale. Have they conceded by default?

@Stargazer A little secret, my flatmate in Wellington was involved in the Cook Islands team that played HB, and got creamed by 90 odd points, about 30 years ago. Obviously he keeps somewhat quite about that!

@Stargazer Think that was someone with a name like Gideon Kautai who plays for Hastings RSC and was in that Cooks team that played a few games in NZ last season.

@Chris You clearly stated that this weeks games does not really matter to which I replied that every competition game my team plays matters to me. Then you threw up three less than disappointing Hurricanes performances back to me as if they should not matter to me because the Hurricanes did not go as well as expected.

Now you are saying

@Chris said in Crusaders. v Reds:

No what I am saying from this weekend on its more about no injuries getting through the weekend and getting the Job done in the playoffs, you cant peak for 16 weeks then a QF,SF and Final. You have to pull back to preserve your squad some where or you are spent before finals time.

I cannot see where you are saying that in your reply to my post pointing out that all my teams competition games do matter to me.

@Chris Are you trying to imply that the Hurricanes non "Playoffs" round robin Hurricanes loss to the MP and less than stellar performances against the Waratahs and Reds "does not really matter"?
Well it should as the loss of those points dropped against MP probably means no home ground playoff advantage and the financial benefits that come with that just for starters.

@Chris said in Crusaders. v Reds:

@Stargazer said in Crusaders. v Reds:

It looked like the Crusaders played with the handbrakes on. All they needed to do was win. No need for a bonus point.

With the players they were missing, clearly also a spark was missing.

Lots of dry powder, I think.

Yep just enough done to win Taylor,Newell,Mounga.Hall,Reece and Goodhue back next week.
Its finals footy coming up get through to the knockouts with no injuries, pretty much what the Blues are doing playing a B/C team.
This week does not really matter too much its all about the next 3 weeks.

Well every competition game my team plays matters greatly to me.

@Stargazer I will definitely be there at Whitmore Park for the encounter. Sadly left my boots in Wellington, even with the Seconds being away against Takapau, I won't be on the list of those able to be considered for late selection if anyone breaks down during warmup.

@Stargazer Billy Proctor must the signing of the century now that he is good enough to be a starter at second five, along with fullback, winger and centre. J. Garden-Bachop must be getting the shakes that the selectors will also unearth some hitherto unknow latent talent in Proctor that makes him the next big thing at first five.

@KiwiPie said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

@canefan said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

Ian Rush?
Adebayor?

This is Premier League only. So if you're born before 1970 you're too old. Adebayor no but Anelka is tucked away in 28th spot with 25 goals.

Of the 3 current players, all 3 had underwhelming seasons for one reason or another.

Ah, I thought this was for just the top division rather than the specifically designated Permier League. That would count out the likes of Tony Cottee then.