This Sporting Life - 20 May 2011

It's a quieter sporting weekend this week, which is good, because we're out of town for most of it, and we won't be near a telly!

In Super Rugby, the Highlanders and Hurricanes (thank goodness!) have the bye, and there are only two matches involving New Zealand teams. The Blues should be too strong for the Stormers tonight in Auckland, whilst the Chiefs vs Crusaders match in Napier tomorrow night should be the game of the weekend. The Chiefs are coming off a couple of gutsy wins, whilst the Crusaders are well below strength. We'll tip the Crusaders, but not by much.

There's not much happening in the NRL this weekend either, with State of Origin just around the corner. The Warriors take on South Sydney at Mt Smart on Sunday afternoon, and should extend their winning streak. Let's hope that the weather gods smile on the club, and a decent crowd turns out.

Off the field, the big talking point this week has been Dan Carter signing on for four more years as an All Black. Will he still be a force in 2015? Well managed, there's no reason why not. And it seems that Richie McCaw is poised to re-sign with the NZRU next week; great news. Meanwhile our thoughts, paryers and aroha are with Warriors hooker Aaron Heremaia whose wife gave birth to stillborn twins a couple of weeks ago. Heremaia returns to football this week and we're sure that the mateship culture of the Warriors will give him strength. And lastly, Martin Crowe wants to make a comeback at the age of 48; is this a Tui moment?

That's about it for us today; the floor is yours ...

Oh dear; how could we have forgotten the ANZ Netball final? Good luck to the Mystics; in a one-off match anything is possible, but it's hard to see them winning. Then again, our predictions have been terrible of late, so who knows...