It's Friday again, and another week is ending. Winter officially starts on Wednesday of next week, not that you'd know it from the weather of the last few days.
Rugby dominates the sporting landscape this weekend by default. The English Premiership season has ended, and the Warriors have a welcome bye in the NRL. And even New Zealand participation in Super Rugby is less than full; the Blues and the Chiefs both have the weekend off.
In the games that are being played, we expect the Hurricanes to turn on their best performance of the season tonight at Arena Manawatu. Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Piri Weepu and Corey Jane will all have some form of input, whether starting or from the bench. In contrast, the Force side will be well below full strength; Eddie Jones raised the issue of Australia's depth in Super Rugby last week, and the Force prove his point.
The Highlanders should take another step towards a play-off berth at Carisbrook tomorrow night. It's their final match ever at the House of Pain, and the locals should be far too good for the Lions. A win will take them ahead of the Waratahs or the Sharks in the race for the three "best non-conference winner" spots unless the match in Durban is drawn.
The match of the weekend will take place later tomorrow night when the Reds take on the Crusaders in Brisbane. This match should be an absolute ripper, and we're tipping the Crusaders to win, and to win well. The business end of the season is approaching, and the Crusaders have an annoying habit (annoying to their detractors and their opponents!) of playing their best rugby at the business end of the season.
We'll also have an eye on Indianapolis on Monday morning. Scott Dixon starts from the front row of the grid in the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500, the Great American Race. Dixon has had a wretched start to the Indycar series, but the Target Chip Ganassi team seems to have got the car just right for Indy, and it would not surpise us one iota if Scott Dixon is drinking a pint of milk sometime midway through Monday morning NZ time.
That's it for today; the floor is, as ever, yours ...
2 comments:
Good to see Bryn Evans at least on the bench for the Hurricanes. This former All Black has been a key member of the Hawkes Bay pack which has seldom been bettered in NPC rugby in the last 3 seasons. If he has been fit it is hard to understand why he has not been starting ahead of some under performing locks.
The Force have a good pack and a win for the Hurricanes is no formality.
Drop over to The Sports Geek blog
http://scarletmanuka.blogspot.com/ and have alook at my post on the All Black Leadership Group.
Note: If you are going to comment please do so over there as I might not catch up with it if you comment here.
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