What a terrific weekend of sport. Being home alone meant that we watched quite a bit, as we didn't have to negotiate for the Sky remote! So let's look at some of the highlights.
We've already covered off the All Black victory against the Springboks, and now we can't wait for the Wallabies match in Auckland on Saturday night; it should be a cracker. But the action in the ITM Cup was just about as hot. Taranaki spanked Auckland yesterday, and Auckland sits LAST in the Premiership pool this morning. Watched by regular commenter Lofty, Bay of Plenty gave Wellington a right old thrashing, with Wellington being lucky to get nil! Canterbury found form against Manawatu, and Northland was too good for Otago. There were games on Friday night as well, but there's been so much action over the weekend that we can't really remember them!
In the NRL the Warriors had another emphatic win, with 21 unanswered points in the second half. They are now secure in sixth place, and the points differential improved yesterday. Finals football is looking more and more likely, and with four wins on the trot, the Warriors will head to Brisbane on Friday full of confidence.
England has a commanding lead over India after three days of the test match at Trent Bridge. Stuart Broad's hat-trick was a highlight of day 2, and India was hoist by its own petard; the middle dismissal of the hat-trick would not have been out had the Decision Review System been in operation, but India had vetoed it. Bugger!
In other news Jenson Button had a rare F1 victory, Mark Brown had a good payday in the Irish Open, and the U20 All Whites had a gutsy 1-1 draw with Cameroon in their opening World Cup match. They missed a golden chance to win the match with moments remaining when Sean Lovemore could only volley a pinpoint Tim Payne cross over the bar from the six-yard box.
Have we missed anything; fill in the gaps if we have; the floor is yours...
18 comments:
I'd be interested in your (and other local Cricket tragics) take on the Ian Bell run out.
Victory for sportsmanship and the spirit of the game, or a sentimental failure to play to the laws and give Bell the just reward for his stupidity?
In spite of the combined opinions of Ians Botham and Smith plus Nasser Hussain, I'm going with option (a)..
Bell claims that he tnought that the ball had gone to the boundary, and was therefore dead. On balance, I think that the right decision was reached with India withdrawing its appeal.
There is still a place for good sportsmanship in the gentlemen's game.
The Indian team is about as depleted as the Boks were on Saturday night. No Sehwag, Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan and why did Harbijhan bowl only 9 overs?
Have you missed anything pppffftttt.......
The greatest result of the footy weekend.
BOP 32, Wgtn 0. yes thats right IV2, zero, zilch. nada. nothing. not one single point, & didn't look like scoring either.
I can only presume you deigned not to mention this fantastic result because you are somehow embarressed by it.
Are you a Lions supporter IV2?
Bring on Hammett eh wot!
4 out of 4 for the Bay.
Cheers
Lofty
On the run out, sportsmanship be buggered, Bell made a monumental error and if sportsmanship was to be truly served he should have retired in response to India's very sporting decision instead of batting on, then PUBLICLY STATING HE THOUGHT HE WAS OUT.
I thought Murily was out also, you don't bend rules you abide by them.
I didn't mean to hit the catch, sheesh.
How difficult is it to stay in your ground or risk being run out until Ump says "over".
Ee jus wandered off, can a man be a bint, man used advisedly.
An unintentional oversight Lofty, which has now been corrected! A Hurricanes supporter, yes, but Manawatu and Wanganui are where my provincial alliances lie.
Thanks IV2.
If I may just remind your dear readers of the fantastic result, just in case someone missed it.
BOP 32, Wgtn 0
Cheers Lofty
P.S. I promise this is possibly, maybe my last reference to this wonderful result. Maybe.
Lofty there were actually two great results for Provincial Rugby and both a slap in the face for the NZRFU who only want super powers based around the cities:
BOP 32 Wgtn 0 zilch zero
Taranaki 39 Akld 11
Great stuff!!!
Couldn't agree more PDM.
Just goes to show that Rugby the game is bigger than the administrators.
My grandson plays everyweek in his age group division, and he doesn't care a fig for whoever the administrators may be. I suspect that most grassroots players are the same, they play for the love and enjoyment of the game, which will survive, even in the face of "head office" efforts to "professionalise" it.
Players love their provinces, simple as that.
Cheers
Lofty
Lofty you could not have put it better than this:
Players love their provinces, simple as that.
We have been staying at our daughter and son in laws near Benneydale for a while. Their 3 boys are fanatical about their rugby - 1 ripper and two in first year of tackle.
Te Kuiti seems to be the power base of King Country rugby even though there are those in Taupo who think otherwise but do not put in the effort to make it happen.
Not unlike the NZRFU.
pdm, Te Kuiti has always been the powerbase of King Country Rugby.
Taupo has never really known where it sits, they have been in the BOP union as well as the King country and never been settled properly in either.
The biggest problem is the distances of players to travel from Taupo.
Still thats what you get when you live in the middle of the island.
Cheers
Lofty
Lofty - when I was playing Taupo was part of the Hawkes Bay Union. I was selected to play for Central Hawkes Bay to play against Taupo on Sub Union day in 1967. I had to pull out due to injury.
@ pdm; you should head down this way on Saturday; Wanganui vs King Country will be one of the feature clashes in R1 of the Heartland Championship.
pdm must be really really old.Proves my case though.
Cheers
Lofty
He is Lofty; older than me, but not quite as old as Gravedodger I think!
Yep Lofty - old enough to get $522.86 a fortnight from Bill since mid April 2011.
Being a total idiot something I fully except responcibility for I decided that a book review page was important in the magazine I work for. Yup I now have more work but I might share this with your readers
" In football there are seventeen laws - or eighteen if you count the unwritten stipulation that you must be a wet fart to play it in the first place - whereas in rugby there are twenty two laws. And that is before you get to the subclauses and subdivisions that conspire to make the whole thing more complicated than the assembly instructions for a space shuttle. I know a great many rugby fans who claim to know what is going on out there, but that is just the beer talking. The fact is no one does. And despite this the game works."
Jeremy Clarkson " how hard can it be ? "
It is a great read and the embargo came of today.
I am only half way through it and it is classic Clarkson.
Heres one for you IV2.
What happens to the smaller provincial club players aspirations, when his little 1 club province cannot get a player into the ITM cup team , because that team is full of "import" players who have joined one of the "richer" clubs in the region?
As is the case with BOP really (and you know I am a fan) I think there is 12 "imports" in the BOP team, who nominally play 1 or 2 club matches a year for their "local team".
No wonder smaller provinces struggle.
Cheers
Lofty
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