The All Blacks have chosen to share the love in the selection this weekend – that’s good news for one man who continues to graft away in the background, and would be just as happy hunting pigs in the Canterbury high country, writes Scotty Stevenson. Luke Romano no doubt feels he deserves a test start … Read more
The young rugby player at the centre of last year’s biggest news stories, Losi Filipo made his Mitre 10 Cup debut for Wellington last night. It’s a chance at redemption, but not just for him, writes Jamie Wall. It was a wet, greasy game last night at the grandly-named Rotorua International Stadium. The weather and … Read more
It should be New Zealand provincial rugby’s greatest rivalry, but the Battle of the Bridge barely rates a mention on the list of great contests. Is 2017 the year to change all that? Scotty Stevenson certainly hopes so. I have a soft spot for North Harbour. I really do. I once captained an under-19 grade … Read more
From his first encounter as an 11-year-old kid in Te Awamutu to yesterday’s funeral service, James McOnie remembers some of his favourite Pinetree stories. He didn’t want to be called “Sir”, but Colin Meads deserved it. Sir Colin will always be remembered as perhaps our greatest ever rugby player but now, as so many stories … Read more
The next women’s Rugby World Cup should be defended by a team named the All Blacks, argues Jamie Wall. The Black Ferns won the World Cup on Sunday, beating England 42-31 in a highly entertaining advertisement for women’s rugby. Not only did it spark celebrations for an unprecedented fifth Rugby World Cup title, it also … Read more
Following a stellar campaign, the Black Ferns play England in the Rugby World Cup final tomorrow. Former Black Fern Melodie Robinson urges the New Zealand Rugby Union to properly back the only major growth area in the sport in NZ. The future of the Black Ferns will be determined following Sunday morning’s Rugby World Cup … Read more
Traversing through the seven circles of hell that is social media has been made a journey of redemption this week, thanks to a beautiful, beautiful try at the Rugby World Cup. Madeleine Chapman breaks it down frame by frame. Is there anyone on this godforsaken planet who doesn’t enjoy a highlights video? It doesn’t matter … Read more
At least one person will have a bob each way when the Black Ferns take on England in the final of the women’s World Cup on Sunday morning, writes Scotty Stevenson. Rob Jones just can’t help it. He has women hanging off him wherever he goes. He’s surrounded by them. Hell, he lives with five … Read more
For better – and sometimes for worse – Colin Meads had a near matchless influence on rugby. Jamie Wall charts his influence. New Zealand and the rugby world is in mourning after the passing of the iconic Sir Colin Meads, a man who transcended both the sport he played and the society he lived in. … Read more
Three All Blacks who were there the day Sir Colin Meads famously played on with a broken arm recall the game for RNZ Eyewitness producer Justin Gregory. This story was first published in 2016. All Blacks first five-eighth Earle Kirton has always blamed himself for the broken arm that Sir Colin ‘Pinetree’ Meads suffered on the … Read more
New Zealand and Australia have always enjoyed a well, special, sporting relationship. But if this week has proved anything it is that the Wallabies and the All Blacks barely have a relationship at all any more, writes Scotty Stevenson. Once upon a time this was the contest that defined rugby in this part of the … Read more
The New Zealand Hawks are one game away from their first International Cup title since 2005. Who are the Hawks, and what does this mean for the future of ‘Australia’s game’ in this country? Alex Braae explains. Seconds remained in the first quarter of the most important game of AFL the New Zealand Hawks had … Read more
Is it possible to sense a rugby player’s future from their name and name alone? Watch these players closely this Mitre 10 Cup season to find out. There are 14 teams in the Mitre 10 Cup. This week, each of these teams released their squad list for the 2017 season. Each list included approximately 32 … Read more
The All Blacks have lost Jordie Barrett to injury, so they have simply called up another kid with a bottomless bag of tricks – the Crusaders’ David Havili. This is how he got there. David Havili has had quite a day, which nicely caps off quite a week in what has been quite a year. … Read more
I am an early-morning commuter trying to get to work on time. I am not interested in looking at your new logo. A-League soccer club Wellington Phoenix released their new logo at a waterfront ceremony this morning, unveiling it in the form of a large metal sculpture which was ignored by everyone who walked past … Read more
After their worst loss of the year all but guaranteed a sixth straight season without finals footy, James Dann asks if it’s finally time to abandon all hope of the Warriors ever being good at rugby league again? The New Zealand Warriors were gifted a perfect start to Saturday afternoon’s must-win game against the bottom-of-the-table … Read more
For plenty of New Zealand rugby fans, their second Super Rugby team is ‘anyone playing the Crusaders’, but there was one year this wasn’t the case. Jamie Wall looks back on the team’s extraordinary post-earthquake 2011 season. “We’ll be cheering on the Lions next week”. That was the post-match reaction of Hurricanes captain Dane Coles … Read more
Home advantage is a very real thing in the history of Super Rugby finals, but the Crusaders don’t mind a road trip, and won’t be worried about being away from home this weekend. I hate to break it to you, but I can guarantee the Crusaders are completely okay with playing in Johannesburg this weekend. … Read more
It’s only fair that most of the focus ahead of this weekend’s Super Rugby semi-finals will be on the players but, as Scotty Stevenson writes, both crucial clashes will also be defined by a battle between the old and new schools of professional coaches. Dave Rennie has never been one to mince his words. To … Read more
For the first time in NZ school sports history, players at this year’s National 1st XV semi-finals will be subject to anti-doping testing, reports Scotty Stevenson. The New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council (NZSSSC) and Drug Free Sport NZ (DFSNZ) have advised school principals of their intention to carry out anti-doping testing at this year’s … Read more
Is it fair to say the 25-year-old former All Blacks midfielder never quite lived up to his potential? Jamie Wall looks back on an abbreviated career in New Zealand rugby. Full time blew on the Highlanders’ season on a wet and miserable Saturday night in Christchurch. The weather was so bad that the uncovered stands … Read more
The Super Rugby finals kick off this weekend with the best attacking teams in the competition favoured to have it all their way in the first round. That’s all well and good, but finals footy is finals footy, and as Scotty Stevenson discovers, we may need to have a conversation about discipline, too. You never … Read more
A week after the melodramatic ending to the Lions tour and the “controversial penalty, that wasn’t a penalty, that could have been a penalty, that wasn’t a penalty,” the rugby world is none the wiser. Former All Black Mils Muliaina is still pissed that no clarity has been provided around that final decision. We all … Read more
The weirdest schedule in all of professional sports naturally gets a weird ending this week. Maybe it’s just time to admit that the system is too weird for everyone, writes Scotty Stevenson. The Chiefs and the Hurricanes both will be in action in the final round of Super Rugby’s regular season on Saturday with no chance … Read more
The All Blacks’ attempt to start a parochial New Zealand rugby chant has been embraced wholeheartedly… by Lions supporters. The last month has been a pretty long and interesting time. I’ve been to every game of the British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand, from Whangarei to Dunedin. I’ve listened to a lot along … Read more
As the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour draws to a close, opinion will be divided on whether rugby’s last traditional travelling circus has a future in professional rugby’s congested schedule. The proposed trip to South Africa in 2021 will see the Lions play just eight matches instead of ten. But, as Scotty Stevenson ponders, … Read more
As the weather closes in on Wellington and the vultures circle the conceptual carcass of the British and Irish Lions, the second test against the All Blacks shapes as perhaps one of the most important in the history of this great touring party. The Lions need to win, and their chances of that will not … Read more
Labour MP for Wellington Central Grant Robertson recalls the day he stalked the Carisbrook touchline in an oilskin parka. Thirty-four years ago this weekend, I reached my sporting peak. Given that I was 11 years old, you’ll realise this was not exactly Everest, but for me, it was just about everything. I got to be … Read more
Team New Zealand’s innovation and Peter Burling’s ineffable calm have returned the America’s Cup to New Zealand. New Zealand has won back the America’s Cup, in the process avenging one of the most humiliating capitulations in sport and perhaps justifying the vast government investment which facilitated this epic plot to regain it. Everything we imagine to … Read more