With Super Rugby about to kick off for 2017, Scotty Stevenson picks some rising stars in the New Zealand squads who could make their mark on the competition this season. Sio Tomkinson – Highlanders You don’t need to be a madly passionate Highlanders fan (is there any other kind?) to know this team is well … Read more
As the goalposts are taken down and cricket pitches mowed across the country, Scotty Stevenson reflects on the continued importance of provincial rugby in New Zealand. A lad had a question for me this morning. He asked: “How do we make provincial rugby important again?” I looked at it and sighed. I sighed for two … Read more
I’ve caught exactly 0 minutes of this years ITM Cup. Blame it on oversaturation/the world cup/a lack of Sky or whatever, but the point is, I’m totally incapable of making an informed pick in either the premiership or championship division. But if an octopus can call the soccer world cup with only it’s cephalopodan appetite to guide … Read more
Just two rounds remain in the ITM Cup and it’s all on the line in the penultimate weekend as spots still remain in both divisional playoff equations, and the relegation battle looms as a three-horse race. And so, with so much to look forward to, we look back into week eight, dipping our toes in … Read more
What is it about the words ‘Ranfurly Shield Challenge’ that continues to inspire such fervour? Scotty Stevenson was at McLean Park in Napier to see Hawkes Bay get up to defend the log of wood against Auckland. It has haunted men, the quest for the Ranfurly Shield. Maybe because of that, because of the ghosts, … Read more
With just three rounds left in the regular season, and with no guarantees on final placings, the time has come for the latest installment in our weekly ITM Cup Power Rankings. From corporatised sea life to coaching rodents, it was another week that gave plenty and – in true Provincial fashion – expected nothing in … Read more
The halfway point in the ITM Cup came and went over the weekend with Canterbury playing with all the precision of the Hyundai assembly line, the Turbos getting a first win, and Tasman making it 5-0 to start the year with a second half feast against the Lions. With the Makos taking on their bogey … Read more
Scotty Stevenson watches as Stephen Donald makes his triumphant return to the City of Hamilton, wearing number 22 for Waikato tim boyn the ITM Cup. The great kiwi battler-cum-hero returned to Hamilton in the rain on a Thursday. Not many people cared. At least, not many people cared enough to witness it in the flesh. … Read more
It may not have the pizzazz of the Super Rugby season or the hype of the Rugby World Cup, but make no mistake: the ITM Cup is the best ten weeks of rugby this year, and every year. Where else do grown men run around in the kind of deer outfit that would make a … Read more