Rugby crisis I
These are difficult times for the most important rugby team in New Zealand.
Their losses might only have been by a few points — but they were losses, and that is not good enough.
It is especially difficult to see the old enemy in green carving a swathe through each and every opposition.
I speak, of course, of the North Otago team presently in a tricky spot in the Heartland Championship.
The Old Golds have lost three of their opening four games — that represents half a season at this level — and are on the road to play the hated (and ruthlessly dominant, whether we like it or not) South Cantabrians today.
Let me remind you that my home province holds one of the great records in New Zealand rugby.
The Old Golds have made the playoffs every single season since the year 2000, a feat unmatched by the other 25 unions.
Rugby crisis II
Meanwhile, the All Blacks.
They appear to me to be in an odd sort of limbo.
They are neither really good nor really bad. They have elements of both freshness and staleness. They could lose four more tests this year or they could go through unbeaten from here. The coach is either a genius or, if you want to go wildly to the other end of the spectrum, a fraud.
A couple of tests against the woeful Wallabies SHOULD bring some confidence back.
Scott Robertson needs to start showing us some of that magic dust he had with the Crusaders.
He might start with a couple of obvious changes: Savea to openside, Sititi to No 8, Lienert-Brown to centre, Ioane to the wing. See how that goes.
Marathon men/women
Good luck as always to the thousands of keen runners and walkers tackling the Dunedin Marathon tomorrow over various distances.
One day.
One day I will run or walk in this event.
Somebody take a note of this and remind me of it every year for as long as it takes.
Just a game
We have all heard those frightening stories of secondary schools taking sport just a little seriously.
Think Maadi Cup rowing programmes losing some perspective, or rugby schools pretending to be professional and poaching children from other institutions.
But is this story out of the hockey world really true?
It seems a high-flying boys school takes its hockey EXTREMELY seriously, to the point it brings in an international player every year.
This year’s lad was Dutch, naturally. He shone at the national schoolboys tournament ... and jumped on a plane home just 48 hours after the final.
Power rankings
Thanks to various readers for their feedback on the annual sport power rankings (ODT, 7.9.24.)
Two things I should mention here.
Maddi Wesche was indeed VERY unlucky not to make the top 25. She flies under the radar a little but silver in a track and field event at the Olympics should probably have given her the nod.
And thanks to the bloke who highlighted Ryan Fox’s consistency goes deeper than "just" making the cut in all four majors this year.
Fox was one of just six golfers — Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele and world No1 Scottie Scheffler were the others — to make all four cuts in both 2024 and 2023.
Cricket score of the week
The score is 10.
A dazzling couple of boundaries before holing out at long on? A gutsy unbeaten rearguard action?
Nope.
That is 10, as in 10 all out.
Mongolia did their best in the Asian T20 qualifier in Malaysia recently but found the going rather tough against Singapore.
Five batters — and that is a generous word — got ducks as the Mongolians crumbled for 10 off 10 full overs, matching the lowest score in T20 history.
Young spinner Harsha Bharadwaj took six wickets for three runs for Singapore, who knocked off the required runs in five balls.
Names of the week
College football season has started in the United States and there remains nothing — apart from Premier League football — that can really match its blend of drama, scandal, pageantry, politics and big business.
If my 16-year-old son and his mates are any example, young New Zealand sports fans are really starting to get into it.
Here, then, are the coolest names of real college football players this season:
General Booty. Decoldest Crawford. Phat Watts. Rowdy Beers. Jaden Muskrat. King Large. Dodge Sauser. Demon Clowney. Blazen Lono-Wong. Thunder Keck. Memorable Factor. Chief Borders. Moh Bility. Dude Person. Pig Cage.
