The All Blacks are not thugs and captain Tana Umaga would never deliberately maim anyone, coach Graham Henry said on Tuesday, showing frustation at the ongoing ”sideshow” over the tackle that dislocated the shoulder of the Lions captain in the first rugby Test.
British and Irish Lions rugby coach Clive Woodward has lost faith in his first XV, that was trounced 21-3 by the All Blacks, and said on Monday there will be changes for the second Test. Two whose positions appear in jeopardy are Jason Robinson and Neil Back, both of whom played in Saturday’s first Test and have been selected to play again against Manawatu on Tuesday.
New Zealand will ask Britain and Australia to support its call for the International Cricket Council to ban Zimbabwe from competition because of the Mugabe regime’s human rights abuses. The New Zealand Cabinet, when it meets on Monday, will consider banning the Zimbabwe cricket team from entering the country later this year.
Lions coach Clive Woodward has demanded action against All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu after Lions skipper Brian O’Driscoll dislocated a collarbone in a crunching tackle early in the first rugby Test. The 3-21 loss to the All Blacks proved costly for the British and Irish Lions.
New Zealand’s national cricket team, the Black Caps, will tour Zimbabwe in August and September despite widespread international concerns about the Mugabe government’s human rights record, it was announced on Wednesday. Naming the team for the tour, New Zealand cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said no players had expressed reluctance to go.
Police in New Zealand broke down the door to an Auckland home after receiving an emergency call from the building, only to find that the call had apparently been made by the resident cat. It seems Tabby the cat had rung the 111 emergency number while taking a stroll across a telephone.
Jonah Lomu’s dreams of playing again for the All Blacks have taken another knock with news that his comeback to first-class rugby will be delayed for four more months while he recovers from shoulder surgery. Lomu will have surgery in the next few days after he injured his shoulder in the Martin Johnson testimonial match recently.
Head coach Clive Woodward said that the British and Irish Lions tour had reached a make-or-break point after his side were tamed on Saturday in a shock 13-19 defeat by the New Zealand Maori. Woodward, the mastermind behind England’s World Cup success, has his heart set on a Lions Test series win in New Zealand, rating it as the pinnacle of achievement in rugby.
Three newcomers have been named in the All Blacks starting line-up for their one-off Test against Fiji at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland on Friday. Hooker Derren Witcombe, lock James Ryan and winger Sitiveni Sivivatu will make their Test debuts in a side that has an experimental look about it before the All Blacks face the British and Irish Lions.
The British and Irish Lions kick off what coach Clive Woodward calls ”the last great rugby tour” on Saturday with a match more important than the strength of their opponents suggest. Bay of Plenty, hosting the match at Rotorua, is among the weakest of New Zealand’s first division sides and wouldn’t normally be expected to tax a Lions team that includes as many as 12 test players.
A six-year-old New Zealand racehorse named Rain, Hail or Shine died in its paddock on Wednesday after being struck by lightning, its trainer said. Ralph Manning, who trained the horse to two wins and five placings from 24 starts, said he found the horse dead after a thunderstorm.
Prop Dave Hewett scored a valedictory try as the Canterbury Crusaders beat the New South Wales Waratahs 35-12 on Saturday to end a decade of Super 12 rugby with their fifth championship. The Crusaders led 35-6 after 64 minutes and seemed likely to make their fifth championship win their most emphatic.
The Canterbury Crusaders plan to avoid being beaten finalists in the Super 12 for a third straight year on Saturday by remaining focused on playing their own style of rugby against the New South Wales Waratahs, second-rower Chris Jack says. Both sides named unchanged sides on Thursday for the final at Christchurch’s Jade Stadium.
Astronomers have discovered a planet that is twice as big as Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, New Zealand researchers at the University of Auckland revealed on Tuesday. They said the newly discovered planet is 15 000 light years away from the Earth, making it one of the most distant discovered to date.
The Crusaders set themselves up for a fifth Super 12 rugby title by crushing the hapless Hurricanes 47-7 in Christchurch on Friday. While the Crusaders started favourites for the semifinal at Jade Stadium, few would have predicted such a one-sided affair, with the hosts scoring six tries and very nearly keeping a clean sheet.
A state of emergency remained in force in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand on Thursday as authorities and residents started counting the cost of flash flooding that forced the evacuation of hundreds of people and destroyed or damaged dozens of houses.
The Hurricanes will call on every iota of guile, experience and aggression to win Saturday’s Super 12 rugby semifinal in Christchurch, says Crusaders coach Robbie Deans. Ahead of the Jade Stadium showdown between the best two New Zealand teams in this year’s competition, Dean said his side know what to expect from the Hurricanes.
All Blacks flanker Richie McCaw will lead the Canterbury Crusaders in their Super 12 rugby semifinal against the Wellington Hurricanes at Christchurch on Friday. He was confirmed in the Crusaders’ starting line-up on Wednesday, taking the place of Johnny Leo’o, who scored two tries in the win over the Hurricanes.
The Canterbury Crusaders secured the crucial position of a potential home final advantage in the Super 12 rugby championship with a 40-20 win over the Wellington Hurricanes on Friday. Before a sell-out crowd of 35 000, the Crusaders led by only 18-13 at half-time.
The Wellington Hurricanes broke a 10-year Super 12 losing streak against Auckland, scoring three second-half tries on Friday to beat the Blues 22-10 at Eden Park. The Hurricanes outscored the Blues 19-7 after the teams were tied 3-3 at half-time, posting their first win over Auckland in the competition.
The New South Wales Waratahs and Wellington Hurricanes will face traditional stumbling blocks as they attempt to secure play-off places on Friday in Super 12 rugby. The 11th — and second-last — regular round of the competition serves up a number of derby contests that will determine how the six teams in play-off contention compress themselves into four semifinal places.
The Canterbury Crusaders scored seven tries in the first 42 minutes on Friday and held on for a 77-34 win over the Sharks in a Super 12 rugby match at Jade Stadium in New Zealand. The Crusaders gave up four tries in 15 minutes in the second half to see their 49-8 lead threatened, before scoring four more tries to restore its emphatic victory margin.
The ACT Brumbies’ chances of remaining Super 12 rugby champions could end in this weekend’s 10th round. The injury-hit Brumbies, on a four-game losing streak and with 20 points from eight games, are tied for sixth place on a crowded championship table. They play the fifth-place Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday.
Andrew Mehrtens became the leading points-scorer in Super 12 rugby as he led the Canterbury Crusaders to a 40-36 win over South Africa’s Cats at Jade Stadium on Saturday. Mehrtens needed only his first penalty in the fourth minute to reclaim the points-scoring record he previously conceded to Wallabies fullback Matt Burke.
The Otago Highlanders hit the Wellington Hurricanes with an early bluster to score two tries within 15 minutes and then hung on for a 26-16 win, which improves their chances of making the Super 12 play-offs. The Hurricanes, 14-6 down at half-time, got within reach before a late drop goal by Nick Evans put the result beyond doubt.
Robbie Deans maintains sentimentality played no part in his decision to start Andrew Mehrtens alongside Justin Marshall for Saturday night’s Super 12 rugby match at Jade Stadium in Christchurch. So, Daniel Carter’s relegation to the reserves must fall into the sensible category.
Jeff Wilson’s sporting rebirth from All Black to Black Cap may inspire former Springbok rugby fullback Conrad Jantjes to make a similar switch later in his career.
The 25-year-old Jantjes settled on rugby as a professional career, but the former all-rounder has not ruled out returning to the cricket crease some day.
All Blacks halfback Byron Kelleher scored two tries as the Waikato Chiefs overran South Africa’s Cats 45-14 in a Super 12 rugby match at the Waikato Stadium on Friday. The Chiefs’ loose forwards and outside backs stood out as they posted their second straight four-try victory over a South African opponent to bounce off the bottom of the table.
A cigarette butt said to have been salvaged as a souvenir before a smoking ban has been sold in an internet auction in New Zealand for NZ$7 475 (about R33 300). The butt was purported to be the last smoked in the popular Auckland bar Malt before the introduction of anti-smoking legislation last year.
New Zealand ended a miserable 12 months of Test cricket when they comprehensively outplayed Sri Lanka to win the second Test by an innings and 38 runs inside four days in Wellington on Thursday and take the series 1-0. The win was set up by a magnificent 224 from Lou Vincent.
A magnificent double century from Lou Vincent put New Zealand firmly in command of the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka at stumps on the third day. Vincent’s 224 was the seventh-highest Test innings by a New Zealander and provided the backbone of New Zealand’s 522 for nine declared.
Wallabies fullback Mat Rogers missed the conversion of Phil Waugh’s last-minute try to allow the Wellington Hurricanes to hang on to a 26-24 win over the New South Wales Waratahs on Sunday. The Waratahs remained without a win in Wellington in the 10 years of the Super 12 but left the match with two bonus points.