A New Zealand city dubbed the "suicide capital" by John Cleese has responded by naming a rubbish heap at the local dump after the British comedian. Proving that revenge is a dish best served cold, the sign for Mt Cleese has been erected more than a year after Cleese revealed he had a "thoroughly bloody miserable time" in Palmerston North.
New Zealand effectively outlawed smacking children on Wednesday by removing a statutory defence for parents. A private Bill sponsored by a Green Party lawmaker, which removed an existing legal defence of ”reasonable force” to correct a child, was passed by an overwhelming majority.
All Black lock Ali Williams said on Wednesday his playing future next year in New Zealand is uncertain after being sent home in disgrace by the Auckland Blues. Williams arrived back in New Zealand from South Africa late on Tuesday after the team management and senior players from the Blues decided to banish him ahead of their Super 14 semifinal against the Sharks.
The Sharks and Bulls will host semifinals — the first playoff matches in South Africa in six years in Super rugby — after sealing first and second places on Saturday with massive last-round wins. The Sharks beat the Stormers 36-10 to finish atop the Super 14 standings with a 10-win, three-loss record, while the Bulls crushed the hapless Queensland Reds by a record 92-3.
Australia international Lote Tuqiri scored his first try in Super 14 rugby in 12 months to help the New South Wales Waratahs to a 38-14 win over the Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday. Tuqiri’s try in the 46th minute was his first in a Super 14 match since May 4 last year and his first in any rugby since August, breaking an embarrassing drought for the Australian Rugby Union’s high-profile signing.
The Canterbury Crusaders, riled by a ”soft” tag, lead the Super 14 field this weekend into a high-stakes final round before the play-offs with six teams still in contention for the last four. The ”soft” jibe was fired by Waikato Chiefs skipper Jono Gibbes ahead of their crucial showdown on Friday which the fifth-placed Chiefs which they must win to keep their hopes alive.
All Black winger Sitiveni Sivivatu has been found guilty of serious misconduct by the New Zealand Rugby Union over an assault on his wife. Sivivatu was discharged without conviction by a New Zealand court over the assault last month after pleading guilty, with the judge saying the publicity surrounding the case was sufficient penalty.
The Canterbury Crusaders lead the Super 14 field into a weekend dominated by do-or-die local derbies that will effectively determine the true contenders for the play-offs. Five of the seven matches will have a distinct bearing on the outcome of the competition, and three involve crucial domestic clashes in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Normal order was restored in the Super 14 rugby competition over the weekend as perennial favourites Canterbury Crusaders muscled their way to the head of the table. The Crusaders took control of the logjam at the top of the championship when they beat the Otago Highlanders for their fifth consecutive bonus-point win.
All Blacks forwards Chris Masoe, Jerry Collins and Jason Eaton each scored tries as the Wellington Hurricanes beat South Africa’s Cheetahs 37-15 in a Super 14 rugby match on Friday. The Hurricanes rushed to a 24-3 first-half lead but the Cheetahs fought back with tries to Gavin Passens and captain Juan Smith.
One of the most heated rivalries in rugby’s Super 14 –- annual matches between Australian sides New South Wales and Queensland — will likely be a playoff for last place when it’s played Saturday in the 11th round. Queensland’s Reds have only seven points from nine matches this season and are mired in an eight-match losing streak stretching back to round one.
The Auckland Blues have relegated three frontline All Blacks to the bench for Saturday’s heavyweight Super 14 clash with the Coastal Sharks in a surprise move as the competition intensifies. The Blues head into the weekend on 36 points, four clear of defending champions the Crusaders, with the Sharks third a further two points back.
Cheetahs fullback Bevin Fortuin was banned for two weeks on Tuesday after being found guilty by a Super 14 rugby judiciary of dangerously playing an opponent without the ball. The charge arose from the South African team’s match against the Auckland Blues at Auckland on Friday.
Stopgap flyhalf Piri Weepu kicked four goals from five attempts as the Wellington Hurricanes beat South Africa’s Bulls 17-9 in a Super 14 rugby match on Saturday. The All Blacks scrumhalf, assigned the number 10 jersey as the Hurricanes voted no confidence in their two specialists in the position, landed all four goals in the first half, including a 48m effort into a swirling breeze.
A New Zealand university researcher has won a government grant to study the lifestyle habits of head-banging heavy metal fans. The $68 000 grant over three years to student Dave Snell will allow him to carry out his study, entitled "The Everyday Life of Bogans: Identity and Community Among Heavy Metal Fans".
The pressure is on the table-topping Auckland Blues and second-placed Coastal Sharks this weekend as they take to the road with neither yet guaranteed a home Super 14 rugby semifinal. The Sharks have the tougher assignment, playing five of their last six matches away, starting with the Western Force in Perth on Friday.
The ACT Brumbies broke the Sharks’ unbeaten run in rugby union’s Super 14, diverting attention from the return of New Zealand’s ”conditioned” World Cup All Blacks. The Brumbies beat the Sharks 21-10 on Saturday in Durban, halting the South African team’s winning streak at six games and depriving the competition of its only unbeaten team.
The Super 14 rugby table faces a shake-up this weekend with the unbeaten Sharks within range of regaining the top spot when they host the Wellington Hurricanes in Durban. But should the Sharks fail, a second South African side in the Northern Bulls, who face defending champions the Canterbury Crusaders, are within striking distance of drawing level with the front-running Auckland Blues.
Office workers who spend long hours at their desk may be more prone to potentially fatal blood clots than passengers on long-haul flights. A study by Professor Richard Beasley in Wellington found that a third of patients admitted to hospital with deep-vein thrombosis were office workers who spent long periods at a computer.
Super 14 rugby will test the resilience of its new pecking order when the sixth round begins on Friday. After years of underachievement, South African teams have placed themselves among the top of the standings after a strong start to the season. New Zealand sides — in the absence of 22 All Blacks — have come to occupy the mediocre middle ground.
Springboks Jean de Villiers and Breyton Paulse snatched intercept tries as the Stormers beat the Wellington Hurricanes 30-17 in a Super 14 rugby match on Saturday. De Villiers scored the first and Paulse the last of the Stormers’ four tries as the South African team, previously last on the championship table, took a bonus point from an away win.
No image available
/ 28 February 2007
International currency fluctuations contributed to the New Zealand Rugby Union’s NZ,8-million (,4-million) loss in 2006, chief executive Chris Moller said on Wednesday. The result, better than its budgeted loss of NZ,2-million, compared with a NZ,7-million profit in 2005.
No image available
/ 23 February 2007
A New Zealand high school has apologised for giving students a homework assignment to plan a murder and describe how they would get rid of the body, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The principal of Howick College in Auckland, Bill Dimery, apologised to the parents of one 14-year-old boy who complained.
No image available
/ 23 February 2007
Thomas Waldrom scored a try after the final hooter to give the Wellington Hurricanes an 11-10 win over the ACT Brumbies in another low-scoring Super 14 rugby match on Friday. Number eight Waldrom broke from a ruck in the last act of a drab match, to burst through the Brumbies’ previously resilient defence and score an unconverted stoppage-time try.
No image available
/ 22 February 2007
A New Zealand fishing boat has landed what is believed to be a world-record squid weighing an estimated 450kg, officials said on Thursday. The gigantic sea creature is about 10m long and about 150kg heavier than the next biggest specimen ever found. Colossal squid are found in Antarctic waters and are not related to the giant squid.
No image available
/ 22 February 2007
South African teams occupy the top two rungs on the Super 14 rugby ladder but their unaccustomed prominence will be challenged in the competition’s fourth round starting on Friday. The Durban-based Sharks are the only unbeaten team after three rounds and will sit out the fourth round, along with the New South Wales Waratahs.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
New Zealand completed a 3-0 whitewash in their one-day series against Australia after a thrilling one-wicket win in Hamilton on Tuesday. Australia had looked in command after totalling a massive 346-5, but the Kiwis stunned the world champions by posting the second-highest run-chase in one-day history to win with just three balls to spare.
No image available
/ 18 February 2007
Australia rebounded from their recent batting slump in spectacular fashion by smashing a record 336 for four in Sunday’s second Chappell-Hadlee series one-day match against New Zealand at Eden Park. Stand-in captain Mike Hussey led his team’s assault with a blazing 105 off 84 balls while Brad Hodge once again fell agonisingly short of his maiden one-day hundred,
No image available
/ 18 February 2007
Australia have lost their place at the top of the world one-day international rankings after New Zealand batted superbly to register a thrilling five-wicket victory over their rivals on Sunday. South Africa, who beat Pakistan 3-1 in a recent home series, have become the first team to replace Australia at the top of the rankings since they were introduced in October 2002.
No image available
/ 17 February 2007
The Wellington Hurricanes edged Auckland by a point in a thrilling local derby on Saturday to end the Blues’ unbeaten start to rugby union’s Super 14. The Hurricanes held on to a 23-22 lead for the last 19 minutes of a match in which the lead changed hands four times.
No image available
/ 16 February 2007
New Zealand handed Australia their first ever 10-wicket defeat in one-day internationals with a crushing victory in the opening Chappell-Hadlee series match in Wellington on Friday. The Kiwis raced to a stunning victory with 23 overs to spare after fast bowler Shane Bond had destroyed the Australian batting line-up by taking 5-23 in their miserable total of 148.
No image available
/ 15 February 2007
One crewman was missing after a fire erupted on a Japanese whaling ship in icy Antarctic waters on Thursday, following weeks of running battles between the hunters and militant environmentalists. The <i>Nisshin Maru</i> sent out a distress call before dawn, saying most of the crew had abandoned ship, with a few staying on board to fight the fire.