England

rugby_rockstar says...

Lawynd, you said,

"As for 'throwing out third teams' and anyone with Sky knowing you're 'telling the truth about Leicester,' perhaps you might consider why Tigers are the most successful team in England...it couldn't have anything to do with bringing through and blooding academy talent in these other competitions, could it? And we won't mention (again!) the tonking that a 'third team' dished out to South Africa, right?"

bringing through talent? Not in recent times no. Look at the tigers first team and then spot the home grown tallent. its Ford and the Youngs brothers, the odd fosil like chutter and the deacon brothers who aren't really anything to do with cockeril's regime, maybe croft and cole, however, Parling, Flood, Allen, Tuilagi, Castro, Mafi, Waldrom, Wood, Newbie, etc etc etc. so your argument is outdated.

as for the pro 12 clubs playing understrength teams, none of them are playing the Maori.

and the south africa game? if they put out a team like: Hamilton, Amorosino, Manu Tuilagi, Murphy, Youngs, Stankovich, Chuter, Castro, Cole Parling and deacon, then I'll buy a ticket. That's basically all I'm asking for. Value for money and for the match to be approached in a serious fashion.

Posted 15:46 07th September 2012

nzmaoriboy says...

Having performed in many haka's (sometimes against girlfriend)! I think there is always someone in the "Group" to whom leading the haka just comes naturally. I.E you always have that mate who is great at dancing or that one friend whom speech making just comes naturally too, its the same for Leading a Haka their is a flow and rhythm that some people just have. Has nothing to do with parentage/age/color.......(Weight he he)...Hope this helps

Posted 05:15 02nd September 2012

APV1 says...

@ Ferdie - Thanks for that. But, again, why Weepu? I wonder what makes them choose him every time? Perhaps your Rock : Paper : Scissors idea might hold water, afterall...

Posted 15:19 31st August 2012

Ferdie says...

APV1 - for the person who leads the haka - I understand (could be wrong) that decision is made by the team. management have no say, it's the team who choses him and quite an honour it is too.

as a second option (joking) maybe he always wins at paper-rock-scissors in the decision making process.

maybe most people not aware but there is also tribal rugby comps in nz, and each province has a Mäori committee which administers Mäori rugby in that province - it's not just about the national rep team. tribal affiliation determines which team or area a player can represent.

Posted 12:18 31st August 2012

APV1 says...

@ expattrussy - thank you, I was wondering when it would be picked up..! ;-)

@ nzmaoriboy - thanks for that. On different note, why is it always Weepu leading the Haka, when there are so many other Maori players who are more senior within the team? Is he "more Maori" (from a generational point of view), or from a more senior tribe (i.e. is his lineage such that he is a more senior figure amongst Maoris)? I haven't explained that very well, but I hope it makes sense. And please excuse my ignorance. Cheers!

@ Ferdie - I think our posts overlapped - thanks for the information. The shame is, we'll probably not be able to see any of it televised. Not only are they not "important" enough, but they'll clash with other "more important" matches (and sports).

Isn't it about time that Sky got its act together and started a dedicated Rugby Channel? We have Sports 1 - 4 and News. There's an F1 channel and even channels dedicated to individual football teams. During the Olypics BBC ran over 20 channels, dedicated to showing every event from every sport live. And with the fancy red button, we should be able to watch rugby from all corners of the globe. Even if they're not live, there would still be a little interest - my tv would have a default setting, I suspect. And the ad revenue from the "big" matches would surely be enough to subsidise the loss-leaders. Then we might see Romania, Portugal, Thailand, and so on, to see the sport from all over. And if there's nothing live, there are plenty of classic matches, interviews, Rugby Club, SOHK, and so on, which would fill the gaps perfectly.

Posted 09:26 31st August 2012

Carpelone says...

So, we are all Paakehaa on this site (i.e. not normal ;-)).

Cheers to everybody and NZ Maori, keep it up.

Posted 09:12 31st August 2012

ArmchairGeneral says...

@headhunter99: "let's see the number of bums on seats". That will be 1 or 0. For safety reasons.

Posted 08:47 31st August 2012

Trader2 says...

@Sharkyzulu I think you should read up on your countries history (presume you are a Saffa) regarding why SA were banned. I suspect there may have been a wider picture to consider!

Posted 02:42 31st August 2012

kennyisgay says...

Sharkyzulu... wasn't it skin colour rather than race as I'm sure the white springboks contained other white races

Posted 01:06 31st August 2012

Ferdie says...

APV1 - see my post 3 below yours - "programme of November fixtures for Tier Two Unions" - so maybe some of the teams you mentioned will also be getting games at this time.

Posted 00:29 31st August 2012