EOYT Squad. God I'm Good. & WTF Steve?

The All Blacks squad for the end of year tour was announced yesterday, and for the most part the selections were obvious.  BUT (yes - there is always a but), there are a couple of admissions and exclusions which puzzle the hell out of me, and make me wonder exactly what is Steve thinking?

See ya later, Piri.

The first, and potentially the most obvious admission - Piri Weepu.  WTF STEVE?  I understand that Piri has the potential to be bloody awesome on the field, I mean, the guy developed quite the cult following during the Rugby World Cup, he really was on fire.  But this year, it seems that Piri has been coated in flame retardant.  There has been no sign of that fire, hell - there aren't even a few embers lying around.  No.  In 2012, Piri is more like saturated firewood - without a match in sight.  Or should that be a match start?

The kid Piri mentored has surpassed him. Oops.

I think that all that is really saving Piri's ass here, is the fact he is another goal kicking option - but with Beauden Barrett improving with each game, and the skill of Aaron Cruden, and of course Dan Carter, I don't think this little saving grace is going to be saving his ass much longer.  Especially not when there is another #9 nipping at his heels.  A number #9 he helped to mentor whilst playing with the Hurricanes.  Yeap - TJ Perenara, who is finally on his way back from inury, after breaking his ankle in a[n unofficial] Super XV match against the Reds (?) this season.  TJ outplayed Piri in all aspects of the game during the 2012 Super XV, and other than Aaron Smith, he was the most exciting #9 playing in the Super XV - and I have a feeling that had he not been injured, he quite possibly could have been in this end of year tour squad, or at the very least, been in the Maori All Blacks tour squad.  Then there is Tawera Kerr-Barlow, who also outplayed Piri this season - but more on him later.

Long story short?  Don't expect to see Piri in the black jersey, in 2013!

Yeap, I'd be feeling that way too, Ali

The other curious admission is Ali Williams.  I scratch my head and try to come up with reasons he was selected, after playing bugger all rugby this year - and I fail to come up with any reasons, other than the fact he's played 50+ tests for the All Black, and could be seen as a good leader for other locks selected (Sam Whitelock, Brodie Rettalick, Luke Romano) - even if judging by that list, he would be the 4th favoured lock on the list.  Maybe Steve has more faith in him than the NZ public (and it seems, a lot of the rugby fraternity), but I don't understand how he is in the team.  Surely Jarrad Hoeata could have been given a look in, particularly with his ability to play other positions in the forwards, as well.  Then there is Craig Clarke, who had an excellent Super XV season for the Chiefs?  I highly doubt that Ali Williams will make it to the end of the end of year tour, uninjured - and the way Clarke, Hoeata & Jason Eaton have been playing, it will probably signal the end of his time in the black jersey.

Dane Coles - the dude can run.

It's not all doom and gloom and bitching though!  I let out a little squeeeee of delight, when I saw that Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Dane Coles had been named in the squad - both are players I noticed early in the Super XV season, and I remember saying on several occasions that both of them would be All Blacks by the end of the year.  Well - it's not quite the end of the year, and they are now named in the All Blacks squad, and one has to imagine that both will get some game time in Europe.  I am especially glad that Dane Coles got in, because while we seem to have an abundance of talent when it comes to the backs, and most of the forwards positions, hooker is one where we are lacking.   Dane Coles did a great job for the Hurricanes, showing he could do the physical work of a hooker - but that he could also run... and I think it's a great idea to get him in the squad while the likes of Keven Mealamu and Andrew Hore are still around to mentor him, to help boost his confidence and skill, so that when the time comes for those players to retire, we won't be let with a big gaping hole, in the hooking department.

Tawera Kerr-Barlow, more in form than Piri, in 2012

And yes, I understand that I just mentioned 'gaping holes' when discussing hookers.

All in all, a pretty awesome squad to take on Scotland, Italy, Wales and England - with the possibility for one of these games to be a swan song for two or three of the players, but also the possibility for a lot of young up and comers to really stamp their mark on the team.

Hot Tattooed Rugga Alert

After sighting a rather nice looking tattoo on a Springbok player last night, this morning I decided to investigage further....  And oh, did I EVER reap the rewards.

Introducing, Francois Hougaard, in all his tattooed hawtness.

Need I say more??????

Bring Back Zac! & Quade (??!)

Don't worry Zac - I'm sad that you aren't
in the All Blacks squad as well...

Gone are the calls of 'Bring back Buck' - and here are the calls of 'Bring back Zac!'... because quite frankly, Hosea Gear is craptastic at what he does in the #11 jersey.  I can't count how many times he dropped the ball on Saturday night, how many times he was in the wrong place at the right time, how many wrong angles he ran, or the fact that he missed a try that he would have got had he been more awesome.  Y'know.  More like Zac.  Had Hosea actually been Zac on that night, he would have sidestepped and ran more infield, rather than allowing himself to be splattered by a Wallaby defender.

Bring.  Back.  Zac.

NOW.

SUTFM
- Squashed Up Toad Face Man

The inaugural Rugby Championship is underway - the All Blacks (as one would expect) beat the Wallabies on Saturday night.  It wasn't exactly an exciting game, there weren't exactly thousands of points scored - but you could see that although the All Blacks weren't playing at their peak, they were still miles ahead of the Wallabies as far as class, talent and ability goes.  It was almost embarrassing seeing how badly some of the Wallabies played - naturally one thinks of Kurtley Beale.. that squashed up toad face of a man had a horrendous game, and I would like to think that the Australian coaches will acknowledge that and kick his ass out of the team for this weekends match in Auckland.  He was the reason the All Blacks scored their two tries - and generally ran circles around their so called 'tough' opponents.

Squashed up toad face's shockingly poor effort obviously leads us to expect that New Zealand's favourite son will be called into the team.  That's right.  Quade Cooper.  We all know that the Kiwi crowds LOVE him... OH WAIT, that's right - they actually hate him.  I still remember very clearly all the booing throughout the All Blacks v Wallabies semi final match at the RWC last year...  Quade had a shocking performance that night - and literally from the kick off, where he kicked the ball out on the full.  It really set the tone for the evening.  Australia sucking.  Crowd hating on Quade.  All Blacks kicking some major ass.  One of my fondest moments of that game - and quite possibly every New Zealander's favourite part of that game was the infamous QUADE SMASH........

Lets...

See...

That...

AGAIN!!!!!

Best.  Game.  Ever.

Try celebrations, AB's style!

Izzy is very proud of his buddy, CJ!

Back on the subject of this past weekends game though... While most players had a pretty average game, Izzy Dagg had a great game and ran in his 9th try as an All Black (in, I believe, 15 tests)... He also made the quick, snappy, brilliant pass that allowed CJ to slot in for a 'very CJ' try.  Izzy was an obvious choice for man of the match - and he certainly deserved the honour...  In an article (one of many) about the game, he said "I just had to back myself. It's something I haven't been doing much [lately]."  He might not be backing himself, but I can guarantee that the whole of New Zealand is backing him - I have a feeling it's going to be an awesome series for Mr Dagg... he was certainly at his explosive best on Saturday, and surely that'll only get better the longer they're in camp & the more games they play!

As is always a nice thing to do, lets go out on a happy man lovey note

Yes Dan, we too are proud of Izzy!

Statisgasmic

My birthday is on September 22nd.  I am a Virgo.  By nature, Virgos are meant to be analytical (as well as organised, which as anyone who knows me knows - I am NOT)..  Every now and then, that little analytical streak in me comes out, and I have myself a statisgasm...  Similar to a nerdgasm, but more specific... more specialised.  Yes.  My brain 'gets off' to statistics.

As long as the statistics are interesting.
Sadly a lot aren't.

HOWEVER.  Rugby statistics.... they can cause multiple statisgasms.

(halfback) TJ Perenara scores a trie for the Hurricanes

For example... did you know that of the 559 tries scored (thus far) across all SuperXV teams, 360 were scored by backs, as opposed to only 199 scored by forwards - and that within the backs, 143 of their tries were scored by wings, with Center and Halfback scoring 84 and 74 respectively - with the fullback further back on 59.

'Snakey' scores at home, for the Hurricanes

As for WHEN tries are most often scored?  I can tell you they are most often scored at home, in the second half - most specifically between 41-60 minutes.  11 teams scored more tries at home, with 2 teams scoring the same amount of tries both at home and away.  NONE of the teams in the playoffs scored more tries away, than at home - so does this indicate that the teams playing at home for their quarter/semi/final have more of a likelihood of winning?  All teams in the playoffs have won a large majority of their home games.... (but then also a large majority of their away games also... so moot point?).

Tom Taylor on his way to 31 points
in one Super XV game (v Stormers)

When you get down to top points scorers, of the top 5, 3 are from New Zealand franchises - not surprisingly they are Cruden, Barrett and Tom Taylor.  Cruden and Barrett had a very similar number of penalties and conversions, however Tom Taylor had a substantially larger number of penalties.  Tom Taylor successfully kicked 15/17 conversions and 37/45 penalties - a strike rate of 84%
Aaron Cruden successfully kicked 35/44 conversions and 43/52 penalties - a strike rate of 81%
Beauden Barrett successfully kicked 35/51 conversions and 39/48 penalties - a strike rate of 75%.

I would love to be a rugby statistician!  Maybe if they offered rugby statistics at high school, I would have paid a tiny little bit of attention to maths.. because while I have never used Pythagorus' theorum (something to do with triangles?) since having to use it for pointless maths sessions at school, I quite often refer to my rugby statistics....  Come think of it - had they incorporated rugby into ALL of my subjects at school, I would quite possibly have been a little happier to stick around, rather than being in a hell of a rush to get out of there....  Now.  A PhD in rugby.. THAT would be pretty fucking awesome.........

East Stand.. Least Stand!

The fog sucked, but Gab had a good time!

I officially strongly dislike the East Stand at Addington Stadium (or AMI Stadium, whatever you wanna call it).  Both times I've sat there it has been foggy, both times there has been sweet fuck all action down that end of the field - and I have to say, the fact you don't get a good view of the Crusaders waming up, that also sours the deal a lot! 

Hello there, Mr Guildford!

I didn't realise how much I rely on watching the boys warm up, to get me into the rugby mood... it just wasn't the same on Saturday night!  Gaby and I went and watched the final round robin match of the Super XV - Crusaders vs Force, the first half was pretty exciting - the Crusaders scored four tries (Izzy, Sean Maitland, Andy Ellis & Matt Todd), but the second half was very much a bore.  The only points were down the opposite end of the field (to the Force), and most of the action happened down there as well...  A few times the teams were down our end of the field, but for the most part we were left squinting into the distance to see what was happening.

OMG some action down our end!

There is a quarter final here this weekend - the Crusaders vs Bulls, and I would love to go, but if they aren't going to open the West Stand, I don't think I will bother, because I'm not spending another game away from all the action.  And yes, admittedly away from watching the boys warm up!  I know it shouldn't be about perving on the few sexy dudes in the team - but whether it's right or not, it's a part of the appeal of rugby for ME...

I did get a few okay glimpses of Zaccy on Saturday night, but nothing compared to the other games I've been to, and it was a bit of a let down...  Gaby had a great time and made friends with the kids sitting next to us, and enjoyed getting high 5's from the creepy 'WooHoo Moment' gimps... I think for the first time Gaby enjoyed a game more than me!

Oh yea.  And rugby sucks without Lauriel sitting beside me.... *pouts*

Sonny Bill Williams: Media Whore

In half an hour there is going to be a press conference.  The focus of the presser, is no other than the money hungry media whore, that we know as one Sonny Bill Williams.

It is expected that Mr Money Bill Williams, is going to announce that he is leaving New Zealand (haaaaalelujahhhhh) to play rugby in Japan until the end of 2012 (earning him a cool 1.7mil), before going back to Australia - where he belongs, to play in the NRL in 2013 - for the Sydney Roosters (earning $650,000 a season).

I'd prefer he was playing for a Queensland team.  I quite like Sydney.

I guess the attention has been waning over here, so it's time to jump ship, go and create a media storm somewhere else, before jumping ship again and creating another media storm.... playing for a year or two & then creating another media storm by jumping ship again - maybe to play professional tennis, join a Russian ballet troupe, or attempt to qualify for the 2016 Chinese Olympic Gymnastic team...  IF his head hasn't been knocked off in a boxing match by then.

We can only hope it has been.

Another Rugby Date-NIght

School holidays are awesome for one reason, and one reason alone - and it's certainly not child related.  No.  School holidays mean that Lauriel and I get to spend some much needed time together.  June 30th arrived and I picked Lauriel up from the airport, a few hours later we dumped (I mean, dropped off) Gaby at my parents house and went to the Palms to get the bus out to Addington... for the RUGBY!

Date night!!!!

Yeap.  Our first night together - we could have gone to a nice restaurant, for a nice meal - followed by a movie, or perhaps a lovely moonlit stroll along the beach... But that is so not us.  Instead we went with Lauren, to see the Crusaders vs Hurricanes match - both more than excited about our seats in the second row of the west stand.

In other words, two rows back from where the Crusaders would do their warm up.....  Which is another way of saying optimal perving position!!!!

The game was close, but sadly the Crusaders lost (yes, I said that and meant it...), but I don't think that really mattered to either of us, as we were able to do more than our fair share of perving...

No Zac.. I don't mind at all, if you stand in front of me...

Mr McCaw.. do you realise you just made my fiancee explode?

Sure Zac.. pull your top up in front of me.. I don't care..

Mr McCaw!!  You just killed my fiancee!!!!!

What's good for the Captain, is good for the players...