It's that time of the week again - tipping time! Surely I can't do any worse than I did last week when I only picked one winner. Then again.....

Well, here goes nothing!

Round 7 Super 12 2005 Tips

Tonight:
Highlanders vs Brumbies: live 5.30pm on Foxsports. I've been vacillating over this game for the last couple of days. The Highlanders have been on a roll, and the Brumbies have had a couple of shockers. The Brumbies haven't won at the House of Pain before either. Still.... I'm going to go the Brumbies by 1, I think they'll be anxious to have a win this round so they don't slip any further down the ladder. Then again, Larkham has been ruled out. Oh geez... yep I'll stick with the Brumbies.

Saturday:
Chiefs vs Sharks: live 3.25pm on Foxsports. I don't think the Chiefs can do it, they really are having a write off season. The Sharks seem to have come good, so I'm going to tip them to beat the Chiefs at home by 3

Blues vs Cats: live 5.3opm on Foxsports. I think the Blues are going to be far too good for the Cats. The Blues seem to have found their stride in this comp as well, so I'm going the Blues by 6.

Stormers vs Reds: live 10.57pm on Foxsports. I can't back the Reds. My heart wants to support them, but clearly something is very wrong in the Reds camp. Stormers by 5

Sunday:

Hurricanes vs Waratahs: live 12.30pm on Foxsports. A bit of a flip of the coin one here. I'd like the Tahs to win, but the Canes will be strong at home in Wellington. I think the Tahs might come out fighting after the rugby lesson they copped from the Crusaders last week, so I'm going to go the Waratahs by 1.


Bulls vs Crusaders: live 12.55am on Foxsports. The Crusaders are on a roll, they are a magnificent Super 12 side. The Bulls fans will most likely give them heaps of curry from the stands, but I think that will only fire up the Canterbury boys :) Crusaders by 12


Have a great rugby weekend!

Good morning!

Hansie's tips for Round 7 are up! I, as usual, will put mine up tomorrow. I must say my confidence is shattered after only picking one lousy winner last weekend. Ack!

Nathan Sharpe... going going gone! To Perth that is next season. He'll pick up close to $2m for his three year deal with the Perth Super 14 team. Well, you can't blame him for taking it! The Reds fear now that Shape will lead a mass exodus to Western Australia. I wonder how many of the Reds players will be stopping off in Perth on their way home from SA? Sharpe has stood himself down as Reds' captain, and now John Roe has been asked to fulfil the role. Three captains in 24 hours....

English rugby has signed a sweet deal as well with Guinness agreeing to throw in $49.1m (that's a lot of dosh) into the domestic rugby comp over four years. Wish they'd throw me a spare mill or two - I'd even drink guinness for that :)

Later!

Did you know?

The tsunami game fundraiser raised USD $3,349,943 - more than 4.3 Aussie dollars. Very cool!

Elton Flatley has stood himself down as Reds captain while he remains injured paving the way for Nathan Sharpe to continue as Captain. Lloyd Johannson meanwhile has been left out of the team to play the Stormers this round, the ONLY change in the lineup being John Roe back at Number 8. How frustrating!

Brendan Cannon became the first player to officially be signed with the Perth Super 14 team. Very nice pick up there for Perth! Congratulations to Brendan Cannon!

Sheesh! How did it get to be Wednesday already? I was sitting at the local yesterday afternoon playing the 'track marke't - that's the term I use when I'm having a gamble on the horses when I should be working instead - when I realised I hadn't put up the winner for Round 6 in the tipping comp.

So, let's have a look at last week's results. There were 6 tippers who picked all 4 winners - I couldn't have picked my butt last week scoring only 1 point, but I digress. Okay, in accordance with the rule in the case of a tie:-

There's actually 3 leaderboards inside the competition. One is for 'winners', one if for 'scores' and one is for 'margins'.

Competition winners will be based on... the 'Tip the Winners' leaderboard.

In the event of a TIE - (which can't happen because I don't have enough prizes.. heh.. ) then to break
the tie the leaderboard 'Tip the Scores' will be used, and if there's STILL a tie after that, the 'Tip the
Margins' leaderboard will be used. If there's still a tie after all that - I give up and we'll do what they
do in a rugby world cup final when they've exhausted their avenues... toss a coin :)

I had to go to the 'Tip the Scores' leaderboard for Round 6, and the highest ranked of the 6 Round 6 number one tippers is ... * drumroll.... * Joshua from Auckland. Congratz, and drop me an email so I can send out your $5 scratchie ticket.

Good morning!

Hansie's Round 6 Super 12 wrap up is live - I couldn't help but notice that he did a lot better in the tipping this round than yours truly. Granted, that wasn't difficult :) He's also included some observations about coaching in South Africa. Interesting reading - thanks mate!

Wendell Sailor has been cleared of a head butting charge after last Friday night's game against the Highlanders and has expressed his frustration in an article in Foxsports. No doubt it isn't only Wendell who is frustrated with the way that the Reds are performing this Super 12 season.

The QRU site this morning tells us that Jeff Miller has added Ben Tune, Lloyd Johannsson, Brock James, Anthony Mathsion and Daniel Heenan to the squad. It's a start! I don't understand why there isn't more representation from Gold Coast Breakers players in the Queensland squad - the Breakers won the Premier rugby comp last year and their forward pack dominated all others before them. And still.... for the large part they remain ignored for selection. And still.... the Reds get hammered. Why not give some fresh blood a go? They surely can't perform any more poorly as a team, and it might just give the Reds the shake up they're looking for to get going forward again. Same old same old every week sure isn't working.

I sure took a nose dive with my tipping this week. The Hurricanes got up 28-16, and I'd tipped the Canes. Then it all went wrong for me!

As I watched the Highlanders vs Reds game I kept wishing that I had locked the Highlanders in the change sheds until late Friday night at our club where they'd been training during the week. The Reds would have had a win :) Seriously though, the Reds were terrible going down 23-16.

The Blues were victorious 17-0 over the Brumbies. The Brumbies Clyde Rathbone, Nic Henderson and Stephen Larkham departed the field in the first half through injuries, but honestly, my beloved Brumbies were a mess. Doug Howlett scored a beaut try in the first half, and no doubt Blues' coach David Nucifora, who the Brumbies unceremoniously dumped last season, savoured the Blues win.

After being 8 points up, the Waratahs were given a lesson in Super 12 rugby by the Crusaders who took the game 33-27 in Sydney. The Crusaders simply played much better football, the Tahs lucky to pick up a bonus point.

Great weekend for the NZ teams - one I'd rather forget for the Australian teams.