One more thing....

In case you were wondering - you can find out a little bit more about me by heading over to Andrew Simpson's website - Rugby Passion. You'll find some stuff about me under 'Rugby Tragic'. Make sure you check out Andrew's site - it's awesome!

Cheers!

Super 14 Rugby round 3 tips

There's some curly ones to pick (again!) in Round 3. So here goes nothing.....

Round 3 Super 14 2006 Tips.

Tonight/Early tomorrow morning:

Hurricanes vs Cats (in Wellington - Live on Fox at 5.30pm AEDT) The Canes will be without Conrad Smith who broke his leg against the Force, but Tana Umaga is expected to play tonight and I reckon the Canes will get up in front so I'm tipping them to win by 3.

Force vs Chiefs (in Perth - Live on Fox at 10.00pm AEDT) Well, this is one of the curly ones... the Force haven't performed anywhere near as well as I had hoped as yet, and the Chiefs haven't been going well either. I'm going to give my tip to the Force, hoping that the home ground advantage will work for them tonight, and I'll give it to them by a point.

Stormers vs Brumbies (in Cape Town - Live on Fox at 4.00am AEDT) I should have known better last week than to tip against my beloved Brumbies - maybe Stephen Larkham can spank me.. heh :) The Stormers only just went down last week to the Tahs, and the Brumbies haven't hit their best form yet, but I'm going to go for the Brumbies to win by 3.

Tomorrow/Early Sunday morning:

Crusaders vs Sharks (in Timaru - Live on Fox at 3.30pm AEDT) I don't think you'd find too many people backing the Sharks over the Crusaders. I'm going to go the Canterbury boys by 12. (and no I DON'T want to talk about their game against the Reds last Saturday!)

Reds vs Blues (in Brisbane - Live on Fox at 8.30 AEDT) You know, the Reds played a much much better game last week against the Crusaders than they did against the Tahs. Sure, they ran out of gas in the last 20 mins, but still, their performance was encouraging. So, I'm hoping that I'm going to see plenty of Kiwis crying tears in their beers at Suncorp tomorrow night and I'm going to tip the Reds to win by 2. (we're an optimistic lot us Queenslanders :)

Bulls vs Waratahs (in Pretoria - Live on Fox at 2.00am AEDT) Another curly one! This game could go either way I should think. Wendell of course won't be playing for the Tahs after his extra curricular performance last weekend. I suspect the Tahs will perform better without Wendell, so I'm going for the Tahs to win by 4.

Cheetahs vs Highlanders (in Bloemfontein - Live on Fox at 4.00am AEDT) I don't know which way this game will go. The Highlanders are away from home and have had a pile of injuries, and the Cheetahs had a good win over the Sharks last weekend. I'm going to tip the Highlanders by a point *gulp*.


So there you go! That's what I'm tipping. Have a great Rugby Weekend! Go Reds!

So far behind!

So I finally moved, and I have... at last... got ADSL up and running. It wasn't my fault - some tech issue with the isp (or so I was told).

Anyway, onwards and forwards.

I only managed to score 4 points in last week's tips - but there were 4 tippers who scored 6 points in the 'Tip the Winners'. Of those four, the first name to appear on the Tip the Scores leaderboard is.... drumroll.... Charlie White, who lives down in NSW. Congratz Charlie! If you drop me an email I'll send you out your $5 weekly scratchie ticket.

I guess I'd better go check out this round's games... back shortly with some tips.

Super 14 Rugby round 2 tips and predictions.

I've had a squiz at the games this weekend, so here I go for the first time this season. I'm sure I"ll make quite a fool of myself again... :)

Round 2 Super 14 2006 Tips.

Tonight:

Highlanders vs the Blues - in Dunedin (live on Foxsports at 5.30pm EST).
The Highlanders have been hit with injuries early in the season with Matt Saunders and Paul Williams ruled out for the season. The Blues have Angus Macdonald and Ben Atiga out for tonight's game. The Highlanders are usually good at the House of Pain, and the Blues lost last week to the Hurricanes. I think this match could go either way, but I'm going to tip the Highlanders by a point.

Tonight/Tomorrow morning.
Cats vs the Chiefs in Johannesburg (live on Foxsports at 2.55am EST). The Chiefs got beaten last weekend by the Sharks, but I think the Cats are pretty ordinary so I'm tipping the Chiefs by 6

Bulls v Brumbies in Pretoria (live on Foxsportst at 4.55am EST). I do like the Brumbies, but the Bulls have really started off the 2006 season on fire, and I suspect that those big forwards will take their toll on the Brumbies, and the backs will have to keep an eye on Bryan Habana - how quick is that guy? I'm tipping the Bulls by 2, but I hope the Brumbies get up and have a win to make Stephen Larkham's 100th game for the Brumbies a good one!

Tomorrow:
Hurricanes vs the Force in New Plymouth (live on Foxsports at 5.35.pm EST). The Western Force are still finding their feet, and I think that beating the Hurricanes in NZ is just too big an ask at this stage, particularly given the form of the Canes last weekend. I'm going for the Canes by 6.

Reds vs the Crusaders in Brisbane (live on Foxsports at 8.00pm EST). Er..... um..... geeez... I love going to the rugby but I think the carnage could be too much for me to take. I'm tipping the Crusaders by 12 (plus the rest).

Sharks vs the Cheetahs in Durban (live on Foxsports at 2.00am EST). I'm going to go for the Sharks by 5 (??)

Waratahs vs the Stormers in Cape Town (live on Foxsports at 4.00am EST). This is another one of those both way tips. Both of these teams won last weekend, and while I think the Tahs are a better team, it's hard to win in RSA. Still, I'm going to tip the Tahs by 3.

Well, that's it from me for a bit! I'll get the tipping prizes sorted asap.

In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend in rugby whether you're on the paddock, on the sideline, in the stands or in front of the telly :)

Cheers!

I'm back!

Greetings everyone :)

I was out of action totally last week - I finally moved up to Brisbane last week and had to wait until a couple of days ago to get a phone line. Broadband next week - Yay! I don't think I can cope without Foxtel for much longer though...

I am pleased to see that you all started tipping without me :) I did get along to the Reds game last Saturday night at Suncorp which was fun eventhough the result was... well.... 'unfortunate'. The game was a stop and start affair but it was worth going just to hear the crowd stick it to Wendell. I don't know what he was on about when he gave the crowd an 'up yours' when the Tahs scored - he certainly had nothing to do with the try!

Anyway, now I'm playing catch up. Round 1 results:

Hurricanes 37 defeated the Blues 19
Brumbies 25 defeated the Western Force 10
Bulls 30 defeated the Cheetahs 18
Crusaders 38 defeated the Highlanders 15
Waratahs 16 defeated the Reds 12
Stormers 23 defeated the Cats 12
Sharks 30 defeated the Chiefs 21

The top tipper for Round 1 was David Alcock who scored 7 points. Show off :) David, please drop me an email and I'll snail mail you out your $5 instant scratchie ticket - admin@cup-rugby.com

Guess I'd better go take a look at round 2. Back shortly.

Super 14 Trial games start

I've been missing in action a bit - trying to move house. How droll....

Anyway, the Super 14 trial games started last night with the Cheetahs beating the Force 29-19 over in Perth. The Force scored 3 tries to the Cheetahs' two, but Meyer Bosman obviously had his kicking boots on for the Cheetahs and potted five penalties for them which made the scoreline difference.

The Highlanders got up over the Crusaders - all good in pre-season - 21-19 in Queenstown. No doubt they would have enjoyed the win anyway.

The Tahs beat the Brumbies at Win stadium in Wollongong 21-5 - bet Ewen McKenzie is pleased with that effort.

The Bulls thumped the Stormers 44-13 over in Cape Town.

And........ drum roll.............. the Reds beat Auckland 29-14 at Ballymore. You can read ALL about the game over here at Foxsports. Okay, now if the season can just end before it starts, then maybe the Reds are in with a chance.. :))

Join the Tipping Competition!! I'm still organising prizes, but they'll be rugby related, and the usual $5 scratchie for the weekly winner.

Reds to appoint Jones

The Queensland Reds are apparently expected to announce today that Eddie Jones is their new coach. I suppose that the Reds can't perform any 'worse' under Jones than they have been.... maybe I'll have myself convinced it's a good move by the time he takes over the whistle.

On a more light hearted note, Wendell Sailor has said that even his own family are finding it hard to picture him as a Waratah. This report on Foxsports has Ewen McKenzie saying that he might give Sailor more of a 'roaming' position as opposed to winger. Good move by the Tah's coach - we've all seen Sailor roam over the paddock.... :) In all seriousness though, since he often is to be found in the centres, that would probably be a good position for him to play - he's certainly strong enough to play there.

Crusaders' coach Robbie Deans has said that he won't be putting his hand up to take over as Wallaby Coach. Wonder if he has a clone of himself some place that we could have?

Jeepers - Super 14 trials kick off in 10 days - I'll get the Tipping Comp organised within the next couple of days so make sure you signup to play. Prizes as yet are to be finalised, but there's likely to be some rugby gear, and maybe even some things to keep the Kiwis happy - Hint 'Who's Waltzing Now'.

Pacific Six Nations

A report in the NZ Herald says that the ARU might pull Australia A out of the Pacific Six Nations tournament due to start this year. I hope that they don't. Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, the Junior All Blacks, Japan and Australia A are the countries/teams involved, and the competition will benefit all the nations involved, and well.. Australia needs all the game play practice we can get at the present :(

The Force have 20,000 members! Good on them! If I lived in Perth I'd join as well.

There's been interest in Tana Umaga from English Clubs. Rumour has it that the Harlequins have offered him a cool million dollar deal, but Umaga is expected to stay and play for Wellington. Lot of dosh to turn down though.

Cheetahs hit hurdle

The Cheetahs are yet to set their collective paws on a Super 14 paddock as yet, but already they are facing the potential loss of one of their props ; Springbok CJ Van Der Linde. Apparently Van Der Linde hurt one of his paws.. er I mean feet, during the Boks tour of Argentina at the end of last year. No doubt scans will tell the full story.

Meanwhile over in Dunedin, Andrew Blowers, ex-AB and now Highlander has revealed that he feels like the 'new kid on the block' in the Otago squad. Blowers, 30, made his way to NZ earlier than expected after Toyota, the Japanese team he played for failed to make the playoffs. No doubt it won't take long for him to settle back in to life in the Shaky Isles.

A couple of Northern hemisphere 'experts' reckon that NZ and Australian players can kick and play the ball in the air a lot better than South African players. The article tells how the AB players are just plain 'good' at kicking and catching - true! But then the story goes on to say that it's the Australian players exposure to AFL (or GAY-FL as my boys refer to it... admin) that gives the Wallabies the edge. Huh? I would have thought soccer and league were more probable candidates. Sure players can get plenty of kicking and catching skills playing AFL, but I would be most surprised to learn of any big cross-over from AFL to union, or enough at least to have any impact on the Wallabies' collective skills. I really can't swallow that. And.... how do they explain away the AB's talents in kicking and catching? Must happen through osmosis!

I'm away!

2006

I am quite pleased that Christmas and New Year are out of the way. The next couple of months will whiz by and before I know it Super 14 will be starting. Yay!

The Reds have been using the defection of Wendell Sailor to the NSW Waratahs as bit of a marketing tool for Super 14. They've put up posters featuring Sailor in a Tahs jersey with the message: "Turn your back on Queensland? IncREDible!" The Queensland crowd will no doubt give Sailor 'heaps' come the Reds vs Waratahs clash in February. But then again, it has been my experience that the Queensland crowd gives him heaps all of the time....

The Brumbies have started their pre-season training in Canberra, with a swag of players getting ready to step up to the plate to ensure a spot in the Super 14 squad.

Australian rugby fans can get their hands on RWC 2007 travel packages over at Wallaby Travel. The whole shebang 44 day tour will set you back $23,900 (per person - Yikes!) but if you want to nick over to watch the semis and playoff and final on a 10 day tour then you'll only have to part with $12,900 each. Jeepers. I'm thinking that's a lot of dosh to dish out to watch the Kiwis win 'Bill'. There are other options though, and I am always a little bit wary of tour groups in the fear that you might get stuck with people you can't stand and then it's nigh on impossible to get away from them - without forfeiting the money you've paid out.

Later!