Author: Scarfman

After their loss to the All Blacks in Wellington, Springbok lock Victor Matfield said that “”It seems as if they are untouchable. The refs allow them to get away with murder. … I cannot say much about the ref (Alain Rolland), because I will get into trouble. But there were a few times on attack when we struggled to play because our ball was deliberately slowed down.” Just whingeing, or did Victor have a point? I decided to take a close look at the All Blacks’ “rules of engagement” at the breakdown. This is my first video blog, so it’s…

With the moment, came the man: Croks. He powered away from the field in the last couple of rounds and never looked like getting it wrong. An awesome performance with an amazing number of tips within 5 points, which seems to be the secret of success. So, Croksy, first things first. What size are you and which KooGa jersey do you want? Being a former prop I’ll need an XXL and I think I’ll go for a Wallaby jersey as I already have a fairly new Reds jersey from 2009 not bandwagon associated. Stoked to have won and can’t really…

Let me make this clear: it ain’t over! Sure, Croks is ahead by 2.5 points but there’s still 4.5 points left on the table. Anyone from the top 7 could still (mathematically) win the title. Cheezel tipped both semi-finals almost to the point, but it won’t be enough to grab the brand new KooGa jersey on offer. Here’s how the leader board looks as the players approach the 18th tee:

Awesome effort from some G&GR correspondents in the last couple of weeks. Waratah Jesus took out Round 13 and Moses has bagged Round 14, elevating him a lofty 81st position. It’s not too late Moses, keep it coming from the heart. Also scoring a perfect round this week was the Shark. Unfortunately, the result wasn’t enough to lift him out of last place, among all those still putting their tips in. But we don’t hand out a wooden spoon at G&GR, we reward courage, perseverance and stick-to-itness, and hand out the 80 Minute Award to the fellow in last place…

Let’s start with the Player of the Round. It’s me, Scarfman. That’s right, bitches, 7 outta 7, extending my winning streak to 11 games. I’m BACK, baby, I’m BACK. Still, I’ve left myself with some work to do, coming back from 98th position last week. But to get back to the top, I set myself some goals.

A couple of very tough results this week. Not too many people were on the Force to beat the ‘Saders. And fewer still picked the draw in Hamilton (0.05%, to be exact). Our Player of the Round was mattyk, who picked the Force, and came away with 6 out of 7 for the round. He’s now in 56th, but still more or less in touch with the leaders on 58.33 points, with the field being more bunched up than ever.

Croksy powers to the lead ahead of dogmaniac and Epi. But there’s only 3.25 points separating the top 10, so with 5 rounds to go, plus the double-points finals, there is still room for someone outside of the top 10 to make it. Especially with some of the hot favourites faltering. maicoolz stays in the top 10 despite a 3 from 6 performance. Chiefs to beat the Bulls? Don’t think so. Here’s our leaderboard after Week 9.

A tough week for tipsters. Even our competition leader, Epi, dropped two games this week. It was plain sailing for ejd, however, who got 6 out of 6, leaping to 50th, and proving that even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day. One to watch is Brumby-boy maicoolz, who had a Barry Crocker  in Week 2, but has correctly tipped 19 of the last 21 games, and moves up to 9th.

Interesting week in the comp. Not too many big upsets in the rugby but lots of movement in the ranks of the top 10. Waratahs fan Epi powers from 6th to 1st, extending his winning streak to 12 games. Dogmaniac goes 8th to 2nd. Croks comes from nowhere to climb to 3rd. It’s a Cinderella story. Or the first draft, anyway. 1 Epi 44.25 2 dogmaniac 43.83 3 Croks 43.50 4 Mainlander 42.58 5 Marto 42.50 6 chief 42.50 7 lucasrje 42.00 8 WCFCHobart 41.75 9 brighton 40.75 10 BRIX 40.75 The player of the round, though, was Splex from…

What a shocker. What an absolute Barry Crocker. This week I fell from 14th to bloody 65th in the bloody tipping comp. I mean, even Gagger and Noddy are beating me! How bad’s that!? And it’s all my wife’s fault. I usually take about an hour to put my tips in. Studying form, history, team sheets, and a fair dose of gut feel. And there’s plenty of gut to feel these days. This week I had about 5 minutes to get it done before I got hauled off to a dinner party. “We’re going NOW!!”.

The top 10 is starting to settle down a bit with familiar faces at the top of the log. The Crusaders boys are running 1 – 2, followed by our Fantasy captain Newb.

Tahs fan SA was our player of the round, getting every game right with a few bonus points thrown in. The top 10 this week is packed with Reds fans (who must have had their doubts about the Reds winning two games in a row), and Crusaders fans, like our new leader Mainlander, who took some time out from spending time with his wife and kids to study the form. The man newb is now in 2nd. Watch him. Here’s the top 10.

That man newb was our Player of the Round. Last year he won the Fantasy Comp outright and now he’s showing his class in the tipping. A fearsome adversary. Not surprsingly, it was diehard Reds fans who made the biggest moves this week. Tangawizi and chief both went with the heart and came up with the win. Well played. Here’s the new Top 10:

Brumby-fan Latts is half a point clear of the field, but our Crusaders fans certainly know their rugby. Out of 141 players, only 8 picked all correct winners. Here’s the Top 10:

It’s mate against mate, state against state, hate against hate. Do I need to say it? It’s New South Wales versus Queensland. Waratahs versus the Reds. The match itself is of no consequence, for what we all really love is The Build Up. A week to live for, and to die for. A week to leave behind the cool analysis of the video chalkboard. A week to rise up off the couch, pick up a blunt instrument and start swinging. A week to ride over thine enemies, mowing like grass their fresh-fair virgins and flowering infants. Most of all, it’s…

Changes need to be made across the board and desperate times call for desperate measures. . Here’s my new look Wallabies for Wales. 1 J Bugner 2 S Irwin 3 D Lukin 4 A Gaze

Here we are with 2 to go. I’ve kicked the Force and the Blues out of contention, leaving 7 teams and 4 spots. I’ve added points differential as it will probably be relevant. Rank Team Points Score diff 1 Hurricanes 39 (+100) 2 Chiefs 37 (+91) 3 Bulls 37 (+57) 4 Sharks 35 (+48) 5 Waratahs 32 (+20) 6 Crusaders 32 (+11) 7 Brumbies 32 (-13)   The run home:

There hasn’t been much talk of the RWC11 draw. Probably because we are all in spasms of frustration over the performance of the Aussie Super14 teams. But here it is in all its quadrennial magnificence. Pool A New Zealand France Tonga Americas 1 (USA?) Asia 1 (Japan) Maybe France can knock the Kiwis out of their own World Cup in the pool stages. But I reckon the Frogs will sit back and smoke their Gitanes for this one. And I can’t see Japan developing much from this pool except severe bruising.