Recent content by Hawko

Full crowd and cold winds = 25,000 cases of frostbite. When its cold the ground is an absolute misery at which to watch rugby.

Not much comment on the standard of the Fijian play. Their second half was top notch and would not look out of place in a 7s final. I'm picking Fiji to give Scotland a touch up this week, I thought they were excellent.

Last Lions tour I went to the test in Sydney at the Olympic Stadium. The absolute highlight was the Welshman who broke into song on the train to the ground. He was opera concert-singer good. The atmosphere on the train was electric, one of those memories I'll never forget. It all went downhill...

Yes, but this team beat SA just a few months ago and the players were selected from games between state squads. I thought they looked quite good in the preparatory tournament against both NZ and SA. So, how come the 70 point turnaround? Something definitely smells fishy to me, logically this...

And this is the way the season ends, not with a bang but a wimper.

Maybe Amatosero is on his last chance for a contract next year. I hope so. His time in France didn't seem to teach him much, maybe he needs to repeat a couple of year to graduate!

Gordon and Vailanu back but we are still vulnerable at THP and the lineout. At that hole of a ground and given that we broke our duck this year against our bogey team, I don't have high expectations. Still, happy to have Angus on the whistle rather than a Kiwi.

Just five days between games, both of which were grand finals. It could have been scheduled Saturday or Sunday. Probably because there were no Easter airline seats left. Piss poor organising IMO, the screams if this was a men's game would have been deafening.

Its already clear that Super Rugby has told the refs NOT to protect players from head injury. In the Reds/Brumbies game Noah Lolesio coat hangered the halfback only to hear "its only a penalty, he hit his shoulder first". Because of the shape of the shoulder, almost every swinging arm that hits...

Seems like a pretty piss-poor reason, but its the NRL, I would not expect anything else. "How could you miss a game of rugby league, the world's greatest game, just to be an ambassador at a Rugby World Cup?"

Piloted a Hurricane, I think. The development stream for good NZ refs seems to have lost a wheel or two. Maybe we should start a thread on whether Doleman is worse than O'Keefe and whether Murphy (Aussie) is worse than both. (Only Kidding)

Why is Dobbins starting? Heaven has only had about three games and now he's resting on the bench? He's been top tier in every game he's played so far. Maybe its the Ewen McKenzie trick - swap them after 20 and then bring him back on if Heaven's injured. Who would want to be a hooker in the...

But Christie is starting and Nock is on the bench. So, this is not, IMO, the strongest possible line-up.

The Waratahs should have switched Bell and Kailea. Kailea has looked strong and Bell has had a massive workload. On the other side, Botha has been pushed around badly two weeks in a row. Maybe the others are injured, bit as soon as Tupou goes off I have my heart in my mouth every time a scrum is...

Wilson has shown glimpses of his potential in the past but last night he was one of the Tahs best. All night, not just occasional times. He could be very hard to drop if his form continues.