Getting Shirty
The New Zealand Rugby Union says it has no qualms with England wearing a black strip at this year’s Rugby World Cup. The Rugby Football Union said England will wear a black kit in…
Tag Archives: Rugby
McCaw and Carter’s Pledge
“For once, the phrase ‘Four more years’ will be music to the ears of New Zealand rugby fans,” Emma Stoney writes for The New York Times. “Those three little words brought relief and…
Still Part of the Team
The world’s “most influential player” All Black captain Richie McCaw signs again to 2015. McCaw recommitted to his country and the Canterbury Crusaders Super 15 team with a four-year contract that will allow him…
Sevens Secrets Analysed
New Zealand has clinched the 21/11 HSBC Sevens World Series at Twickenham, taking their tally to nine World Series titles with a tournament to spare. By any standards in modern sport, their…
Passion for the Game
What is immediately obvious about John Kirwan, coach of the Japanese rugby side, is his passion for the game that has given him a living for the past 28 years. Auckland-born Kirwan,…
Dressing up Rugby
New Zealand International Sevens general manager Steve Walters estimates the competition, now in its 1th year, brought in close to $18 million for Wellington in February. And that doesn’t include the benefits to the…
Ali plots his return
All Black lock Ali Williams, 29, “plots international comeback” from the east Midlands where he is “exorcising a few mental demons as well as playing his first rugby for nearly two seasons.” Having…
Incentive for training
All Black Sonny Bill Williams, 25, will soon step back into the boxing ring for a bout against Australian Scott Lewis on January 29 ahead of the Super rugby season and the 211 World…
Man of many matches
The International Rugby Board’s player of the year Richie McCaw, 3, “is a hero to many… establish himself as one of rugby’s great players,” The New York Times’ Emma Stoney writes. “As a fresh-faced…
Big Man in Front
Hawke’s Bay prop Clint Newland, 3, has signed a three-month deal with Irish side Leinster. “He’s a big man,” Leinster coach Joe Schmidt said. “He’s 6ft 3ins, 130 kilos, so we think he’s pretty…
On the Cusp of History
Could the current All Blacks squad be the finest of all time? Scotland on Sunday sports columnist Iain Morrison thinks so writing that “their success over the years in terms of statistics and the…
All Blacks start afresh
“New Zealand is revolutionising rugby,” according to The Independent’s Peter Bills. “For those with a brain to think, a mind to rationalise, what the All Blacks are doing right now in world rugby terms…
Centenary Clash
The New Zealand Maori side has beaten Ireland in Rotorua 31-28, the match part of a series to commemorate the centenary of the formation of the first official Maori rugby team in New Zealand….
Round Versus Oval
“All Whites manager, Ricki Herbert, believes football has overtaken rugby in the popularity stakes in New Zealand, as it briefly did 28 years ago when the team’s Spanish sojourn coincided with a disenchantment with…
Modest Wrecking Ball
“Put simply: when Richie McCaw plays, New Zealand tend to win; when he doesn’t, they don’t,” states Telegraph sports writer Paul Ackford as part of a week-long debate in the publication to decide who…
Being a Sport
When interacting with New Zealanders “bone up” on the intricacies of how rugby and cricket are played, expect the dialogue to be frank yet friendly, and don’t broach topics like religion, the nuclear arms…
Rugby’s Return
Rugby Sevens might be only seven years off when it comes to the Olympics, thanks to an effort to reinstate the sport spearheaded by the Oceania National Olympic Committee. During a recent committee meeting…
Second Chance for Henry
Graham Henry has been reappointed as the All Blacks’ head coach, despite widespread criticism of his 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign. Henry, who has vowed to learn from his World Cup mistakes, has signed a two-year…
Familiar tastes in France
NZ rugby fans in France have been able to enjoy a taste of home at Le Maori Cafe in Lyons. Owned by Aucklander Tai Pepere, who played rugby league for French club Catalans…
Golden Vili
Shot put star Valerie Vili has won gold at the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Vili threw a personal best of 20.54 meters, beating defending champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus by six centimetres. “It’s pretty…
Lions Share
NZ agencies won 18 awards at this year’s Cannes Lions, the world’s most prestigious advertising awards. Auckland agency TBWA\Whybin won the Grand Prix award in both the Media and Promo categories for its ASB “Pago” and NZ Rugby…
Haka Following Edinburgh 7s Win
Watch this performance of the Haka following New Zealand’s 2007 Edinburgh 7s win.
Medal Haul for Touch Blacks
NZ won two gold and two silver medals at last month’s Touch World Cup in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The Touch Blacks’ mixed over-30 and mixed open teams won their respective finals, while the men’s and…
Former AB and Famous Father
Former All Black Brian Fitzpatrick has died aged 75. A sturdily built five eigths, Fitzpatrick was a strong runner and tackler. He made two tours with All Black sides in the early…
Three in a Row for Black Ferns
NZ’s Black Ferns have won their third successive women’s rugby World Cup, beating traditional rivals England 25-17 in the final. The tight defensive match was a virtual replay of the 2002 final against England, which NZ…
Records Broken, Legends Born
New Zealand won 31 medals – 6 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze – at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. 200m butterfly victor Moss Burmester became the first NZ man to win gold in the…
A Victory for the Underdogs
Not to be outdone by their rugby union counterparts, NZ’s national rugby league side achieved a momentous Tri-Nations win against traditional rivals England and Australia. The BBC describes the NZ’s 24-0 victory over Australia in the…
Keeping Up With the Kiwis 2
Meanwhile on a different page …”What do Australians think about New Zealand? Not very much and not very often. ‘We think about New Zealand like we think about Tasmania,’ one Australian tells me with…
Tourism the Winner on the Day
The hotly anticipated Lions rugby tour of NZ in June and July is tipped to boost the national economy by as much as $250 million. An estimated 16,000 British Lions fans are expected to make the long…
Home Turf Heroics
NZ went to the top of the IRB Rugby Sevens table after their third straight victory in the Wellington tournament. The Kiwis beat Argentina 31-7, giving them 52 points in total, ahead of traditional rivals Fiji…
Kiwis Make it 5 in a Row
NZ held on to its world series rugby sevens crown for the fifth year in a row, despite losing 22-19 to England in the final of the London leg. The Kiwis had already reached an unassailable position…
End of a Long Innings
Gordon Lindsay Weir, the world’s oldest surviving Test cricketer, died in Auckland on October 31 aged 95 years and 151 days. Known in cricketing circles as ‘Dad,’ the right-hand batsman and medium-pace bowler played 11 Tests for…
First Nations Clean Sweep
The NZ Maori rugby team emerged victorious from their 3-match tour of Canada, beating the home side 52-11, 65-27, and 30-9. Between 1994 and 2001, the NZ Maori side have beaten 12 international teams, including England, Scotland,…
NZ vs. Wales: The Name Game
A bid by the NZRFU to make “All Blacks” a registered trademark has been called into question after the discovery of a Welsh team playing under the same name. The Welsh club Neath has been known…
Italians do it Better
“Kirwan’s crew a cut above”. All Black legend John Kirwan has been reincarnated as the golden boy of Italian rugby after coaching the game’s “perennial whipping-boys” to their second ever Six Nations victory, and first against Wales….
Sevens Heaven for Home-crowd
NZ’s rugby sevens team delighted a 32,000-strong crowd in Wellington, beating England 38-26 to win their first home series in four years. NZ now lead the 11-leg International Sevens series with 68 points, followed by Fiji and…
Sevens Heaven
Kiwi dominance impresses at Manchester where they prove themselves masters of the form: “New Zealand dominate seven-a-side rugby the way that Lance Armstrong lords it over cycling, Tiger Woods bestrides the world of golf and…
Gold, Silver and Bronze Fern
All-comers finished in the green and gold shadow of Australia, but New Zealand completed a successful Commonwealth Games campaign, finishing a credible 5th on the medal table, with 11 golds in rugby sevens, cycling (Sarah Ulmer…
Greatest Games’ Moments
An Observer run-down of the 10 greatest Commonwealth Games’ moments gives two spots to NZ achievers. No. 4: one of the finest middle distance races run, the 1974 1,500m race between John Walker and Tanzania’s Filbert Bavi…
Advance New Zealand Unfair
Lead paragraph to Australian Yachting editorial: “What is it with New Zealanders? Not only do they bash us at rugby (both literally and metaphorically) and regularly make off with the Melbourne Cup, they also have the hide,…
Paul Leads Sevens Revival
Under question marks as to his ability to cope with the code switch from league to union, Henry Paul answers his critics with a “series of virtuoso performances” in England’s Hong Kong Cup Sevens victory. “He was…
Rugby Great
Grant Fox is named by The Guardian’s Eddie Butler as one of the ten greatest fly-halves in the history of rugby union.
Camera ‘on the Ball’
Developers at Otago Polytech say they are close to producing a practical version of a video camera capable of being fitted inside a rugby ball. “We thought, wouldn’t it be good to see on the screen…
Flying Scrum
Steve Williams, caddie to Tiger, has clocked up enough frequent flyer miles “to take a manager, two coaches and three rugby teams from New Zealand to Australia.”
It Won’t Hurt a Bit
New Zealand Cancer Society prostate awareness star, John Hopoate, takes legal action.
First in Sevens
The sevens boys had the Hong Kong final all wrapped up, taking them to the top spot in overall series standings.
World’s Greatest Sports Brand?
Brandchannel reviews “one of the most distinctive international brands in the history of sport.” “The All Blacks are a team not a brand” insist the NZRFU. “The team’s values are absolutely about winning, whereas the brand’s values…
Tumeke Te Nana
Karl Te Nana picked up Man of the Tournament and R10 000 after New Zealand’s winning sevens effort in Durban.
Sauvignon Temptation
Former Scots Rugby rep Rob Wainwright recalls a New Zealand tour run along the lines of a temperance society outing. The players escaped the coach for a day of deep-sea fishing, which swiftly “degenerated into deep…
Goldie Rides Again
The prodigiously talented Jeff Wilson – in this age of professionalism, perhaps the last person to be an AB and a Black Cap – has returned to rugby after a year’s refresher. “I’m sure he will…
William Atack
William Harrington Atack, of Canterbury, was the first sports referee in the world to use a whistle to stop a game. Today the referee’s whistle is a ubiquitous feature in sport. It now seems logical…
