AB Old Boy’s Coaching Club: JK, Buck, Gatland
All Black legend, winger John Kirwan, to take over as coach of the Italian national team from NZer Brad Johnstone – this includes touring Italy through his homeland where playing for the ABs he scored…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Munster Monster of ABs makes Top-10 Sporting Shocks
Irish club side Munster’s shut-out 12-0 defeat of the 1978 All Blacks proclaimed by Observer Sport Monthly as the tenth greatest shock in sport’s history. Munster playwright James Breen (Alone It Stands – about the events surrounding…
All Blue
Former Kiwi rugby player centre Tony Marsh is “a major force” in French rugby’s resurgence in this years Six Nations tournament as the French take the Grand Slam for the first time since 1988.
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…
The Milligan Side-step
Revered and irreverent icon of comedy ex-Goon and Bad Jelly author Spike Milligan passed away on 26 Feb. A huge rugby fan with many NZ connections, he never got his biggest rugby wish: to have Willie…
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.
This Sporting Life
Ben Willis, ex-King’s College and NZ Academy player, is carving out a career as a rugby pro playing off the bench at half back for Leinster, as well as turning out for Ireland A. Unison profiles…
NZ Schoolboys Take England to the Wall
“No one can decide who is the best rugby team in the world at present, largely because the two main contenders, England and NZ, circle each other without actually engaging On the evidence at Twickenham…
Coach Blackadder
Former All Black captain, Todd Blackadder, takes his first step into international coaching with the announcement that he will be joining the Scotland Under 21 set-up.
School of Hard Knocks
Jonah Lomu talks to The Independent about growing up on South Auckland’s mean streets. “I lost an uncle; decapitated in a shopping centre, and a cousin who was stabbed. That’s when my mother said I was…
Irish Rugby Miracle
Alone it Stands, a heart-warming and hilarious re-enactment of Irish club side Munsters’ defeat of the All Blacks in 1978, plays to its 100,000th person. “Beating the All Blacks is the ultimate dream of anyone who…
On a Wing and a Prayer
Jonah Lomu, “the world’s greatest living player and rugby’s most global individual commodity”, turns to the Bible for inspiration on the rugby field. Says Lomu, “It says there, ’tis greater to give than receive’, so that’s what…
NZ Rugby Back at #1
You might not know it from the reaction of local fans, but the All Blacks are No.1, at least according to French Centre Thomas Castaignede in the Guardian. “They have the perfect mix.” With England No.2 the Aussies…
This is Your Life: Jonah Lomu
Jonah Lomu is lost for words when Michael Aspel accosts him at rugby training in England with the red “This is your Life” book, before taking him to the BBC studios. A long list of rugby…
Exporting Ex-All Blacks
Josh Kronfeld and Craig Dowd are expected to make a big impact in British rugby.
This Glorious Tradition
Respect: The Sydney Morning Herald offers solace to the demanding expectations of AB fans and puts a recently balanced ledger in the context of the history and aura of the All Black tradition: “Now you know…
The Lion Doesn’t Sleep Tonight
‘If you must know, I woke up at two o’clock. My mind was racing. I tried to read for a bit, dropped off and woke again at four thirty. Mind racing again.” Lions coach kiwi Graham…
Times Past
It was fourteen years ago today that Captain Kirk got the boys to play, winning the inaugural Rugby World Cup at Eden Park.
Tough Fight
New Zealand Maori “arguably the most committed and technically sound rugby race on the planet” threaten world champions Australia on their home turf. Also, NZ Maori match a focus for Sydney’s Maori community.
Founder Found
The lost grave of Denis Hoben, founder of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, uncovered in Sydney.
Pinetree Speaks
Colin Meads on touch judges: “Boy do they give you a gut ache. Last year when there was a bit of a fight in a test match a touch judge ran on the field to break it…
Bachelor of the Game
Training? How about a degree in rugby (Certificate in High Performance Athlete Management) from Massey University and the New Zealand Rugby Academy.
Not Thick-skinned Enough
Rugby players who feel invincible because of protective clothing are more likely to be injured than their non-padded co-players says Otago study.
Strange Happenings in Rugby
“Somewhere in the depths of the very European Six Nations Championship, two New Zealanders have been having some pretty bizarre experiences.”
Doubtful Honour
Big Norm Hewitt’s in-yer-face rendition of the All Black haka and English hooker Richard ‘Cocky’ Cockerill’s gracious eyeball-to-eyeball acceptance makes the Guardian’s list of the “top-ten sporting feuds”.
Never a Softie
Colin Meads played 55 games for New Zealand, with “not a soft match in his entire 14 years at the pit face. No wonder the legend lives on”.
First in Sevens
The sevens boys had the Hong Kong final all wrapped up, taking them to the top spot in overall series standings.
Pinetree Growl
“Colin Meads, the grim, great New Zealand lock, was once asked why British and Irish forwards were inferior to those produced by the southern hemisphere – especially the forbidding, beetle-browed men produced by New Zealand. “Too many…
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…
Down Right Funny
“I’m sure New Zealand has its own sense of humour. I know so, because I once wrote a preview of the rugby world cup for a satirical magazine here, a piece which represented what I hoped…
Kingsley Link
Phil Kingsley-Jones manages Jonah – his son, Kingsley Jones, has been likened to All Black Josh Kronfeld.
Awards of Merit
Controversial clergyman and academic Lloyd Geering carried off the highest honour in the New Years’ list, Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Colin “Pinetree” Meads, All Black 1957-71 and all-time greatest AB, is one…
White Flight = All Black
British journalists fear reverse colonisation as staunch Polynesian men flex their muscles on the rugby field.
Tumeke Te Nana
Karl Te Nana picked up Man of the Tournament and R10 000 after New Zealand’s winning sevens effort in Durban.
Rugger Scrum
Recent south-north tests have created a scrum among sport journalist, players and coaches over playing style and rule reform SMH likes the running game, French coach describes losses as “no-brainers“, Welsh coach Kiwi Graham Henry has…
Gulf Rugby Shock
The Arabian Gulf 7s team are rather daunted by the thought of meeting New Zealand at the World 7s Series. “When I heard the draw I was lost for words,” said Arabian coach Darryl Weir. …
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…
Well-ing-ton!
Wellington took out the NPC, beating a Canterbury side that fielded 12 AB’s in the starting line up. International stars did their bit for the Lions, with Lomu scoring twice and Cullen setting up for Inoki…
Cullen a Keeper
Christian Cullen has resisted overseas contracts to concentrate on winning the World Cup for New Zealand in 2003 (which will be held in Australia and New Zealand). “The World Cup is the only thing I haven’t won…
Jonah Joins the Kids
Eighty school children from around the world joined in the “Forever Sports Challenge” during the Olympics. Some major sporting metal flew in to assist with the challenge, including Jonah Lomu as specialist warm-up coach.
Rugby: Brits Gush About All Blacks
“To watch the sheer brilliance of New Zealand’s opening passage of play against the Wallabies, and then to have that followed by the marvellous fightback which took Australia to level pegging—and for that quality to be sustained…
As Good as It Gets? Back in Black!
“The jagged edge is back to New Zealand’s game, the legal violence of execution beneath the blades of the All Black harvester,” writes the Sydney Morning Herald. We couldn’t have said it better. Shell-shocked Aussie captain John…
“The Greatest Game Ever Played? This One’s the Winner”
A world record crowd at Stadium Australia witnessed what was acclaimed as one of the great test matches. A waltzing Jonah scored the winning try in injury time in a miraculous end to a thrilling match,…
“Absence of Cutting Edge” Proves Scots Undoing
The All Blacks proved the theory and continued with breathtaking conviction to erase uncomfortable memories when they trounced Scotland 48-14. As Andy Nicol, the Scotland captain remarked later, “that is as ruthless a team as I…
Graham Henry First Non-British Coach of the Lions
Call it post-colonial, call it usurping, but New Zealander Graham Henry will be charged with giving the British Lions Rugby-Union team a new roar for their tour of Australia next year. Citing his will to win…
Dallas Cowboys in the Super 12?
Rugby, the sport of choice in countries like New Zealand and Australia is gaining a strong foothold in the States, and particularly in Dallas, Patricia Lowell finds out why. “Rugby may have a reputation for being…
All Black’s Blunt Edge in 95 World Cup Final Attributed to Poisoning
A former major in the South African Police has backed up claims that the All Black team was poisoned on the eve of the 1995 World Cup final, “I only have the evidence of my eyes but…
New Zealand No.8 Legend Farewelled
He changed the rugby ball in the same crazy way that Kiwi farmers altered fencing wire. “The career of Zinzan Brooke, a singular player in a uniform age, ended at Twickenham yesterday amid a sea of points…
Jonah the Barbarian: Tackled by Media Frenzy
“Images of him snarling, smiling and sneering as he tore through defenses like a crazy cartoon character were the most memorable of the tournament and his performance has gone down as one of the the most almighty…
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? Crusaders Put Down the Brumbies
The Canterbury Crusaders beat the ACT Brumbies 20-19 to win the Super 12 rugby union series for the third year running. New Zealand teams have now won all five editions of the Super 12…
Superstar Jonah Shows that He’s got Grass-roots
Rugby superstar Jonah Lomu, shows he still knows what the game’s all about in the professional era, and will play for a local club in the Wellington second division club rugby competition.
