By Will Macpherson Making sense of World Cup squads is an exercise carried out on two levels. Firstly, things are best kept simple: who’s in, who’s out, which coach nailed…
New Zealand
Five Talking points – August
Argentina make rugby history August was largely a month of Rugby World Cup warmups and national coaches carefully pruning their squads like Mister Miyagi tending to a bonsai tree. But…
World Cup watch: In support of undroppable front-rowers
For some of the world’s most revered front row players, it is the ideal situation. For the coaches it lies somewhere between walking on eggshells and urging the turkey to…
All Blacks star in Air NZ video
The All Blacks have gone big budget with a striking video to promote sponsors, Air New Zealand’s safety message. Taking their cues from the Hollywood blockbuster Men in Black, the…
The Bledisloe Cup rivalry: An All Black’s perspective
Eleven years on the front line of the Test arena saw Sean Fitzpatrick captain New Zealand 51 times on the way to 92 caps. Remarkably, 24 of the former hooker’s…
Rugby Championship: Wallabies determined to end All Blacks losing streak
AUSTRALIA will unleash all their big guns on New Zealand in the Rugby Championship decider at ANZ Stadium on Saturday as they seek to end a ten-match winless streak against…
Five things we learnt in July
Misbehaving Wallabies, innovative All Blacks and the importance of Samson Lee for Wales are all topics addressed in this July review
Can you win a Rugby World Cup without kicking a ball?
SOMETHING SHOULD have been jarred loose as New Zealand met France in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, 24 years after the pair had last faced off at Eden Park…
Rugby Statistics: Does World Cup form matter?
How much attention should be given to form going into a World Cup? Significance may well be attached to ‘building momentum’ in competitions such as the Rugby Championship beforehand, but…
Rugby Championship Talking points – Round 1
The first weekend of Rugby Championship action gave rugby watchers their first chance to see what sort of shape four of the world’s top 10 sides were in with the…