Rugby no longer winter sport
While rugby once was a winter pastime, bring the Super teams to small towns in the February melt and the punters will flock in. They so jam-packed in 5120 bodies for the Hurricanes-crusaders joust at Levin on Sunday that I had to break into a shuffle to nab a pew at the back of the old grandstand.
Earthquake-prone the signs warned, but who cares about a mere shake when your nose is at risk of igniting.
About 4000 spectators packed out the Kaikohe ground for the Blues-chiefs hitout and it looked like standing room only at Alexandra for the Highlanders-waratahs sparring.
At Levin, most ignored a tiny band of activists outside the Domain who were asking motorists to ‘‘toot to give 1080 the boot’’.
They no doubt would be happy to see every tree at every sports ground in the nation denuded by ring-tailed possums.
I found myself sitting by the Crusaders coaches armed with their ipads.
Their coach Razor Robertson’s celeb status had him posing for selfies on his way up the stairs which provoked the piranha beside me to embarrassingly reach across and brandish her cellular. Razor happily posed when most wouldn’t.
As for the rugby, the standout for me with his three tries was the Crusaders’ flying barrel on the wing, Manasa Mataele, who had been siphoned out of Suva by Taranaki and had barrelled over Manawatu¯ a time or two.
The other was Braydon Ennor who used Vince Aso as a doormat to set up a try. Ennor was magnetically attracted to Canterbury from St Kentigern College and might be a centre for the future.
By the way, the Crusaders won 34-19 and at one stage were 29-7 up because they were better, suffocating the Canes who had former Manawatu¯ captain Heiden Bedwell-curtis again fully hairedup against his former mob.
It resembled an NFL game in Trumpland because the Hurricanes had 23 spare bodies on chairs on the sideline being broiled in the sun plus seven All Blacks signing autographs while Beauden Barrett was honeymooning in Dubai. The Crusaders brought only 16 extras.
Levin Domain has become a popular boutique stadium even if it sounds as if there is a mouse stuck in the rowdy but inaudible sound system. On Saturday, many tents were sensibly set up as ticket bays which whisked everyone through the gates quickly.
Also, adult admission was a sensible $15. Truck over to Mangatainoka on Saturday for the Canesblues battle of the brewery and you’ll be shelling out 50 hard-earned.
Underarm still pongs
Since the underarm incident at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1981, sporting relations with the feral Aussies have never been as convivial.
Underarm, which is screening on Prime, covered everything from the arrogance at the time of Greg Chappell to Geoff Howarth’s New Zealanders failing to protest hard enough.
When Brian Mckechnie tossed his bat after Trevor Chappell’s ground grubber, Mckechnie might have gone further and assailed the wickets with his bat, as John Mcenroe would have done, to echo the Kiwis’ displeasure.
In the next game at Sydney, Howarth patted Greg Chappell on the back as he strode out.
A placard there summed it up: ‘‘It’s not lawn bowls Greggy.’’
Chappell admitted he had a brain snap at Melbourne, but attributed it to the pressure of the captaincy. What? Of a team which won most of the time.
More likely it was the pressure of tying a match with the pesky Kiwis.
Trevor Chappell was the lesser of the three brothers and, as he said, ‘‘Who would remember Trevor Chappell if it wasn’t for the underarm?’’
As a kid he hurled a tomahawk at Greg in their backyard, just as Shane Warne’s brother fired a speargun at him. It’s called Aussie upbringing.
Australia’s Kim Hughes said he wouldn’t have bowled a grubber to his brother in the backyard.
But this week the Aussie express bowlers were intent on decapitating the Sri Lankans at Canberra. Have they forgotten Philip Hughes already?
Then there were the Aussie umpires who acted like the South African rugby referees of the day. Martin Snedden’s catch was denied because the ump said he was watching the batsman! And the ball had barely hit Richard Hadlee’s pads before the springfinger shot up, out lbw.
Greg Chappell, to his credit, could have declined to appear on the doco because it was never going to show him in good light. But he did publicly apologise to his brother for the torment Trevor has had had to endure for following big bro’s orders.
Court walking
Word reaches me that Silver Fern No 29 took part in the newfangled walking netball at Vautier Park, Palmerston North, last week.
Betty Steffensen was a shooter when she played for New Zealand in 1960, but was put at goalkeep last week. Walking netball is for those of maturing years and we hear there is a big league in England and it is taking on in Auckland, Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.
It resembled an NFL game in Trumpland because the Hurricanes had 23 spare bodies on chairs on the sideline being broiled in thesun... The Crusaders brought only 16 extras.