SERVE'S UP
St Peter's performs with pride at national champs
New Zealanders coach 10 international teams and they are all listed in the latest jumbo jet of sporting korans, the Rugby Almanack.
For instance, former Manawatu¯ coach Ian Snook helped guide the Laotian national side, in Vientiane of all places.
And next year the book will no doubt record that he coaches Kenya, after being appointed this week.
Besides all that, the 84th edition of the Almanack lists the hundreds of New Zealanders playing overseas. Oh, and Wyatt Crockett, besides being one of the most penalised props on earth, is listed as having the best winning percentage of any All Blacks: 93 per cent.
The Almanack continues to expand by the year and surely at almost 500 pages it has reached critical mass. For rugby tragics, it is the ultimate distraction when the adverts flick on in winter nights – even then I defy anyone to read it from cover to cover.
The expansion has come about with the increased emphasis on women’s, sevens, youth and schools rugby, although the latter gives prominence to schools that pillage their small brothers.
It is a credit to Upstart Press that the Almanack endures with a few shillings from New Zealand Rugby. Arthur Carman started it all in 1935 from his house in Wellington in 1935, when his 128-page edition sold for one bob.
Back then, every provincial union played first-class matches and all 27 are still accorded that status, and the same space in the Almanack, even if the lesser Heartland unions have long since lost their muscle.
The annual controversy over the Almanack’s choice of players of the year has been largely quelled because everyone sees the best players in action on the TV screen every week and the choices become obvious. This year’s are Sam Cane, Rieko Ioane, Waisake Naholo, Codie Taylor and Portia Woodman, although not NZ Rugby’s choice, Sam Whitelock.
Two of the promising players are a different matter, virtually unknown Southland midfield back Matthew Johnson and North Harbour prop Mike Tamoaieta. Let’s see if they come through to stardom. Leafing through past Almanack editions in that regard is always intriguing.
It appears the world’s longestrunning rugby book of record will soon have a new co-writer. Geoff Miller, who joined in 1999, is standing down, but Manawatu¯ historian Clive Akers (1995) and Hawke’s Bay contributor Adrian Hill (2014) remain committed. The book might retail at $55, but costed by the word it pays for itself.