Look who’s back:

1. The Crusaders have invited Waikato wing Sevu Reece to train during the summer. Last year Reece appeared in the Hamilton District Court on one count of male assaults female. He was discharged without conviction, and fined $750. His hopes of playing for Irish club Connacht disappeared when his contract was ripped up. Are the Super Rugby champions wise to recruit Reece?

No problem with it. Liberals bang on about the need to rehabilitate offenders by offering them a second chance, and professional sport forces young men to embrace discipline, stick to routines and keep busy. I’m with them on that score. If Reece gets into strife again, then chop him.

Richard Knowler:

I’m not going to pick on Reece specifically. I don’t know his circumstances and don’t want to know. But are we so short of talent in New Zealand that we have to contract guys with this in their background? At what point do we really care about respecting women and behaving decently? Why pick people whose presence provides ammunition to critics of New Zealand Rugby? The game doesn’t help itself sometimes.

Reece is only 21. He deserves one more shot, but one shot only. If he screws this up, he can forget it. The Crusaders clearly believe the negative publicity of giving him a lifeline are outweighed by the potential upside.

Hamish Bidwell: Robert van Royen: 2 The finalists for the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year, to be named at the NZ Rugby awards tomorrow night, are: Kendra Cocksedge (Canterbury), Richie Mo’unga (Canterbury), Brodie Retallick (Hawke’s Bay) and Codie Taylor (Canterbury). Name your winner and why.

Loving the entertainment value. Now pass the TV remote. I hear the cartoon channel also makes for good viewing.

I don’t care. The Wallabies are rapidly making themselves irrelevant and whether is or isn’t coach, or whether

Rugby Australia (RA) are inept or not, really isn’t on my radar. The situation reflects poorly on RA chief executive Raelene Castle.

Since when hasn’t Australian rugby been a comedy show? Nuke some popcorn and get comfortable because it’s the gift that keeps on giving. As for what they decide, Cheika’s time must be up.

RK: HB: RVR: Cheika 4. It seems unlikely NZ Rugby has been idle since Joe Schmidt announced he will stop coaching after Ireland’s campaign at the World Cup next year. If he doesn’t want to be a head coach, what’s the best solution?

NZ Rugby should have acted years ago. They use the 1st XV system as a feeding ground for its rep teams, so must take responsibility for not managing schoolboy rugby properly.

Again, I’m just not interested. Where’s the hue and cry when Paraparaumu College or Dargaville High School have boys finish elsewhere? But as soon Christ’s and Napier Boys’ are the wounded parties, the system’s rotten to the core and we all have to hang our heads in shame.

Fingers could be pointed in all directions, including at the players themselves. We can only hope New Zealand Rugby’s looming review of schoolboy rugby is followed by some stricter rules around player recruitment.

RK: HB: RVR:

Ma’a Nonu is, to borrow from the great Winston Churchill, a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

One of the finest All Black midfielders of all time, the power-packed, dreadlocked, game-changer always seemed to save his best for the black jersey he cherished so highly. He played 103 tests between 2003 and 2015 and over the last eight of those seasons formed arguably the finest centre pairing in history with the equally outstanding Conrad Smith.

For a long, long time Sonny Bill Williams couldn’t get a starting spot when probably at the peak of his powers, that’s how good Nonu was. For the All Blacks.

But even back then – remember his last season as an All Black was three full years ago – he failed momentously to reproduce that same form in the Super Rugby arena.

In his younger days, playing alongside his mentor, Tana Umaga, and in a Rolls-Royce backline that at times purred with perfection, Nonu was a brilliant player for the Hurricanes. But in the latter part of his time in Wellington and then in ill-fated, notably short stints with the Blues (twice), Highlanders and finally the Canes again, he was never able to recreate his All Blacks form with his Super Rugby sides.

What’s more Nonu became an ill fit with his franchises over the back half of his career and, not coincidentally, was part of under-performing sides. There were fleeting moments where his class shone through, but it always seemed as though Nonu was going through the motions at Super Rugby time and saving his best for the test arena.

There can be no doubt it was a formula that worked for him, as right up until that back-to-back World Cup triumph in 2015 he was one of the very best of a special era of All Blacks. He had a step and a half, the power of a tank, a tremendous flat, probing pass and over the latter stages of his career even developed a world-class chip-kick game.

With the classy Smith