the fact you claim to be from upper hutt pretty much confirms your full of it. not even anyone actually from upper hutt would ever claim upper hutt status when could they get away with just saying wellington.

i never said it was a literal translation of the title, and if you were in NZ at the time it was written you would remember the vast media coverage it got and know that the guy who actually wrote it did so with the actual players input, in fact they gave him the breif of what they wanted it the be about and he listend and composed the actual words, remember the throat slitting debate, the debate about going away from the traditional ka mate haka, do you remember that one of the reasons for even thinking of coming up with their own haka was because ngati poro was trying to make them pay royalties for ka mate even before the court case over who owned the rights to ka mate was finished, ? or did that slip your memory you think you would recall al of this given the amount of trouble you have gone to to prove you are a moari. ritchierich
If you say so i believe you, the three pages of maori speech was a bit over the top dont you think?
the layout and puntuation was perfect too! if i didn’t know better i swear it was a cut and paste number but then you are a fluent moari speaker and a cultural expert too right?

this stuff is all common knowledge i didn’t look it up and i never said it was an exact translation, if you had any idea what you were talking about then you would know tha ka mate has been fought over for years, and the rights were eventually awarded not to the desendants of the guy who wrote it but to ngati poro, you do understand you can be desended from more than one tribe right?

and kapo o pongo means exactly what i said, i didn’t mean the title literally translates as that, but the haka does in fact mean just what i said, so go take your google and your online tranlator and find someone who wants to hear about it,
if all you can do is pick holes in what people have to contribute then you are a sad ignorant little man and i feel sorry for you.

i’ll bet the All Blacks don’t care about the mic at all, its purely for the audience, when the whole squad is screaming at the top of their voice you will hear it from 20 metres away i’d imagine,they did it in the changing shed in wales, its a mental switch for them, like Sly stallone turning his hat backwards in over the’top’i dont think that they would be thinking about wether or not the crowd can hear them 2 minutes before a game,

why do Ngati poro own the rights then?
seems like you know how to use google mate, why dont you save it for when you have something to say?

To me it seems not to matter how rubbish the Australians have been performing against anyone else, they always lift their game when they play the All Blacks, There is never an easy Bledisloe cup victory despite what scorelines suggest, we never take the Aussie lightly. the Bok’s on the otherhand are always phyisical and brutal but not always a challange.

I am a kiwi and i feel the Haka is an important tradition, When the All Blacks do it.
I also find it embarassing when i see our other natioanal sports teams jump on the band wagon and do it as well, basketball, hockey, whatever its downright humiliating, Its an All Black tradition and one fans want to see.
But it is also a traditioal Moari challange, done before battle!! and traditioanlly the opposing tribe would do their own Haka in reply, each tribe has their own Haka, Ka mate is from the ngati poro tribe, where as kapo o pongo was written recently by Tana umaga’s All Blacks with of course a Moari cultural specialist to help. kapo o pongo [ dont get upset if i spell it wrong i dont speak moari] means this is our land or something like that, when they do the Kapo o pongo they are claiming the feild as their own.
BUT it is a challange and the opposition is completely right to reply with a challange of their own. wether that be a staunch stare or singing it doesn’t matter. it is their right. and in fact they are expected to return the challange or to surrender.

What the Boks seem to miss is that by mocking the Haka they only piss the All Blacks off, by showing respect and offering a challenge in reply they would be conforming to the accepted protocol, which would not make the All Blacks half as angry as taking the piss.
On a similar note the Boks seem to miss the fact that their dirty play only helps us, commit as many fouls as you like SA please! we encourage you to be dirty players, It makes our job a lot easier when you only have 14 men on the park.

I dont know why everyone else seems to dislike the Boks, i can say i dont think its limited to the rugby feild, perhaps its their evil accents, or the superiority complex they all seem to have, maybe this is a result of aparteid and most saffa’s growing up being told they are better than their black counterparts, that type of thinking will take generations to change, but i probaly shouldn’t delve into politics on a sports site so i’ll leave it at that inflamatory remark.

Richard low was a dirty bugger and every country has them, the difference is that in NZ we realise that dirty play only hurts our own team, Richard low was a great player but he was useless sitting on the sideline.

Adidas wasn’t founded until 1924 and only became the All Blacks gear sponser about ten years ago when adidas waved an enormus fat check at the NZRU, up until then the All blacks wore CCC jerseys made in NZ, the same brand most teams elsewhere still use,

sorry i just assumed it was an exhibition sport,
Great for us [NZ] as it almost garentees we get at least one medal.

Olympic rugby now that would be great, NZ needs all the medals we can get!,
I beleive 7’s is on the olympic agenda as a trial sport or something, its already in the commonwealth games and its great!
its the only time Gordan titcheins gets any sort of priority when it comes to selection, and he deserves it the amount of All blacks to come through his hands is rediculous, and every year he has to start again with a fresh crop of schoolboys, somehow he manages to win anyway, would be great to see olympic sevens, can garentee first choice if that were the case,
Unfortunately actual rugby will never be an Olympic sport, it would be a joke if they tried, two weeks is just not long enough to hold a rugby tournament.

First off Congrats on the 50!

Tana Umaga played alongside and coached SBW for 2 seasons in France and he is convinced that SBW is good enough to make the All Blacks, if anyone knows what it takes to be a great All Black centre then Tana does, if any one has the nerve to suggest they know better then they are obviously deluded.
It was on Tanas recommendation that ‘NZ teams began falling over each other to sign SBW as much as any other reason, If you are not from NZ then you probably cant comprehend the reverence and respect with which the public and rugby community hold Tana here, before the media got word of SBW considering an attempt to win an All Black spot Tana had discussed the possibility with All Black coach Graham Henry and on Tana’s recommendation Henry was convinced that SBW was a potential All Black.
That said SBW will have to prove himself every step of the way,
Canterbury has a rugby infrastructure that is second to none, the club competition in Canterbury is on a scale and level most countries can only dream of, the university has its own competition which has numerous grades, players from around NZ and beyond gravitate to Christchurch to be a part of this and try to get noticed. But they are staunch about earning your spot, SBW’s fame and reputation will count for nothing, if anything it will make things more difficult, the establishment will be determined not to appear to give special treatment to anyone, no matter how much they get bums on seats or what reputation they bring with them.
You can bet your house that SBW’s every move will be scrutinized by the Canterbury coaching staff but Canterbury will never pick him until he shows he is up to standard, And when he does get a chance at a higher level he better perform or he will be dropped pretty quick.
SBW will be a very good union player, he’s big, fast and skillful. He was an exceptional league player and lets face it the two codes are not that different.
Will he be good enough? only time will tell, but he will have to prove himself every step of the way.
Tana says he has the potential and that alone is enough to get him on the All Black coach’s radar, but nothing but his performance on the field will get him the jersey.
The All Blacks selectors may take his development into consideration and take him on the end of year tour even if he is not quite in the top few centers but he will have to impress at domestic level first.
Before he can do that he’ll need to make the Canterbury side and they wont cut him any slack.

smith as a lock? he was rubbish in his specialist position what makes you think he’d be any good elsewhere?
And mattfeild is a great player he’s just old, why replace him with an even more past it player?
Bit harsh on dan carter, he is having surgery on his ankle and will be out for a couple of months,

good point about the draw and stacking the side with batsmen althogh i think the only side that would sink to such extremes are the Australians and they probably would be the higher ranked side anyway,

Hadlee, Marshall and Akrim out and out pace? what ?
possible 3 of the most technical bowlers ever, they swing both ways and cut at pace all 3 of them , and Hadlee wasn’t even that fast, probably 140’s although i dont recall a radar gun ever being pointed in his direction.definetly not just out and out pace.
all three were masters of swing and had variation most bowlers can only dream of, the fact they do it at express pace only makes them harder to play and more brilliant, why swap for someone slower who even if he can match them for variation ?

JB you make my point so well, if you dont understand cricket you would never know whats going on, you should go watch baseball it would probably be of more interest to you. leave the cricket to those that know whats happening

of course, a few beers at a cricket match are almost mandatory, if thats what you mean, in NZ a tinnie is something different altogether, [small amount of cannabis wrapped in tinfoil] just so you don’t get yourself into trouble should you ever visit i’d remember to ask for a beer not a tinnie 😉

how right you are! having a plan is one thing, executing is another and getting the batsmen to play along is a whole different thing altogether 😉

As i said if any player spots something useful then they will say, but in the context of a baseball pitcher signalling every ball NO. If my keeper tried that i’d simply tell him to catch the ball and leave the bowling to me. and not in such freindly words.
Perhaps if the bowler is a muppet they might need contant instruction but in my experiance muppets usually dont make good bowlers, most great bowlers tend to be scholars of the game and capable of thinking for themselves.

As a bowler i can say that it has never happen to me, Occasionally the keeper has come and told me that he has spotted some kind of weakness or something i can use against the batsmen, maybe the batsmen isn’t moving his feet well so he may be an ideal candidate for a yorker, but any player not just keeper or captain will come and say so if he spots such a weakness.
Usually the captain will say what the plan is and how he would like me to bowl at the start of a spell or over.
Sometimes if a batsmen is charging down the pitch i will signal the keeper to come up to the stumps to try and get a stumping, sometimes i will try to let the keeper know if im going to bowl an unexpected delivery like a bouncer, but unless the keeper spots something he thinks is important then he generally just reacts to what happens, and the same goes for the rest of the team, they have a general idea of what delvery is coming but i am the one who decides when to swing or cut the ball. its a bit of a mind game betwen the bowler and the batsmen, if i think he is gonna try to defend i might swing it away to catch the edge, if i think he’s gonna have a slog off the backfoot i might try cut the ball back into the stumps, that kind of thing, but its not an exact science and i’m just an amatuer who plays for fun
In general me and the captain make a plan for a given batsmen at the start of an over and i try to implement it, the other big difference from basebal is that a plan to get a batsmen out is not just one ball you usually try set him up first, i might try to manipulate the batsmen into defending or playing off the backfoot so i can set him up for the one i fire at his head.
In repsonse if the batsmen is expecting a short ball he may come down the pitch to turn it into a good length for him to play.
Its a bit of cat and mouse and never an exact science but these intricate strategic battles are just one reason why cricket is more interesting than baseball, the problem is that most of this duel of minds is missed by anyone who doesn’t understand.
In short No, the keeper doesn’t tell me how or what to bowl.

Player analysis is something that comes into play for pro’s, by watching tapes you can pick up weakness in a batsmen’s technique and make a plan to suit but this is done before the game.
The best example to illistrate my point i can think of is Ross Tayor, a gifted batsmen but he has a tendancy to lose concentration and play the slogsweep at balls he shouldn’t when under pressure, oppositions know this and try to set him up to do just that, he too knows this and has been working hard at removing this self-destruct moment from his game but every now and then he gets a rush of blood to the head swipes at one he shouldn’t and hits it straight to a feilder, if you didn’t know better it may seem just a lucky break but the bowling side probably planned it that way before the game even started. The bowler knows the plan and is the one who puts it in place, not the keeper.

I still watch and enjoy T20 but i cant get my cricket fix in 3hrs

I like the baseball analogy, Emphasis is largely on hitting but don’t forget about the bowlers!
A great pitcher can win games with more regularity than great batters, in T20 too great bowlers can have a huge impact on the match. this effect is perhaps exageratted in baseball by the fact a single pitcher can throw every delivery in the entire match.
A couple of quick early wickets in T20 can really put a team on the back foot.
The main difference however is that Baseball batters have two shots,
The bunt which is the equivelent of the drop and run for a cheeky single.
And the big swing, baseball batters tend to swing as hard as they can at every ball, its a 6 or out mentality but thats how their game is played.

We do see some tactics creeping in to T20 and batsmen still need to play each delivery on its merits but like baseball they don’t really concern themselves a lot with getting out. If they connect great, if they miss then better luck next time.

Brendon McCallum has played some great T20 innings but they are sparse, on his day he will win the game for his team but the rest of the time he just costs his side an early wicket, unfortunately thats the name of the game and he is not alone in this regard.
TM Dilshan is of a similar mold, Chris Gayle too, its not their fault, its their job to be super aggressive and they can’t be accused of wasting precious deliveries. But in my opinion McCallums best performances have been in the test arena, when he has displayed a cool temperament, great defence and great shots to build his innings in a measured and calculated manner.
Gayles best innings ín my opinion was on the recent tour to Australia where he dislayed a full range of shots and skills to get a great hundred and defy those who labelled him a basher.
I will give credit where its due without t20 we would never have seen the ”Dil-scoop” come into the game, we would never have seen Shane Bond getting reverse swept for 6 bowling close to 150km, sorry i forget the batsman but the image of that shot will stay in my mind for ever.
T20 has a place in cricket and just because i dont like it is no reason others dont.
But do we have to see so much of it?
A one off match at the start of a tour is plenty, save it for the World cup and the IPL.

I dare say the only reason we are seeing T20 International series being played is for the TV dollars.

damn that advanced hair must be brilliant, Martin Crowe looks at least 20 years younger in that photo 😉

Martin Crowe is on the right track i beleive but just like his cricket-max creation i feel this one needs to be refined into something a bit less extreme.

I am all in favour of having extra days available in case of bad weather, theres nothing more annoying than a great test ending in a non-result because it started to rain on the final afternoon, I dont see the point in making a test a 6 day contest when 5 is plenty of time for a team to win the match. thats why its a test you have to both score runs and take twenty wickets in order to win, 5 days is plenty.
i mean why stop at 6?, if you want to go down that road why not just keep going untill both sides have batted twice ?
No thanks. To win a test you must have balance. score as many runs as you think you need but at the same time leave as much time as required to bowl the opposition out. Leave yourself too little time and the opportunity to win the match is lost. Yes i like to see a result but in a test match i beleive victory must be earned by a combination of good batting, good bowling and also good strategy. remove the timeframe and the need for strategy dissapears.
5 days is plenty. If it rains by all means add the lost day on, if you cant force a victory in 5 days you dont deserve it.

Day/Night matches work in the short form, why not tests?
In a test it would be a lot more even.
In the shorter forms often one team has a distinct advantage when batting or bowling first, conditions usually are vastly different at night,
One team inevitably draws the short straw by having to bat in more difficult conditions, in a test both teams would get their turn batting in both day and night conditions.
Surely this has got to provide a fairer contest.

Personally i think T20 is a Novelty, great for TV to fit into a neat 3hr schedule and so great for revenue gathering. but i get sick of it quickly, I love the strategy of the long game, the pressure and suspense that builds in a test can never be reproduced in twenty overs.
If it were up to me T20 would be left to the IPL and the world cup with maybe one game per tour just for a bit of fun, the first T20 between AUS and NZ was great fun, a real carnival atmoshpere the NZ team wore fancy dress, Gilly had a mic and gave amusing commentry from behind the stumps, Vettori bowled pace, Fleming bowled left arm spin in a mocking imitation of Vettori’s action, it was pure entertainment.
It makes sense that Crowe Favours T20 over 50 overs because the early form of T20, Cricket-Max was afterall his creation.

If you already have home advantage and the match is drawn then surely the away side should progress, they have the harder job trying to win away from home, the home side is also the superior ranked team so they should be expected to win.
Imagine bangaladesh drawing with Australia in Sydney, I can garentee that the Aus media and fans would consider it a loss, and Bangaladesh would celebrate as though they had won, why not put them through?

Uniform pitch’s are a pipe dream sorry, have you ever known two pitches sitting side by side on the same feild to be uniform? similar maybe but never the same, how can we expect pitches around the world to be the same, the grass that grows on the subcontinent, would die in an english winter, the grass on the basin reserve cant handle the heat of an african summer, then theres soil, humidity im no groundsmen but i know that its unrealistic to think we can have uniform pitch’s even in the same country.
The pitch is the same for both teams so who cares.
Maybe one day we will have a factory someplace making and shippng drop in pitches to send out across the globe but untill then players just have to adjust to the surface they get on the day.
It wouldn’t hurt for the icc to come up with some kind of standard preperation methods and school all the worlds groundsmen, but still conditions are so varied it wouldn’t be practical.
what next uniform humidty and cloud cover?

Its hard for me to feel for the retired players who end up broke, If you are earning this kind of huge money even for a few years and you cant set yourself up for life then your a moron,
Lets be realistic for a second even the low paid players are on a pretty good salary,
I played with a couple of guys in age grade and schoolboy rugby who i keep in touch with who now play for the Tasman Makos, i know for a fact in that team those on the lowest pay get about 30k per season, thats not a hell of a lot but the season is only a few months long.
For the rest of the year they are free to get a real job if they want to.
Most go overseas and play for japanese or italian clubs and pick up another salary for another few months of playing rugby.
I dont know how much exactly these overseas contracts are worth but i do know that they are worth more than the Mako’s contracts.
At the very least they are getting in excess of 60k per year with minimal expenses, thay are well looked after and they still have 3-5 months between seasons. thats the low paid players.
Its not a huge amount but its a lot more than most people get paid for doing real work.
And the best part is they would happily play for free, just because they love it.
Less than free!
They happily pay subs and club fees every year, just like thousands do because they love it.

Interesting point cattledog the Warriors league club have been doing just that for years, part of the warriors training regime includes education and training for a career after retiring from league, they try to make sure their players have job prospects outside of the game, I doubt if it makes any difference on the feild but you probably wont see any of the current warriors players broke and dealing drugs like the former KIwi and Raiders great Brent Todd,