Blog Title: Sports After Dark

In defence of Bryce Lawrence

The fall out from the second test between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions continues with former England hooker Brian Moore placing some of the blame for the loss on New Zealand assistant referee Bryce Lawrence. It was Lawrence who spotted Springbok Schalk Burger gouging the eyes of Lions’ winger Luke Fitzgerald and read more..

Peter de Villiers is a dickhead

After hearing Springbok coach Peter de Villiers’s comments about the Schalk Burger eye gouging incident I am now completely convinced that de Villiers is a dickhead. The incident has completely overshadowed what was a magnificent test and when fans should be talking about how it was the most exciting game of rugby played this year, read more..

NZRU needs to get real

In the build up to the one off test with Italy in Christchurch this Saturday there has been a great deal of discussion over the perceived “poor” ticket sales for the game, with NZRU CEO Steve Tew going so far as to claim that this threatens Christchurch’s test status for the future. But this sort of read more..

Sun rises in New Zealand despite All Blacks loss

So the French have done it again. In what was supposed to be a simple warm up game for the Tri-Nations, and let’s face it the French have not sent a full strength team down under for a long time, the unthinkable has happened again and the All Blacks lost. Now there is the usual public read more..

Sonny Bill in the All Blacks? Not just yet…

First of all, apologies for the recent lack of updates. My old laptop died on me a couple of weeks ago and I’ve only just got a replacement. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten around to restoring all my stats packages so I won’t be able to do an end of season analysis of the numbers from read more..

Super 15 format revealed

You heard it here first, with no inside sources I practically nailed the new Super 15 competition structure. Clearly SANZAR must read this blog and come here for advice, or perhaps we both know a good idea when we hear it. The key difference between my proposal and the new format is the six team playoff read more..

Here’s what I think Super 15 should look like

Now that SANZAR have reached an agreement that will see Super rugby expanded to 15 teams for the 2011 season, the question everyone wants to know is, what form will the competition take? Since the details are yet to be announced, here’s how I would structure the Super 15 if I were in charge. First detail read more..

Super 14 semi final picture coming into focus

After the first two games of the final round, the playoff picture is becoming pretty clear. After the Chiefs beat the Brumbies by 10-7, they secured a home semi final for themselves as they can now finish now worse than second, while the Brumbies are out. The Waratahs managed to beat the Lions 38-33 and read more..

Inside The Numbers Week 13: Attack and Defence

After the first two games of the final round, the playoff picture is becoming pretty clear. After the Chiefs beat the Brumbies by 10-7, they secured a home semi final for themselves as they can now finish now worse than second, while the Brumbies are out. The Waratahs managed to beat the Lions 38-33 and read more..

I’d forgotten how well behaved rugby players are

Normally this would be something I would have posted to my Referee’s Corner blog, but since I haven’t used it in years you’re stuck with my own personal experiences here too. I refereed rugby almost every weekend for 10 years before I got fed up with some of the politics of appointments and left for football read more..