He will soon be regarded as our arch rugby enemy, but last night Crusaders coach Robbie Deans was honoured by a host of big sporting names for his huge contribution to the New Zealand game.
Deans, who has led his beloved Canterbury franchise to a record four Super rugby titles, controversially missed out on the All [...]

Peppered with incidents of high shots, rugged defence and the odd bit of skullduggery, this sort of match make the Super 14 turnstiles click.
Despite widespread accusations of the Nanny State brainwashing the populace with politically correct messages, the expectation of some biff still draws a decent crowd.
By yesterday afternoon 26,000 tickets had sold for the [...]

The home team %26mdash; the Highlanders, for the uninitiated %26mdash; is winless after four games and five rounds, although it has picked up a losing bonus point from each outing this season.
Anchored at the bottom of the table heading into the Easter weekend of Super 14 games, the Highlanders are already in a scrap to [...]

It was obvious that the players and referees were still coming to terms with the changed rulings at the weekend, and many of you might have been left scratching your heads from the comfort of your couches.
I know I was, and Id had the luxury of an NZRU seminar in Christchurch to help explain what [...]

His body was found Thursday.”He was a man of honesty, loyalty and peace,” Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly told mourners. “He was loved by all Iraqi people regardless of their sectarian background.”Rahho was the most senior Catholic cleric in Iraq after Delly — who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI in [...]

It also stands for Force, the form Australian team the Highlanders will have to overcome in Queenstown on Easter Saturday if they are to get their season back on track.
F could stand for failure, the damning assessment the southern franchise will be looking at if it does not start winning %26mdash; even though genuine winning [...]