Sione Luauki is fast becoming the new bad-boy of All Black rugby, taking the title from such contenders as Jimmy Cowan, Piri Weepu and Adam Thompson. Luauki has been in hot water all season, one incident after the other. After being sanctioned by the NZRU after an altercation in a NZ bar earlier in the season, he is yet again in th headlines.

The Chiefs confirm that Sione Lauaki was involved in a car accident in the early hours of Saturday morning, south of Huntly.

No-one else was involved in the accident.  Lauaki, who was driving to Auckland said he fell asleep at the wheel. Ambulance staff attended the scene with Lauaki suffering a sore arm as a result of the accident.  His arm is swollen and will continue to be assessed by Chiefs medical staff. Alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

Chiefs CEO Gary Dawson said “understandably Sione is shaken by this accident and we are all thankful it was not more serious.”

Friday’s Games:

Chiefs VS Cheetahs: The opening game of round 11 looked as if it would be yet another cricket score against the Cheetahs, when after 9 minutes, the Chiefs had already scored 2 tries and were 10 - 3 up, due to both conversions being missed in what was to become a nightmare showing with the boot for Stephen Donald.

10 minutes later the Chiefs had scored again, but yet another missed conversion by the Chiefs opened the window for the Cheetahs to claw their way back into the game.

Just three minutes later the Cheetahs launched their resurgence, after a brilliantly executed rolling maul from the lineout saw deserved Springbok tourist, Devon Raubenheimer cross over for the try.

Both teams had a very ordinary defensive display on the night, and whilst each had glimpses of some decent attack, neither really stood out in that department either.

In the end it was yet another example of how important goaling your kicks is in this competition. The Nightmare kicking from, the now shadow of their former self, Chiefs, with 0 from 8 on the night, allowing the Cheetahs to force the 25 all draw.

My two cents worth:

• Chiefs #2, Hikawera Elliot had another strong showing in an otherwise ordinary Chief outfit. He carries the ball well and is a strong runner.
• Meyer Bosman, who I usually sledge, scored a great try off a Chiefs handling error after Corne Uys pounced on the ball, flicking it out to Bosman for the footrace to the line.
• Yet again, Stephen Donald showed why he isn’t at international standard, and can’t be viewed in the same class as Dan Carter.

Chiefs VS Cheetahs 2010 Highlights [tonytai2017] Read More >>

So I started paying the whole fantasy rugby thing at the beginning of the season, but wasn’t really sure which one to go with. I used to play Captain Morgan Fantasy Rugby, in which I enjoyed quite a bit of success, winning some great prizes throughout the weeks, but it seems they have since discontinued their fantasy rugby league.

I decided to join the SuperSport.com Super 14 Fantasy League because of the similarity to the old Captain Morgan fantasy rugby, whereby you chose actual players and they are assigned points based on various criteria, and their individual performances, something I usually do quite well with.

I joined the Rugby365 League on SuperSport.com Super 14 Fantasy League, purely because someone sent me the link. I’m not doing too shabbily so far, placed fourth overall, falling a couple of spots last week, after my laptop was swiped on Thursday, and couldn’t make my picks.

So I’m going to go out on a limb here and post my team, and let you tell me if I’m going to kak off or not. Now bear in mind that you can only make 7 changes per round, with a total of 60 throughout the whole Super 14 and can only have a maximum of 4 players per franchise in our team at any given time.

My SuperSport.com 2010 Super 14 Fantasy League team for round 11:

Most of my mates play SuperBru.com, which is the kind of fantasy rugby setup that I don’t really do well at, because I tend to make picks with my heart instead of my head. Never the less I decided to give it a go, so here are my picks for round 11. Let me know what you think?

My SuperBru.com 2010 Super 14 Fantasy League picks for round 11:

This from SANZAR: SANZAR has today confirmed new broadcast rights agreements for professional rugby competitions across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa over the five-year period from 2011 to 2015.

SANZAR has concluded agreements with Supersport (Africa), Fox Sports (Australia) and SKY Television (New Zealand), has reached a heads of agreements for the UK market and is awaiting finalization for the British and Irish Lions tour rights in 2013. Together these represent a significant jump in value on the existing arrangements.

The new agreement is valued at US$437 million which is a 35 per cent increase on the comparable components of the current five-year agreement which were valued at US$323 million.

Agreements for additional territories such as France, North America and Asia are still under negotiation and will add to this total.

The agreements confirmed today reflect a significant growth in the value of core SANZAR competitions and deliver material increases for each of the South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby Unions.

Current SANZAR and NZRU CEO Steve Tew said the agreements reached with Supersport, SKY Television and Fox Sports represent a major vote of confidence in southern hemisphere rugby.

“We believe that rugby is in good health and that its appeal remains strong both in terms of participation and in terms of the interest of our fans across South Africa, New Zealand and Australia,” he said.

“This agreement underlines that and helps secure the new competitions and deliver them  in all three countries and also, importantly, supports the game’s funding which allows all three Unions to continue to develop rugby through our investment in the community and amateur game and the retention of our best players and coaches.”

The new agreements continue the evolution of SANZAR’s broadcasting rights following the original, landmark ten-year agreement which helped launch professional rugby in the southern hemisphere from 1996–2005, and the current five-year agreement which will expire at the end of 2010.

The new agreements have been structured in a different manner to the two earlier broadcasting packages with SANZAR Read More >>

I spent a year in the states during 2003/2004, and found it extremely difficult to find my favourite rugby events on TV. As an avid rugby supporter, you can imagine how important it was to watch premier rugby events such as 2003 IRB rugby World cup and the 2004 Super 14, both of which I missed the bulk of. Devastating to say the least!

I’m not sure what the current situation is in the USA, given the growth of the sport within the last couple of years, but I received this from the Fox Network, and reckon it might come in handy for our USA based readers.

Fox Soccer Plus, a new premium network designed to complement Fox Soccer Channel, will provide loyal rugby fans with 56 live and premiere rugby matches over the next six weeks, totaling 112 hours of coverage.

This week’s slate of 10 rugby matches on Fox Soccer Plus begins with a Magners League showdown on Wednesday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. (ET) between Connacht and Leinster, and continues with Super 14 action featuring Reds VS Stormers live on Friday, April 23 at 5:30 a.m. (ET).  England’s Guinness Premiership will take center stage on Saturday, April 24 at 2 p.m. ET with the London Wasps battling Bath Rugby.

Magners League and Super 14, as well as Europe’s Heineken Cup, will all climax with one-off finals in late May on Fox Soccer Plus.  The Heineken Cup title match will take place in Paris on May 22, while the Magners League and Super 14 finals are both slated for May 29.  The Guinness Premiership also concludes its season that day.

The premium network will also premiere Rugby World, an exclusive rugby magazine show airing each week beginning Friday, May 14 at 10:30 p.m. (ET) through July, 2010. Expert rugby analysts and commentators Dave Sitton, Brian Vizard, Ray Viers and Matt Brown will host the series of eight half-hour programs, providing context and perspective on all matters rugby. Rugby World will survey the globe to deliver the best highlights from the Heineken Cup, Guinness Premiership, Super 14, Magners League, SANZAR June Tests, Churchill Cup, USA Rugby National Championships, Glendale Raptors and much more each week.

Fox Soccer Plus’ robust arsenal of exclusive rugby properties include Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup, Magners League, and matches from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby (SANZAR), encompassing Super 14, Tri-Nations, Currie Cup (South Africa) and ITM Cup (New Zealand).

Scheduled Live and Premiere Rugby Coverage on Fox Soccer Plus: Read More >>

Cape Town – South African Super 14 rugby teams the Bulls and the Cheetahs will play their remaining regular season games at their home stadiums as planned despite concerns over damage to pitches at the World Cup venues.

Parliamentary committee on sport chairman Butana Komphela said on Tuesday that football and rugby had “pledged to support each other as brothers” after meeting with representatives of the teams and South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins.

Komphela was reportedly unhappy with the grass at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld stadium and Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein, but the teams will not be moved out. They will hand the venues to FIFA at the end of May, as initially agreed.

Bulls CEO Barend van Graan said, “We are totally behind the World Cup.”

[Sport24]

The following from the Chiefs camp: Chiefs first-five eighth (#10), Mike Delany will be out of rugby for up to six months after suffering a fracture of his glenoid, the socket of the shoulder joint, in last Friday’s Chiefs VS Stormers match.

Delany will have surgery this Friday in Hamilton on his right shoulder.

Chiefs physiotherapist, Dennis Shepherd said:

“This is a significant impact injury.  Such an injury has to be surgically repaired to get a good outcome.  Currently the fracture is displaced.  The surgery will aim to reduce the displacement and fix the bone.”

Meanwhile, Chiefs winger, Lelia Masaga, is ruled out of rugby for the next three to six weeks due to a tear to his lateral meniscus of his right knee.

Masaga will be under going an arthroscopy to repair his injury on Friday in Hamilton.

Saturday’s games:

Blues VS Force: The Blues managed to outclass the Force 38 – 17 when the two teams clashed in Auckland on the weekend.

The Force were in high hopes after last week’s victory over the Highlanders, but the Blues had the better of then from the get go. With Luke McAlister near back to his form of old, and Joe Rokocoko playing the kind of rugby that saw him score a hat-trick of tries on the night, the Force had little chance of making any kind of decent assault at beating the Blues.

The Force started the game well, but allowed the Blues in for 3 tries a piece in each half, before staging a ‘too little too late’ comeback at the end of the game, running in a late try and being awarded a penalty try in the dying moments of the match.

By then however, it was too late for them, and the Blues sealed the win and with it, kept their Super 14 playoff hopes alive.

My two cents worth:

• The Force were on the right side of the stats in almost every facet of the game, managing to spend over 8 minutes in the Force’s 22m area, but only managing to cross the try line once in the game, highlighting how good the Blues’ defensive effort was.
• Stephen Brett has been a bit of a mixed bag for the Blues this year, and has been particularly poor on defence, missing 5 tackles on the night.
• Tom Hockings took the cake in the missed tackle department though, missing 9 on the night, more than any other player, during a single game, in this year’s competition.
• David Pockock on the other hand built on his impressive form, making a monster 20 tackles on the night.
• It’s great to see Joe Rokocoko back to his best. One of the most exciting runners of the ball in the game today.

Blues VS Force 2010 Highlights: [WRNrugbynews] Read More >>

For those of you who didn’t check out yesterday’s post featuring the brilliant Stormers try, touched down by Bryan Habana, here is a condensed clip:

Habana try of the year – Stormers vs Chiefs 2010: [lwbotha]

What a great picture of the battle between the Chiefs and Stormers, in what was undoubtedly game of the weekend, during round 10 of the 2010 Super 14: [Sport24]