@Higgins I don't think anyone was 'rating' him at all. I only mentioned him in discussion about who the props might be for this season because he was in the squad last season. He played a couple of games early last season and went OK, until he was injured out of the comp, but we have plenty of depth this season so he may not be picked this year. He has been playing in that Perth based rapid rugby competition so may not even return to Auckland? Also rating him on his performances for Wellington 5 years ago may not be so relevent to today. He is alot more experienced now including some seasons in europe.

@Dice Unless they use one of those guys at Tighthead to back up Renata and Marco Fepulea'i ( who is currently playing in the U.S. but is returning for Auckland as i understand.) I havn't heard if Taniela Koroi is returning.

@Dice I would guess not re:Prattley. With Hodgman, Lindenmuth, Jarrod Adams and young Robb Cobb coming through we are well covered at loosehead.

Apparently neither Handre Pollard (injured) or Duane Vermeulen (Bok squad rest) are coming to NZ with the Bulls. A bit of a plus for the Blues and Highlanders.

@ACT-Crusader Sub McCaw for Smith and the rest of the world outside NZ for you - lol.

From a South African newspaper site:-
Rasta Rasivhenge and Marius Jonker appear to have been punished for questionable decisions they arrived at in last weekend’s Super Rugby matches at Ellis Park and Newlands respectively.

Referee Rasivhenge and television match official (TMO) Jonker were both set to do duty this weekend at Newlands where the Stormers host the Highlanders but both have disappeared off the list of match official appointments.

Australia’s Nic Berry takes control of the match instead of Rasivhenge‚ while TMO duties now fall to Christie du Preez‚ who is no stranger to controversy.

Du Preez has been used sparingly since the Stormers’ victory over the Lions in round two when he was roundly criticised for not flagging an obvious infringement from the hosts.
Two match officials confirmed Rasivhenge and Jonker had been removed from this week’s list of appointees‚ directly as a result of their performances last week.

Rasivhenge invoked the ire of the Highlanders who were on the wrong side of a 12-3 penalty count at Ellis Park.

Unrelated perhaps‚ a week earlier‚ the Lions enjoyed a 13-3 penalty count in their favour against the Waratahs with Egon Seconds in charge.

Seconds is in Australasia where he will be confined to assistant refereeing duties in three matches.

Jonker had the Crusaders fuming at Newlands when he intervened and ruled a forward pass in move that in all probability would have had a direct impact on the result of the match.
After their review his bosses apparently arrived at a different view and Jonker was told so.

Being yanked from this week’s action is quite a step back for Jonker who is one of only two South African match officials‚ along with Jaco Peyper‚ earmarked for Rugby World Cup duty later this year.

TimesLIVE approached SA Rugby for comment but referees high performance manager Mark Lawrence passed the enquiry on to Sanzaar officials based in Sydney.

At the time of writing no response had been received.

@African-Monkey Someone said on here that Scrafton wanted to move in search of more game time, rather than them choosing Pierce over him (they already had both in the squad). Coventry rarely played Pierce for Harbour prefering to use C-T or with young Danny Drake (who trained and played with the Blues preseason so must also be in the picture for next year, i'd forgotten about him). They inherited Pierce from Tana/Hanks so he may even be cut for Drake or another? Jamie Lane appears to have bulked up a lot this season and is looking more physical to me, admittedly only at club level so far. ( I follow Ponsonby).

Scarlets have appointed New Zealander Glenn Delaney as their defence coach following the departure of Byron Hayward.

Delaney is currently the defence coach of Super Rugby side Highlanders and was a former London Irish head coach.

He will join new Scarlets head coach Brad Mooar who takes over from Wales bound Wayne Pivac.

@Tim That would be nice but doubtful. Also maybe Whetton might be looking for more game time?

JK accidentally confirmed on Breakdown tonight that Scrafton is off to the Hurricanes next season. Which is annoying as he was obviously to me the best 5 lock in the squad. Sadly injuries and coach preferences for the too soft Goodhue and the too short C-T early on meant he did not get a chance to prove it till now. The question for next year now is who to replace him. Young Jacob Pierce is in the squad but always injured and hardly even plays for Harbour so its hard to judge if he is up to it. My hope would be that they are chasing Olmstead. James Tucker from Waikato was with them briefly preseason and I would be fine with picking him up. I rate young Jamie Lane from Ponsonby but need to see him play more rep rugby. He has signed for Auckland. Signing Scrafton and Laupepe for next year will give the canes a bit more size and steel in the middle row.