I was at Dan's funeral earlier today, along with about six hundred to seven hundred others. It was really tough going saying goodbye to someone so young and who had his life all planned out and was making real good progress toward achieving those goals. A number of speakers spoke of the Dan they knew and loved, relating what a good all round, committed, loyal and hardworking guy they have grown up with. It captured all that I had experienced and come to love in my too short involvement in his life.

Dan was taken away from the service to a beautiful rendition of the song Daniel (don't think it was Elton John's version) which proved too much for many to handle. There certainly were not many dry eyes around where I was.

Dan was accorded a stirring rendition of the Wellington Football Club's Haka, E Toki, by those that had played alongside him as he was carried to the waiting hearse to leave the place he enjoyed so much for the final time.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/92877119/huge-turnout-for-funeral-of-wellington-rugby-player-daniel-baldwin

Gone but never will be forgotten

Daniel Nils Baldwin
20th November 1997 - 17th May 2017

@Stockcar86 said in AB's v Samoa:

Congrats @Higgins on Fifita making his AB debut

Thanks. I elected to watch the match up in the Isherwood Lounge at the Wellington Football Club along with the best part of 180 other Axemen, the place where it all began for Vaea. Managed to find a nice corner to myself where I was able to sit back and quietly contemplate and reminisce in solitude on the long and tough five year journey to get this far rather than get caught up in the general excitement of Vaea becoming the Axemen's 17th All Black (and first since Dion Waller back in 2001).

The unofficial Hawkes Bay Chinese Checkers Championships concluded late this morning with the Hurricanes A contestant (yours truly) proving too strong for the Waratahs Development Representative in the final. Bronze went to the Melbourne Rebels player after a lengthy battle with the Hurricanes Development rep almost came to blows after the latter upended the board. The ruling has just come through from the MCC head office at Lords to uphold the decision to disqualify the guilty player by the innocent player's Nana!
Next up appears to be Cribbage after the Venue Manager has placed a one week ban on the playing of Chinese Checkers! It will probably also conclude in some sort of dispute............…
Ah the joys of board games turning up in Christmas Stockings. The competitiveness of games not lessening in the forty five odd years since the last time we dared risk playing any!

@booboo said in France 2023:

When do tickets go on sale?

Mrs Boo reckons we're going.

Will make sure we're there for the pool matches ... and see how flexible we can be during the knockouts ...

Collective thoughts on tours, touring parties, independent travel etc appreciated.

(Yes I'm deflecting, I don't want to dwell on the aftermath.)

Never mind that, when is the squad named?

The combination of Crotty/Crotty functioned impressively when it was tried for a short period.

Can I be the first to congratulate Australia for winning the netball silver medal? Well done you lot.

I was at the game last night, one of very few that braved the chilly wind. It was an interesting match to view as a neutral with an equal dislike for both sides. The rugby on display was quite satisfying with the home side seeming to try to play at a higher pace than Tasman, something which did not always come off. Tasman looked to be well drilled and coached and seldom risked anything likely to cause defensive problems ie weighing up the options and taking the least risky one. Finlay Christie takes a fair bit of scorn on here but to me he looked to be an industrious guy last night always being behind his pack early ready to make the next move well in advance of the ball being made available to him. He also made a couple of jinky semi breaks, committing an extra tackler thus opening up a bit more space for Mitchell Scott. His pass and clearance times though could still do with a bit more speed. He looked quite a different player to the one I saw a couple of times turning out for Poneke during the club season.
David Havili looked to be a useful player at second five, once firing out a pass so quick it almost resulted in a sonic boom, well done to his centre for catching it. He seemed to have the ability to judge the pce of his pass and adjusted it nicely according to the situation. Eventually finished the match at fullback after his side suffered from a large number of injury changes (blood HIA etc). Disappointed the full back Will Jordan did not get much chance to show of his undoubted skills for me to witness first hand, he eventually went off with some sort of leg injury midway through the second half. Tasman seemed to have rather tallish players in most positions, something which I had not noticed in the past watching them on Sky. All their players looked to do their core roles without too much fanfare and seldom looked like making errors. Their scrum pulverized the Wellington one a few times which would have had Grumpy Muir wringing his hands if he was sitting in the stands wearing his Wellington hat but nodding admiringly if he was wearing his scrumming coaching hat.
Having said that I was quite impressed with Xavier Numia almost always being the first forward to reach the restart area be it scrums or lineout, running to get there rather than just ambling like a lot of others do. Without knowing exactly what the problem was he was part of an embarrassed scrum so obviously a bit of work to do to get a more stable scrum setting together with the remainder of his forwards.
I wish I could have got onto the field to kick Isaia Walker-Leawere to get him really angry and rark him up as a guy that size would be unstoppable if he was in that sort of mood, he was not last night. That could well have been because of solid tackling by Tasman, but the thought of him running at full speed and power must be really scary if you are lined up as the only one available to tackle him.
Not sure what was happening to the Wellington defensive line in the inner midfield inside and outside where the first five would be but Tasman did rip through there a couple of times to telling effect. Whether it was JGB or recent 5 year Hurricanes contracted Billy Procter, a lack of cover by loose forwards, a combination of those or something else it must be concerning to the Wellington coaching staff.
Ben Lam had a quiet match at fullback and that might not be his best position if last night was anything to go by. Malo Tuitama looked to be nicely skilled with a nice step and hip swerve but whether he has the overall size to make it to the next level is a big question. He arrived on the opposite wing in cover defence a few times which earned him a big tick from me. I like the way he plays.
Te Ariki Ben-Nicholas also looked to be a competent player that might be capable of stepping up to the next level. Not a headline grabbing type of player but did the basics well and seldom makes errors if last nights display is anything to go by. Took the right options at the right time, last night anyway. Also liked the way Tasman hooker Makalio hit the defensive line with good aggression always putting great pressure on the tackle to pull off a solid tackle or risk injury if they didn't!
All in all an enjoyable night.

@Stargazer said in club rugby:

Wellington 19-year-old rugby player dies after suffering serious injury during match

Really sad.

http://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/rugby/wellington-19-year-old-rugby-player-dies-after-suffering-serious-injury-during-match

I am an active member of Dan's club and believe me the last week has been very difficult to get through. The mood has been sombre all week and quite frankly the boys had great difficulty in getting through todays games, their minds and thoughts were understandably elsewhere.

Dan's team had yet to record a victory this season but they paid the ultimate tribute in breaking that duck with a 26 - 03 win today. The aftermatch function and speeches were truly emotional and had many present struggling to fight back the tears.
.
Dan was the second active playing member we have lost recently and it is no easier the second time round. I sincerely hope that no one has to go through what we have had to this past week. The outgoing support we at the Axemen (Wellington Football Club) have received from too many people to mention this week has been heartwarming.

One wonders how much influence Dan had from above in fellow Axemen Vaea Fifita's first try for the Hurricanes in 2017 tonight. A few members definitely benefitting from the $31.00 odds for Vaea being the first try scorer, say no more.

Remember we might have our differences from time to time but we are all members of the big family we call NZ Rugby. Never ever let that be forgotten.

A scoreless draw is a bit unimaginative. It is England afterall, surely it should be scored a three all draw as they would certainly have kicked a penalty or a droppie somewhere along the way!

Don't wish for too much as presumably Sky own all the outside broadcast equipment and technical facilities. There is no guarantee that they will subcontract their services to any new broadcaster should they lose the contract.

We are spoilt at the moment getting to see every single Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup match live. To match the quality of coverage (commentary excepted) would be a massive undertaking and expense for any newcomer to even get near to let alone better.

We take our rugby seriously at Whitmore Park, right down to our jocks as modelled here by Roxy on the Texan's Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/napiertechrugbyclub

We are so lucky with ACC taking care of those things here in NZ.

@Crucial Correct

@Stargazer Bloody hell that's scarcely believable given his performances evaluated by the knowledgeable spectators that only use their eyes to gauge a players usefulness rather than a bank of computers churning out endless statistics like how many times a player farted, how many times he hoiked within three seconds of the ref blowing his whistle etc etc etc used by those being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to coach and select a Super Rugby outfit. They all must be counting in his favour as there is nothing I have seen in what must have been 50 trials by torture that would see me picking him ahead of any other contracted loosie on their books.

@Winger said in Hurricanes 2020:

@Higgins said in Hurricanes 2020:

@Winger Are you guys starting to believe the bias we claim that goes against HB players now?

Maybe that's the reason. As Gibbes coached Wellington. But how do you explain useless Prinsep (Canterbury) with Fifita in the reserves. Or Numia missing out (to May and Armstrong). Or Aumea vs RR. My view is the coaches are picking on factors that have little to do with all round playing ability (like a good solid attitude rather than playing ability).

I would like a better mix of coaches in Wellington. esp someone with a PI background. Like Alama Ieremia or Filo Tiatia. At present coaches from other team must be looking at this overlooked players from Wellington. For example the Blues and Aumea. Fifita is a quality player but hes just being handled poorly at the Canes

As far as I know he has not signed any extension to his current contract with the Hurricanes which ends at the end of this season so that could have something to do with it. Perhaps we should alert Jauzy19 to see if he can ferret out if anything might be happening up his way with regards to Fifita?

@Winger Are you guys starting to believe the bias we claim that goes against HB players now?

@Bones said in Hurricanes 2020:

@Stargazer you seem to let Hawkes not publishing team sheets go a lot easier than the canes not publishing injured players. Go figure

Cut him a bit of slack. It is even difficult finding HBRFU press releases confirming the declartion of the Magpies come NPC time so no surprise the lack of Club lineups.

Damn, lost 2020 invincibility with that loss. It must be noted that the Texans scored five tries to the opposition's four and lost because MAC kicked penalties. Kind of like the old days playing Marist!

@mikey07 @Bones Hataitai Park had untold amounts of Council money spent on it in the summer of 2017/19 putting in underwater irrigation and drainage. The irrigation bit works wonderfully as the grass can be kept alive over summer an is still green come the usual time to start the rugby season. Sadly the drainage has not been so successful. It is somewhat ironic that the Axemen junior teams often get to play on the Basin Reserve (an international cricket ground no less!!!!!!) rather than having to endure a bit of good old fashioned heavy underfoot conditions of Hataitai Park! The WCC are not prepared to risk further damaging the Hataitai surface but have no qualms about the Basin!

Has Martin Luckie Park been forgotten in you mud heap rankings?

@Billsy111 Are you referring to Donimic Bird? Would fit seemlessly into the Central HB pack in Brodie's place!