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.

@mariner4life Some of us are still struggling to get over Cardiff Arms Park in 1905!

@booboo said in NZ Politics:

@Billy-Tell said in NZ Politics:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/24/new-zealands-first-mexican-born-mp-says-adopted-country-has-many-blind-spots

This guy sounds like a ball of fun.

Chooses to live in NZ but hates the culture.

Fuck off back to Mexico and see how that country cares for unqualified drop outs.

It is staggering that this person could possibly have met the requirements for a work permit after flunking their studies let alone meeting the minimum requirements for Permanent Residence and maybe even, horror upon horror, Citizenship.

@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.

@canes4life said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

@nepia the best balanced loose forward combo we can pick is 6. Flanders 7. Savea and 8. Evans. Hopefully Evans makes a return soon.

You could then have maybe Fifita and Kirifi on the bench providing impact.

Unfortunately Holland will always pick Prinsep in this scenario even though he’s obviously not up to it.

And he can hardly drop him as he stated last season that his presence on the field was justified because he and Blackwell were part of the senior leadership group.

@chris My lips are sealed on that one but it depends on whether R Prinsep or JGB were playing. If they were then there is a possibility it could have been me.

@nzzp Lucky for them their pay is not based solely on results. Clearly the problem must be based around too harsh coaching as so often is cited by female sportsmen in NZ.

@bovidae Has Ben Skeen surpassed George Ayoub in the rankings of TMOs!

@winger said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

@stargazer said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

I agree with other comments about Flanders.

Thats a surprise. But I would like to see him at 6. To replace Prinsep who was poor. Unless say Fifita starts at 6

The type of game they are asking Fifita to play is miles away from the wide ranging style of play where he scored a good number of tries out wide when he was first selected under Chris Boyd's stewardship (for the Lions and the Hurricanes). They have since tried to turn him into more of a battering ram hit it up one or two off the ruck ball carrier where he is only moderately successful compared to what he used to be.

@dan54 said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

@stargazer I go along with Flanders getting on at 8, but not sure what we do at 6, Prinsep to me is a good journeyman mitre 10 cup player and not a lot more. If I had to pick I would try and work Kirifi in just because he is from the region. I not into us using journeyman from outside!

Kirifi is from Taranaki so he can bugger off to the Chiefs.

@chris said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

@canes4life said in Crusaders v Hurricanes:

@chris there seems to be one twit in the crowd.

There is in every crowd I have been to the cake tin

Excuse me, I have not been to a Hurricanes game in the Cake Tin for a couple of years now!

Saracens better hope that ring fencing of the Second Division applies as they are currently in danger of relegation thanks to the eleventh placed position out of twelve after their 25 - 17 loss to the Cornish Pirates!!

https://www.flashscore.com/standings/Acr3xyaA/S8JXUMrO/#table/overall

@shark A lot of the games I have watched, admittedly they were mostly those featuring Beauden Barrett's team, have been hopelessly one sided with winning margins about the sixty point mark. That would probably equate to something over one hundred in Super Rugby New Zealand. In laymens terms that's something like watching Auckland administering a pants down thrashing of a mid week North Otago team devoid of a lot of their (North Otago) first choice players who were unable to get time of work.

About the only think going for it would be the opportunity for the Chiefs to have a win and the TV revenues )which would probably the the most important component anyway). With that money I suppose we could accept it but that would probably involve a lot of the second tier players in NZ and Aust (do they still have any?) being used to try and strengthen the Japanese Company Teams.

@canes4life said in 2021 Hawke's Bay Representative Rugby:

@nepia lol there are plenty of Wellington players scattered around other franchises that didn’t pick up Canes contracts and probably deserved them as well. You don’t see me harping on about it, it’s just the way it is.

Yes the Hurricanes have made some selection cock ups over the past few years (Blackwell / Prinsep), but there have certainly been players who have decided to represent other franchises by choice. Case and point - Folau Fakatava.

Anyway this discussion is like flogging a dead horse and you don’t even support the Canes.

Are you referring to the likes of TBN, Kayne Hammington, Chace Tiatia and Jason Woodward? About the only one you might have any qualms about would be Naitoa Ah Kuoi over Blackwell but remember Ah Kuoi hardly ever started for the L:ions in the NPC.

In the case of Folau did it ever cross your thoughts as to why Folau might opt to be second string at the Highlanders (well third in reality as he was also behind Kayne Hammington) rather than be second or third string at the Hurricanes where he would probably be given no chance of ever starting or making the match day 23? Look at Jonah Lowe, Danny Toala, etc etc. He at least was on a full time contract down there rather than what would have probably been a WTG (or whatever it is called these days) one in Wellington.