Weekend Wrap
OK, I'm offically spewing. Not because the All Blacks lost, but because I didn't friggin' win any money off it. In fact (be prepared to laugh), I was so sure NZ was going to run away with the game after halftime I backed them on the handicap during the break. I bet I wasn't the only one.
So for the third week in a row, we watch a team unable to convert a 9-point lead into a win. You don't have to be Einstein to work out what happened:
(a) not taking opportunities to score
(b) tackling below-par
(c) a certain referreeing decision
Of the list, (b) is the most worrying and to me reflects a little bit of complacency crept in on the flight from South Africa. So the loss may or may not be a good thing from a RWC point of view; unfortunately the MCG debacle may be (slightly) forgotten by the time we're in France if we smash the Aussies in the return fixture at Eden Park in a few week's time.
Bah humbug. Enough about the rugby. I can only take solace that the rest of the world might start to believe the ABs are not the shoe-in for the World Cup that perhaps was once thought and that ridiculous price on the winner's market (now out to $1.46) may continue to drift.
Now, does anyone else feel sorry for the NZ Mens Hockey team? They blew a 2-goal lead late in the final of the Champions Challenge to eventually lose in extra time to Argentina. According to the paper this morning, the loss not only means missing out on the Champions Trophy next year, but missing out on $270,000 of high performance funding from SPARC.
So, win a tournament that ranks you seventh in the world and you get $270,000. Finish runners-up in said tournament that ranks you eighth in the world and you get zilch. Just doesn't seem right to me. If our high performance hockey programme is worth supporting; support it. If not, don't. But to see such a large discrepancy in funding based on one tournament result is to me a joke - the team went through the tournament unbeaten (in reality they "drew" the final - extra time is played only to find a tournament winner) yet now come home with their Olympic build-up facing an uncertain future.
But of course the highlight of the weekend again comes from New Zealand tennis. Our darling top female player Marina Erakovic won her first career doubles title in the weekend, at some futures tournament in the wop-wops of Italy. I can't wait to see how much her doubles ranking improves from last week's 266. Such news really helps dull the pain of that All Black loss.
So for the third week in a row, we watch a team unable to convert a 9-point lead into a win. You don't have to be Einstein to work out what happened:
(a) not taking opportunities to score
(b) tackling below-par
(c) a certain referreeing decision
Of the list, (b) is the most worrying and to me reflects a little bit of complacency crept in on the flight from South Africa. So the loss may or may not be a good thing from a RWC point of view; unfortunately the MCG debacle may be (slightly) forgotten by the time we're in France if we smash the Aussies in the return fixture at Eden Park in a few week's time.
Bah humbug. Enough about the rugby. I can only take solace that the rest of the world might start to believe the ABs are not the shoe-in for the World Cup that perhaps was once thought and that ridiculous price on the winner's market (now out to $1.46) may continue to drift.
Now, does anyone else feel sorry for the NZ Mens Hockey team? They blew a 2-goal lead late in the final of the Champions Challenge to eventually lose in extra time to Argentina. According to the paper this morning, the loss not only means missing out on the Champions Trophy next year, but missing out on $270,000 of high performance funding from SPARC.
So, win a tournament that ranks you seventh in the world and you get $270,000. Finish runners-up in said tournament that ranks you eighth in the world and you get zilch. Just doesn't seem right to me. If our high performance hockey programme is worth supporting; support it. If not, don't. But to see such a large discrepancy in funding based on one tournament result is to me a joke - the team went through the tournament unbeaten (in reality they "drew" the final - extra time is played only to find a tournament winner) yet now come home with their Olympic build-up facing an uncertain future.
But of course the highlight of the weekend again comes from New Zealand tennis. Our darling top female player Marina Erakovic won her first career doubles title in the weekend, at some futures tournament in the wop-wops of Italy. I can't wait to see how much her doubles ranking improves from last week's 266. Such news really helps dull the pain of that All Black loss.
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posted by Rob Crawford at 2:14 PM
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