Jake is the ultimate opportunist which by default does not ever make him anywhere nearly an effective rugby voucher. 49-0 plus 3/10 vs NZ or 1/4 vs France doesn’t belie his true tried credentials whatsoever.

All he ever did was drive a pretty precocious pretense of professional prominence behind someone else’s expertise which he’s now become far more astute and clever at the game of charades. You may not know it or see it but other coaches who worked with him do. Like Nick Mallet Alan Solomons and I reckon perhaps even some contemporary coaches and players may know it too. Along with couch coaching boffins such as myself.

All your rantings about how lucky he was in WC and what a k ak coach he is.
Now to see how well he’s done with a relative no name brand Brumbies side and you still cant give him any credit.
Hehe. It kills you that he’s doing so well.

Ewen McKenzie

We are three rounds into the competition, which means we’ve hit the time of the season where questions are asked of everyone and everything. Nothing is immune to scrutiny. Laws, referees, coaches, players, selections, concussion protocols, scrum engagements and the video referee all come under the spotlight.

The reality, though, is that every year the first month brings a calibration of all that is new and everyone is trying to decide if things are working better.

This is often subjective, but in 15 games there have been six bonus points for scoring four-plus tries and five losing bonus points for coming within seven points. This would suggest there may be two levels of team this year, although it’s too early to pass judgment, especially when teams at this stage are primarily focused on getting their defence sorted.

There is always a team that surprises and the effort of the Blues against the Crusaders at the weekend was outstanding.
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On the flip-side, who would have thought that two of the season’s fancied teams – the Stormers and Hurricanes – would open with two straight losses. In our backyard, the Reds also began their season with a poor result against the Brumbies before responding with back-to-back wins at Suncorp Stadium against the Waratahs and Hurricanes. Pleasingly, this has taken our record at the venue to 23 wins from our past 26 matches.

What the results highlight is that not much credit gets carried over from the season before.

Everyone starts on a level playing field and you have to earn everything you get. From a Reds perspective, accumulating wins at this time of the year is especially important for us while several of our leaders, including Wallabies captains James Horwill and Will Genia, remain injured. The absence of key players is part of any season’s challenge, so to remain on the right side of the ledger is crucial before they return.

During these opening rounds we’ve had six players from our Super Rugby final winning-team on the sideline through injury, which has been frustrating but has also allowed us to see some of our prospects.

Genia, Horwill, Anthony Faingaa, Beau Robinson, Ben Daley and Radike Samo have all been crucial for us and know what winning a competition is like. Samo is back but the rest will return gradually and bring with them experience and enthusiasm.

The teams that can cover injuries with depth are the ones who can prevail and those that can bring experience from the bench will be able to endure the test of time that Super Rugby requires. To be successful you need a high-quality bench.

There are lots of questions and the answers won’t be known until the last round on July 13. But that’s the best part about Super Rugby, we don’t have all the answers here and now.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/its-question-time-but-the-answers-could-be-a-way-off-20130306-2flla.html

The Vodacom Bulls team is (with Super Caps): Zane Kirchner (73), Akona Ndungane (84), JJ Engelbrecht (18), Wynand Olivier(105), Lionel Mapoe (30), Mornè Steyn (108), Jano Vermaak (90), Pierre Spies (91, c), Arno Botha (12), Deon Stegmann (61), Juandrè Kruger (19), Flip van der Merwe (50), Frik Kirsten (17), Willie Wepener (55), Mornè Mellett (2).

Replacements: Chiliboy Ralepelle (54), Werner Kruger (77), Grant Hattingh (11), Jacques Potgieter (14), Francois Hougaard (47), Louis Fouché (12), Jürgen Visser (0).

Cnuts.

Robbers pepper-spray sleeping baby

Durban – A Durban family were shocked when robbers pepper-sprayed their sleeping 4-month-old baby after invading their home during an armed robbery.

Brenda and Allen Lockyear and their two children had only recently returned to South Africa after living overseas for 11 years, reported the Daily News.

They were staying with Lockyear’s parents, Pam and Des Naudé while their home was being renovated.

On Saturday night, while Allen Lockyear was away in the UK on business, robbers entered the home, pepper-spraying the aged family dog until it passed out.

One of the robbers walked up to Brenda Lockyear and pepper-sprayed the baby, who was asleep in his mother’s arms.

The men also pointed a gun at the couple’s other 3-year-old daughter.

“The baby was screaming with pain and he could not breathe. By this time two more suspects appeared. One of them cocked the gun and placed it to my husband’s head. He too was repeatedly pepper-sprayed,” said Pam Naudé, the mother of Allen Lockyear.

“They had no right to harm him [the baby]. That makes me very angry. Crime is out of control. It is getting worse and worse every day. My son [Allen] came back because this is home,” Naudé said.

“These guys were professionals. They seemed to know the layout of the house and where all the dogs were kept. They ransacked the entire house.”

Goods worth more than R350 000 were stolen and packed into Naudé’s car with the personalised licence plate, Gogo1 ZN.

Both children needed medical treatment.

Naudé said her son returned to South Africa the next day and said he would give his home country one more chance but should there be another incident, he will leave as soon as possible.

http://www.chiefs.co.nz/news/chiefs-team-announced-to-play-cheetahs.html

I am not a Saia Fainga’a fan either.

Tapuai is the centre that will do the damage here..

Hoping Digby has a stormer for my fantasy league!