The Weekender 12/04/2009

Welcome to Easter Sunday! I hope you have all had a great Easter weekend.

Sport

Well let's go with Super 14 rugby. The Super 14 continued to prove that it can be unpredictable when the last placed Cheetahs thrashed the leaders, the Sharks 31-6. The Highlanders continued to make the Reds season miserable with a 24-19 win that wasn't a good win, but a win anyway. The Blues continued to get close to making the play-offs with a 36-12 win over the Lions, and the Bulls beat the Waratahs 20-6. The Brumbies beat the Stormers 17-10 after an emotional week that one of their players died after being hit by a car after their final game in South Africa. The Hurricanes won a thriller against the Western Force 28-27 after a scoring a try after the full-time hooter.
Table: Sharks* 30, Chiefs/Bulls/Waratahs* 27, Hurricanes 24, Blues 23, Highlanders/Crusaders/Brumbies 22, Force 19, Stormers 15, Lions 14, Reds 13, Cheetahs 7. Yes the Crusaders are NZ's lowest place team & at 8 are the only NZ team outside of the top half!
In other news 34 year old Brad Thorn has re-signed with the NZRU and Canterbury until 2011.

The ANZ Netball Championship is up & running again and the Waikato/BOP Magic beat the Southern Steel 54-47 in the clash of NZ's two best teams. In last weeks game the Magic beat the Northern Mystics 51-38.

The Warriors haven't been able to continue their great start to the season with their third consecutive loss, this week 24-22 to the Knights.

The final cricket test against India ended up in a draw after NZ was saved by the rain on the final day. So India won the series 1-0 although it was fairly obvious they were a far better team.

NZ's men's hockey team snatched a last minute win over Pakistan 3-2 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

Josh Coppins got back onto the podium in the MX1 motocross in Bulgaria this week. We hope he has put the injuries from previous seasons behind him!

NZ News

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sung the praises of the NZ SAS & is expected to ask NZ to send the SAS back to Afghanistan. The NZ SAS continue to be a sought after fighting unit!

Helen Clark said goodbye to parliament this week as she finished & heads overseas for her new role with the U.N. And Micheal Cullen has announced that he will be leaving parliament at the end of the month.

A 78 year old grandfather was beaten by an Auckland student after a road rage incident and this week died from his injuries. It's very unusual for road rage cases to be serious at all so this is a shock.

The Numbers Game

10.5: % of prisoners returning positive for random drug testing - a record low!
17: retailers across NZ face legal action after opening on Good Friday
22: new national parks in the South Island high country is being opposed by an environmental watchdog
46: of 53 responses from honours recipients have accepted the knight or dame titles in the switch back to the titles
75: % of police want the drinking age increased to 20
2,148: people have received ACC treatment for cat scratches, 299 for run ins with sharp plants
6,694: houses sold in March, up from 5,228 in Feb & 5,129 in March 2008
50,000: visitors expected in Hamilton next weekend for the Aussie V8 Hamilton 400 round
16m: $ in benefits for Auckland from February's Louis Vuitton Pacific Series
50m: $/yr paid by taxpayers in sickness & invalid benefits for drug & alcohol abusers

Finance NZ Dollar

The Weekender NZer of the week

Sir Harold Gillies
AESTHETIC RECONSTRUCTOR
The introduction of more ferocious weapons and trench warfare in the First World War resulted in devastating injuries. A new type of surgery was needed. Rhinoplasty, skin grafts, and facial reconstructions have been practised for centuries. However, it was New Zealander Sir Harold Delf Gillies who standardised these techniques and established the discipline of 'plastic surgery'.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/gillies.html

Joke of the Weekender

Some Great Malapropisms...
"I don't want anybody stepping on anyone else's thunder."
"You can't pull the sheep over my eyes!"
"I don't mean to take the steam out of your sails, but...."
"I used to be as sharp as a button."
"That way I can kill two bricks with one stone."
"If my grandfather was alive today, he'd be turning in his grave."
"You can't teach an old leopard how to change its spots."

Weekender Photos

Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42

Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
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