The Weekender 16/08/2009

Sport

Well it was an interesting weekend for the Air NZ cup! Auckland dragged themselves off the bottom of the table with some help from their All Blacks, getting a 13-32 win over Northland, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki drew 24-24 and BOP will be wishing it was a shield challenge as they beat top of the table Wellington in a 21-17 upset. Manawatu showed off a couple of their emerging backs when they beat Southland 25-23, and Canterbury beat a bumbling Waikato 46-13. Otago beat North Harbour 29-9, and Tasman thrashed Counties Manukau 51-15.
The biggest news of the rugby world has been the reintegration of the All Blacks. After a week off, the All Blacks were allowed to play for their home provinces this weekend to get some game time before heading to Australia next weekend. And while most of the teams welcomed back any experience they could get, some (well, mostly Wellington) refused to play them. Coach Jamie Joseph has ignored pressure from the NZRU and the players themselves, to give them game time stating that their aim is to get their team working well and basically protest the fact that All Blacks are taken & returned randomly through out the provincial season. All the more ironic since Wellington lost. It will be interesting to see what they'll do in a few weeks when they possibly have a shield challenge against Canterbury with Richie McCaw & Dan Carter keen to play!
Finally for rugby, the Dunedin City Council has bought Carisbrook off the Otago Rugby Football Union.

The gulf between the NRL top teams and the strugglers was highlighted this weekend in a number of games and with the Warriors on the end of a 40-4 hiding. Manly beat the Roosters 12-44 & the Gold Coast Titans have reached the finals for the first time with a 22-14 win over South Sydney. Canberra beat top of the table St George Illawarra 24-12 coming back from 12-0 down. The Broncos thrashed Penrith 58-24 and Wests Tigers thrashed Cronulla 56-10.

Our favourite triathlete legend, Steve Gurney had a bad crash fracturing his shoulder and jaw during his attempt to cross the Sahara on a kite buggy. A gust of wind smashed him into a rock.

I'm starting to look forward to the Bathurst 1000 already & I bet Greg Murphy is as well. Semi retired five-time winner Mark Skaife will join four-time winner Murphy for Bathurst and the Phillip Island endurance rounds of the V8 circuit.
The Hamilton 400 has got a three-year naming sponsorship deal with independent hardware & building supply store ITM. It will now be called the ITM 400.

The NZ men's hockey team, the Black Sticks have won a five-test series against Malaysia after getting a 2-2 draw against them in Napier in the fourth test. The Black Sticks won the first two games 3-0 & drew the other.

Hamiltonian Joelle King caused an upset in the NZ Women's Open when she beat former world No1 Rachael Grinham in the first round of the main draw.

NZ swimmers have won 9 medals at the Australian short course champs in Hobart.

The NZ sprint team won gold at the junior world track cycling champs in Moscow.

Scott Dixon has broken the record for the most number of wins in IndyCar racing when he won in Ohio last weekend. Although the win helped him regain the championship lead, it is still very close.

The Wellington Phoenix lost their first game of the season but this weekend beat Perth Glory 2-1.

NZ News

There was a mid air collision in New York last week and the pilot of the helicopter was a kiwi. He was remembered on the Auckland school rugby field this weekend, where he kicked final match winning penalties two years in a row. The family, who flew over to the States, were said to be devastated on news that the air controller was on the phone to his girlfriend when the accident happened.

There has been another death from a back country avalanche when a guide, Jonathan Morgan was killed on Friday. Only three weeks ago he had escaped from another fatal avalanche.

From November the 1st there will be a ban on using (non hands-free) cellphones while driving in New Zealand - don't forget if you come back for a visit!

This week saw a bunch of new Sir's & Dame's being knighted. The current government reversed the former Labour government's "Principal & Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit" to reinstate "titular honours" (Sir's & Dame's) and everyone receiving the P&DCotNZOoM; (as we used to like to call them) was offered the chance to upgrade their titles. Most accepted the honour - including former Labour cabinet minister Dame Margaret Shields who had to resist pressure from Helen Clark. The 72 included Sir Peter Snell (from Dallas), Sir Russell Coutts (from Valencia), Sir Colin Meads (from Te Kuiti!!), Sir Stephen Tindall (who was protested by a single person with a big red sign saying "Sir Stephen Tindall, for services to the People's Republic of China") & Sir Harawira Gardiner.

The NZ search & rescue people do a fantastic job - but it seems recently they've had more to do than usual. This week the police rescued a tramper from a snow-covered ridge in the Ruahine Ranges as dusk was falling. The unusual part was he had been rescued from the same spot just a month ago - and he was still ill-equipped & ill-prepared. Also there were three progressively-worse mayday calls from a ship off the coast of NZ and after a thorough search nothing could be found so it has been assumed to be a hoax.

The SAS are heading back to Afghanistan for 18 months, however Prime Minister John Key has said the government wanted to gradually withdraw its 140 member Provincial Reconstruction Team over the next 3 to 5 years.

The Numbers Game

8: month court battle by a retired Wellington man over a $30 parking ticket ended happily for 72-year old Jim Hollis - he won $75 in court costs
11: % expected jump in house prices over the coming year - the government is considering higher property taxes to steady the spending
20: minutes to sell out a Cliff Richard & the Shadows concert in Christchurch for next year
25: % increase on visitor numbers at Mt Ruapehu for skiing this winter
48: year old birthday for PM John Key last weekend & he spent the day taking part in the Telethon
100: kids from two top rugby schools had an all in brawl during a match on Saturday - in front of the All Blacks coach too
3,000: swine flu cases in NZ so far but only 41 are in hospital with swine flu - 15 in intensive care
9,000: $ parking fines for a woman who illegally parked her house truck in Wellington in protest
26,000: $ worth of goods were recovered when a Taranaki store owner chased the thieves for 70km
2m: people tuned in to watch last weekends Telethon at some point during the weekend, they raised around $2m
4m: $ drop in police camera revenue is being blamed on glitches in the new hi-tech cameras

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.4104 (+0.0066)
EUR 0.4780 (+0.0030)
USD 0.6786 (+0.0051)
AUD 0.8154 (+0.0113)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Bruce McLaren
DRIVER ENGINEER CONSTRUCTOR
Team McLaren drivers have taken the chequered flag at 123 Grand Prix events. Aucklander Bruce McLaren was a brilliant driver with vision. He became engineer, inventor, constructor, tester and created one of the greatest motor racing teams in history.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/mclaren.html

Joke of the Weekender

Job Impressions
I had always talked about my job a lot at home, and my young daughter had always expressed great interest. So I thought it would be a treat for her to spend the day with me at the office. Since I wanted it to be a surprise, I didn't tell her where we were going, just that it would be fun. Although usually a bit shy, she seemed excited to meet each colleague I introduced. On the way home, however, she seemed somewhat down.
"Didn't you have a nice time?" I asked.
"Well, it was okay." she responded. "But I thought it would be more like a circus."
Confused, I asked, "Whatever do you mean?"
She said, "Well, you said you work with a bunch of clowns, and I never got to see them!"

Weekender Photos

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