AUCKLAND, NZ – Short and sweet this week guys and girls, Super Rugby round four will play out after a pretty tumultuous week of the field for one player at least.
Observations:
Karmichael Hunt has plead guilty to possession of cocaine in a Queensland court and was handed a fine of $2500. While that amount is probably less than what he paid for the blow he had on him at the time of his arrest, the ramifications are probably a lot worse for his pro rugby career. The Reds have added another $30K on top of that and suspended him for six weeks. So while his dreams of being Queensland’s version of Tony Montana are definitely over, what now of his aspirations to play international rugby? Everyone loves a sporting story of redemption, but right now the general feeling is that chance is probably thinner than one of the rails he likes to cut up with his credit card.
All Black coach Steve Hansen has come out and said he thinks rugby is boring, which is a pretty interesting viewpoint for the coach of the best team in the world. However, the statement did come after he had to endure a couple of turgid 6 Nations games, so maybe that explains it.
In ominous news for the rest of the world, Kieran Read played his first game of rugby for the year in a development match. Apparently his only complaint was that his feet were a little sore because the ground was too hard for his sprigs to go in. Welcome to the life of every club player anywhere, Kieran! We hope you can come back to the same crappy ground in July when you’ll sink up to your ankles in mud.
The action for the weekend is as follows:
In Hamilton: Chiefs vs. Highlanders. Prediction: Chiefs by 10.
In Canberra: Brumbies vs. Force. Prediction: Brumbies by 15.
In Albany: Blues vs. Lions. Prediction: Blues by 5.
In Brisbane: Reds vs. Waratahs. Prediction: Waratahs by 6.
In Bloemfontein: Cheetahs vs. Bulls. Prediction: Bulls by 3.
In Cape Town: Stormers vs. Sharks. Prediction: Sharks by 2.
Apologies for the brevity of this week’s column! Unfortunately pre-season training has bitten into my time table, but I’ll make up for it with a decent sized review.
That’s it for now. Feel free to add your thoughts below, please look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter@: RugbyWrapUp, Jamie Wall, Junoir Blaber, James Harrington, Nick Hall, DJ Eberle, Scheenagh Harrington, Jake Frechette, Cody Kuxmann, Jaime Loyd, Karen Ritter and Declan Yeats, respectively.
