Recent content by Hawko

I'd be thinking rotated. Nawaqanitawase was out last game. Neither of those two are playing as well as last year, so more a desire to refresh and refocus both of them.

Scott Barrett back will be a huge lift for the Crusaders forwards and he's an inspirational captain. I fear that the Rebels will face a far different Crusaders at home than the last two weeks away. If the Rebels win big I know I have been translated to an alternate universe. Not too late for...

There's easing him back, but Harrison has had three games off the bench followed by a bye week. Each game he has played he looked like the better flyhalf. The only explanation that I think fits is that DC wants the better goalkicker on for the last 30 to make sure we don't miss kicks to win the...

Season defining game for the Waratahs. A win here could be the start of a run to the finals and us rueing a few close losses because I don't think we can make the top four from here. A loss doesn't technically put us out of it but we'd probably get the Blues or Hurricanes in the quarter final...

While I didn't get to see the semifinal, the same skills were on show against the Reds in the last round. They were a class above that day too. My reservation about the Australian team that will be selected from these teams is not that they don't have the skills but that they don't get enough...

On Superbru the average prediction was a Brumby loss by 9-10. Worst (or best) prediction was a loss by 22. No one came within cooee of the final result. 11% thought it would be a tight Brumbies win. It was a very unexpected result for everyone.

Sort of "if you paid to go, its just like being there?"

He should get another two chances to push himself up the pecking order. Next two games he'll be worth a close look.

Blues and Hurricanes are definitely top two and my prediction to play in the final. The Chiefs, however, have had some poor results: They lost to the Reds and the team coming stone motherless last - the Crusaders. They'll make the quarter finals and maybe the semi's, but I don't expect them to...

The Crusaders are now stone motherless last on the table. This is so unbelievable it does my head in! No wonder I am nearly last in the tipping competition! The Rebels now have the blueprint on how to win next week. If they can read it and implement it then they'll be another 5 points up the...

Easts will only need 25% possession to get them home. The forwards can have a day off.

Not since the very first edition of Super Rugby have we seen the Crusaders amongst the cellar dwellers by round 9. Will home ground advantage pay off? Will the travel impact the visiting team? Will the Crusaders be stone motherless last by next week? Have I been alien-transferred to an alternate...

Mark down 2024 as one of the best ever. Beat the Crusaders twice in the normal season rounds. Has any Australian team done that before? At the game the atmosphere was electric. Neither team played like they were in the bottom four. Two weeks ago the Crusaders beat the Chiefs convincingly and...

This may be slightly overdone. The Crusaders in their first year were pretty awful as I recall.

Once again following the trouncing by the Brumbies the only three players to have been demoted or dropped are Fergus Lee-Warner, Teddy Wilson and Mark Nawaqanitawase. I have supported Coleman up till now but this is a bridge too far. Clearly the Wilson brothers, Jack Bowen and Mosese Tuipulotu...