Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Andrew McFadden
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Chiefs
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Christchurch City Council
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Crusaders
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Forsyth Barr Stadium
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Highlanders
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NRL
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Rain fade
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Sky Go
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Sport
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Super Rugby
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The Hurricanes
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Vodafone Warriors
With She Who Must Be Obeyed otherwise engaged, we had control of the remote last night. And on a wintry night, we parked ourselves on the sofa in expectation of a terrific night of winter sport watching.
First up was the Highlanders vs Crusaders match from Dunedin. This 'southern derby" was hyped up all week, and that's not always a good omen. But on this occasion, the match more than lived up to the build-up. The Crusaders prevailed 32-30, with a crucial last-second TMO decision going (correctly, in our ever-considered opinion) their way. Patrick Osborne was ruled to have simultaneously grounded the ball of the touchline and goalline in Israel Dagg's desperate tackle. It was a fitting end to a magnificent game of rugby.
Then our plans went awry; the rain, lightning and thunder had been intermittent from kickoff in the Dunedin match, but just as the Hurricanes vs Chiefs match was kicking off, Sky went into rain fade mode. We can only conclude that this was the culprit:
As the rain poured down outside, and as thunder shook the whare a few times the TV coverage came and went. We followed progress on Twitter, where we were reminded of the Sky Go facility. Each time however as we logged in on the iPad the TV coverage would be restored, only to go into rain fade again the moment we switched the iPad off! If you're thinking "first world problems" you'd be right, but we did have an entertaining Twitter exchange with Green Party activist Toad, who revealed that he has his live stream set to go on his big TV for emergencies such as this!
But when the final whistle blew, the Hurricanes had blown away the Chiefs by an amazing scoreline of 45 to 8, playing some sublime rugby in windy conditions. The two-time champion Chiefs were simply outgunned last night.
Those two results have thrown the New Zealand conference wide open; here's the points table as at this morning:
Super Rugby is facing a radical revamp, with fewer local derbies. After last night's local derby action, we'd have to question whether Sanzar is doing the right thing. And with four South African sides in the bottom seven, will a sixth South African side add anything to the competition? We have our doubts.
The night wasn't over however. The Vodafone Warriors rounded things off with a 24-16 away victory over Gold Coast. Andrew McFadden has the team playing a more solid style of league, and the Warriors are looking far more consistent. They sit just outside the top eight at the moment, but the table is very congested. The Warriors return to the spiritual home Mt Smart Stadium next weekend, and we're planning a visit in July.
It was a remarkable night of football last night, but there was one thing that shone out like a beacon. A bitter southerly gale blew through Dunedin a couple of hours before kick-off at Forsyth Barr, but under the roof conditions were near perfect. With night-time rugby now an embedded feature of the fixture list, the Christchurch City Council would be mad if they didn't replicate Forsyth Barr stadium when they build a football-only stadium in the city to replace the quake-damaged AMI Stadium.
