Rowing glory, smart thinking from the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, dodgy soccer dealings and a fallen hero back on the bottle were all part of the sporting week.
HITS
* Rowing's golden twins, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell, who won gold at the Lucerne World Cup regatta. It was an ideal leadup to next month's world championships in Milan. Silver two years ago, gold last year, the double scullers must be strong contenders for more glory in Italy.
* Otago diver Anna Thomas, who recorded her best result at a major international event in the 1m springboard at the world championships in Barcelona. Now ranked fourth in the Commonwealth, her score of 227 increased her chances of a trip to Athens for next year's Olympics.
* The NZRFU, which has sensibly introduced the use of television replays to decide questionable try-scoring moments in this year's NPC first division. The TMO will be used at all first division games.
* Former All Blacks fullback Greg Cooper, who got the nod as Highlanders coach for next year's Super 12, replacing the departed Laurie Mains. Cooper has Southland coach Phil Young as his assistant.
* Palmerston North rally maestro Bruce Herbert, who won the Rotorua leg of the national championship for the fifth successive year - then announced he's unlikely to be back for a crack at six. He leads the championship by 289 points from arch-rival Geof Argyle.
MISSES
* George Best, who is back on the bottle despite vowing off the drink after receiving a new liver last year. The former Manchester United star, who is among the all-time soccer greats, went on a weekend binge at a Surrey pub. Sympathy for this fallen hero has, to coin a suitable term, just about dried up.
* Harry Kewell, Australia's striker who moved from Leeds United to English premier league rivals Liverpool, is looking decidedly dodgy. His agent, Bernie Mandic, worked a deal whereby his company, MAX Sport, pocketed a cool A$4.9 million ($5.5 million) of the A$12.26 million transfer. Leeds are grumpy at the small cut they received, Mandic does not have a Fifa agent's licence - although his brother does - and the world governing body is investigating. This one pongs.
* New Zealand Warriors trio Clinton Toopi, Lance Hohaia and Sione Faumuina, who found themselves in the club's bad books after a late night outing in Sydney, two nights before a bad loss to the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville. They were fined and given a tune-up by management.
* The death of former All Blacks halfback Lin Colling, aged 56. Colling played 21 games for New Zealand, making the tour to Britain and France in 1972-73 and the internal tour of 1973. He was also an All Black selector in 1994.
* Strange remark of the week, from All Blacks coach John Mitchell. Fullback Ben Blair and halfback Justin Marshall could not be picked in the team to play South Africa tomorrow as they have not had enough rugby. Presumably neither can therefore be considered for next weekend's Bledisloe Cup test against Australia in Sydney.
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