Play nzherald.co.nz's rugby Pick the Score competition - go to: pickthescore.nzherald.co.nz
A good week for ...
The finger is back. A week after Stormers' flanker Luke Watson flipped the bird at Bulls' fans in Pretoria, former Kangaroo Matt King went a step further and stuck one up at his own Warrington "fans". The boof-haired Aussie centre has been less than
a hit in Wire country after being touted as the best player in the world when he signed a megabucks four-year deal in 2008.
With the Wolves going from awful to worse this season, King has been copping plenty. "During the second half I received a barrage of personal abuse directed at me from a section of our 'support'," said King after his side was clobbered 60-8 by Harlequins in London. "The abuse culminated over a period of time before I reached my breaking point and I snapped." Unlike Warrington's defence, then, which usually reaches breaking point just after kick-off.
Never ones not to get carried away with themselves, the English have been slavering over their rugby team since it managed to win a match. England exceeded all targets against the French, a BBC report stated - including giving away 12 penalties instead of the 10 targeted by coach Martin Johnson. Umm? Supershorts is no international coach, but wouldn't zero be a more preferable target?
And the saviour of English rugby is ... Riki Flutey? Eh? Could this two-try hero be the same Riki Flutey most famous in these parts for warming the Hurricanes bench - and an Argentinian prison cell - after an altercation on the way home from the boozer? Turns out it could. Strange but true.
Russian police will be patting themselves on the back this week after turning in an astounding effort at a football match between Zenit St Petersburg and Spartak Moscow. The rusky rozzers managed to detain 659 fans for misbehaviour that included throwing seats, firecrackers and flares. Not a bad night's work for a couple of dozen cops. At least it would have been. Turns out there were 3000 police and Interior Ministry troops on duty at the match. And people say Russia is still a police state.
His caddie Steve Williams might assert that Tiger Woods doesn't like Phil Mickelson, but it turns out Phil sure needs Tiger. During the eight months Tiger was out with a knee injury, Mickelson - widely regarded as the world's second best golfer - failed to win a single tournament. But the week Woods announced his return to competition, Mickelson turned in rounds of 63 and 62 to win the Northern Trust Open. Last week, playing in the same 72-hole event with Woods for the first time since the US Open, Mickelson, man breasts and all, led from wire-to-wire to win the CA Championship.
A bad week for ...
So baseball is only played in America, huh? Results from the World Baseball Classic suggest otherwise. When the star-studded US team took on tiny Puerto Rico (actually a US territory but we'll ignore that) this week it was left begging for mercy. The Rican's crushed the US 11-1, with the game called off in the 7th inning when the "mercy rule" was invoked.
More from the baseball. The Yanks have not only been getting thrashed, they've been dropping like flies. Superstars Chipper Jones, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun and Matt Lindstrom have all pulled out with injuries. US manager Davey Johnson is in no doubt as to the source of the problem - not enough games. In a sport that has a 162-game season, Johnson believes it is the lack of a steady diet of matches that has crocked his players. He has called for more warm-up games and fewer days off between games.
Supershorts assumes Mr Johnson won't be applying for a job at the NZ rugby players' union any time soon.
Swedish swimmer Therese Alshammar has made the stunning accusation that the one-suit rule is almost sexist. The triple Olympic medallist was trying to defend her illegal wearing of two swimsuits at the world championships trials in Sydney. She had her newly set world record in the 50m butterfly rubbed out for breaking Swimming Australia's new bylaws on wearing multiple hi-tech suits.
"I thought a modesty suit would be a modesty suit," Alshammar said. "I would almost claim that's a bit sexist saying that the men can cover their private parts up with briefs and women can only also wear briefs."
England five-eighths Jonny Wilkinson's rugby return from a dislocated kneecap has been put back at least a week after he suffered a reaction to the injury in training, his club Newcastle said. Wilkinson, whose career has been blighted by injuries since he kicked the winning drop goal for England in the 2003 World Cup final, has been out of action since October.