Grant Harding Rugby Blog: Rumours Rife on Bay Strife | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

You might remember, but probably don't want to, the rugby season of 1998.

 

The All Blacks fell apart, losing all five Tests played against Australia and South Africa. Dark clouds descended upon the oval ball community - not even the-then immature Warriors able to lift the gloom.

 

And rumours surfaced, some of them ugly.

 

I left my post as editor of Rugby News magazine early in 1999, and my replacement made the mistake of repeating two of those rumours, while pouring cold water on them, in an editorial.

 

The problem with rumours however, cold water or not, is that not everyone has heard

them. So spreading them further gets the lawyers involved - libel, defamation, throw the book.

 

As the new editor's most recent superior I was phoned by the high-powered, but entirely reasonable lawyer, David Howman. I assured him, in my honest opinion, that there would have been no malicious intent at play, just inexperience.

 

The matter, I understand, was settled out of court by way of a donation to charity and the covering of legal costs.

 

That week's Rugby News sold out, and the young editor later went on to work with the New Zealand Rugby Union, the All Blacks and the Crusaders, before heading across the

ditch to the Wallabies. Some people ...

 

I'm told that the incident has been used as a case study in journalism courses to highlight the legal danger of such decision making.

 

For rugby reporters, rumours are an almost daily hazard, especially when the team they're

covering is not going well - like this season's Magpies.

 

As Hawke's Bay Today's chief reporter I have had three juicy Magpies rumours come across my desk via phone, text and conversation in the first four weeks of the current ITM Cup.

 

The first was after the Bay of Plenty game. The caller said - sorry, I can't tell you what he said. But it was about players.

 

The second was also sometime that week. You guessed it - I can't tell you anything. But it

was about the team management. 

 

And as certain as day follows night, or in 2010 a Magpies loss to Southland follows a loss to Tasman follows a loss to Bay of Plenty, another one surfaced via text last week. It had to do with - well, the Union's administration was implicated.

 

So there you have it, the full deck - rumours re players, team management and the administration just five rounds into a season that has followed three consecutive semi-final appearances.

 

Hell hath no fury like rugby supporters scorned!

 

Certainly it has been frustrating to watch the team struggle from week to week.

 

The technical deficiencies have been wide-ranging and obvious, and it comes as no

surprise that the Magpies currently have the unenviable tag of least effective attacking side in the competition.

 

Alas the new personnel have not made up for the departures.

 

Former first-five Matt Berquist was a crafty runner who brought the loose forwards into play on the front foot, and gave the backs space. He was also a points producer par excellence, often getting the Bay away to strong starts via some amazing goals. Daniel Kirkpatrick is not yet as influential, and his goalkicking lapses against Southland were the difference between winning and losing.

 

The loss of near-All Black class No. 8 Thomas Waldrom and valuable substitute George Naoupu, whose failure to secure a 2010 Super 14 contract was unfathomable, is hurting. As is the injury-enforced absence of talismanic prop Sona Taumalolo which has denied the Magpies another devastating ball carrier.

 

And Israel Dagg's rising star means he is an in-and-out prospect.

 

Then there is the issue of the ``guts'' of the side - Jason Shoemark, Michael Johnson, 2009 All Black Bryn Evans and Clint Newland - who have all struggled for their best form.

 

New halfback Kahn Fotuali'i has also battled to make a meaningful contribution, and in general it appears the province's Super 14 players, including 2009-10 All Black Zac Guildford are yet to fully kick-on from May.

 

Karl Lowe and Hika Elliot, lineout throwing problems aside, have been exceptions.

 

It's a shame that after the highs of the last three years - and who can forget the victories over Wellington and Waikato (twice) in 2007, Otago in Dunedin and Waikato (twice) in 2008, and then last year's thrashing of Auckland and the wonderful, controversial night

when the Magpies went close against Canterbury featuring McCaw and Carter - we are now contemplating a low with consequences.

 

Yes, the talk on the street is now focused on the changes to next season's ITM Cup, and

on whether the Magpies will make the premiership (top seven) or the championship (bottom seven).

 

On the positive side of the ledger is that the Magpies are still competitive in the nation's

top provincial competition, and the away victory against Manawatu on Sunday was a small step in the right direction. One could look to the fact that Peter Russell and Tom Coventry's team were only one win better off at this stage last season. But to quote a Mextedism, the psychic energy is not exactly flowing the Bay's way.

 

Other teams are playing with more confidence, Dagg has more All Black commitments to come, Guildford is off to the Commonwealth Games.

 

The list of problem areas - and the number of first up tackles missed is a major one because defence equals attitude - is still far too long for any prediction of ultimate success, even if the criteria is only making the top seven.

 

I wonder what rumour will surface this week!

 

Hawke's Bay Today Chief Reporter Grant Harding produced Sky Sport's Re:Union

between 2000 and 2006, and is a former editor of both Rugby News and NZ Rugby World magazines.

 

Send feedback to: grant.harding@hbtoday.co.nz