All Blacks

By Kevin McCarthy  Three extraordinary things happened in the past week. Extra time was needed for the Lions to clinch the NPC title. An All Black on the northern tour did something naughty. And the haka was again relitigated. Okay I lied, only the first was extraordinary. The other two, just

By Kevin McCarthy I guess we’ve all met Johnny Sexton at some point. As Noel Gallagher described brother Liam: He's like a man with a fork in a world of soup. If you haven’t heard, Rieko Ioane last year delivered a pithy farewell to the Irish and world great as his side were trumped in an

By Kevin McCarthy The Cake Tin can be a place of swirling currents – so apt that suddenly Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara are the starting 10 and 9 for  Bledisloe Two. Damien McKenzie has played the first eight matches of the year in charge – so is it a demotion?

By Kevin McCarthy The Bledisloe these days is not seen as a genuine contest. Australia will sneak the odd win in three, but there is never a moment in recent times when the trophy is sitting on the line, winner takes all. But the matches remain popular – Wellington, the second