Loyal Wellington rugby fans have the chance to win free tickets and a free ride on a special Team Bus to watch their team defend the Ranfurly Shield against Otago in week one of the Air New Zealand Cup.

The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) is this week launching the Team Bus competition, an initiative to reward the grass roots supporters of Air New Zealand Cup rugby across New Zealand for their commitment to their local rugby.

“This is a great opportunity for those loyal grass roots rugby fans who want to come out and support their favourite Air New Zealand Cup team,” said NZRU Commercial Manager Paul Dalton.

“We want to recognise and acknowledge those die-hard supporters who, by stubbornly supporting their favourite team, continue to add the kind of colour and vibrance that makes the Air New Zealand Cup such a dynamic and exciting competition.”

Each week of the series, a feature game will be chosen either from nominations by fans in local communities, or from the pool of matches. For the community that is chosen, 100 local fans will get to go to the game for free.

“This really is a hunt for those die-hard fans who would love the chance to win free game tickets, free transport, and have a great time while supporting their provincial team,” says Mr Dalton.

The fans win tickets and travel to the game on the Team Bus, preceded by a pre-game experience with food, fun and fan oriented activities such as face painting, creating signs and decorating the Bus in their team colours.

Successful fans and their families arrive at a local rugby club an hour and a half before the game, where they will be greeted by a local rugby hero who will spend time with them and ride with them to the game on the Team Bus.

A free BBQ at the clubrooms will give the fans energy to scream for their team with entertainment provided by partner radio station Classic Hits.

The Team Bus for the Wellington vs Otago match will leave from Norths Rugby Club at Cannons Creek, Porirua.

To register to be on the Team Bus, or to nominate your community for the Team Bus experience to come to your area, visit the Team Bus web site www.teambus.co.nz

Honestly, they want to give 100 fans from a local rugby club the chance to get along and support their team in the Air New Zealand Cup in the spirit of fun and rugby and I say bloody good on them.

With that in mind, Sports After Dark will be publishing our power rankings for the Air New Zealand Cup, along with an experimental ranking system being prepared for next year’s Super 14. Alongside the power rankings will be the return of the weekly column Inside The Numbers appearing every Wednesday taking a look at various statistics from around the Air New Zealand Cup.

As with the Super 14, week one power rankings will not be published as teams with a 1-0 record end up with a ranking of 67 and those with an 0-1 record end up on 33.

I am also looking at doing a series of audio interviews with Canterbury players, as well as publishing all of the post match press conferences online.

Then on Sunday, Major League Baseball umpire Derryl Cousins was forced to leave game 6 of the American League Championship series after taking a foul ball to the face. It looked particularly painful as the ball appeared to strike him on the edge of his mask.

Most often in sports the attention is on the players, but every now and then the officials remind us that they are human by getting injured themselves. But to see two in one weekend of action is highly unusual!

Firstly, after Piri Weepu knocked the ball on while trying to regather his own kick, Ma’a Nonu, who was a good metre or two in front of Weepu when he lost the ball, regained the ball only to be penalised for being offside. Wilson claimed the call was “marginal” but even someone with a pea sized brain, such as Wilson, knows that this is a clear offside penalty.

Then later in the first half, Wellington were again penalised, this time for Dane Cook and Jeremy Thrush joining a ruck from the side, very obviously and right in front of the referee. Wilson stated, “I’ve seen worse not get picked up.” Once again showing that Wilson either isn’t watching the game, or is so incapable of impartial comment that he has to hang his bias out for all to see.

Then again, this game is being broadcast by the pro-Wellington dream team, or is that nightmare team, of Stu Wilson and Grant Nisbett. Should we expect anything less?

Basically this statistic measures how tough your opponents are, showing you who has been beating tough opposition and who has been beating up on the minnows.

For example, in week 5 of the Air New Zealand Cup Wellington beat Bay of Plenty by 48-12 but going into that game, both teams had won all four previous games and were sitting first and second on the table. Surely there isn’t a 36 point difference between first and second right?

Well there’s not. According to their strength of schedule statistic going into that game, Wellington’s schedule was eight points higher that Bay of Plenty’s, 51 to 43, meaning that Wellington had racked up four wins against much better teams that Bay of Plenty.

Here’s the end of season figures:

Interesting to note that some of the top teams had some of the easiest schedules, which is partly caused by the fact that they didn’t play themselves and partly because the two teams with the best records, Wellington and Canterbury, didn’t play each other in the round robin.

While these numbers are technically percentages, it’s best to regard them simply as numbers and note that Hawke’s Bay finished third on the table despite having the fourth toughest schedule, while Waikato finished sixth with the second easiest schedule.

The 2007 champions Auckland went into their final round robin game against Northland needing a single point to make the top eight, but a last minute penalty by Ash Moeke – ironically on loan from Auckland – denied them the bonus point and sees them miss out on this year’s finals. Auckland’s franchise partners in the Super 14′s Blues, Northland and North Harbour, also missed out on the quarterfinals, leaving Blues coach Pat Lam with a few headaches ahead of his first season in charge.

At the top of the table there are more surprises, with teams from outside the Super 14 centres such as Hawkes Bay and Bay of Plenty claiming home quarter finals. That Wellington and Canterbury occupy the top two spots on the table should come as no surprise, especially as both are home to Super 14 franchises which made the semi finals earlier this year.

After ten rounds of play, the race for the title comes down to three rounds of sudden death elimination, and as previous results have shown so far this year, expect at least one big upset.

Canterbury could well be in the firing line for an upset, facing neighbours Tasman in an all Crusaders quarter final. The loss of Mose Tuiali’i, who suffered a neck injury after an accidental elbow from a teammate, will be a big one as Tuiali’i has been back to his barn storming best recently, however that loss could be offset by a possible return of All Blacks captain Richie McCaw who will train with the team this week.

Waikato also take on their franchise partners, Hawke’s Bay, in Napier but unlike the other Super 14 bases, they will go in as underdogs. Hawke’s Bay have been somewhat the suprise package of this year’s competition, recovering from a somewhat shakey start to finish third on the table picking up wins over more fancied opponents such as Taranaki, Tasman and even Waikato back in week 8.

The other quarter finals see Southland take on Bay of Plenty, in what should be a very close game between two similar teams, and Wellington playing Taranaki in the battle of the Hurricanes.

The Southland vs Bay of Plenty game is the closest of the four quarter finals, and not just because the teams finish fourth and fifth, but because they play very similar styles of rugby, keeping their game plan simple and making few mistakes.

Finally, the Wellington vs Taranaki match is probably the easiest game to pick, as Wellington have dominated all comers until their team of reserves came unstuck against Otago in the final round. While Wellington had nothing to lose or gain from their final round robin game, Taranaki needed to pick up a bonus point against Waikato, then wait on other results to qualify for the playoffs.

This year’s Air New Zealand Cup has certainly been one of the more interesting, mostly because the teams are more even than they have been in the past, particularly without front line All Blacks. But whatever the results, there will be some teams from outside the Super 14 centres in the semi finals, flying the flag for the provinces.

Over the last three years we have all seen the highs and recognised the lows and problems of Tasman rugby. I understand and acknowledge where the people who are against Tasman rugby are coming from, but I think they misunderstand the reality that Marlborough rugby will be facing in the Heartland competition.

Kiss goodbye to fringe Crusaders like Kade Poki and Kahn Fotuali’i as well as any up and coming players who have Super 14 or All Black asparations. Also kiss goodbye to the revenue the Makos have generated as two Heartland teams won’t even come close.

It will be a sub-standard competition which all of the current top players and all players with aspirations to play at the top level will have little option but to leave. We will be left with a world-class park with no one to fill it. The players are fully aware of the problems and difficulties that the Tasman union have been facing and are only wanting to work together with the Marlborough union to fix them.

We, the Tasman rugby players believe that the way forward for the greater good of both Marlborough and Nelson rugby is for the Tasman Makos to survive. We need to build the relationship back up for Tasman to work, otherwise the proud history of Marlborough rugby will be lost forever into the doldrums of Heartland.

The Air New Zealand Cup hasn’t exactly set the rugby world on fire, and the Heartland Championship is another couple of steps down the ladder of skill and intensity.

We agree that it is not the place of the players to be in the role of financial decision-making, however we do feel that we are part of a team effort in this current situation and that by sitting down at the table with all those involved we have a greater chance of finding a solution.

Surely the players should have some say, especially since without them there would be no team. The decisions should be made in the boardroom, but at least listen to what the players have to say.

Some players from Nelson club rugby said they would come and play in Marlborough to help boost Marlborough club rugby. It seems disturbing that a minor group of narrow-minded people with such a negative outlook can have all the say.

Yikes! Talk about putting the boot in!

It is a disgrace and an embarrassment to see our once proud union on the news undermining and damaging the future of young up-and-coming rugby players by taking away Tasman rugby. They have not once asked the rugby players of Marlborough what their thoughts are. Instead it seems they go off on personal agendas.

There have always been rumours about a faction with Marlborough rugby who wanted nothing to do with the Tasman joint venture with Nelson Bays, this seems to confirm it. A small group of people seem to be intent on destroying a promising team in the Air New Zealand Cup for the sake of the “purity” of Marlborough rugby.

Kade Poki, Joe Wheeler, Quentin MacDonald and myself as players of Marlborough rugby clubs and as players of the Tasman representative team, requested to speak to the Marlborough board at their meeting on September 30 — on the sub-union remaining part of the Tasman Rugby Union – to give our views on the future of Marlborough rugby.

These are players who play their club rugby in Marlborough and play for Tasman, surely they can provide an interesting perspective to the board.

This was denied by Craig Morris, who said it was not appropriate. I believe there should be a special general meeting of the Marlborough sub-union open to the public and all Marlborough rugby stakeholders to discuss and have their say on the matter.

Denied? Why? How is this “not appropriate”? Once again lending credibility to the rumour that there is a small group who have already made up their mind to pull out of the Tasman Rugby Union, no matter what the cost. And why am I reminded of stories from Vietnam where American troops were told they had to destroy villages to save them from communism?

It is my greatest wish to see players moving forward, encouraged by the communities in which they live and play, reaching the highest levels that they aspire to and not held back in any way by the politics of the game or by perceived malcontent between unions.

I hope the affirmative Tasman rugby people remain stubborn and brave to provide a clear solution which will not be an easy one, but needs to be resolved for Marlborough rugby to have any future

Clearly the thoughts of an intelligent and articulate young man. Hopefully the exposure of some of the pathetic carry on at Marlborough will rally the people behind the Tasman venture and for those hell bent on destruction from power, because he’s right: Without the Makos, Marlborough rugby has a very bleak future.

Harbour began their Shield defence well, executing their set piece play efficiently and kicking in behind the rushing Waikato defensive line to keep the challengers on the back foot. Unfortunately for the defenders this only lasted for the opening five minutes as the smaller but more athletic Waikato pack began to get the upper hand.

Waikato fly half Stephen Donald opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a penalty goal, which was quickly followed by the first try of the game from winger James Kamana. After Harbour turned the ball over on half way, Waikato half back David Bason ran down the narrowest of blind sides and put the flying Kamana away. Donald would convert to make the score 10-0.

As the challenger’s forward pack continued to press home their advantage, they created more chances, but were let down by poor handling at times. However the constant pressure eventually told as full back Dwayne Sweeny broke some ineffective tackles and off loaded to Marty Holah for Waikato’s second try.

The first half ended in the worst possible way for Harbour, conceding a third try when Stephen Bates ran through a yawning gap to score under the posts and losing captain Nick Williams to a serious knee injury in the same passage of play. Donald would convert the try to send his team into the break up by 24-0 while Williams was taken from the ground on a stretcher.

Harbour began the second half brilliantly, after Waikato failed to control the kick off Harbour were able to claim possession. A break in mid field by centre Anthony Tuitavake set up winger Jack McPhee for Harbour’s only try of the match, McPhee added the side line conversion.

For a few minutes it looked as if Harbour were about to make a comeback, but normal service resumed and Waikato got back into the driver’s seat, scoring their fourth try through winger Roy Kinikinilau after a brilliant break by No. 8 Liam Messam running like a centre.

Waikato continued to score points at regular intervals with Bates, Donald and Roimata Hansell-Pune all touching down and Donald converting each try. Donald finished with a personal haul of 22 points and regularly showed up in support after line breaks.

While the backs may have been the ones with their names on the score sheet, this victory came down to the play of the Waikato pack. The loose trio of Bates, Holah and Messam was brilliant, completely dominating their opposites while the shorted and lighter pack also had an advantage in the scrums and line outs.

Waikato now head home to prepare for their first Ranfurly Shield defence against Canterbury, while Harbour play host to cellar dwellers Manawatu.