Red becomes a Blue again - Rugby World Cup lures Daniel Braid home...

Red becomes a Blue again -Rugby World Cup lures Daniel Braid home...



Former All Black Daniel Braid will be back in Auckland next year, he wants to push for a place in the All Blacks for the Rugby World Cup



Former All Blacks flanker Daniel Braid has turned down the opportunity to sign with the Melbourne Rebels in order to push for a Rugby World Cup place.



The Queensland Reds openside will return to Auckland at the end of the Super 14 season, after signing a two and a half year deal with the NZRU. He will play for Auckland in the ITM Cup this year, after which he will be eligible to play for the Blues in the 2011 and 2012 Super Rugby seasons.



Braid says he was tempted to move to the Rebels.



"But with the world cup . . . the fact that while playing in Australia I wouldn't be available for the All Blacks, that was a big factor in not going out to Melbourne, " he says.



"To have a world cup in your home country, that's a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to push for a spot."



NZRU chief executive Steve Tew says Braid's return shows the lure of the black jersey is still strong.



"If you listen to what Daniel Braid is saying, one of the big motivators for his decision now is to come back and strive for that jersey again - and hopefully do it in a year when we're hosting a world cup."



Tew says it is great to lure Braid back after missing out on the signatures of some other former All Blacks.



"Some make it back, some don't. We were quite keen to get Greg Somerville back, we weren't able to do that. Carl Hayman obviously has been one that got a fair bit of air time. So for some it all fits together, the stars align - and sometimes they don't."



Tew says the union is still in the market for Sonny Bill Williams, but is waiting for him to express a serious interest in returning to New Zealand.



Chiefs flanker Tanerau Latimer is poised to re-sign with the NZRU until the end of 2012.

Daniel Braid

Melbourne Storm stripped of NRL premierships for breaching salary cap...

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Melbourne Storm stripped of their NRL Premierships for breaching the salary cap to the tune of $1.7 million

 Article from www.rugbyleague.co.nz



The Melbourne Storm have been stripped of their NRL Premierships, won in 2007 and 2009, for breaching the salary cap.



The club admits it secretly paid its players $1.7 million over the past five years, including $700,000 this year, without telling the NRL. The Storm have lost all of their eight competition points won this season and will not be awarded any more. They will have to hand back $1.1 million in prize money, as well as pay a $500,000 fine. The lost prize money will be split among the other 15 clubs.



NRL boss David Gallop says Melbourne has been operating two sets of financial books. Several people from the Storm have also been stood down from their administrative positions. Melbourne chairman Rob Moodie says he is not making any excuses. Former chief executive Brian Waldron has been named as the architect of the scam. He is now in charge of the Melbourne Rebels Super 15 team.

http://www.nzrugby/ league.com









Ackowledgements: © 2010 NZCity, NewsTalkZB

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All Blacks want Sonny Bill Williams for the RWC

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Rugby: All Blacks want Sonny Bill for the RWC...





All roads lead back to Toulon as the All Blacks search for their World Cup masterplan.



For much of the past four months it was Carl Hayman the coaches courted, hoping he would return from Newcastle to give the All Black scrum the destructive edge it has been lacking since 2007.



Hayman instead took the money of Toulon's owner Mourad Boudjellal, leaving the panel on the hunt for someone else to give them the X-Factor - to take them from a good side to an extraordinary side.



That search hasn't moved out of Toulon as it is the bruising, tattooed frame of Sonny Bill Williams who could be the All Black trump card.



The panel wants him. They really want him but don't want to be seen to be too keen.



Defence coach Wayne Smith met Williams while the All Blacks were in Marseilles last year and was encouraged by what he found. "He was hell of a good company for a young man," says Smith. "He was very honest and very realistic."



Smith spelled it out for Williams. There are no guarantees of All Black selection; no easy route. It's a case of come home in June, play in the provincial championship, win a Super 15 contract and prove you are good enough to go up another level.





There will be some financial pain, too. The New Zealand Rugby Union can't - and won't - match the offer from Toulon.



It's possible some third parties will pitch in if Williams returns to New Zealand, keen to buy a slice of the man who was not so long ago the darling of the NRL. But Williams will have to feel some pain in his pocket if he wants the All Black dream.



Smith also made it clear the panel believe Williams can make the All Blacks. They have seen enough Toulon footage of him; heard enough from Tana Umaga - his mentor in France - and have enough of a gut feel to be confident the 24-year-old can make an impact wherever he goes.



At 1.93m and 108kg, Williams has the physique of a loose forward but the instincts and skills of a midfield back. He plays with his hands in front of him, always looking to pop out of the contact - a skill New Zealand's midfield has lacked since Umaga's retirement in 2005.



He's probably not a starting player. The Ma'a Nonu/Conrad Smith partnership has years of intuition and understanding and is a critical and established part of the All Black make-up.



Williams, though, could offer something radically different off the bench. He's the sort of player who could open a tight game with one act of brilliance.



Whether the prospect of so much hard work just to get to the All Blacks for a place on the bench at best can attract him won't be known till June.



Pushing him towards New Zealand is the fact Toulon have signed two up and coming French midfielders and want to use Williams more in the loose forwards. NRL clubs and British rugby clubs are also in the hunt.

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Mlb - Jeter Wants To Stay With The Yankees...

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Mlb- Jeter Wants To Stay With The Yankees...



Derek Jeter, the New York Yankees' highest paid player, is entering the last year of his 10-year contract, valued at $189 million. The Yankees have refused, however, to discuss a new contract until the end of the season.



Although Jeter has been very clear that he wishes to play for the Yankees, and the Yankees alone, his future with the team seems uncertain at this point. The player refuses to give a clue as to what he thinks may happen at the end of the coming season; while at training camp, he has said he only wants to focus on the year's performance and what he can contribute to the team and the organization.



Jeter has been playing with the Yankees since the 1992 MLB draft, when fortune seemed to dictate his rejection by the Astros, Indians, Expos, Orioles, and Reds. Since them, he has become an ideal player and a strong talent. Indeed, in terms of skill, he is one of the Yankees' most valuable players.



The Yankees have been very strict in their policies regarding players and new contracts, and Jeter has chosen to respect the general manager's decision. The speculation arising out of the situation, he contends, is only a distraction, and one he hopes to avoid.



Whether the team will offer a contract, or a contract as lucrative as the one he signed in 2001, is a matter for debate. Nor is it clear that Jeter could find a similar offer from another team. However, Jeter has thus far claimed that he intends to stay with the New York team.



'œI can't think about what's going to happen after this year. You don't think about what legacy you have when you're still playing. That's something you consider when your career is over,' Jeter said. 'œMy desire is to stay here. I haven't thought about ' how much money (I) want because we haven't sat down to negotiate anything. That hasn't crossed my mind. That's not what I play for. I play in order to try to help this team win.'



The deal made in 2001 was one that no other team could beat. Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada were all on the same boat '“ expensive players that few other teams could afford.



Now, Jeter, Rivera, and Posada all find themselves with their contracts about to expire and in a place of uncertainty, as the Yankees have announced that they will not negotiate with any of them until the season ends. Jeter is the oldest of the three, and the most costly.



Nonetheless, the player is in incredible shape, with .334 batting and .871 OPS as well as a rediscovered range at shortstop. He also helped the Yankees take their first World Series since 2000. Jeter has also won three Gold Gloves and has been a World Series and All-Star MVP in his 14 seasons in New York. Chances are good that he'll stay with the team, but we'll have to wait until the end of the season to know for sure.

 Baseball - The public domain

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World and Olympic shot put champion, Valerie Vili, appoints a new coach...

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World and Olympic shot put champion Valerie Vili's quest for a new coach is over.


Vili, who recently ended her 11-year relationship with former coach Kristen Hellier, has secured the services of a internationally experienced throwing coach based on Auckland's North Shore.



Former French national coach Didier Poppe, will now provide Vili with technical coaching.



Poppe is a javelin champion, who as a coach has guided several athletes at Olympic Games and world championships.



Vili has worked with Poppe before, and he has also trained Vili's discus thrower husband Bertrand.



Poppe is one of seven professional coaches employed by NorthSport Academy who train athletes at Sovereign Stadium which is part of Mairangi Bay's Millennium Institute.



Academy manager Dave Norris is pleased Vili has chosen to base herself there.



"I am very excited that the facilities and organisation at the Academy are attracting this quality of activity,'' he says.



"Didier has had enormous experience coaching throwers, and we have noticed the standards at the Bay Cougars club grow remarkably since he began to coach here.



"It is no surprise that Val turned to him for technical help. The Institute has co-operated very well in providing the facilities she needs and under Didier's guidance she is in an excellent environment,'' Norris says

Former Maori rugby players deserve an explanation and an apology...

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Do former Maori players deserve an apology for exclusion from All Black in years gone by...




All Black great George Nepia was among those excluded from touring South Africa.

All Black great george Nepia was among those excluded from touring South Africa.The New Zealand Rugby Union has been criticised for refusing to apologise for not selecting Maori players in All Blacks squads that toured South Africa between 1928 and 1960.



Earlier this year Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples suggested the gesture from the NZRU would be an appropriate way to mark the 100th anniversary of Maori rugby.



The issue was again raised by NZ Herald columnist Chris Rattue today, who said it was high time Maori received an apology for racist selection policies between 1928 and 1960.



The Maori rugby team first played the Springboks in Napier in 1921, after which a South African correspondent wired to Cape Town that the Springboks were "frankly disgusted", particularly at seeing white New Zealanders cheering on a "coloured" team.



The NZRU subsequently excluded Maori from All Blacks' tours to South Africa in 1928, 1949 and 1960.

Of course former Maori players deserve an explanation and an apology, but politicians like Peter Sharples should keep their own counsel.

Acknowledgements: NZ Herald

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