The Cup is Coming Home's resident illustrator Murray Webb is set to take on the world with the awarding of exclusive global distribution rights of The Murray Webb collection of rugby related T-shirts, Polo shirts and related merchandise such as caps and mugs to a Singapore company.
Sanzar has a new boss, and a question central to his tenure is whether he will be able to quell the mutterings from the South African Rugby Union about abandoning their TRI-Nations partners and heading north to find new playmates.
There may be some who are indifferent to women’s sport, but they could hardly be unimpressed by the current New Zealand women’s rugby team. Not only are they the defending Women’s Rugby World Cup holders, they have won the last three Cup tournaments and are on track to once again take home the coveted crown of women’s rugby supremacy.
In a world exclusive, The Cup is Coming Home can reveal the All Blacks are set to pose nude in an airline safety video for New Zealand’s national airline, Air New Zealand. Dan Carter, already known for stripping down to his briefs to advertise Jockey underwear, will now go the Full Monty and reveal all in the interests of safe flying.
The news that South Africa is considering breaking away from SANZAR, the body which manages the complex rugby relationships between South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby, will surprise few. We examine the Boks' apparent paranoia and conclude that there are definitely two sides to this story.
Richie McCaw, the world’s greatest rugby player, has been placed on the official endangered species list of his native New Zealand. Read on for full details of how the Department of Conservation plans to ensure the much-loved McCaw will continue to gain the same protection as other vulnerable species such as the Hochstetter's frog and the Shortjawed kokopu.
New Zealand officials are taking note of the punishment meted out to the North Korean team after its spectacular failure at the recent Football World Cup in South Africa. Players were publicly humiliated and the coach sentenced to hard labour on a building site in what should serve as a warning to the All Blacks against a similar fate at the next Rugby World Cup...
With Bakkies Botha suffering ‘Haka trauma’, new All Blacks cowering from Piri Weepu’s protruding tongue and a schoolboy team being banned from laying down the traditional pre-match challenge, is the Haka proving too much for the modern softer generation? A shock new Rugby World Cup ruling suggests so.
Black Caps cricketing all-rounder Scott Styris could be a shock addition to the All Blacks Rugby World Cup squad in 2011, The Cup is Coming Home has learned. The hard-hitting batsman, medium-pack bowler and handy fielder has earned rave raps from All Blacks coach Graham Henry who prides versatility in his players – especially in the backline. Could the man affectionately known as ‘Pigga’ slot in behind Israel Dagg and Cory Jane in a completely out-of-position back three? Read on for details.
While Steve Hanson is striving to "perfect it even better" with the red-hot All Blacks, Aussie coach Robbie Deans says he'll have his band of gold in "the optimum state" by Rugby World Cup time in 2011. But as he returns to his old stamping ground in Christchurch for this weekend's big TRI-nations match, such a state seems a long way off.
A Kiwi-cum-Aussie photographer is in big trouble after he snapped pictures of the All Black’s game plan for Saturday night’s test match against Australia. Scott Barbour has been banned from any further coverage of the big match build-up and the media ruckus may not be over yet.
A further batch of Rugby World Cup tickets will go on sale at 9.00am New Zealand time on Monday 26 July, but restricted to those who may have missed out during the first phase of the RWC ticketing programme. These “second-chance” packs are made up of leftover venue and team packs, including some mini-packs where, for example, tickets for two or three of a team’s four pool matches might still be available.
Former Wallabies hooker Brendan Cannon has been mortared after describing Springbok coach Peter de Villiers on Australian television’s Fox Sports as a clown and implying he was a puppet. Read on to see who might be pulling the strings.
Plans to introduce a new, shortened form of rugby from 2012 appear to have been crash-tackled even before making the field after failing to muster support from either the International Rugby Board or SANZAR, the governing body for South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby.
13 venues, each representing a very different element of New Zealand, will host matches during the 2011 World Cup. With the draw announced, it’s game on. The Cup is Coming Home and, we predict, it looks like it just might be staying...
A hot Hurricanes star or a very cool hand Luke? That’s the high-quality dilemma that will soon face All Blacks coach Graham Henry as Luke McAlister returns home after his rugby-playing sojourn with Sale in the UK.
The Cup is Coming Home’s article on the Munster-All Blacks match at Thomond Park last November has generated a phenomenal reaction in Ireland. Almost all of it was favourable. But an anonymous commentator from the Kildare Nationalist instead reached for the sick bucket...
"Harry is a competitive guy and we did not think it was malicious in any way. It's something that happened." Leicester Tigers' defence of the spear tackle on Perpignan's All Blacks stand-off half Dan Carter is as risible as the silence emanating from the New Zealand rugby authorities when Lions skipper Brian O'Driscoll was maimed back in 2005. There is simply no place - and thereby no excuses for - spear tackles in rugby, we believe.
They lost, they came again, they conquered. Could any other rugby nation have achieved what the All Blacks did in 2008 after the events of that sombre night in Cardiff on 6 October 2007 and the subsequent exodus of players to the northern hemisphere? The Cup is Coming Home says it's time to salute the great New Zealand talent factory and to pay homage to Graham Henry and his coaching team.
It’s certain to be a highly valuable item of rugby memorabilia – and it’s going to a tremendous cause. The Cup is Coming Home is delighted to reveal that the triumphant All Blacks Grand Slam squad of 2008 all signed a team jumper to help raise funds for the Stuart Mangan appeal. Stuart, a promising young club player, was paralysed from the neck down by a rugby injury in a match in London on 5 April 2008.
It was, by any standards, a spectacular, perhaps game-defining tackle. Within moments of the second-half kick-off in Saturday’s test match between the All Blacks and England, and with the match delicately poised at 12-3, English number 8 Nick Easter was sent racing unopposed for the line. However, a desperate, flailing tap tackle by an All Black defender saved the day for the New Zealanders. But who was the man that turned on the tap? Leading UK newspaper The Observer credited no fewer than three All Blacks.
The BBC said Joe Rokocoko’s late, late try “spared the All Blacks’ blushes” against Munster last night. Sorry, no it didn’t. There would have been no blushes in defeat because there would have been no embarrassment in losing to the inspired, electrified, relentless, passionate and ultimately magnificent team of Munster men on this unforgettable autumn night at the legendary Thomond Park.
The Cup is Coming Home reviews some of the press coverage emanating out of the Northern Hemisphere tours by the All Blacks.
Talk to any rugby follower around the world and they will wax lyrical about the All Blacks Haka, the almost mythical challenge laid down by the All Blacks at the start of every match. Yet chances are none of them – unless they’re a Kiwi – have even heard it. That’s because every rugby stadium around the world erupts into a crescendo of boorish booing every time the Haka begins. Could the celtic spirit put an end to the Barbour-jacketed boo-boy mentality? The Cup is Coming Home hopes so - and the Scots have already shown the way.
[UPDATED STORY with reaction from our new Irish correspondent Leroy G - "if a bunch of strapping fellas want to do a spot of line dancing before the game who are we to deny them this simple pleasure?]
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