A tough call to pick the number 9 jersey with Leonard, Cowan and Mathewson all in fine form, but Leonard would have to be my choice with Cowan not far behind. I agree with Jamie (#31) about Ellis not being good enough for the All Blacks, doesn't appear to have the ticker for it when the forwards aren't providing him the ball on a platter.

Stephen Brett's somewhat the same, doesn't want to know under the high ball. Which leaves Weepu and Donald fighting over the 10 jersey, with Donald getting the nod, as it is his option taking that is setting the Chiefs backline on fire at the moment.

Enviroman - the problem is that over the last 10 years in their efforts to attract more bums on seats the administrations have turned the purists away as they have changed the rules and softened the game.

There has been a specific 2 pronged marketing strategy to attract woman and children to games to increase gate revenues, merchandising and sponsorship.

Gimmicks such as "your kids come for free" or that bloody incessant "DJ's playing pop music during the games injury breaks" or "promoting the sex appeal of certain players" and/or "idolising players to children" are direct results of this strategy. None of these gimmicks were around 15-20 years ago.

The culminating association to all this Enviroman is that they had to make a few little amendments to our game to appeal to these new attendees - namely DELETE ALL WINCE OR CRINGE ELEMENTS TO THE GAME so our little kids (and their mums) aren't emotionally scarred by rucking or a "big hit" OR Players having written into their contracts that they have to be "angelic off the field"

Long gone are the days of dropping a huge fart after downing a couple of hotdogs and couple of stubbies and blaming the guy next to you cause its "not the done thing now" as it could be some sponsors missus who for the entire game has been on her Blackberry describing the legs on some player to her girlfriend down the country doing the same at AMI!

Fricken bring back the biff!

You got it right Toby.. The reason why the Super 14 and Rugby in general is becoming boring is because of the laws!

Why is it in a sport that has been played for over 100 years, that in the last 10 of them, rules have been changed year on year on year..

Rugby is a contact sport, the beauty of Rugby was the scrum, rucks, mauls etc. But now, you are not even allowed to touch someone without getting penalised!

And the rule around a non contestable scrum??? whoever came up with that idea? If players are injured.. so what? stick someone else in?

Imagine in Soccer if a striker got injured and went off? so the other team was only allowed to shoot at goal with their left foot? or have to put a penalty wide on purpose? what a joke!

The Sport needs a real shake up and soon! all the crouch, touch, pause, wait another five minutes, powder your nose, smile at the opponent, invite him round for dinner, then engage is ridiculous! then they fall over and we go through it all again. It should be straight into it, if it collapses, then great! the attacking team get a penalty! this would speed it up!

The Sport needs to rid the PC administrators and get back to basic Rugby.. it is a sport of brawn, beef, and tackling! thats its.. so what if a tackle hits up around the neck region.. get on with it!

Last weekend, there were probably 2 games in the Super 14 that i watched right through.. the others i channel surfed as they were boring.. whereas the league... everygame bar the Warriors was exciting! Its either chage soon or loose your core supporters!

But they wont listen, the NZRU will still sit in their plush offices saying that they need to look at the ELV's at the end of the season and change them!

Next year, if you tackle someone around the head, the law will be to help them up, kiss their little head better and promise to take them out for a nice little Italian with their wife next week! otherwise a week ban!

Ridiculous!

Weepu......i mean what can you say he is the best man for the black #10 jeresy and also the #9 jeresy. Ellis should not be in the AB's! Never liked him. Cowen and Lenord should be the halfbacks with Alby Mathewson backup!

Enviroman can you name your Pacific Island starting team please Id be interested to see what you would come up with, And remember they have to be born in the Pacific Islands not NZ. Because they have Tongan Samoan Fijian names does not mean they are not NZers. If they are born here they and New Zealanders and have every right to play for the All Blacks.

I think the general thrust of Enviroman's post was around poor gate takings and low TV viewership compared to recent seasons....and you know what I tend to agree with that argument when stacked up as an entertainment spectacle against the Warriors. The ELV's tinkering and the inconsistency around the "breakdown" has highlighted just how much of an influence the ref can impose on a game. I bet I was not the only rugby purist in total disbelief a week ago watching Matt Goddards debacle in Wellington.

With the surge of players leaving our shores only elevates to the top tier "next cab off the rank" Air NZ Cup players who were playing club rugby a season ago highlighting overall just how dire our talent pool has become in a short space of time. Sure they will come up to speed but one need look no further past the Crusaders and Auckland to witness what happens when your ranks are filled with good Air NZ Cup players but a year or two away from S14 level.

I for one chose not to renew my season tickets at the Cake TIn this year as did as some other mates I normally go with.... Looking around the country on the box shows that we clearly are not alone. I find myself My Skying games too rather than watching them live.... yet I found myself all excited at the prospect of watching the Warriors "live" the other night. The plight of the Warriors, drowning of Sonny Fai and nice guy Steve Price are all capturing the imaginations of a nation. The game is simple to follow, the smashes are grand and we have a team that competes.

Most rugby for my liking has become too pedantic and arbitrary in interpretation watered down making penalisable (what would have been legal 10 years ago) rucking and any attempt at a tackle in the vicinity of the shoulders.

To Enviroman; It is fitting that you are a league person, your English language is splendid. i.e. to and two....

Some league player will get drunk and do something stupid in an Aussie nightclub and then we will compare the sports.

Good accurate insightful comments here, apart from that loser enviroman of course. What planet did you just beam in from pal?

Agree with Jay about Kahui's D - not up to scratch this year. His attack has been sensational, as always, but he's let in way too many tries to push Smith out of the top 13 jersey.

Agree with Jason too, Masaga is in awesome form this year. Although he didn't score any tries this weekend, he also didn't miss a single tackle either. His defensive qualities have improved out of sight from last year. He's gotta be knocking on the all black selection panel's door.

yeah I'm a Canes fan and I'm struggling to understand why Nonu and Smith are in there this week. Didn't they leak 4 tries? And Cooper admitted that their backline D wasn't good enough.

And Enviroman, you're a goose. As well as being ignorant, uneducated and just factually wrong like a typical one-eyed league supporter, you need to understand that if you post anti-union comments on a rugby story that you be prepared to get as good as you give.

In response to Jas #22 - Australian Warriors.. Thats grand coming from a sport that tkaes all the best Pacific Islanders and then puts them in the AB's! Thats why Rugby is so poor at the moment.. if there were a Pacific Island team.. the AB's would be shaking in their boots! The reason why the NZRU do not want a Pacific Island team is that the AB's would end up on the scrapheap with overweight, unskillful 'NZers'. .they wiould end up like England.. a good national competition but poor International team!