Archives for "September, 2008"

Yes I can hear you now “What have they put in his tea?”. Until the Warriors beard growth antics the two probably wouldn’t look alike but I think there is enough similarity between the Warriors Ian Henderson and actor Ryan Reynolds to qualify for a shit look-alike.

Email your shit look-alikes to admin@fifthandlast.com.

(images Ian Henderson – gettyimages / Ryan Reynolds Internet Movie Database)

I think this clip is from the normal rounds, but plenty of good tries in there. Manly fullback Stewart certainly is good with his hands, I’ll have to find a clip of his between the legs against the Warriors on Saturday.

It’s Melbourne and Australia star Cameron “grapple tackle” Smith and American tennis legend Pete Sampras. I think it’s the hair and eyebrows, and also the often thick 5 o clock shadow. There’s a reaons they’re called shit look-alikes anyway.

Suggest your shit Rugby Leauge look-alikes email admin@fifthandlast.com.

Well it’s not just the NRL who have a repeat of last years grand final on their hands but Super League does too. Whilst a new stampy foot dance craze (pictured above) swept the pitch at Headingly there was also an entertaining game of rugby happening. (yes I know that was a crap joke)

Described to me as the best game of the play offs so far Wigan took on Leeds at Headingly and despite some peoples concerns that Wigan getting to grand final would be unfair after such a poor season they came close to doing that. As I’ve been supporting the NZ Warriors through their play off campaign in the NRL I could hardly argue that view point myself.

At 6 – 2 at half time their wasn’t much in it, that’s a bit of a stupid comment as there were obviously only four points in it. Anyway a first half try from Lee Smith had given Leeds the advantage going in at the whistle. 

Keith Senior extended the lead after half time to give Leeds some breathing space however a Harrison Hansen try on the 74th minute lead to a tense finale. Then 77 minutes saw Smith score his second and put Leeds seemingly home and dry before a Wigan try from Paleaaesina gave Wigan hope of a dramatic last few minutes, until they knocked on from the kick off and gave Leeds posession back. 

So a Saints Leeds grand final and personally I’m gonna stick my money* on Saints to make up for last seasons defeat, and hopefully I’ll get to watch it provided it isn’t on Sky Sports 3 in New Zealand – I shall watch the TV guide with anticipation over the next few days till it’s updated.

Also if anyone knows what the bouncy bouncy Wigan videos on youtube are all about I’d love to know.

*I’m not actually gonna stick my money on Saints as I’m skint, I would do if I had any though.

(image © wiganwarriors.com)

We have a rematch of last years grand final with Manly taking on the Storm after two games which I think were dissapointing in terms of competitiveness but certainly not in quality from the winning sides. As a good summary I’d say four teams were due to play but only two turned up. 

I’m not quite sure why games aren’t played Saturday, Sunday I guess to do with getting rest for the grand final or something but Friday started with Cronulla v Melbourne.

The Sharks never looked in the game, too many mistakes in play, mainly handling errors and a try on three minutes for Turner, after a great Copper Cronk break and kick, and they were on the back foot to start. Another four unanswered tries followed for the Storm as they cruised to a 28 – 0 victory. 
The Storm looked good, even without Cameron Smith, although Greg Inglis proved a less than effective half back, looking ineffective and inexperienced in the position. You can catch the highlights above. 

The headlines from the Storm game though, after the poor performance from the Sharks, were grabbed by Melbourne coach Criag Bellamy after he launched an attack on NRL officialdom and got the club whacked with a fine.

He then continued to make a link between the NRL and the bookmakers taking bets on Smith getting banned. A pretty silly outburst to be honest and won’t have earned the Storm any friends going into next weeks final.

The Saturday game saw the Warriors meet Manly in Sydney and two legends of the game looking to end their career on a  high. The Warriors seemed to have dragged out closet supporters from everywhere with their miracle march from 8th and their Rueben Wiki beards but sadly it wasn’t to be and Manly legend Steve Menzies will get the chance to finish his career in a grand final.
Another quite one sided game, Manly turned on the flair and the Warriors looked nowhere near the pace slumping to a 32 – 6 defeat with a consellation try on 75 minutes for Aiden Kirk. After a great start with Nathan Fien diving on a kick through and snatching it straight from Manly fullback Stewart’s feet the Warriors nearly scored and that was about all they had to offer till their late try. The Sea Eagles produced an outstanding display and would have posted much more but for Orfords kicking only 1 from 5 attempts.

Melbourne are favourites for the final but the Sea Eagles certainly showed they have plenty of class about them and can cause them more than a few problems. The Storm are also looking short of friends heading into the final so I reckon there’ll be a good smattering of support for Manly.

The semi finals start tonight so we go to our expert youtube pundit – Tipping Baby – to see who’s going to win.

So Tipping Baby is backing the Sharks and Manly, and with 2 out of 2 last week Tipping Baby may well be on form in the finals. But I’m still hoping the Warriors prove otherwise.

I’ve often thought I do spend far too much time doing things like streaking and dressing up as a woman when in a rugby team. Ah well it’s all good fun.

Watch the video so that one of the nice girls over at www.oherrol.com can get herself some tickets to this years NRL grand final.

So in a remake of last years 1st v 2nd Saints played host to Leeds and true to form sent Leeds off to play against Wigan in the Grand Final elimination game, erm just like last year.

Leeds were apparently stunned as they went down 38 – 10 but you can’t really argue with a 7 try Saints victory. With coach Daniel Anderson saying his farewells to the Knowsley Road and Paul Sculthrope announcing his retirement from the game as a player Saints would not have wanted to leave the crowd with anything less than a good performance and I’m sure the Saints contingent will have been happy with the overwhelming performance they gave. 12 – 4 at half time and Leeds wouldn’t have considered themselves out of the game but a final result that included doubles from James Roby and Jon Wilkin and the Leeds fans will have to come up with something new if they’re to get past Wigan and face Saints again in the final.

Wigan also joined Saints in a dominant final score line but a with a narrow margin of 14 – 10 at half time, and then hope for Catalans at 20 – 20 shortly after the break, it may not have seemed so dominant at times. Still six second half tries stunned the home support and Wigan well and truly showed their intentions and will no doubt give Leeds a very good game next week. Whilst I’d still back Leeds it looks like it could end a close run thing.

So next weeks game will see Wigan meet Leeds on Friday at Headingly in what promises to be a great game, and hopefully it’ll deliver whilst all eyes will be on meeting Saints at Old Trafford in a few weeks time. Personally I’m torn between not wanting to support anyone from Yorkshire but also an inbred hatred of anything that wears cherry and white, so with any luck it’ll be a good game for me just to enjoy as a neutral.

Incidentally has anyone else noticed that the Super League site is rubbish at getting up to date media on there? Still no highlights from this weekend’s game.

(image http://www.saintsrlfc.com)

Right you may have noticed it’s Wenesday and I still haven’t recapped last weekends results. This is due to my computer being buggered, which I have now managed to sort out after several restores and fiddling round, hopefully it will get me through this post or I’m off to use a seedy internet cafe in Hamilton.

No idea where this clip is from, nothing really mentioned in the youtube blurb.