Leave the Sheep Jokes at the Door - The Trans Tasman Rivalry thread

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10593222

Tall Blacks 100 Australia 78

New Zealand scaled new heights in their basketball history against Australia with a sublime win in Wellington last night to be crowned Oceania champions.

Led by a fired-up Mika Vukona, the young Tall Blacks produced their best basketball in recent memory, particularly during a remarkable third quarter which effectively decided the two-test series.

A 19-2 scoring burst brought 4000 supporters packed into the TSB Bank Arena to a crescendo and New Zealand never let their rattled foe get within range over the final quarter.

After their 84-77 loss at Sydney on Sunday, New Zealand needed to win by eight points to win the series on points differential and claim the Al Ramsay Shield for the third time.

They did it with a degree of comfort nobody could have predicted to claim the silverware they also won in 2001 and 2006.

ICC final. Woo. Go kiwi.

Well done. Was looking like it might be a decent match before the 20th over mark.

Ooh - what a game. I guess a draw is a fair result, but I'd have really liked o win that;

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10605348


League: Kiwis draw with Kangaroos

The Kiwis and Kangaroos have played out a 20-all draw in their opening Four Nations test in London this morning (NZT).

The Kiwis looked to have pulled off a stunning upset but a last minute try to Cameron Smith ensured both sides finished with a point each.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/3370845/Aussie-cricketers-seeking-sex-err-success-in-NZ

Nielsen fronted the media on the team's arrival at Wellington Airport today and, after a polished start before the cameras and microphones, got himself a fraction tongue-tied.

"To be honest, we haven't had a huge amount of sex... um, success, the last two times we've travelled here," he said

What?

The coach recovered strongly, with no more references to the s-word, then farewelled the tv and radio types with a sheepish grin: "Could you wipe the sex bit, I don't really want the wife hearing that."

Too late. They were off and gone, and perhaps gleefully on the phone to their editors.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10628486

Wow. Sounds like they need to start thinking before they speak

So NRL, Melbourne Storm, big ugly cheating bastards.

Good punishment though.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10640107

Wow, the league actually had the guts to hand out some major punishment. Nice

Sometimes I wish organizations over here would be willing to do that.

As much as I could argue that the salary cap in NRL is a joke, I'm not going to bother - the Storm did the crime, and they deserve the punishment. I feel most sorry for the fans in this case (I find it hard to believe that the coaches and the players had no idea that this was going on).

On the bright side, this has provided some wonderful new comic material - What has 26 legs and can't climb the ladder?