Northern Roller Mills Rugby

The Northern Roller Mills rugby tournament was held in the first week of the end of term holidays this year at Wesley college in Counties Manakau. It is an annual tournament for the finest under 13 year old players on the top of the North Island for the weight category of under 55kgs. The nine teams in participation were: Waikato, Auckland East, Auckland West, Northland, Counties Manakau (tournament hosts), Thames Valley, King Country and North Harbour.

I was part of the Waikato squad this year and we had a great time, we lost our first pool match against North Harbour but after that we had a winning streak but it wasn't enough to secure a victory in the semi final. We came up against Auckland East and lost... North Harbour went on to beat Auckland East in the final and end their 4 year winning streak and became Northern Roller Mills Champs.

Waikato beat Auckland West for 3rd and 4th so we finished 3rd overall.

All Black - Springbok Face Off

VS

This past Saturday the South African Springboks traveled to Hamilton New Zealand to play in what would turn out to be the game to decide the Tri Nations Rugby Tournament. The event was held in the Waikato Stadium, home of the Chiefs and Waikato Rugby teams.

Throughout the weeks build up to the game there were several news reports spreading the news that the Springboks were not going to stay in Hamilton until the game as "there is nothing to do" Peter De' Villiers (Pompous Springbok Coach). However the All Blacks were more than happy to stay and train in the Waikato Stadium until the game, an open training session was held on the Monday of last week so that fans could watch and meet their favorite players in person.

I would be telling the truth if I said that this was the biggest game in Waikato Stadium history. The All blacks had a lot to live up to, they would be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Wallabies side that crucified the springboks 21- 6 in the previous week to keep their chances of a 5 time winning streak at the Tri Nations. Daniel Carter would also bring some inspiration to the team with his first home game in the Tri Nations this year.

There was also various players playing out of their normal positions including Stephen Donald (playing at 12) and Ma'a Nonu (at 13), the reasoning for this was the absence of Conrad Smith and Richard Kahui through injury.

All that aside the game was a great atmosphere with fireworks, fire and dance pieces from both of the respective countries. When the game finally kicked off the All Blacks took the early lead with the Springboks conceding a penalty instantaneously from the kick off, Daniel Carter slotted it over with ease to put the All Blacks in the lead. The South Africans replied soon after though with François Steyn smashing a monster penalty from 60 meters out! instantly following this he kicked another from about 57 meters and yet another from about 51. Soon the Springboks were comfortably in the lead after Fourie Du Preez scored an excellent try in the 19th minute. From then it never looked pretty with Jean De' Villiers's intercepting a poorly judged pass from Daniel Carter to score in the 50th minute, everything was falling apart until Sitivini Sivivatu scored and then Richie McCaw did the same from a cross kick in the 78th minute. The All Blacks tried this tactic again in the last play but Daniel Carter overcooked it and sent it flying into touch ending the game and handing the South Africans the Tournament and the Tri Nations Trophy. Final score; 32-29 Springboks.

What I Aspire To Be In 10 Years

I have many dreams and aspirations but what I really love is my Rugby I would really love to play for he All Blacks or England some day. However I really want to be successful after my days of Rugby are over or if I never make it that far to be doing it as a living. I want to either be a scientist or a doctor something that earns well, I plan to go to Oxford or Cambridge University in England. I wish to get a degree in Physics so I can become a Physician and work with numbers and discover new things about the universe. To help my chances I will be choosing to study these subjects all through my time at school from High school until I end Uni'.

But moving back to my dream of becoming a professional Rugby player I will continue to train hard and work my way up slowly from premier A's level to provincial to English league or New Zealand Super 14. Hopefully from there I will be able to play for their International teams. Even if I do not succeed at Rugby I will always play my spare time for a club. Hey isn't it about enjoying the game?

However I understand to do all these things I will have to work hard at school and play hard but fair on the Rugby field.

All Black Season Starts

The Iveco series has begun and the All Blacks have got off to a...surprising start? The country was in shock on Saturday night when the final whistle blew in Dunedin's Carisbrook park to see the All Blacks lose to the French at home for the first time in 15 years and the fourth time ever!!! Saturday's game even fetching comments like this "This years All Black team is the worst in history". Although I doubt that very much, the All Blacks have been at the mercy of injuries to key players.

Here are the names listed to be in the All Black squad for 2009:


Forwards: Adam Thomson, Ali Williams, Andrew Hore, Brad Thorn, Bryn Evans, Isaac Ross, Jerome Kaino, John Afoa, Kevin Mealamu, Neemia Tialata, Tenarau Latimer, Tony Woodcock, Wyatt Crockett.
Backs:Brendon Leonard, Conrad Smith, Cory Jane, Isaia Toeava, Jimmy Cowan, Josevata Rokocoko, Luke McAlister, Ma'a Nonu, Mils Muliaina (Captain), Piri Weepu, Rudi Wolf and Stephen Donald.

Some Players have not been listed as they are out from injury, e.g.Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, some of the world's best

In my opinion a interception from the French fullback was the game winning try as until that point the scores were level at 17-17 although I believe the French forwards especially the back row was physically more prominent at the breakdown which kept the All Blacks on defence and even getting to the stage where NZ could not even secure their own ball from the ruck area.

The All Black Coach Graham Henry has realised the lack of dominance and flair in the game and as a result is making three changes to the starting line up; Injured Adam Thomson will be replaced with Tenarau Latimer, Conrad Smith for Isaia Toeava and Jerome Kaino for Liam Messam who has been dropped from the squad completely!!!

I think the French will be a hard team to beat next week in Wellington as they feast on confidence and they will be thinking to themselves "we can win again". It would be a real blow to NZ to lose twice at home but I fear it could happen.

However we will have to wait until Saturday to find out the results but the All Blacks definitely need to step up their game if they have any chance of beating this French team.

Chiefs News

The Chiefs are currently 2nd on the table. They knocked the Hurricanes off their spot by defeating them at home in the Waikato Stadium it was a sellout event and Chiefs supporters left satisfied as the Chiefs left with a 16-8 victory! Unfortunately the bulls won their game putting the chiefs in second.
Stephen Donald scored all of the points for the Chiefs with 3 penalties, 1 try and 1 conversion, and for the Hurricanes, David Smith scored 1 try which Repia failed to convert, 1 penalty kicked by Willie Repia. Lelia Masaga and Sitiveni Sivivatu also made good impressions after coming back from injuries this week. Lelia Masaga making 2 try saving tackles in the second half helping the Chiefs on their way ( both tackles made on Repia in the left corner right next to the line).

Traits of a successful learner

Before the end of term we were studying what a student needs to do in order to achieve. we had to create a poster (above, sorry for it being sideways) about it and on that poster it had to have 5 points/things that a successful learner has/does. We also had to integrate our poster with some kind of ICT so this is how my group is doing it through blogger!

Here are our 5 points:

1. A diligent worker who always pushes themselves to the limit.
2. A student who listens and always follows instructions.
3. A student who offers to help others.
4. Can create a positive effect on a person/event.
5. Can be trusted and hardly fails.

Tiger Woods

Hey everyone! as some of you may already know Tiger Woods (Professional Golfer) has just come back after his knee injury and I was amazed when I heard that he had just won the Arnold Palmer Invitational!!! He won the Tournament by one shot sinking a five meter putt on the 18th hole!!! Talk about pressure. Anyway good on you Tiger and I wish you all the best for the future.

Looking forwards in Super 14 (Chiefs)

The tension is building and the big question is: What is going to happen on Saturday when the Chiefs face off against the Lions at Waikato Stadium in the 8th week of Super 14 2009?and can they win for the third week in a row? Well some of you may be thinking it is obvious that the Chiefs are going to win in their current form, but maybe you are wrong. Even though the Lions have only won 2 of their 6 games this season they could leave as the victors this weekend. Even though they are playing at home the Chiefs have one GIANT negative factor going into this game that could set them back and that is: Sivivatu is still not confirmed to be playing this Saturday after his injury from last weeks game (this could be fatal to the Chiefs back line as he has scored 6 of the 15 tries scored by the Chiefs in their last two games, he is also a key component of the Chiefs team.

My prediction is that the Chiefs will win again this week gaining a bonus point too (if they do they will have 7 bonus points this season. The Chiefs are also one of the 3 teams with 6 bonus points at this stage of the tournament along with the Highlanders and the Blues). My reasons for thinking that the Chiefs will win again this week are: They did not look too bad last week once Sivivatu had been replaced with Dwayne Sweeney, they have got their home crowd behind them and the Lions will have been watching how well they have been performing and know they will have to play well in order to beat them, this will give the Chiefs the psycological advantage.

Anyway those are just my thoughts. We will just have to wait and see what really happens on Saturday but until then feel free to add comments on your views.

The Balloons Over Waikato

The Balloons over Waikato event. It has come and gone once again quite quickly. Over the past week us people that live in the Waikato have been lucky enough to witness the beauty of the Hot Air Balloons that fly gracefully over our heads every morning during this wonderful event. The Balloons Over Waikato celebrated it's 10th birthday this year. It is fantastic that they continue to return from all over the world every year bringing their beauty and culture to share with everyone. I really enjoyed the night glow and will continue to go to watch them dazzle in the night every year.

PS: The "Hour Of Power" was also held last saturday while I was at the night glow (the Hour Of Power was when 200 and something cities all over the world turned off their lights for one hour to try and save energy). Luckily it was over before the Chiefs game started. LOL.

My Polls

Thanks to all those people that voted in my previous poll it helped me find out what sports you guys are into. Here are the results: Football came first with 9 votes, In at second place is Rugby with 5 votes and third place was held by cricket with 3 votes.

Once again thankyou all for voting and I hope you vote in my new poll "How do get to and from work/school everyday?

Super 14 (chiefs news) updated

I am so sorry I have not been able to publish the latest news on the Super 14 for the last 2 weeks. But now you don't have to wait any longer. Two weeks ago the Chiefs played the Blues at Waikato Stadium the game was so exciting with the Chiefs scoring 9 tries (4 of which were scored by Sivivatu) Sivivatu could have secured the bonus point by himself!!! He also broke the record for the most points scored for the Chiefs by one player previously held by Roger Randal. Also Lelia masaga used some pretty stylish dance moves to celebrate his great try. In the end the Chiefs won with an impressive score of 63-34. It was the best rugby match I have ever gone to watch!!! I really hoped they could keep up the great work and guess what? read the second paragraph and you will find out.

One week later the Chiefs were in Brisbane ready to face the Reds. Before 5 minutes had passed there were points on the Chiefs side of the scoreboard. Sivivatu looked like he was going to gain more tries again in this match scoring two tries before he had to leave the field with a wrist injury. This was disappionting as he hurt it whilst attempting to score his second try that was dissalowed and was not even checked by the TMO even though on the replay it was obvious that he grounded it properly!!! Anyway Dwayne Sweeney replaced him, but within 5 minutes of him being on he was sin binned for a stupid attempted tackle on a player who was in the air. The final score was 50-26 to the Chiefs. Just another fact: the Chiefs have reached an outstanding total of 15 tries in their last two matches and placing themselves 3rd on the table!!! Lets hope they can keep it up for the rest of the season.

Six nations Outcome

Talk about luck of the Irish but I reckon it wasn't luck just hard work and dedication that won Ireland the Six Nations Grand slam this year. The game was tense before it even started as Wales needed to win by over 14 points to gain the top of the table and come out on top but this never happened. In the end Ireland beat Wales 17-15 and came out with their first grand slam in 67 years!!! France also beating Italy 50-8 and England claiming the win over Scotland 26-12.

St Patricks Day

I am so sorry I almost for got one of the most important days of the year for Irishmen, and women St Patricks Day! I hope you all enjoy this cultural holiday and have a blast even if its not your thing raise your Ale to St Patrick!!!!!!!!!!!!! hoooooray!!!!!

The Latest in Six Nations Rugby

Finally I have been waiting for this moment to come, a proper win for the England rugby team in the weekend Six Natoins match England Vs France. I was so stunned when I found out the score I thought the commentatior had got it mixed up because he not only reported that England had beaten France but they had thrashed them with a final score of England 34-10 France!!!!! I later watched the replay and I was amazed that 5 tries and 1 penalty were scored (one try was scored within the first 2 mins!!!) Also a point I found unusual was that 4 out of Englands 5 tries were scored in the first half and the 5th was scored not long into the second, Plus France scored all their points in the second half and the last 20 mins was left scoreless. What can I say I'm just happy England Won!! YAY but I am still disapionted about Matthew Tait not being selected for the starting 15 instead it was Tindall. :-(

I am so happy but Wales coach Warren Gatland should'nt be as Wales only just came up with a victory against Italy ( and let me remind you Italy have been beaten by every team they have played in this years tournament.) LOL Final score Wales 20-15 Italy.

Scotland played Ireland too Final Score Ireland 22-15 Scotland. Ireland are coming closerto a six nations victory this year and may be able to take the win over origional favorites Wales.

Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit

The genius designs of the mastermind Leonardo Da Vinci will be on display at the Waikato Museum from the 14th March. The mechanical works of Da Vinci were so amazing as he drew the blueprints for the wing and the engine centuries before they were actually made! At the exhibition there will be interactive working models of his drawings for visitors to explore, everything from war machines to flying machines, nautical and hydraulic machines. I think it will be really cool and maybe you will to?

IRB Sevens Series

I can't believe it the Welsh team has won the sevens world cup (even beating New Zealand)!

This is terrible! I really wanted England to win :-(

Super 14 (chiefs news)

The wins keep on coming! This week against the Highlanders the Chiefs win 14-10 away from home! An impressive performance by the Chiefs this week gives them back to back wins. Mils Muliaina sin binned and De Malmanche not performing to his ability were a few minor infringements but otherwise good. I'm just pleased that the Chiefs won!!!!

The Crusaders beat the force 23 points to 16 to get their tournament back on track after their embarassing loss to the Highlanders last week (that match was the least scored match in super rugby history with the scoreboard at just 6-3).

We will just have to wait for the rest of the results.

My artist

My Artist is Alberto Giacommeti who was born in Stampa Switzerland in 1901.Alberto attended the School of Fine Arts in Geneva. In 1922 he moved to Paris to study sculpting. It was there that Giacometti experimented with cubism and surrealism and came to be regarded as one of the leading surrealist sculptors. Among his associates were Joan Miró, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso and Balthus. I firts saw his work while in an art class at my old school. At first I thought that he had ruined all his hard work by scribbling all over it but when you look deeper it means something it shows all the detail and gives you insight into what the person was feeling. I have posted some pictures of his work for you to appreciate (or not) but I really like this type of art, Although most of his wonderfulworks are quite depressing

My Favorite Rugby Player

hey guys I've just found out how to put pics on my blog so I might as well use it so I am going to add a picture of my favorite Rugby player. His name is Matthew Tait he is the centre for England and the reason he is my favorite player is because he is a very strong tackler and a strong runner with an eye for the ball he is constantly creating space and scoring tries.

Sri Lankan shooting

What is the world coming to? As more news of terrorism sweeps the globe about the Sri Lankan shooting. In pakistan as the Sri Lankan Cricket team exit their bus after their first test mach against Pakistan they are shot at by passing civilians.....Or were they? 8 players have been injured and one shot in the chest (now in critical condition) by someone within the group of thoughtless terrorists that has done this. Because of this the second Pakistan/Sri Lanka Test match has been cancelled. I hope the victims recover soon.

Mysteryman

Six nations results

Wales lose against france ruining their chances of a grand slam and also putting Ireland on top the standings are:

1.Ireland - 6 pts
2.Wales - 4 pts
3.France - 4 pts
4.England - 2 pts
5.Scotland - 2 pts
6.Italy - 0 pts

Super Rugby results

I can't believe it the Chiefs have lost again against the Sharks! With poor refereeing the sharks beat the chiefs. Firstly the sharks's first try (scored by Francoir Steyn) was created by a forward pass this was outragous as the ref was standing right next to the incident! and also consistant killing the ball in the rucks by the sharks forwards with no penaltys given. But refereeing was not the only factor that lost the chiefs the game there was also terrible handling skills by the Chiefs with Kevin o'Neil dropping a text book high ball 2 meters from the goal line with no defenders within 15meters of him and Brendon lenard dropping the ball during a sprint to the line! Delaney had a nightmare too he missed a try because he could not be bothered to get away from the touch line when attempting to score a try as a result he was knocked into touch, this was even worse because he knew we needed the conversion to gain the lead anyway and stephen donald had less chance of scoring a conversion from the touch line than beneath the posts. You would think a super 14 fullback would be able to step a forward to secure a try!!!!!

Final score 15-22 to the SHARKS :-(

A suprising win by the hurricanes against the crusaders has put them third on the table while the Crusaders are 6th

Battery Farming

A few days ago in class i found out how cruel batteryfarming is I found out that up to 4 chickens are packed into a cage the size of an A4 piece of paper to lay eggs this causes the chickens to scratch and peck eachothers feathers off. What is worse is that the government has been said to have increased the size of the cage by 20% to stay in the voters goodbooks! when actually when you think about it 20% of an a4 sheet of paper is not that much at all.
Something we can all do to help these suffering animals is to always buy freerange eggs. If we don't buy batteryfarmed eggs they won't sell any so there will be no need to keep poor chickens in battery farms any longer!!!!!!!HOORAY!!!!!

MYSTERYMAN!!!

MY ANIMALS

I want to know what you think of my pets so post comments to this post and share your thoughts.

Thanks
MYSTERYMAN

PS:vote in my poll

Hey guys i've just noticed....

I've just noticed that you can no longer see my awsome older posts so scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on OLDER POSTS to check out the rest of my cool posts!!!

Thanks

England

England England England my place of origin but i have something to say about it. My friend, winged hussar has been gloating about wales beating England in the six nations for weeks well what i say is "I don't see new zealand getting in the rugby world cup final two times in a row (2003 when we won and 2007 when we were sadly beaten by those south africans)" :-( but do i really have a valid point?
What I don't understand is why we do so badly at all the sports we invented? I mean we invented Rugby ,Cricket and Tennis and we have the most watched football leauge in the world yet we still manage to have lost in all important internationnal games in the past 2 years... Why?

comment and have your say.

Thankyou MYSTERYMAN!!!!!

Hi my homies

Hi all, i'm just checkinout some people in my classes blogs and they are awsome :-) I'm lovin some of the stories and news you are putting out and it's really cool!!!


Onto another point I've got cricket tommorow and i think i might be the opening batsman
<(~_~)> I really hope we win as we lost last week. The chiefs play the sharks at waikato stadium tommorow too I AM SO THERE it will be great to see them play live for the first time in 2009 I just really hope they pick up their game after the shocking performance last week!

My followers

Hey guys i've just logged on and WOW!!!! i've gone from 4 followers to seven in one night thanks guys tell all your mates to follow my awsome blog!!
MYSTERYMAN IS GONE!!!

My friends blogs

I've been checkin out peoples blogs and to be honest i think you should post a bit more(some of you) but some blogs i think are great are the other blog by the other boy and blog field resistance by Winged hussar. great work guys!!!!!!!!

Super 14

The super 14s are 2 weeks in and can you believe it the chiefs have lost both their games against the crusaders and the waratahs! I can't believe we get the two finalists from last year in our first 2 opening games and next week we get the sharks! I knew we would lose to the tahs though after a very poor display from the tight five, in fact it was so bad that they have called the All Blacks forward coach in for extra training!!! I hope it pays off as the sharks will not be an easy game next week. :-(

Mysyery man away!!

PS: vote in my poll i want to find out what peoples favorite sports are!!!

my Clustrmap

I really hope my cluster map works soon im so eager to see who has seen my cool blog


ps: I need followers so peeps log on to mystery mans blog especially room 18 and folow me in my awsome antics

New school year

We are year 8s now wicked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im still getting used to some of the new year 7s but they seem cool enough although i still miss some of my friends from last year. We got a cool new teacher Mr Woody an i reacon this year will be great.I'm really lookin forward to havin a great year and getting to know all the year 7s really well but i'm sure i will. Anyway camp is coming up soon and that should help.....lets just wait and see...............



Mystery Man!!

Rugby

Rugby is my favorite sport it involves running around a field with a ball. the aim of the game is to get as many points as possible by either touching the ball over the goal line or kicking it over the posts. the game was invented in a place called Rugby in England when a boy called Webb Ellis chose to pick up the ball and run with it in a game of football. Because of this the rugby world cup is called the Webb Ellis Cup after Webb Ellis himself it is played for every four years luckily i got to stand next to it when England won it in 2003 . The world cup has been played 6 times and the winners were NewZealand, Australia, South Africa, Australia again, ENGLAND!!!!!!!!! and most recently by South Africa again BOOOO!!!

My breif discription of rugby is "Rugby is a game played by men with odd shaped balls."TM

Dis is the best blog but i need followers ps: how do i view other peoples blogs

hi again

Im gonna make my blog awsome so any ideas i think pics and one of those animals

Hi peeps

Hi I just created this blog this is my new one so I want all u guys to follow me and lets get chattin!!!!