Storm warning as Henry turns to Hurricanes centre pairing

THE Wellington Hurricanes have never won a Super 14 tournament, but New Zealand head coach Graham Henry knew where to turn to with the acid bubbling in the Tri Nations cauldron for tomorrow's First Test against World Cup champions South Africa.

Australia's ensemble thriller ensured series whitewash of All Blacks

Phil Wilkins has been asked to rank his top five Australia v New Zealand matches in the countdown to the first 2008 Bledisloe Cup game, on July 26. Today, he kicks off with No.5: Third Test, SCG, July 27, 1929. Australia 15, New Zealand 13.

Henry names a team to placate angry public and save his neck

COACH Graham Henry had one eye on the wreckage of last year's World Cup and the other on the blue blade of the executioner's axe hanging over his neck in announcing the New Zealand team for the Test against Ireland in Wellington on Saturday.

Front row seats to storming of the castle

THEY are the buried treasure of the game, the unseen batterers and rammers of rugby union, rarely seen, generally unheard big men whose grim presence and unfriendly muscle is all-important in winning World Cups.

NSWRU board's kamikaze attacks

THE NSW Rugby Union board must have a death wish, behaving with all the blind passion of a squadron of kamikaze pilots, hell-bent on bringing the Waratahs down with them in the Super 14 tournament.

ELVs come out to play on global scale

AUSTRALIA'S World Cup-winning rugby coach Rod Macqueen remains optimistic that another year's trialling globally will lead to the implementation of a number of the experimental law variations.

Paranoid androids up north have got it all wrong on the new laws

IT IS springtime in England and the land's rugby union correspondents have spent too much time strolling among the daffodils, for collective madness has set in along Fleet Street.

Staniforth poised to fire against state of origin

He was waved off into the sunset by a NSW Rugby Union infatuated with rugby league wingers in 2004 and proved them wrong by being selected for his second World Cup last year. Now Scott Staniforth is set to haunt the Waratahs again on Saturday night.

Neglect roots and tree will die

From his ivory tower in St Leonards, Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill can see to Hong Kong, Tokyo and all the way on to Wembley. But he has lost sight of his own backyard.

Blond Freddie in his depth at Sharks

The little Napoleon has become a bottle blond since the World Cup, but the darling of French rugby won't be playing for the Tricolours when they meet Wales for the Six Nations championship in Cardiff this Saturday.

Force to be reckoned with

If the Western Force rise above the oxygen starvation zone of Ellis Park in Johannesburg and win their second game in South Africa, against the Lions, the players will inevitably turn to the "Lighthouse", the man who symbolises the success of the franchise.

Classy monsters only, thank you

While it's suddenly a faster game, coaches will remain fans of the mammoth front-rower - if he's an outstanding player, writes Phil Wilkins.

Crusaders, Hurricanes have the cattle to erase last year's memories

New Zealand's Test coach Graham Henry will never again wade in with his chainsaw and carve out an All Blacks squad for half of the Super 14 tournament.

Deans is a gift - don't ask questions

IT HAS always been steel studs and point-of-the-boot stuff from New Zealand when it came to rugby union and Australia - no favours asked and none freely given.

English put in the boot

The boot is suddenly on the other foot and England's rugby union fans are swinging it in with gusto.

Sydney flavour to Tonga-US clash

Those night owls who saw Tonga play the United States in a fast-flowing, non-kicking World Cup qualifying game will have recognised two familiar Sydney faces.

Cheers, fellas, but Willie and Poido the two trumps in my pack

There was always the danger when five rugby legends sat down to discuss their all-time World Cup greatest XV that reminiscing about their golden days would lead to one drink too many.

Clouds over France are all black

Hayman the rock in All Blacks' foundation

FOR years France had giant lock Olivier Merle, tagged Le Massif Central after the mountainous area in central France, as the backbone of their mighty scrum.

Our biggest opponents

SOUTH Africa are the giants of rugby union but, in a World Cup year, they are not sleeping.