The Silver Fern

Remembering Marty

On his first death anniversary, Martin Crowe's editor and close friend recalls his inspiring final years

Long piece from Cricinfo on the anniversary of Martin Crowe being incorrectly given out with no reviews left..

@booboo

I feel like Savea is taking one for Todd, we were going to be bitching about something & I can almost picture Todd reading at home going

"no way? so no one on the Fern has compared me to Mark Carter?"
"nope, they are all shitting on Savea! high five! The younger ones are chanelling Rokocoko & the older ones have just thought about that 93 tour where fat Inga couldn't find the try line if there was a bucket of KFC on wheels leading him there"

While Cruden is just going "no ones goives a shit about me anymore, not even the Cheifs guys"

Did you mean to do that?

@Bones
One vote as a back, one as a forward

Late to the party. But the thing that stood out to me most watching the game was -

"How good / much"

I lost count of the number of times Smith & Justin asked each other "How good is Ben Smith?", "How much is ALB liking test rugby" "How good was that try", "How much did the ABs need that" "How good was that catch?" "How big was that tackle?" "How fat am I since I stopped playing cricket?", "How little did I prepare for this test" "How much much of this comentary is Nisbo saying stuff & me repeating the last thing he said, but louder?"

It got to the stage I was actually waiting to see what Smithy or Justin would ponder the how of next. Turned out it was "How good is the NZ bench"

Feb 23, 2017

Jazz fan fell at Ronnie Scott's because she was drunk, obese and wearing high-heels, judge rules

An 18-stone jazz fan who sued for compensation after an accident at Ronnie Scott's was fat, drunk and careless in her high heels, a judge found.

An 18-stone jazz fan who sued for compensation after an accident at Ronnie Scott's was fat, drunk and careless in her high heels, a judge found.

Eren Hussein, 53, blamed dim lighting at the world famous Soho club after breaking her wrist and elbow falling down stairs after a party in 2012. She wanted thousands in damages, but after a civil trial this week, a judge threw out her claim, saying the fall wasn't the club's fault. "I tumbled over and over and over and I injured myself very badly. I recall landing on my neck and the back of my head as well"Eren Hussein Judge Heather Baucher QC said Mrs Hussein was intoxicated, obese, wearing shoes with high platform heels, and not taking care by holding the bannister as she descended.

"In her inebriated, obese state on three-inch platforms, that would be an obvious, simple step for anyone presented with what they saw as a hazard," she said. During the trial, the company director, from Lower Clapton, said she had been at a birthday party with her pregnant daughter-in-law when the accident happened in March 2012. After missing a step outside an upstairs lounge, she fell, tumbling down one flight, round a corner and down another, she said.

"It was dark, it was dim and I didn't see my step as I was going down," she told the judge. "I tumbled over and over and over and I injured myself very badly. I recall landing on my neck and the back of my head as well." The mother, who has since shed five stones of weight, told the court she was walking down the left side of the stairs, whereas the banister was on the right.

But Judge Baucher said, given her size at the time, that should not have prevented Mrs Hussein using the rail as she walked down the metre-wide stairway. "Mrs Hussein, at 115kg, must have taken up much of the width of the stairway," said the judge, "but for some inexplicable reason, she did not use the handrail." Earlier, Mrs Hussein said she had drunk no more than a glass and a half of champagne and a glass of red wine, and was not tipsy.

But the club's barrister Catherine Foster pointed out medical records from her arrival at hospital, in which she was described as "obviously drunk" and "intoxicated". In her ruling, Judge Baucher found Mrs Hussein was under the influence, although she said she may have been affected by painkillers and the fact she had not had alcohol for six months before the accident.

"I find that the notes in the hospital records referred to her being intoxicated because she was so," said the judge. There was nothing wrong with the lighting in the stairwell, continued Judge Baucher, who visited the scene of the accident during the trial. Hundreds of people use the stairs every week and yet there had only been one other report of a person falling down, she said. Mrs Hussein had fallen because she had missed her step, something for which Ronnie Scott's management could not be blamed.

"In ordinary circumstances, she, like countless others, would have descended the staircase and gone home," continued the judge. "However, on that evening, whether due to one or more of the factors - painkillers, weight, shoes, drink - she simply missed her footing. "I find she did so through no fault on the part of Ronnie Scott's." Her damages claim was rejected.

Looking at Cane & Richie over the last 3 seasons the 2 core things we are getting from our 7 is impact tackling (ie not just tackling, but hitting the guy way behind the advantage lines & hitting him very hard indeed - something Wayne Smith is big on) and carrying in the 10 channel.

Both Richie & Cane have been doing that far more than traditional pilfering a-la Kronfield or early Richie (tho' a lot like 1987-8 Michael Jones)

One of the reasons Ardie has been a bit "M'eh" in black is he lacks the ability to tackle hard & fast like Cane has. He tackles, just without the impact. Hansen wants him to add 5kg (presumably to his chest & shoulders) and that'll get him up there you'd expect.

Poccock in contrast is a very passive tackler, he rides tackles down to get up for the turnover, his tackle style is polls apart from the way the ABs are using their 7. As others have noted a big part of the AB strategy is if the first up tackler creams a guy the next guy in - regardless of who that is, has the skill set to pilfer if its on. The key skill is the creaming bit, everyone has the pilfer skill.

@taniwharugby said in All Pinks vs Boks - Christchurch:

So do the Abs tweak thier gameplan with Ardie starting, or does Ardie have to play differently to fit the game plan at the start or is his play able to just slot into the current AB gameplan?

No, Ardie plays the AB gameplan & if he does it well thats awesome (see NMS last year, similar deal), if he doesn't Matt Todd very much can play the AB gameplan. And will.

Its no different 2012 to me, where Kaino had shown the AB gameplan for a 6, Thompson, Vito & Messam (all superb athletes) then had a shot at it. Thompson played like Thompson. Vito played like Vito & Messam after briefly playing like Messam, switched to playing the AB gameplan & locked himself into the jersey till Kaino came back. Same when Luatua got a chance & played like Read, in the 6 shirt. And got dropped.

A good test match for Ardie will be one where half the fern get miffed because he is not making huge runs & popping up all over in space, because that probably means he is doing what Cane has been doing instead. If he gets a chance to gallop 60m he will & should, but above all he needs to play test match rugby as an AB 7 does.

@NTA said in Uber v Taxis:

That is a pretty big fail. Can't use the "same colour as the sky" defence from the other incident.

On the plus side, it stays bang on dead centre in the lane. So for all bar the last half second that software is functioning perfectly.

This is sort of the thing that annoys me - and will more so in the future with self drive. That video will be on the news, it'll be viral, it'll be front page. The 2,000 identical instances where a drunk driver, a sleeping driver, a guy texting, changing the radio, trying to answer his phone etc do exactly that wont be.

I'd be more alarmed if we were choosing between pretty good self drive & perfect humans, but we are choosing between pretty good self drive & staggeringly poor drivers with bad attention spans & reflexes that, compared to a computer, are pigshit. Self drive dopesn't have to cause zero deaths, it just has to cause 10% fewer than the alternative

I don't really buy Guptil as a test batsman anywhere.

In ODIs if you loook at his strength its playing off the front foot straight through the ball. He drives on the up superbly, often for 6. He pulls incredibly well in front of square - off the front foot half the time. You try that as your "go to" in tests you are out pretty fast. Red ball moves more off the seam for far longer than a white ball. There are more fielders in place behind the bat, bowlers bowl shorter etc. Literally everything in test cricket is against a guy who's one textbook shot is a front foot straight drive on the up.

As for moving to the lower middle order. Yup totally, so long as he has fast feet & can get forward & back like lightning, because thats the key for every successful 5, they have to be able to cut late & fine, let the ball come on to them & move to the back foot fast to work it off their hip etc. Michael Clarke was outstanding at that.

Again, not sure thats Guppy...

@Winger said in All Blacks v Wallabies at Eden Park.:

Who does Todd play for?

The All Blacks. For proof watch the guy in the black 7 shirt tomorrow.

@Tim said in Twitter:

That's old twitter, before people worked out how to use it. Now it's good jokes, sick burns, and interesting news from people in your niche. 99% of it is shit, of course.

I'm on Twitter now (recent), but purely passively, I follow a dozen comedians & a couple of other famous randoms. Agree they are great. What I don't get is who follows the "normals" who tweet? No one. No one fucking does. Hence it failing horribly. That 99% can't be carried (moneywise) by the 1%. And they (the 99%) are still tweeting their fucking breakfast.

Number of people I know who have gone "dude! follow me on twitter!" & then been offended when I go "so I can hear that you are shocked that David Bowie died or that you had a wicked Bulletproof for elevensies? fuck off you tedious C, I'm bored talking to you 3 minutes a day in the lift, I don't need your vapid thoughts 24/7 on my fucking phone, show me ONE original tweet you've done in the last month that doesn't make me want to punch you in the ballsack"

@Stargazer

Straight into a comentating gig on Sky last Saturday morning for the Super Rugby coverage too, he was pretty good opposite Noddy. A hell of a lot better than Fitzy tends to be, good chance to step into the roles that Ali Williams had sewn up until he got nose snuffle issues & shot his future earning in the face.

@Frye said in 63 and still looking fine:

Please, you don't think they have surgery for that too.

""Who is the bunch of flowers from?!"
"the surgeon who performed the op"
"and the second bunch?!"!
"from the man in the burns ward with the new ears"

@SammyC said in Hurricanes v Highlanders:

I think it's only a matter of time before he's as dominant at Super rugby and test level rugby.

But then again, everyone on this forum has been wrong at some point about a player potential.

He does look outstanding. Easilly the best, most dominant, head & shoulders above other 12/15's at his curent levels since...

Isia Toeava

Who I had pencilled in as a guarenteed 100 test AB

@Milk
I agree with a few points he makes, especially -

“New Zealanders are quite insecure about the national identity. They get very defensive about anything they feel is sort of non-patriotic. On one side, we have this overly patriotic ‘can’t criticise New Zealand’ crowd, then on the other side you have someone like me, who people deem to be overly critical. We’ve never been strong in that middle ground of putting ourselves into perspective without using a sledgehammer.”

The issue I generally have with Rattue is more that, for a guy with a BIG platform in a top NZ paper, and a very strong view on things, he's wrong WAY too often. Really wrong. Carter at the WC being an obvious one. But I'm sure if you took 100 articles by him where he makes definitive calls, he's barely right 50% of the time. And in most jobs that gets you fired.

If Aaron Smith threw 50% of his passes into the stands he'd get sacked. And Chris does that on paper week in week out.

I'm cool with him being loud mouthed & outspoken, but he's a journo FFS, you have to be at least a wee bit accurate.

When you read the backstory - adopted, raised on welfare etc, you do get a pretty solid insight into why he is the way he is. Its like when a porn star says "So my uncle used to touch me.." & you go "ooohhh!, phew! now I'm seeing how you ended up doing triple anal"

Bird lives next to construction site. Learns to mimic things it hears. Power drills, hammers, etc.

A big plus they like re Savea is his defence, he's a fucking brick wall, makes some enormous hits. A few times this year I've seen someone creamed & thought "god I love Kaino" & nope, its Savea.

His positioning is excellent, he's almost the Kahui option - when we want a more defensive winger.

His all round game is superb, he's dropped down on the try scoring from 1 game to 1 every 1.2 games... but thats not huge, its not like he's gone tryless this season.