No Pressure…

Pirates Old Boys this week - will Dixon be fit? Will Roberts go in the right direction?

Tintin now on 90 points for the season – will he bring up the hungie versus POB at Blues International Stadium this week?  And while Towney has six tries, Ratu and Herbie are close behind on four.  Muir would have been there too had it not been for a traffic cop running touch…

Player of the Year Update: Player of the Year Points Update: James Wilson 10, Sam Winsloe 8, Seminar Manu 7, Elliott Dixon 7, Nicky Herbert 6, Tim Winsloe 5, Kent Anderson 4, Sam Low 4

Clear At the Top

Preston Russell Law Blues 39 (G Horton, D Roberts, D Townson, N Herbert, F Tagicakibau tries; J Wilson 2 pen, 4 con), Woodlands 16.  HT 18-11.  And the Bino-led Bs had a sensational 41-20 win to kick the day off.  Well done fellas, match report here…

Ultimate Commitment

Nice to see the story in Graham Latta’s Friday rugby liftout about the 1974 all-conquering Mighty Blue Machine.  What he didn’t have in there was that the day of the 1974 Galbraith Shield final match, coach Alex Sutherland (captain South Island, captain Southland) had his daughter’s wedding.  Luckily she’s not a drama queen, as the wedding had to be put off until about 5pm so Alex could ensure the boys got the Shield.  She can’t remember whether he hung around for the wedding dinner, or headed back down to Biggar St for the celebrations!

Here’s a picture of his daughter hanging out with a member of that Shield-winning 1974 team (G J Muir, father of current Premier halfback S G Muir)…wrong shaped ball though Jill…

One Plays Two Again Tomorrow

Preston Russell Law Blues are on the road tomorrow, up SH1 to Woodlands (hope they’ve had a chopper in drying the pitch).  Kick off 3pm as we try to hold on to top spot.  Prem Bs play at 1.15 against Woodies B to try and get back into second place after a couple of hiccups in recent weeks.  Go the Blue!

The Real Reason Heath Went To Aussie

Stolen from KMB via Facebook:

Click on image for larger version

Can’t Get the SJ Mika Appreciation Night Photos Up…

…will do soon, but can anyone shed any light on what Luda was telling Potsy?

UPDATE: Here’s a few – the rest are on the Blues Facebook page here.

Bino, Ratu, Bulge and Blues's Spiritual Leader

Samaile Muir doing the Robot...again

Get off the table, Luda! And where's your culturally aware lavalava?

RIP Evan MacLellan – And By Jinkers Did He Get A Send Off!

It was Evan MacLellan’s (Blues Premiers 1974-81, 40 games for Southland, NZ Colt, NZ Junior) funeral today and so we had a lot of his old teammates and friends on the sideline watching this afternoon.  The boys had talked about his contribution to the club before the game, and how important it was to perform well today against our bogey team in his memory.  No-one could have believed how well that performance would be.  40-3 at halftime against the second-placed Star side, before eventually running out 57-20 winners.  Match report to come when I stop pinching myself that it’s not a dream…James Wilson 17 points, we scored nine tries, and could have got more.

UPDATE:  Just watched the game again and with all due respect to Tintin, perhaps we got player of the day wrong.  Sam Winsloe is a freak.  May as well give him the Southland jersey now.  Unbelievable.

Premier Bs fought hard for 60 minutes before the gas ran out and lost 27-11.

NB  Player of the Year Points Update: James Wilson 10, Seminar Manu 7, Elliott Dixon 7, Nicky Herbert 6, Sam Winsloe 5, Kent Anderson 4, Sam Low 3.