Hayden Meikle

Here is a line I have never used in 15 years of writing about sport and video games: Man, that niblick is a handy club.

Two rugby fans met to digest the latest awful news from the most awful season in Highlanders history.

Richard Murray is ''disillusioned'' at seeing his Otago United tenure cut short and has not reapplied for the job.

There has, rightly, been a lot of discussion of late over the make-up of the All Black midfield for the French series and beyond.

It always seemed like one Otago-based team, having enlisted some star power to form its most powerful squad in years, would dominate its competition this year.

Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar turned 40 yesterday. Hard to believe, right? Hayden Meikle looks at other examples of elite athletes who kept going into their fifth decade, or beyond.

Otago rugby administrators are buzzing after five players - the most from the province in 13 years - were named in the New Zealand under-20 team.

Two great Otago rugby families feature in a dream team representing 125 years of the Cromwell club.

Some questions . . . One of the problems of writing a Saturday newspaper column is the difficulty in commenting on Friday night sports events.

The multi-talented Tim Howard has been named the most valuable player in the Dunedin premier competition for his performances over the summer.