It is an unfashionable position, sort of the rugby equivalent of netball's wing attack or football's holding midfielder. But most good teams have a decent second five-eighth to complement a classy first five-eighth
Many an hour has been lost in my household thanks to cartoonish kart racing games.
• The coaching conundrum It never pays to have too much sympathy for a rugby coach at the professional level.
What is it with the sudden urge to make video games seem like something more than they actually are? The gaming industry, propelled by the confidence boost of generating more bucks than the movies, has been falling over itself in recent years to herald the arrival of a quantum shift in entertainment.
Ryan Nelsen is in an enviable position. He earns millions of dollars a year playing in the Premier League, he will soon become a father for the second time, and he's just about to lead the All Whites into the World Cup in South Africa.
At least one fan will be cheering for the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic when it seeks to extinguish the Southern Steel's semifinal hopes tonight.
The Liverpool fan in me says "Good riddance to bad rubbish". The football fan in me says "Nice, the league season is out of the way, now it's time for the World Cup".
• When everything... The world works in mysterious ways.
Debating whether to get a World Cup football game is a bit like debating whether to build a fancy new stadium in your city. You ask two basic questions: Do I need it? And can I afford it? Then, even though the answer to both questions is a sort of "hmmmmm", you go ahead and get the darned thing anyway.
Todd Marshall says Otago's young hoops stars have done themselves proud but it is too soon to ask them to save the Nuggets.
• Winding back... Interesting news that Auckland rugby is welcoming back three old - make that "old" - players for the NPC or whatever it will be called later this year.
The Melbourne Storm's systematic rort of the National Rugby League salary cap has shocked the sport to its core. But is it an isolated case, or are others cheating the system in their desperation for success?
He is arguably New Zealand's most successful active sportsman but David Fagan gets a fraction of the recognition he deserves. That doesn't bother the master of the handpiece, who chases his sixth world individual title later this year at the age of 48. Sports editor Hayden Meikle talks to Fagan about his extraordinary career.
Leading Otago motocross riders Courtney Duncan and Joel Meikle claimed silver medals at the national junior championships near Blenheim at the weekend.
Otago captain Craig Cumming says he has too much respect for Bert Sutcliffe to prolong his career simply to break Sutcliffe's records.
Highlanders lock Tom Donnelly may have played his last game in the Super 14 this season and is not optimistic he will get the chance to play for the All Blacks again until the end of the year.
• Rejigging the draft . . . There are various arguments running as to why the Highlanders find life so difficult in the Super 14.
Clearwater general manager Mike Sharp says his course has no intention of poaching the New Zealand Open from The Hills.
A prominent voice in the heartland has deflected blame for the Highlanders' woes from the coaching staff and called for a radical change in administration to revive the franchise.
The most salient piece of advice anyone ever gave me about sporting loyalty was this: "You don't choose which team to follow. Your team chooses you."
