We go again
One of the best things about writing a weekly column is that you can often copy and paste stuff you have previously written.
But, when you write a Saturday column on a Thursday (Friday being a regular day off for The Last Word), it can be tricky with timings.
So, these words are being typed before the NPC semifinal between Otago and Waik... Bay of Plenty last night.
Did Otago win? Please tell me Otago won.
What a season it has been, and what a job new coach Mark Brown has done in getting a team that had been floundering back into the top tier of domestic rugby.
Please tell me they are in the final, and ONE win away from breaking a 27-year drought.
Second-stringers
After the most boring All Blacks squad announcement of all time, there was a bit more interest in the naming of the back-up brigade a day later.
Not as much as I expected, though.
It was great to see half a dozen Highlanders — including rising star Caleb Tangitau, the popular Folau Fakatava and the comeback kid, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens — in the All Blacks XV squad, along with Otago No 8 Christian Lio-Willie.
But I thought there might have been one or two more really fresh faces to analyse.
The average age of the squad was 25, which is relatively older than you might expect when the whole idea is trying to unearth future All Blacks.
There was no place for the lad of the hour, boom Otago halfback Dylan Pledger, and I am on the fence about that.
He has had indeed had a huge year. He is indeed extremely raw and has yet to play a single minute of Super Rugby. He does indeed need to add a couple of kilos to even get to Aaron Smith size.
But sheesh, is there a more exciting prospect in New Zealand rugby? Kid has it all.
Assistance please
My colleague Adrian Seconi and I are mellowing as we age — we are pale stale males, which causes us endless guilt — so we do not bicker like we used to.
But we have been jostling this week over one of the new statistics emerging in rugby.
Assists, referring to a person delivering a pass that leads to a goal, have long been a part of basketball, and are now regularly being monitored in football.
It was only a matter of time before rugby, a famously stats-averse sport for ages, joined the party.
Adrian feels it is a nonsense stat with no defined meaning; I feel the more useful numbers we can get to help understand a relatively complicated sport, the better.
It also gives me a chance to highlight a story on Rugby Pass.
They have kept try assist stats since the 2001 NPC, and the highest recorded number was 10 from Bay of Plenty halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi last year.
Before the semifinal last night — seriously, did Otago win? — Dylan Pledger had destroyed that record with 14 try assists to go with his seven tries.
The kid has it all.
Golden season
North Otago were just a bit poor last year but they have rebounded in 2025, winning six of their nine games and playing some extremely entertaining rugby.
Should be a cracking day at the mighty Maheno club tomorrow for the Lochore Cup final.
Hopefully that is a stepping stone to a return to the Meads Cup next season.
Rowdy rebels
This R360 rugby festival appears to be falling apart quicker than the Māori Party.
National unions have made it clear anyone silly enough to join the circus will no longer play test rugby, and now the NRL has come down with a brutal threat of a 10-year suspension.
Hopefully, the nonsense idea soon disappears without a trace.
Beautiful madness
One of my favourite former Liverpool players hit a significant milestone recently.
Luis Suarez, a genius and a nutter, scored his 600th goal in professional football.
"El Pistolero" fired in 198 goals for Barcelona, 111 for Ajax, 82 for Liverpool, 69 for Uruguay, 42 for Inter Miami, 34 for Atletico Madrid, 29 for Gremio, 20 for Nacional and 15 for Groningen.
He was utterly unplayable on his day.
Handy payday
American college football is big business, as I have written many times before.
But this one is just mad.
Penn State coach James Franklin has been fired.
He had a record of 104 wins and 45 losses, and his Nittany Lions were ranked No 3 just a few weeks ago before slipping to three straight losses.
Franklin was under contract until 2031. The cost to the university to pay him out? Just US$49 million (NZ$86m).
All this while Penn State has been planning a US$700m — yes, you read that correctly — renovation of their Beaver Stadium.
One final question
Did Otago win?
