New Zealand 32-12 South Africa

New Zealand turned the tables on champions South Africa with a superb victory in the opening match of the Tri-Nations at Eden Park.

Tries from Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Kieran Read and Tony Woodcock helped the All Blacks avoid a fourth loss to the world champions in a year.
South Africa's points came from the boot of Morne Steyn in what was a lacklustre performance from them.
Bakkies Botha was sin-binned for slowing play early in match.
That happened in the 11th minute which led to Dan Carter kicking the first of his 12 points for New Zealand.
 However, Botha, nicknamed "The Enforcer", was lucky to escape punishment as early as the second minute when he followed up his tackle on Jimmy Cowan by headbutting the back of his opponent's head.
Prior to Botha's yellow, the Springboks appeared to have settled quickly into their routine with Steyn putting three points on the board with an early penalty after Carter had missed an early attempt.
But Carter made no mistake when presented with a chance to level the score after the visitors were reduced to 14 men.
The All Blacks then took full advantage of the situation. Full-back Muliaina, who dictated New Zealand's attack, picked up a poor kick from Januarie and advanced 30 metres with a superb run through the defence.
He found the supporting Richie McCaw who delayed his pass perfectly for Smith who went over in the corner. Carter converted to give the home side a 10-3 lead.
A further penalty from Canterbury and Crusaders player followed before Nonu piled more misery on the Springboks.
Nonu's grubber was poorly executed but bounced back in his path and he offloaded to speed-merchant Joe Rokocoko, who took up the running on the left.
Rokocoko then came inside before finding centre Nonu who powered over.
Carter's conversion put his side 20-3 ahead at the hooter and the Springboks were left scratching their heads.
But after the interval, the world champions and defending Tri-Nations champions pegged the All Blacks back.
Two penalties from the boot of Steyn in six minutes, with the second bringing up his 200th point for the Springboks, heaped pressure on New Zealand and it appeared that a fightback was on the cards.
But the All Blacks were determined to avoid a fourth defeat to South Africa in a year and their first loss at Eden Park since 1994.
Lock Tom Donnelly managed to get behind the advantage line before Muliaina found 6ft 4in number eight Read who brushed off the challenge of Ricky Januarie for his second Test try.
Carter made it 27-9 before Steyn kicked his fourth penalty to reduce the deficit.
But the fact that South Africa's points came from the boot told the story of their stilted performance, which saw the forwards second best in the ruck and lineout, and the backs lacking zest.
The final say went to loosehead prop Tony Woodcock, who defended stoutly and then received just reward when he surged over from a metre out.

Saturday's Elite Matches Review

Exiles first team, although missing a few regulars and introducing a number of junior players in the second half, ran up 95 - 7 scoreline against a poor Goteborg side. The hosts were able to round off the first half of the season with a fine display of attacking rugby and apart from a score that was conceded following a schoolboy error by a senior player, a near faultless display leaves the Exiles looking good come the next round of matches. As for the visitors? some serious thought and hard work needs to be applied in order for them to avoid the drop.

Enkoping got back on track again with a fine win over a traveling Pingvin by 39-7. Not much difference in the scoreline when the two teams met on the opening day of the season. However from ERK's point of view a welcome two points after dropping 3 points in the preceding two matches. The now sit tucked in just behind the leaders and could well make a big impact after the break. Pingvin are improving and have started to play with some style as well as an improved attitude to away matches. They could spring one or two surprises in the autumn.

Finally what was probably the toughest match of the round. Hammarby visiting Spartacus with an air of confidence which come from sitting at the top of the table. This was not going to be a game for the faint hearted and from the whistle both sides played hard aggressive rugby, with no quarter asked and none given. Hammarby appeared to have more options in the backs and tried to use them on a number of occasions only to be thwarted by a resolute defence. At half time the score was 10-5 to Spartacus and an upset looked on the cards. But with some fortitude Hammarby managed two more scores in the second half winning 10-15.


Hammarby look to be favourites for the title, whilst Spartacus appear to be improving with every match and could yet spring a few surprises in the second half of the season.

Team                  M W D L PF   PA  Points
Hammarby           5  5  0  0 195  43       10
Enkoping             6  4  1  1 184  83         9
Stockholm Exiles   6  4   0 2 286  61         8
Spartacus            5  1   1 3   61  72        3
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Pingvin                6  1   0 5   50 243        2
Goteborg             6  1   0 5   56 330        2

Saturday Preview

The Men's Elite Series take a summer break after Saturday, for some this will come as a welcome relief. For others maybe an unwanted respite.

Pick of the matches will probably be Hammarby visiting Spartacus. With the visitors sitting proudly at the top of the table, undefeated and with the notable scalps of Erk and Stockholm Exiles, Hammarby must  be favourites to claim another victory. Spartacus will have other ideas of course. With a vast improvement in their play this season, they are proving hard to beat. This could also be the day when they finally field their strongest team and with Jonas Ahl guiding them, they could spring an upset. However, we go for an away win.

Next up ERK entertain Pingvin. This should be a home win and ERK should complete the first double of their season. Although Pingvin are playing well and with spirit as their last game showed, we feel that ERK will want to get the show back on the road and will take the points in what could be quite an entertaining match.

Finally Goteborg make the long trek north to face Exiles. Currently bottom of the table and after suffering a painful defeat at home to Pingvin in their last match, GRF are going to play out of their skins to get anything from this game and that will only happen if the hosts allow that to happen. We seriously doubt that occurring and take Exiles to record a resounding victory.

Saturday Elite Report

With the top game in the Elite, Enkoping welcomed Hammarby for what could be the decisive match of the series. ERK were wanting to make up for their previous result and with a more all round game, expected to win. However Hammarby were not there to make up the numbers and with what might seem to some, a more limited game, but one that has proved highly effective this season, they were determined to put their mark on the game. So an interesting match up in prospect and that is how it tuned out, providing the watching spectators with a feast of good rugby which, eventually went the way of the visitors, who now sit proudly on top of the league. Result 17-22

Stockholm Exiles made the long journey west to meet Spartacus. In what was a bruising encounter, the visitors took the game to the home team, what they probably did not expect was the ferocity of the tackling and the defensive organization in front of them. Apparently every time a player in black got the ball, he also got a hard tackle to go with it and was knocked backwards. Eventually the visitors resorted to a kicking game and from a fortuitous bounce scored the only try of the game just before half time. Evidently the second half was a similar story, with Exiles eventually running out winners by 0-14.

Goteborg took on Pintvin in the bottom of the table clash. Both sides had their strongest sides out and both were desperate for the win. The visitors were the more composed side and played to their game plan very effectively. Attacking well and ensuring that their defense was up to the task. GRF unfortunately could not handle the pressure and collapsed to a 0-23 loss. This leaves them bottom of the table with Pingvin leap frogging them.

Some interesting results this weekend, with Spartacus appearing to be closing the gap on the Northern teams, it should be a good match to be at when they take on reigning leaders Hammarby in two weeks time. Goteborg travel to Exiles and Pingvin make the long trek to Enkoping.

Elite series match round up.

Exiles welcomed Pingvin’s traveling squad of players for their fourth match of the series. However it was not going to be a good day for Pingvin as the Exiles quickly got into their stride and crossed the whitewash twice within the first five minutes to lead 14-0. There then followed a period of stability which was finally broken when Exiles again went over the line to add to their score. From then on it was almost all one way traffic with the home side launching attack after attack. With some resolute defending Pingvin managed to hold out for a while and even created some attacks. However it was not to last and they then conceded another handful of scores to leave them trailing 52-0 at halftime.
The second half saw Exiles starting half asleep, until they were galvanised back into action by the first of a hat trick of tries after 14 minutes and the half then started to resemble the first. Attack followed attack and more tries were added as Exiles ran amok. At the final whistle a relieved Pingvin managed to keep the score under 100 losing by 95-0.
It appears that Stockholm Exiles are now getting into their stride, but Pingvin could be in trouble this season.

Hammarby were the host to Goteborg and set about the visitors from the kick off. It soon became obvious that GRF were not going to be able to offer much, which is sad considering that two years ago, they were more than a match for the home side. However they were not going to trouble Hammarby on a fine day for rugby and went home after receiving a 81-3 loss. Hammarby are certainly going in the right direction and will be a tough team to beat with their game improving match upon match. Goteborg have quite a bit of work to do to become a rugby force again.

Partille was the latest stopover for Enkoping in their quest to retain their title. A match that was expected to be a formality for them was anything but that, as they found out when it became apparent that Spartacus were not going to roll over, instead they were going to battle for every ball. So began a game of attrition, with the home side giving as good as they got. Enkoping were soon into their stride and with a host of talent in their ranks appeared confident, but Spartacus had a defence that did not take a backward step and managed to turn over the ball on a number of occasions. Eventually though, ERK put together a move which enabled their fullback to score under the posts. Shortly after a yellow card was shown to one of the home side players and for the rest of the half they were down to 14 men. Enkoping could not make their player superiority count and the half time score was 0-7.
With numbers even at the start of the second half, the match continued in a similar vein as the first half for the first ten minutes and then with Spartacus starting to apply more pressure they began to create chances of their own, this eventually led to a well worked try under the posts, leveling the scores. Enkoping were stung by that and came back at the home side and from a set piece worked a well constructed try, with the extra points added they were now leading 7-14. Spartacus came back at the visitors and started to gain considerable ground and once again this led to a try in the corner, which was converted. For the last few minutes the game could have been won by either side but a draw 14-14 ,was probably a fair result.

Turn of the Tide?

So, following the results of Saturday in the Men's Elite Series, there are some interesting questions arising from the matches that took place.


Hammarby duly completed a demolition job on a traveling Pingvin, who despite taking a full squad in terms of numbers, could not trouble the scoreboard. Whilst the hosts continues on the merry way with yet another win and look to be a formidable squad this season. With this 56-0 win under the belt, the questions regarding Hammarby, are they the real deal? can they maintain this run and ultimately gain gold ? Time will obviously tell, but not a bad start. With Pingvin, there really is only one question at this early stage, can they survive the drop this season?

Enkoping carried on with their winning ways against Exiles at their home fortress. With Exiles removing the captaincy from the enigmatic and inspirational leader of last year and handing it to one of the newcomers from the Southern Hemisphere, there is word that all may not be well in the visitors camp. However Exiles managed to run ERK close and indeed had the lead for a while. However some individual brilliance and a well worked move saw two fine tries by the home side, which enabled them to record yet another win against Exiles by 20-16. Our questions regarding Enkoping are, can they improve as the season progresses and can they hold off a resurgent Hammarby? As for Exiles, is the tide turning against them, despite the imports ?

Goteborg managed a first win of the season at home by a very narrow margin. Fielding their strongest side, they managed to come from behind to record a 15-12 win. We understand that the referee had a very poor game and appeared to be biased against the visitors. However as we were not at the match, (we can only post the information supplied to us) this is difficult to put into perspective. Despite being continually penalised Spartacus managed to take the lead with a well worked try, even though they were missing at least 5 of their more senior players through injury. In the 45th minute GRF managed to score a try, bringing them back ino the game. The second half was much the same as the first, with the visitors being guilty of offences that apparently were strange to say the least. Eventually GRF managed to score again with a try and conversion. This was eventually added to by a penalty and the home side looked safe. Spartacus came back at them in the last few minutes and once again scored a try to close the gap, but too late as the referee blew for time. An interesting side note to this game. Apparently GRF played a player who was not cleared to play, despite their coaches being informed of this. If this is true? It's ironic that this is the club,  who are always quoting the rules to others, but choose to ignore them when it suits. Questions here for GRF, can they carry on winning? or have they achieved their goal for this year? For Spartacus, can they come back from this setback and finish in a play off position?

Let's hope the next round has some great rugby, without any controversies.

Round 3

Another interesting weekend of matches coming up in the Elite series this weekend. With a local derby in the west and a couple of tough games up north.

First up must be the derby between GRF and Spartacus. Obviously there will be some special match up's in this game and presumably some players out to prove a point or two. So a firm but sympathetic referee will be needed for this one. With Spartacus determined to keep their club moving forward they still remain underdogs, in our view, but we feel they will overcome their adversaries.

Hammarby against Pingvin may turn out to be a good match to watch. Although in the past Pingvin have not been the best of travellers, they turned up with a strong side in their previous away match and played some enterprising rugby. Hammarby will be full of confidence having overcome Exiles last time out and will see this game as an easy win. They could be surprised but we feel that they will run out winners in this battle.

Enkoping welcome Exiles in what could prove to be the tie of the round. Exiles will be simmering following their loss in the previous round and Enkoping will be missing their talismanic captain. This is going to be difficult to predict and with some new faces apparently making their debuts for the visitors, it might just be those players who make the difference. However we are going for a home win on this one, but it could be very close.

Let's hope for some great games and that the spectators are rewarded with some exciting rugby.