The top two teams in the world contribute eleven players between them, whilst the increasing depth of playing strength world wide is reflected in selections of the remaining players.

The 2009 SilverFern Team of the year...

Another season of Test footy drawn to a close.

Some interesting results huh? Who would have picked the ABs to be at the top of the pile come December when we were looking at results in June-July-August.

Wouldn’t have had an AB near a World XV at that stage.

A new women’s rugby website covering the international game has been launched.

The site – www.scrumqueens.com - will cover the international women’s game at both 15 and 7 aside level. The launch comes during a pivotal year for the sport with a final decision on whether to make rugby 7s an Olympic sport, which would include women, due in October. The Women’s Rugby World Cup will also take place next summer in London.

The site features international rugby tournament news and information from leading competitions such as the Women’s 6 Nations, Nations Cup, and Women’s Rugby World Cup, real-time results, a world fixtures calendar and an interactive gallery for the women’s community.

We have had plenty of fine posts in a thread running on the TSF forum over the last few days.  The issue, why, and do you(?), hate Robbie Deans!!  I'll be picking out and posting the best of the best over the next week or so.  Join in the exchange of views here - the expected mud slinging and name calling has been surprisingly sparse, as most of the views are well balanced and well founded, and very few because of a perceived 'anti Cantab bias'.  More along the lines of an Anti Australia bias, strangely enough...!

The following from Mogwai.

He is now well into his second year in command at the helm of the good ship Matilda. One would have expected more progress, greater consistency in performance and better results by now.

About the only member of the Wallabies coaching staff getting to sleep without prescribed medication at the moment would be the scrum guru after last nights performance.

First to the on-field issues. Rod Macqueen, the greatest Wallaby coach of the modern era, had a wealth of talent at his disposal during his reign (1997-2001). Just look at just some of the stellar names of that era - John Eales, Owen Finnegan, Totai Kefu, George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Tim Horan, Joe Roff etc - all great torturers of the All Blacks and well deserved winners of the World Cup.

Congratulations South Africa … for blowing an excellent opportunity to create a significant piece of history.

A 3 nil whitewash against the B&I Lions would have looked brilliant on the resume of this generation of Bok history. But Nah, we choose to play games with history instead of finishing the job at hand. Which need I remind, was to secure another test victory in the third and final chapter of this memorable Lions tour to South Africa.

True greatness in sport is achieved by people and teams who rise above all else and deliver their absolute best in everything they do on and off the pitch. Greatness is defined not by achievements but more so in the spirit of the achievement. When we talk about "greats" in sports we don't just think about their abilities, but we think about how they handled themselves and the example they set. It's an image one holds, much more than thinking about the specifics of what they do, even if we may not always like the personalities involved.

This morning I feel for the very sporty Lions contingent touring South Africa, and adding so much atmosphere and festivity to this tour. I have to be honest. They deserved to celebrate a win for two reasons. They deserve reward for their gusto and contribution to a fanatical atmosphere across our cities across the Republic.

Sought after rugby league refugee Sonny Bill Williams revealed today that a Middle Eastern connection in his family could qualify him to play for the Sultan of Brunei's national rugby union side.

"My aunt's third cousin on my mother's side was on an exchange scheme in Brunei, so I guess that qualifies me for their World Cup team," Williams said in an interview with the Brunei Rugby Monthly.

Even though we get a month off post season, that month is usually occupied with scheming new calls, tactics and putting up with daily calls from the workaholic Shaun Edwards, who is normally pretending to have some sort of holiday as well.

The break has been good, but the brain still needs some stimulation so when my old mate from the 'thesilverfern' asked me to write a piece I thought 'why not', and here it is - of Lions and tours.

In Rustenberg, the British & Irish Lions laboured to a win over the Royal XV, while England were handed a lesson at Twickenham by the Barbarians.

For England it was looking like a right spanking until the Baabaas took their foot off the pedal.But if you look at the lineup of the Baabaas you can perhaps understand why England struggled. This was one of the best sides the Barbarians have put out with a wealth of experience between them. When they brought on Phil Waugh as a replacement it was clear how much depth there was in there squad too.

Then this AM, I awoke to see on the fern about South African teams looking to join the Magners League. These 2 things made be start thinking about world rugby and the like.

OK lets get to the hard work - selections!

Go back a year or so and most people would have said that this would have been an easy choice - Ryan Jones. However, he went through a slow start to the season and whatever gap existed has been reduced somewhat.

The context for the Lions 8 berth is twofold in my opinion:

1) The new ELVs and their 5 metre offside line put an onus on an 8 with leg speed that will allow this advantage to be used - to let him get into the midfield and get everyone onto the front foot.
2) The hard grounds of SA - again this suggests that a more mobile operator could be valuable at 8.

I have watched a number of games in the past month or so (lots of cancelled club games mean Saturday afternoon viewing times abound) and have been watching the leading candidates for the loosehead spot and reading articles by experts on front row play (like Brian Moore etc..).

Happy New Year one and all.

With the Lions squad due to be announced in the not too distant future, I was wondering what team I might pick on 2008 form. Obviously the 6 nations will give the management much to mull over, however, in the meantime, I would field -