Steve Tew threatens the nation with John Mitchell, Jason Gunn

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NEWSDESK: NZRFU CEO Steve Tew warned today that continued criticism of the All Black coaching panel could see Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen’s roles taken up  by former All Black head coach John Mitchell and grinning twat Jason Gunn.

At a tense press conference, Tew said that assembled press needed to “watch it”, and that he was “this close” to  appointing the indecipherable, unpopular Mitchell to coach the All Black pack, while Dancing With The Stars co-host Gunn would oversee the backline, with Thingee joining as kicking coach in a package deal.

Tew said the NZRFU had considered this approach in the past. “We had a long look at bringing in Earle Kirton and the ZM Morning Crew after 2007, a long look,” said Tew. “We saved you ungrateful fucks two years of post match analysis with Polly and Grant.” A clearly tired and emotional Tew then challenged reporters to “Test me! Go on, test me! Do you WANT Mitch and Jase the Ace?” before being lead hurriedly away by NZRFU communications staff.

All Black coach Laurie Mains was quick to question Gunn’s coaching credentials; “I mean, I enjoy a Milo and Dancing With The Stars as much as the next man (Paul Holmes was very good, wasn’t he?), but I’d question Jason’s experience at the top level. Maybe if he came up through the Heartland comp or spent some time in the Currie Cup, they’d love him over there.”

The move is not without precedent; innovative coach Clive Woodward trialled Barry from Eastenders as defensive coordinator early in his regime and the New South Wales Warratahs have recruited Aussie party teenager Corey Delaney as head coach for next years’ Super 14.

Links on Friday’s Funniest Home Videos

Everyone loves seeing someone else get hurt from the safety of their desk.

Ouch My Balls – skier gambles his future family on a sweet downhill run (via Hadyn Green)

Rollerblader drifts off mid trick – really enjoy seeing rollerbladers in pain, eh

Rad sports presenter gets nailed by unnecessarily large ball – I could watch this all day

Free runner shortly before Googling ‘Oral Surgeon’ – this will teach him for being French

Not a slam per se – he’ll be pretty sore the next day, though

Top ten NZ sport sites

NBR Telco reporter Chris Keall notes the top ten NZ sport sites according to Nielsen, with Stuff sport edging the Herald for the first time.

What NZ (non-blog) sports sites do you look at? For me, it’s the Herald and Stuff, almost exclusively. Am I missing something?

I’d love to be able to embed TVNZ and TV3 videos, but that doesn’t seem to be an option.

nielsen20top20websites20

This bench is frickin’ AWESOME

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Life is pretty sweet on the All Black bench. I mean check out the view – we’re talking ground level. Half way line. You CAN’T get closer to the action than this. I’ve even got an umbrella. That says All Blacks on it.

“What’s that? Warm up? Few stretches? Want a cuppa while I’m up? No? OK then.”

This rules. Running around. Warming up. I’ll probably cough up some snot badgers or bust out the wicked nose clearances later. Maybe the folks will catch it on telly.

What people at home don’t realise is that it’s not *really* a bench. It’s actually a whole lot of seats in a row, kind of seats you get a lot in school halls or gyms. They’re pretty comfortable, and take no time at all to stack away.

“Hey! Can I have one of those Poweraides? Blue one? Thanks mate!”

We get those free, by the way. I could probably get a Moro if I wanted.

So yeah, it’s a pretty good deal I reckon, spending your Saturday nights on a bench. It can get pretty cold in the winter, but you still get to have a shower after. The only thing to remember is shutting up when Ian Smith’s talking into his microphone, Smithy gets a pretty sandy vagina if you bugger up his bit. Those Moros come in handy, sometimes.

So yeah, this is it. Kicking back, sat on your arse catching the game. You can really see the world from a bench. I mean, if I get picked for the tour I could be sitting on benches in Italy. Wales. France. I bet the HQ benches are frickin’ sweet.

Links on Friday – Skateboarding

The Search For Animal Chin is the pinnacle of 80s Skateboard films, all frosted hair and totally tubular dialogue – there’s even a ‘making of’ doco. Bonus awesome: Johnny Rad.

Kids today do it differently of course – according to this this Spike Jonez clip, Skating today is all in slow motion with explosions and that? You wouldn’t get very fit that way.

I’m impressed by the world’s biggest ramp, but seeing the Grange Hill kids skate, though, is the raddest thing I’ve ever seen. Bless.