The News Review:
- Rugby tops online in soccer-mad UK
- Rugby: Lure of title drew Thorn back
- Rugby: Boks finally restore Cup normality
- Strong medicine to fix rugby mess
Rugby tops online in soccer-mad UK
New Zealand Herald – Oct 16, 2007
Hitwise does not publish actual numbers of hits but in the week to ctober 13 the day England played France there were 10 per cent more searches for rugby than football. The company’s measurement of online trends goes back two years. First five-eighths Jonny Wilkinson is the most popular England player online and last week searches for the player were up 250 per cent on the previous week. Wilkinson kicked England to a 14-9 victory in the semi-final against France setting the team up for a place in the final against South Africa on Saturday. Hitwise UK research director Robin Goad said female visitors to rugby sites over the past four weeks had risen to 44 per cent from 41 per cent with the terms ‘pictures’ ‘topless’ and ‘girlfriend’ among the leading Wilkinson-related web searches. But generally despite a growth in rugby-related online searches football remains the most popular sport in the UK with more than eight times as many Web visits to football sites than rugby. – REUTERS $(document).
Rugby: Lure of title drew Thorn back
New Zealand Herald – Oct 16, 2007
css-trouble {display:block;font:bold 1. 6em Arial sans-serif;line-height:2em;}. css-trouble a {text-decoration:none;color:#FF0000;}.
Rugby: Boks finally restore Cup normality
New Zealand Herald – Oct 16, 2007
css-trouble {display:block;font:bold 1. 6em Arial sans-serif;line-height:2em;}. css-trouble a {text-decoration:none;color:#FF0000;}.
Strong medicine to fix rugby mess
stuff.co.nz – Oct 16, 2007
The trouble is that because we went out so early the reminders that New Zealand is no longer in it keep coming every day with the march onwards of the joyous remaining contenders. So if we are forced to think about rugby and World Cup rugby we should put the time to good use. Some of the best analysis thrown up recently rightly suggests that failing five times in a row indicates that a dramatic re-appraisal of New Zealand’s approach to the tournament is needed. And maybe it’s time to attack the deep-seated belief that the All Blacks are always the best team in the world and that the team is just unlucky that it can’t prove this with a recent World Cup win.