Supershorts: Wisdom of Sir Clive

"New Zealand's all-black kit can already offer a small advantage when a referee is peering into the darkness of the bottom of the ruck". Photo / Getty Images

Wisdom of Sir Clive

The former England and Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward has discovered the secret of the All Blacks' success over all these years, as he writes in the Daily Mail.

"Compared with England's dazzling white strip, New Zealand's all-black kit can already offer a small advantage when a referee is peering into the darkness of the bottom of the ruck."

Yep, that'd be it, Clive.

Broad shoulders

Australian fans have started their campaign of hate Downunder against Stuart Broad, with a T-shirt that says, "Never forgive: Cheating is a Broad Church" with a picture of the England allrounder in the crosshairs.

Aussie coach Darren Lehmann urged Australian fans to "give it" to Broad "from the word go" on his arrival for the return Ashes series in Australia so he would "go home crying".

The shirts are produced by Melbourne company Googandjerra, whose website says: "We specialise in T-shirts protesting wrongs which deserve attention such as Japanese whaling, notorious civil wrongs and the like."

Name of the week

Suspended Miami Dolphins lineman Richie Incognito. The all-round nice guy was anything but incognito this week as reports emerged about his treatment of rookie teammate Jonathan Martin. Among other things, Incognito left abusive messages with Martin, telling him he was going to defecate in his mouth, kill him and harm his family. Oh, he also used a vile racial epithet to describe him and made him pay US$15,000 ($17,900) for a trip to Las Vegas that he didn't attend.

Miami vices

Of course, according to Incognito's teammates, he is not racist (despite a video emerging showing Incognito yelling the "N" word while at a Miami bar this year) and Martin, who has taken a leave of absence from the team, has badly over-reacted.

"I don't know why he's doing this ... This is ridiculous," said Tyson Clabo of Martin.

"Everybody's trying to make Richie out to be a racist psychopath, and nothing could be farther from the truth." Actually, Tyson, there's loads of things that could be farther from the truth.

Duck to water

Jake Peavy, a starting pitcher who joined the Boston Red Sox late this year, was so impressed with the duckboats used for the World Series victory parade that he promptly bought one.