The Super 15 took another smack to the chops and this time it was delivered by the greatest of All Blacks, Richie McCaw, who has extended his Super holiday.

Motor racing novice Chris Rattue tries to decipher V8 Supercars speak.

The players appear to have awoken from a confusing slumber, writes Chris Rattue. A thriller at Mt Smart Stadium, a close loss for the Warriors, and to draw a longish bow, a couple of questions.

The Warriors got the monkey off their back when they broke a long losing streak against the Cowboys. But a gorilla of a problem just won't go away, writes Chris Rattue.

The Chiefs, a team so annoyingly playful before Dave Rennie arrived, have built a ruthless streak.

"Two Metre" Peter Fulton is a cricketer who, as it turned out, is easy to root for, writes Chris Rattue. We've stumbled upon an unlikely sporting hero, a forgotten man no more.

Zac Guildford has probably turned a corner. The national rugby union certainly has, writes Chris Rattue.

Twitter has changed many things in short order, including the public's access - perceived or real - to sports stars, writes Chris Rattue.

Chris Rattue ponders the future of New Zealand softball, now that we are world champs.

The lights stayed on late into the night, but they also started to dim on New Zealand's world title softball hopes as the Canadians battered the Kiwi battery.

Softball is a DIY sport right to the top level, writes Chris Rattue. The world champion Australian players are among those to pay their own way to Rosedale Park for this week's world championships.

Ranger is finally delivering on his exceptional promise and could be an All Black legend, writes Chris Rattue. The Blues have already won one battle, but they desperately need to win another.

It will take a lot more than a romp against an insipid Hurricanes outfit before this punter gets remotely excited about the Blues.

Gee whiz. The Sonny Bill Williams fight turned out to be a bit dodgy, like nobody knew that his boxing career was a crock of you know what in the first place.

The scale of sport's latest disaster is so immense it is hard to take in.

The Wellington sevens tournament has been hit by a lot of negative publicity this year and the worst is yet to come, writes Chris Rattue.

Far be it for me to definitively diagnose Zac Guildford from afar, writes Chris Rattue, but a string of alcohol-related incidents indicate the young All Black has a serious problem with the firewater.

I'm still waiting for my blood to boil about Lance Armstrong, but it just ain't happening, writes Chris Rattue. There are, I think, too many far more important issues to be incensed about.

Lets get ready to rumble. Oprah versus Lance Armstrong is shaping up as the first big sporting battle of the year, writes Chris Rattue.

Chris Rattue writes: "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, Mike, involves returning Ross Taylor to the test captaincy for the three-test series against England."

Some tears will be shed if Ryan Nelsen calls it a day, leaving the All Whites without their prime force for the 2014 World Cup finals qualification.

Ross Taylor's struggle with the great tragedy that has befallen his terrible life is becoming one of the turgid bores in the history of NZ sport, writes Chris Rattue.

Random sports things that 2013 will hopefully bring... from the realistic to the mainly hopelessly impossible.

New Zealand's best cricketer has gone on strike in an attempt to get the coach he doesn't trust sacked, says Chris Rattue.

Ross Taylor should have taken a deep breath, let the #!@# land elsewhere where it belonged, and joined the NZ side on this tour to South Africa, writes Chris Rattue.