A surprise midweek visit from New Zealand Rugby League football manager Tony Iro has given the Paremoremo Prison league team a boost.

Right, so the Women in League round is upon us - the week when the players don pink jerseys to salute the servitude and sacrifice of those women to allow men to play the greatest game of all. Incredibly in the past we've come under a bit of criticism.

Last week it was Eric Watson and Sir Owen Glenn in a stoush ... this week Jayson Bukuya and Chad Townsend.

Sometimes, scandal and the game of league appear to be inextricably linked. But now the rugby union is checking to see if it has a problem.

New Zealand Herald sports columnist Chris Rattue watches a weekend of sport and decides it is time to change a few rules on the sporting landscape.

The NRL needs to dramatically rethink its scheduling to avoid player burnout and unnecessary injuries, says Penrith coach Ivan Cleary.

The New Zealand Rugby League and their Australian counterparts are expecting to find out today whether they will host the 2017 World Cup.

City leaders are breathing a sigh of relief after Auckland made it through what has been described as one of its "greatest weekends".

They came in the thousands, some from as far as America, others from the South Island and Wellington, in costumes ranging from Osama bin Laden, Superman to Alice in Wonderland.

The Kiwis pulled off a World Cup stunner to sneak past England but their last-gasp semifinal win at Wembley doesn't give huge confidence for the final against Australia.

Defeat at this stage of the tournament would mean a failed campaign, but I'm confident the Kiwis will beat England in their World Cup semifinal.

Rotation is understandable but the Kiwis' imperfect 48-0 win over France yesterday raised the issue of whether, in a short tournament, it might have been better to foster combinations.

Just like the fans, Dane Nielsen wondered where the Warriors were going as he watched the mid-season train wreck against the Panthers in May.

One of the more unlikely streaks in the NRL rolls on.

Stephen Kearney had very little time to think about and prepare for the World Cup in 2008.

An enraged father dragged his son across a rugby league field at an under-9s game and forced him to punch another boy in the face, despite his cries of protest.

Self-doubt is crippling the Warriors from what I observed in the round one game against Parramatta.

New Zealand and Australia will bid to co-host the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, raising the possibility of the game's biggest tournament being held in this country for the first time in nearly 30 years.

In the bowels of the Warriors' training base at Mt Smart Stadium, they have created what they call the War Room.

The NRL have lined up yet another combustible first-round clash. The Broncos are desperate to start their season on a winning note, as talk echoes around Queensland about their long premiership "drought".

He's a part-time DJ, a prolific user of social media and could be the surprise key man for the Warriors.

Call me cynical, but I reckon if there's ever a bloke who's given a good tattoo a bad name, it's the Canterbury Bulldogs' wunderkid Ben "Bennie" Barba - stood down indefinitely from the club's playing roster this week.

Dumping Benji Marshall as captain was a decision that Stephen Kearney thought he would never have to make.