Anybody just see the Blues hand the Highlanders a free 5 points?

I said (offline) to a mate before the game, the Blues will not win SU, because their season is dead and they'll want to give the 2nd highest ranking NZ side the maximum number of points to get them into the top 4 (even if it is temporary). Little did I realise that their fixing of such a result would be so blatant.

And just now I see the Aussies giving away a gift intercept try when they were in danger of ending the ANZAC test early in the 2nd half (had they scored, it'd been a dead game at 18/20-6). International League is a joke, and no 'keeping it close' games between Aussie and whoever, is going to change that.

Ahh, this shit is getting to be so obvious, it's pathetic.

(1) The books kill everyone with a draw (it would also have made each half equal scoring - 30 pts - so killed all of the 1st & 2nd half as highest scoring half bettors, noone w/a brain backs the equal scoring option). My suggestion has nothing to do with gambling. The NZ TAB in particular would've been livid they didn't go for the draw. Plus the draw doesn't affect the spread. Auck covered with a draw or losing by 3.

(2) The fact is the Blues had nothing to gain at all competition wise, no matter what the result. If they win, so what, is their season resurrected?  Their season ended after losing at home to the Sharks.  The players know this. If you think they thought their season was somehow still alive should they beat the Highlanders, I wonder about your ability to appraise reality accurately. They knew before that game their season was dead.

So, what did they have to gain?

(1) With a draw they stopped the rot of 4 straight losses. A professional sports team is made up of human beings. Losing affects human beings. Putting in a hard effort and coming away with competition points on the basis of that effort, feels good to a team, esp. a team used to coming away with no points. As much as players say a draw feels like a loss, thats players used to winning talking. Players used to losing get to feel good after coming away not losing. If Pat Lamb called for those kicks not to be taking, he needs to be fired on the spot, because as a manager he will have shown he has no idea how to handle a team psychologically in a positive way.

(2) Auckland held the Gordon Hunter trophy that was up for grabs at tonight's game (they won 2011's meeting 33-18), so a draw would've seen them retain the trophy.  For a team who knew they were dead in the S15 competition, and knew that each individual match they play from here-on-out is simply a fixture unto itself, it makes a mockery of that trophy having any meaning at all for them to piss away their retaining it. The headlines in the Auck papers would've read, losing streak ends, trophy retained, allowing Blues fans to feel good for once amidst a shit season.

Yeah, Auckland had nothing to gain by drawing.