Fantasy Rugby heads-up . . .

Please note that while the Sportsdeck Fantasy game has finished, the Superbru and Rugby Magazine games continue through the playoffs. 

Here is the notification of how transfers work during the knockout stages of the Rugby Magazine game:

"Our fantasy games continue through the playoffs for each of the competitions we are running this season, and in order for everyone to maintain their squads through this period, we've made a few tweaks to the transfer and player limits...

While the regular season runs with 28 players as the minimum requirement for your squad, through the playoffs, this is additionally a maximum requirement. We've set this up like this to ensure that you will require some discretion in who to choose for your squad, and hopefully avoid everyone having the same players. The quality of the players you will be able to sign will largely depend on how much money you have been able to make with your squad over the course of the regular season. That said, we're not expecting people to have too many problems.

Throughout the playoffs, all transfers are free, and there is no maximum. With the availability of players ever dwindling through this period, it was important to us that you all had flexibility, and no stragglers left in your squad.

The quarter-final stage of Super Rugby will retain the same 5 player per team rule that has been in place through the regular season, and this competition along with the Premiership will be subject to a 7 player per team limit for the semi finals, and then a 14 player limit for the final.

This will obviously leave 5 players left over who are not playing, given the squad minimum of 28 players, but given that this is one of the core rules of the game, we're not keen on removing it even at this stage. That said, this is the first time that the game will run through the playoffs, and we'll be on the lookout for any lessons to be learnt.

Good luck to everyone for the weekend, and through to the end of the season!"

The Superbru game is the same as it's been the last few years . . . you now get 6 transfers per week during the knockouts and the team limit for the qualifiers and the semis increases to 6 players per team. You can have an unlimited number of players from any team for the Final.

Cloudy no need to punish the winners - imagine dinning out on mean boils every day!

It's a pity that one's work at putting a quality squad of players together during the season is brought to nothing in the end.

If you messed up and found yourself in trouble in the play offs ... it's ok ... a do over is given ... and you can start a fresh ... with a whole new squad of 28 players.

Everyone will have the same match 23.

Stupid if you ask me.

Lesson learnt.

What would a "mean boil" be made up of?

I presume veges play an important part ... maybe things like soups ... stews? I mean you wouldn't boil a piece of rump steak would you?

We tend to favour roasts or grilled meat this side ... BBQ's ... and any kind of fried food goes down well with most of the population here, hence the epidemic of fat arses.

My eldest son has a Kiwi girlfriend and he's off to Auckland to visit her in Sept. He's even considering leaving our shores on a permanent basis.

He's already an All Black fan, thanks to his loving father' s good influence.      

I'm sure he'll return to tell me about the kiwi foods he enjoyed while there.

Oh ... thank you. Would never have guessed.

A "potjie" is always welcome ... especially a "mean" one.

Haaahahahahaaa!!

I think most would feel a little uneasy with big Maori men sucking on bones and looking at you as though you were a juicy cheeseburger. Scare the sheeeat out of me.

I think the idea when visiting another land is to embrace their cuisine as best you can. Eating freshly slaughtered puppies is obviously where one draws a line but other than that, one should be bold and see what's on offer.

Sea food is a favourite in our home so no problems there. Would be interesting to see the Kiwi's take on how it's prepared.

Lucky bum ... wish I were going with him.

Sounds great, Lara.

I think most of our foods would be much the same ... maybe a little different here and there.

Your Puha sounds like a wild spinach we have this side known as Morogo. Very tasty on it's own and even better when mixed with potato and onion.

In the end the use of certain spices may be the only difference.

How about booze?

Do you guys have a booze that's unique to the Maori?

We have some terrible stuff this side known as Umqombothi. It is an African beer. In it's traditional form it has a yellowy froth covering the top, which you scoop away before drinking. It tastes like vomit if you ask me. Disgusting stuff. How anyone would want to get drunk on that stuff is beyond me.

Then there's the traditional Mampoer that will put you on your ass in no time.

I wish I had a better understanding of flavours and what compliments what.

I can get by with the basic mac & cheese and cottage pie ... and I think I make a mean mushroom steak, but all the fancier stuff is beyond me.

I love Portuguese food. Can't say I've ever tried Turkish.

My wife is a wizard in the kitchen. She made me some kind of pudding with a nut sauce that I'll probably remember for the rest of my days.

It really is an art form that one is born with.

I guess I'll just have to be content with my good looks and leave the serious cooking to those who know how.