Latest news with #Highlanders
Otago Daily Times
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Tough NPC looms
The season is about to start and Southland will not go into it with a whole lot of confidence, if preseason form is anything to go on. Fortunately, the two losses from the two preseason games have little or no impact on how the season will go in reality. Preseason games are more about giving players a run, trying to find combinations and get sides into the routine of a match week. Sometimes having a game at the end of the week creates more sharpness in teams via trainings throughout the week. The Southland side got together in June with new coach Nathan White, a former Chiefs and Waikato prop who headed to Ireland and played for the the Irish national team for two years, before retiring because of head knocks. White was whistled in after Matt Saunders stepped away from the role to pursue business interests. White has had just under two months to get the side up to scratch. The team played Otago and Tasman in the preseason, losing to Otago 40-31, then losing to Tasman 63-17. Southland has a sprinkling of Super Rugby players in its squad, and will lean on them throughout the season. Hooker Jack Taylor rose up the ranks somewhat for the Highlanders this year and will be looking to make further progress this season. Prop Jack Sexton trained with the Highlanders all season but did not get on to the paddock and will want to make an impact. Mitch Dunshea ran himself almost to a standstill for the Highlanders and will hopefully have some energy left in the tank for the Southland side. Sam Fischli comes from Otago and will put himself about, either in the middle row or loose forward trio. The loose forwards have plenty to like about them, but there is always strong competition in this area across the country. Connor Collins and Connor McLeod are the halfbacks, while Dan Hollinshead shapes at the option in the No 10 jersey. Byron Smith may also be a contender. One interesting newcomer is Fletcher Morgan, who is trying his luck in Southland having played for Thames Valley last year and made an impact for Woodlands in club rugby this season. The midfield looks solid for Southland with Isaac Te Tamaki, Matt Whaanga and the returning Scott Gregory all looking promising. Winger Michael Manson will want to get more involved after a quiet season with the Highlanders, while Faletoi Peeni will want to back up a promising rookie season. Southland start their season against Otago on Saturday at home, with a big crowd expected.
New Statesman
12 hours ago
- General
- New Statesman
We should be eating oily fish – but what's the catch?
The government has, for some time, been trying to get a reluctant population to eat fish – preferably oily fish such as mackerel, herring or salmon – at least twice a week. It began campaigning around 1563, urging people to add Wednesday as a 'fissh daye' to Friday, still observed as a fast day even in newly Protestant England. It was for the national health: not the well-being of individuals, but the country's economic and military might. Elizabeth I's government, flinching at the threat from Spain, aimed to boost 'the nursery of the navy', the fishing fleet. Fish would eke out the nation's limited beef supplies, in demand from a growing and increasingly wealthy population. But neither fasting nor fish were popular and the policy was dropped. In the 18th century there was another attempt. Humiliated by defeat in the American War of Independence, parliament looked instead to develop north and west coastal Scotland, which had no large-scale fishing industry. Inconveniently located Highlanders were cleared from their villages in favour of sheep and packed off to the maritime margins to become crofters and fishing folk. The expanding herring industry attracted the attention of Adam Smith. To relieve poverty, he argued, subsidise the small and local. Bounties (subsidies) on huge fishing vessels simply ended up in the pockets of wealthy Londoners. Those small boats hardly made a dent in Scotland's vast shoals. Daniel Defoe described the Pentland Firth as 'one-third water and two-thirds fish' in the 1720s. Donald Murray's Herring Tales (2022) describes how young Highlanders and Islanders followed the 'numberless armies' throughout the season from Orkney to Lowestoft. For much of the 19th century, netting, gutting, barrelling, curing and selling fish provided jobs (demanding, cold and smelly, as they were) and food through small, usually family-owned boats. The breakfast kipper became part of the much-admired Scottish breakfast (particularly plump, rubicund fish became known as 'Glasgow Magistrates'). Smoked fish gave factory workers something 'tasty' for their tea, and extra-salted fish were given to enslaved workers in the Caribbean. Today, we take a 'healthy diet' to be a personal matter. But the old sense of the health of the economy is indissoluble from bodily health, thanks to the cost of the NHS. Oily fish – salmon, herrings, sardines, sprats, mackerel – have found themselves recommended anew by government for cardiovascular health, thanks to their micronutrients and Omega-3 – essential fatty acids that our bodies cannot make themselves. Critics and conservationists say that humans should simply eat the source of Omega-3 directly, by eating as far up the food chain as possible. Ditch lice-infested fish-farm salmon; instead eat the tiny silver anchovies, sardines, herring – the small fry that are turned into fishmeal. This is cheap, healthy fast food (though, admittedly, they can be whiffy in the kitchen). Traditional recipes tend to be quick and uncomplicated: a flash under the grill, some bread, butter and something sharp like lemon, dill pickle, capers, gooseberries or rhubarb. Potatoes often feature. Smoked mackerel flaked into mashed potato make quick fishcakes, without the smell lingering. Both herring and mackerel take kindly to a devil of mustard and cayenne. The Sicilian pasta con le sarde, an ancient, pre-tomato pasta sauce of sardines, fennel, pine nuts and raisins, takes as long to make as pasta takes to boil. A few anchovies, cooked with onions, give an umami boost to a tomato-based sauce. If there is a lesson in these contrasting stories – the Elizabethan proclamation vs the Adam Smith subsidies – it is that if the legislature wants to change the way the population eats, it must put some money into it; proclamations or their modern equivalent, 'guidelines', don't work by themselves. So much for our economic and personal health – what about the oceans? Smith was right for a reason he couldn't have foreseen: small boats don't wreck the marine ecosystem as huge trawlers do. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe If there are to be plenty more fish in the sea – enough for us to eat our two portions a week – small might be the way to go in the kitchen, as it is in water. [See also: 150 years of the bizarre Hans Christian Andersen] Related
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Tough NPC looms for Stags under new coach
The season is about to start and Southland will not go into it with a whole lot of confidence, if preseason form is anything to go on. Fortunately, the two losses from the two preseason games have little or no impact on how the season will go in reality. Preseason games are more about giving players a run, trying to find combinations and get sides into the routine of a match week. Sometimes having a game at the end of the week creates more sharpness in teams via trainings throughout the week. The Southland side got together in June with new coach Nathan White. White was a former Chiefs and Waikato prop who headed to Ireland and played for the the Irish national team for two years, before retiring because of head knocks. White was whistled in after Matt Saunders stepped away from the role, deciding to pursue business interests. White has had just under two months to get the side up to scratch. The team played Otago and Tasman in the preseason. It lost the Otago game 40-31, then had a heavy defeat to a Tasman side which should be one of the top teams in the NPC this season. Tasman won the match 63-17, with Southland struggling to stay with a side which was stacked with Super Rugby players. Southland has a sprinkling of Super Rugby players in its squad, and will lean on them throughout the season. Hooker Jack Taylor rose up the ranks somewhat for the Highlanders this year and will be looking to make further progress this season. Prop Jack Sexton trained with the Highlanders all season but did not get on to the paddock, and will want to make an impact. Mitch Dunshea ran himself almost to a standstill for the Highlanders, and will hopefully have some energy left in the tank for the Southland side. Sam Fischli comes from Otago and will put himself about, either in the middle row or loose forward trio. The loose forwards have plenty to like about them, but there is always strong competition in this area across the country. Connor Collins and Connor McLeod are the halfbacks, while Dan Hollinshead shapes at the option in the No 10 jersey. Byron Smith may also be a contender. One interesting newcomer is Fletcher Morgan, who is trying his luck in Southland having played for Thames Valley last year. He has made an impact for Woodlands in club rugby this season, and one wonders if he has the goods to make an impact at the next level. The midfield looks solid for Southland with Isaac Te Tamaki, Matt Whaanga and the returning Scott Gregory all looking promising for the side. Winger Michael Manson will want to get more involved after a quiet season with the Highlanders, while Faletoi Peeni will want to back up a promising rookie season. Southland start their season against Otago on Saturday at home, with a big crowd expected.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Hastie heading to Force
Departing Highlanders halfback Nathan Hastie passes the ball against the Brumbies this season. Nathan Hastie's career resurgence will continue away from the Highlanders. The talented halfback is heading home — he was born in Perth — and will join the Western Force for the 2026 Super Rugby season after he has completed an NPC campaign with Otago. It could be a case of perfect timing for Hastie. While the Force have Nic White as their regular No 9, the former Wallaby has just turned 35. It might not be in the realms of fantasy to picture 24-year-old Hastie shining with a chance to play regularly in Super Rugby and knocking on the door of Australian selection at some stage. He will join Tom Donnelly, the former Otago coach and Highlanders assistant, at the Force. Hastie fans will be disappointed to see the combative halfback depart. The King's High School old boy and Harbour club representative had to be patient to really get his chance for the Highlanders thanks to a combination of niggling injuries and the presence of Aaron Smith and Folau Fakatava. That chance came this year, when he earned seven starts and was in outstanding form, playing with real spark and showing a willingness to trust his instinct and run with the ball. It came as something of a surprise when he then missed several match-day squads. Hastie was announced on a three-year deal at the Highlanders in early 2024, so either the club renegotiated his contract or they have reached a deal with the Force. The Highlanders, to be fair, appear loaded at halfback. Former All Black Fakatava recently signed a new deal, and pretty much everyone expects rising New Zealand under-20 star Dylan Pledger to graduate to a full contract. That presumably means Taranaki's Adam Lennox, who was in the wider squad this year and played several games, will be contracted as the third Highlanders halfback. Hastie, an Otago Daily Times Class Act recipient in 2019, finished with just 12 caps (one try) for the Highlanders, and he will add to his 16 caps for Otago when the NPC starts this weekend.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Editorial: A stadium half-full or half-empty?
Somewhere between the over-optimism of some and the pessimism of others lies the truth about the future viability of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium. Next month it will be 14 years since then prime minister John Key opened the $224 million stadium, just a month before the start of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. That the stadium was ever built was, in some ways, a miracle. There were many concerns raised at the time about the realities of such a project, including the economics of constructing such a large venue so distant from the country's larger population centres where big overseas sporting and musical acts are typically held. The stadium debate was acrimonious and divisive, leading to court cases and much bitterness among residents. Even when it eventually opened, and despite the hoopla, the events were slow to come. A memorably windy Elton John concert in November 2011 was the first to be held under its draughty roof. But in one of those bizarre twists of fate, the Christchurch earthquake of February that year wrecked Jade Stadium and kick-started a slowly growing momentum which would act in Dunedin's favour for more than a decade. With Christchurch off the grid as far as major events were concerned — not only because of a lack of a major venue but also because of accommodation, hospitality and other logistical problems — Forsyth Barr Stadium could flourish. And flourish the Dunedin stadium has. It held several 2011 Rugby World Cup games which the quake-damaged Christchurch was unable to run. It is the home ground for the Highlanders and Otago rugby teams and has hosted test matches and Rugby World Cup games. It has also been a venue for rugby league fixtures and for the 2015 Fifa Under-20 World Cup. International acts have performed at the stadium and transformed the city, including Pink, Kendrick Lamar, Shania Twain, Robbie Williams, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, even Black Sabbath. Oh, and don't forget Ed Sheeran. How could we. Of all the concerts held at the stadium, the Sheeran performancers of Easter 2018 were highlights, generating an estimated $38m for the city's economy from the more than 65,000 visitors. Unfortunately, Sheeran will not be performing in Dunedin when he returns to New Zealand in January, opting instead for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, where he is expected to be the last act at the temporary stadium before the city's new venue, Te Kaha, opens. Some people have taken to calling this a snub. In some ways that view is understandable. After all, Sheeran's visit seven years ago was a huge high spot for Dunedin and the South. Sheeran became "one of ours". The mural in Bath St remains for all to see, long after the performances have drifted off into the ether. To suggest a deliberate rejection of the stadium and the city by Sheeran, though, is an overreaction, although there have been suggestions he wasn't happy with the sound system. What this does do, however, is sharpen minds to consider what life may be like for Forsyth Barr once the Christchurch stadium is up and running. A large shadow seems to be looming just over the shoulder. There can be little doubt that Christchurch's Te Kaha poses a significant threat to the Dunedin stadium. It will have several major advantages. Firstly, it will be 15 years newer and will benefit from the novelty aspect of that and of Christchurch's new and vibrant inner-city hospitality. Secondly, Christchurch is a much larger city than Dunedin — with a population around 420,000 it is more than three times as big — and, thirdly, it has a major international airport with direct flights from Australia, Southeast Asia and North America. Those are selling points which any promoter and artist will find hard to look past. Tougher times certainly lie ahead for Dunedin's stadium and for when it comes to easy access to international acts and sporting fixtures for people in the South. However, we should not wallow in southern doom and gloom. Dunedin will continue to attract events and there remain plenty of other wonderful reasons to come and share our heritage, wildlife and culture.
