Reuters

HIT FOR SIX: Many rugby viewers were far from impressed last weekend when they sat down to watch the Six Nations on Sky TV only to discover the tests weren't being televised as scheduled.

RUGBY FANS HIT FOR SIX

A late change of plans left Sky TV's rugby viewers disgruntled over the weekend – and rightly so.

Accompanied by a half-page picture of Sam Burgess, February's Skywatch issue trumpeted live coverage of the Northern Hemisphere's feature tournament, the Six Nations, on Sky Sport 1.

"Will Stuart Lancaster fast-track Burgess into the England side for their opening matches against Wales and Italy? Look to Sky Sport for the answer," the blurb read.

Expectant punters had their planners set in advance, some to record the action – only to find it wasn't on live, as promised.

As it turns out, Sky will not screen any of the Six Nations matches on their channels live.

According to a Sky spokesperson, ESPN, a third party provider, decided at the "11^th hour" to retain the rights and screen games live on ESPN 3.com, which is only available to Sky viewers via SkyGo, an online service.  

The upshot was a lot of confusion and angst on Saturday morning. Most punters had no idea why the games weren't on, or how to watch them. Other than going online, Sky viewers could only watch England's victory over Wales nine hours after kick off on ESPN's regular channels.  

"We apologise for the change in the broadcasting of this event and the late notice of that. We never like to alter what we have told our customers but in this case it was out of our hands," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Unfortunately, this will be the status quo for the entire tournament. Not being able to view matches live on regular Sky programming is major disappointment, it must be said, especially in a World Cup year when most rugby fans are keen to keep a close eye on our northern threats.

As one passionate English mate also pointed out, while the quality of rugby may not compare to the free-flowing exhibitions we are treated to, the rivalries and atmospheres are superb.

It also begs the question why you'd bother forking out $8.81 per-month for the Rugby Channel.

OOPS. WRONG TWIN!

Apparently the Robertson brothers, Zane and Jake, are difficult to separate.

Zane, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the 5000m last year, was clearly fuming after Athletics New Zealand mistakenly congratulated his twin brother, Jake, for finishing second and smashing Rod Dixon's 33-year-old Kiwi half marathon record by two minutes and 25 seconds in Japan last week.

The embarrassing public blunder saw Zane vent his fury on Twitter at the governing body. Athletics NZ later replied to African-based Zane. To be fair, Stuff can't escape criticism either with this very site occasionally mixing up the brothers in photos. 

MO' MONEY MO' PROBLEMS

There was no shortage of public grumbles about the battles of attracting corporate sponsorship to women's sports at the Northern Mystics' swanky season launch last week.

"We hope it is the start of women's sport taking its rightful place in commercial sponsorship," Mystics chairwoman Dianne McAteer said of the three-year deal with Sky City that's thought to be worth around $300,000 annually.

Auckland Sports Photography

READY TO LAUNCH: It was all smiles at the Northern Mystics' season launch in Auckland last week.

Fair enough, but netball must also realise major funding and exposure comes with scrutiny. As a sport, the code has been guilty of being overly precious and too sensitive to warrant criticism at times.

For genuine progress to be made on all fronts, those views must change. 

O-EMCEE!

Getty Images

WIDE OF THE MARK: Aaron Cruden and Jerome Kaino were less than impressed after a Q and A session before a trial game in Whangarei.

Northland More FM host Graeme Severinsen should not expect an invite back to host another Q & A session. At the Blues v Chiefs preseason game in Whangarei, "Sevy" was charged with entertaining corporates during an informal chat with Aaron Cruden and Jerome Kaino.

Severinsen began with the apparent "elephant in the room" - telling Cruden it was lucky he travelled on the team bus, or he would have missed the trip. He is then said to have asked the Chiefs playmaker who was harder to confront; the All Blacks team, coach or his wife, after missing the flight to Argentina last year.

Other questions posed to Kaino and Cruden were - who was a better coach – Sir Graham Henry or Steve Hansen. Later, Severinsen asked Cruden why he thought the Blues were so poor.

Cruden's response went like this: "Maybe because they have fans like you."

To which Severinsen said. "I support Northland, not the Blues."

Kaino was irate, tweeting his frustrations before removing the comments after he criticised the wrong radio station.

Worst of all, More FM sponsor the Chiefs, who are thought to have made an official complaint.

CURRY PACKS A PUNCH

Rieko Ioane – the kid that had everyone asking 'what were you doing at 17?' – stole the show with six tries at the Wellington Sevens, but how about the efforts of captain-in-waiting Scott Curry?

Whether it was making try-saving tackles at full stretch, showcasing a surprising turn of speed, snaffling crucial breakdown turnovers or crossing for tries at vital moments, Curry was inspirational in DJ Forbes' absence.

Forbes may well make it to Rio next year.

If he doesn't, though, the underrated Curry looks ready to fill his shoes.

Eight titles, including four of the last five, in front of passionate local support is also something that should have the Warriors taking note. 

Getty Images

GREAT SCOTT: Scott Curry in action at the Wellington Sevens.

RETURN ON THE CARDS

Three months after "lashing out" at his wife and being dumped by Duco Events, Kiwi light heavyweight boxer Robert Berridge has announced he will make a comeback in Melbourne on March 6. You be the judge whether he is fit to return to the ring.

THEY SAID WHAT?

"This could be the year when New Zealand win both the cricket and rugby World Cups. What an achievement. They will never get a better opportunity to complete that double." Hard to disagree with former England captain Michael Vaughan. No pressure.

OLD SCHOOL

How good would it be to see the current All Blacks re-enact this old-school shot? Grant Fox must have drawn the short straw – that's him in the equestrian attire. And would Terry Wright's lean frame survive today's collisions?

CLASSIC SLEDGE

With all the attention on sledging ahead of the Cricket World Cup, this brilliant jibe directed at the English cricket team and spotted in Melbourne hit home the essence of a quality probe.

Twitter

BANTER: The cheeky posters have appeared around Melbourne ahead of the Cricket World Cup.

To get in touch with Liam, contact him on here on Twitter. Each week, he'll run his favourite tweets in this column. 

 - Stuff