Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

New Zealand sports news is as scarce as hens teeth on this side of the ditch. However the Courier Mail excelled in kiwi coverage in Monday mornings edition with four pieces, albeit mostly bad news.

The Queensland daily rag had plenty to say about the Warriors crash and burn against the Titans on the Gold Coast on Sunday. Hardly ever complimentary about the NRL side from the shaky isles, they let rip about the Warriors throwing away a 12-8 half time lead to see the home team post 28 unanswered points in the second spell to grab a emphatic 36-12 win.

Consistency week after week in the grind of one of the hardest sporting competitions in the world has proved to be the Warriors Achilles heel. A win would have all but secured the Warriors a finals berth but they simply handed the encounter to the Gold Coast side playing for pride out of playoffs contention.

The Queensland daily papers most telling comments came in a rugby league column entitled Five Things We Learnt Yesterday. Number three said "The Warriors are the NRL's greatest disappointment. The New Zealand team could have cemented eighth place by beating the Titans, but imploded after leading 12-8 at halftime in what was a typical display".

The coverage of the Crusaders surge to another Super Rugby title when they defeated the Canes on Saturday evening, was overshadowed by the Courier Mail headline "Tyranny of distance burns brave Waratahs".

However they did reserve some praise for the Crusaders in their Super Final against the Lions in Christchurch this Saturday night, saying that the South Island side will be favoured to lift the trophy again given their tradition and having home game advantage.

While the bad news is that annual Queensland holiday will have come to a end by the weekend - the good news is that we will be able to watch the Super Rugby title decider from the comfort of our Western Bay living room.

There was a short par on Joseph Parkers loss to Dillan Whyte, noting that the British brawler had to survive a heavy knockdown in the final round to win at the O2 Arena, in which he barely made it to the bell.

Also in the sports briefs was the result of the New Zealand Women one-all draw against the Hockeyroos in the Hockey World Cup.

Our return home will see this Western Bay of Plenty sports commentator focus move to "Our" Bay of Plenty Steamers, as they begin their national rugby championship campaign.

Go The Mighty Steamers

P.S. The Te Puke region well and truly rules Baywide rugby, after Te Puke Sports took out the Premier One and Development titles and Rangiuru won the Premier Two championship last weekend.