In this series of critical review of rugby websites there will be no winners or losers. My links are to be found at Media Links Worldwide .

What to expect: Well, it depends which flavour you choose!

The Kiwi site is seemingly streets ahead in coverage with plenty of news headlines on its front page - both sites are effectively re-formatted newspapers, written largely by newspaper reporters and composed by newspaper-influenced composers - and the Aussie site is certainly more parochial but since both rely heavily on the local newswires there probably isn’t a lot to choose between them newswise. Both sites have a heavy Antipodean bias, of course, which isn’t all bad if that’s your compass.

There are some subtle differences, however. Since the Aussie site has had some sort of historical association with the Sydney Morning Herald it prints columnists, the “Experts”, from that paper - at one time relying heavily on the predictable fulminations of Greg Growden and the folksy wisdom of Spiros Zavos. In contrast the Kiwi site has a more straightforward format not, so far at least, betraying any marked editorial allegience. Both sites feature opinion from a range of rugby personalities - Grant Fox, Tony Smith, Ewen McKenzie and John Connolly among them - and as a result while the mainstream is well represented there isn’t quite the broad range of opinion that www.stuff.co.nz serves up.

As for video the Kiwi site has a certain amount of interview-type coverage - useful if you don’t know what Robbie Deans looks and sounds like - but not exactly at the cutting edge. Notably it does feature a Women’s page, a healthy departure for rugby news coverage.
Strong points: Very much the authentic voices of the Antipodean mainstream.
Weak Points: Apparently satisfied with mainstream issues - a little more controversy or at least dissenting opinion wouldn’t hurt.