Rollo Manning has been a rugby tragic all his life since being named after a Wallaby winger and educated at a private boarding school in Sydney, Australia. Manning has been working in publicity and public relations for 40 years, and during that time has commented on the "game they play in heaven" through radio, magazines and newspaper coverage.
As a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, he has broadcast in magazine style programs and live coverage of games. He is currently a regular contributor to www.scrum.com and radio shows in his hometown of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Manning has been contributing to eSports for six years and relishes the opportunity to express his views on the first of the two rugbies. He is currently completing work on a study of the inter play between rugby league and rugby union over the past 100 years, when league was formed as the professional arm of an otherwise purely amateur game.
Since 1995, both have become professional and the drift of players is going back from league to union. Where will it end? That is the question Manning is now asking himself.
The final four spots on offer in the last three rounds of the Super 14 rugby.
The last three rounds of Super 14 rugby should produce some close finishes, if last week's matches are anything to go by.
In a dramatic 11th round, the competition leaders, the Crusaders, could only draw with the last placed Western Force (Perth), and that shows they are not so invincible as the pundits think they are.
Also, the ACT Brumbies held out third placed Hurricanes (Wellington) and showed through their determination that they are real contenders.
The second team on the ladder, the NSW Waratahs had the bye, which is the last for the competition and means all teams are on equal matches played for the remaining run home.
The contenders for the final four, and not quite there yet, are the Bulls (Pretoria), the Chiefs (Waikato), the Sharks (Durban). The remaining teams are five points or more behind these top eight.
The Hurricanes have the Chiefs this coming weekend and then the Waratahs in the last round.
The Bulls meet the Crusaders in the penultimate round, and an upset to the home side (Bulls) is on the cards based on the Crusaders form and the way the Force rattled their previously unstoppable men from Canterbury NZ.
The game in the next round between the Bulls and the Sharks will be a close one, as each team will be playing for the honor of being the top South African side in the tourney.
The earlier rounds showed some sporadic form and could have been due to the early start -- first weekend in February, while all their mates were still at the beach. However the games in the last two rounds have restored the faith in running rugby and it should be a great run home.
It is looking as if the calculators can be put away for the next two rounds with both the Crusaders and Waratahs securely at number one and two and the remaining top six teams mentioned above to fight out the final two spots. All games become "must win" at this stage.