kiwipete

The Super 14 Rugby Final will be held this weekend at Jade Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand, between five times Super 12 Champions, the Canterbury Crusaders and first time Super Rugby finalist, the Wellington-based Hurricanes.

Both teams have awesome defences,exciting backs and great loose forwards. They make Northern Hemisphere rugby sides look like bumblng draught horses!

The Super 14 competition was expanded to 14 teams this year after ten years of Super 12: adding a fifth South African, and fourth Australian side in Perth,Western Australia.

The Canterbury Crusaders based in Christchurch won five finals and titles and were runners-up in two others, in the ten year competition.This year they play in their eighth final, since professional rugby started in 1996.

They are superbly coached by Robbie Deans, and captained by new All Blacks captain, Richie Macaw, the best open-side flanker in the world. Pivot Daniel Carter, the best first five/ fly half in rugby anywhere is a key figure. As a kicker he continues to break former All Black and Crusader Andrew Merhten's records one by one.

On the other side former All Blacks captain,Tana Umaga and blindside flanker, Jerry Collins are key figures. A boomer of a game is expected! Former Crusaders Assistant coach, Colin Cooper, now coaches the previous under-achieving Hurricanes.Can they beat the bookies?

I will update this post after the match on Saturday NZ time.

The days of cheap oil are most likely over for the West, but there may be alternatives to Middle East oil closer to home!

Up in Alberta, Canada's sub-Arctic north where temperatures plummet to over 40 degrees below zero, lies their oil sands which could produce billions of barrels of high grade oil in the future.

The basic industry will be to heat the sands and seperate the oil,from them. But a shortage of labour - another 100,000 workers are needed plus huge investment to extricate the high grade oil product.

Workers could be earning well over $120,000 US a year once the industry is created. The conditions would be extremely difficult in the new land of opportunity in North America.

Americans will have to learn to treat their Canadian cousins with a little less of a condescending attitude, and will have to learn to share the vast returns from the huge potential that exists.

Environmental considerations will also have to be met long before the dollars start rolling in to the coffers of the investers.

But the one thing that will definately happen in the future is a few more news bulletins on this subject!