The action on the park has been thrilling, but the post-match broadcasts have also been pretty lively at times. On at least three occasions, players turned the air blue for viewers around the globe with a little bit of language not typically shared on family-friendly television and radio. As we get ready to enjoy the knockout rounds of the Super 14 competition, we thoughts we’d warn you that you may need to keep the youngsters away from the broadcast after the match in case there are more incidents like those documented below from Green and Gold Rugby and elsewhere. (Note: Clips contain rude language–obviously.)

Early in the year, the cameras caught the Reds’ Van Humphries in an inspirational monologue that wasn’t intended for the airwaves:

Nathan Sharpe of the Force was a little bit more direct in treating the media to a little bit of extra colorful language:

Unwilling to leave all the cursing to the Aussies, Ma’a Nonu of the Hurricanes made sure to top them all in a radio interview late in the season (the gems start about 40 seconds in):

You may have to watch out during the match, too, though, and not just for the players. A lot of rude things get said about referees, but this time match official Bryce Lawrence was the one dishing out the language:

Enjoy the knockout rounds as the Super 14 season closes down this month–but you may need to turn down the sound!

Based on this weekend’s first round of matches, we’d have to say the new interpretations look like a success even if there were a few high penalty counts as players get used to the new guidelines. In fact, we’re already hoping that the new guidelines catch on worldwide. We may get our wish, considering that the new interpretations may be seen in international tests in a few months. But we’ll let you be the judge after taking a look at these highlights from three of the weekend’s matches:

Bulls v. Cheetahs:

Blues v. Hurricanes:

Brumbies v. Force:

Although some players had opted not to perform the cibi even before its removal from the team’s pre-match events, the decision to scrap it was controversial and the dance has now been reinstated.

Controversy surrounding the few teams who perform war dances before matches has been around for decades, though more often due to concern surrounding its effects on fair match play than the issues surrounding Fiji’s cibi last year. Despite Fiji’s temporary removal of their dance, most of the dances probably won’t be going anywhere any time soon, especially given the popularity of the New Zealand All Blacks’ haka dance.

How do you feel about the appropriateness of the dances performed by New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga? To help us dance in the New Year, have a look below and judge for yourself:

Fiji’s Cibi:

New Zealand’s Haka:

Samoa’s Siva Tau:

Tonga’s Sipi Tau:

And a video with Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga all together:

The Springboks’ loss to France was overshadowed by a debacle surrounding the performance of the South African national anthem. After the match, enraged Springbok representatives claimed that a poor rendition of the anthem insulted the vistors and affected their play.

Even after it was revealed that South African representatives were responsible for recommending the anthem’s performer, France found itself apologizing. The singer offered his own explanation that he had been sabotaged, though some government officials in South Africa were unconvinced and went so far as to suggest the performance was an act of treason. (Though it bears mention that this particular anthem has been butchered in the past by home crowds as well, and more deliberately.)

We’re hoping that the whole fiasco is over, but we are also reminded that the issue of suspiciously subpar anthem performances for visiting sides is not terribly uncommon. On the same weekend, for example, there were murmurs about a sound failure during the performance of New Zealand’s national anthem before the All Blacks put away Italy. Earlier this year, the United States’ loss to Canada was prefaced by an error in the American anthem’s performance.

The idea of pinning a loss or a poor performance on a sabotoged anthem might be a stretch, although it wouldn’t be the first time a hometown conspiracy was blamed for a rugby union loss. That said, one has to wonder if we might see some sort of regulatory efforts from the International Rugby Board to ensure consistent standards applied to anthems and other pre-match events.

In case you haven’t yet got to hear the anthem heard ’round the world, here is a clip of that much-maligned performance from this past weekend:

And here’s another performance of the anthem for comparison.

And just for good measure, here’s one more effort to make amends by the now-infamous singer:

There’s not much musical nous here at Armchair Playmaker, so you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.

One problem, though, is that it has still often looked like there’s no legitimate third contender in the sport to pressure those two antipodean rivals, England went ahead and beat New Zealand today. That means that the Four Nations final won’t include New Zealand, and it also means that the tournament this year was competitive enough that tournament final will include a side with a loss (England) and a side with a draw (Australia). Only struggling France failed to emerge from the tournament without a win in the end, and even France led England at half-time when the two European sides met in the tournament.

A cynic might say that the emergence of apparent competitiveness between Australia, New Zealand, and England isn’t much, and that it only means rugby league is at best a three-horse race (even if France competed gamely with them and there are other interesting international matches going on right now as well). Compared to rugby union, for example with its hundreds of member nations, three sides offering legitimate contention for the title is far from competitive. Right? Maybe. After all, how many teams have held the top spot in the International Rugby Board’s rankings over their entire history since being introduced in 2003?

Let’s see: There’s England (ranked #1 at points during 2003 and 2004), New Zealand (ranked #1 from mid-2004 to late 2007 and during parts of 2008 and 2009), and South Africa (ranked #1 during parts of 2007, 2008, and 2009, including right now). That would be … three sides?

Looking at things that way, international rugby league might be reasonably competitive after all, more so if England can rise to the occasion in next week’s Four Nations final. In any case, it looks like rugby union is watching.

Here’s a fan’s view of a few moments from England vs. New Zealand:

We can’t find much other video out there yet to post for today’s matches, but here are some earlier tournament highlights:

Australia vs. England:

New Zealand vs. France:

Australia vs. New Zealand:

England vs. France:

Among the most memorable Eels players for the American audience week in and week out must have been Tongan-born Fuifui Moimoi (who is also eligible to play for New Zealand internationally). He got audiences’ attention with hits so big that they can only be appreciated fully with the aid of science (sometimes a little too big), though his memorable name may have garnered as much notice from new viewers as his tremendous play.

If you found yourself becoming a new fan of Moimoi’s, but were as captivated by the cult figure’s interesting moniker as you were by his tremendous efforts, you’re not alone. Moimoi is the subject of a song focused on his name and acheivements, as seen below:

We assume he doesn’t mind the song because it will be playing when he enters the boxing ring for a charity match (the bout has been delayed by the Eels’ success). If you’re not a fan, though, you can see examples of Fuifui’s imposing play without the soundtrack:

Now and then, of course, Moimoi is on the receiving end as well:

Here’s hoping Spike TV and other U.S. networks see fit to show us more of Moimoi and the NRL’s other luminaries in the future!

If you think that joke has already grown old, then at least you can enjoy these highlights from the match:

In a word, Twitter is a site that allows people to make accounts and post very short sentences about what they’re doing, sites they’d like people to read, questions for others, etc. In that way it’s not so different than a blog, but with entries of only 140 characters each. (No, the Armchair Playmaker site doesn’t have a Twitter account to go with this site–we just don’t have enough to say for two sites!) (UPDATE: A day after this post went up, we decided we couldn’t resist snooping on the stars and make an ACP twitter account.)

One of its most popular uses, though, is not to post but to read others’ entries. Users can make an account and “follow” another user to see what that user posts, so many people choose you “follow” friends and celebrities.

We’re not weighing in on whether the Twitter phenomenon is a passing fad or here to stay, but given the topic of the bog we may as well point out that there are a number of rugby union and rugby league personalities who use Twitter. Here are just a few of the well-known people and organizations from the rugby codes you can “follow” with Twitter to see what they have to say (or, if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can just look at their sites anyway):

-David Campese, former Australia rugby union star (not to mention uncle of current league star Terry),
-Will Carling, former England rugby union captain,
-Canterbury of New Zealand, popular union and league kit provider,
-Karmichael Hunt, best known at the moment for his impending jump from rugby league to AFL,
-Leinster Rugby, the 2009 rugby union Heineken Cup champions,
-Victor Matfield, South African rugby union star,
-Ewen McKenzie, who may need to change his “LeLink” Twitter name after getting sacked last -night as coach of Stade Francais, and
-Lote Tuqiri, former Australian union and league star who has used Twitter a fair bit of late to keep his fans informed.

You may find more of your own favorites if you look for youself. If you can’t resist the Twitter phenomenon, have a look at the video below to learn how to get on board. Just beware that you might be part of the majority of Twitter users who quit the service in the first month.

Anyone we missed who you’d like on the list? Leave a comment below with your recommendations.

Andrew Slack, who knows a bit about rugby union as a former Wallabies captain and selector, begs to differ. He argues that in general (with exceptions), the code crossers have done well for his country by starring in a number of test matches and hitting other performance goals.

It’s a compelling point, and similar arguments might be made for other nations. Jason Robinson left league in England to become a legend in union, and Farrell made a contribution by managing to play for his country in union despite being well out of his prime before the switch. Brad Thorn has starred for New Zealand in union and Australia in league, swapping codes and countries more than once in an ongoing career. (In fact, as much talk as there is about failed code switches, it is nation switches that may be the some teams’ bigger worry.)

Another issue worth mentioning is that other code transfers who continue to shine in union after switching before their prime, such as Berrick Barnes and Rocky Elsom, also seem to be quietly ignored in the criticism. In fact, the Wallaby Tri-Nations squad a year ago had five former NRL players in it if one counts the oft-forgotten Barnes and Elsom.

With all the money involved in some of the code swaps, there is plenty of room for debate on what counts as a good investment, just as there will be with Karmichael Hunt’s impending change to Aussie rules. That said, it’s hard to look at moments like these as evidence for total failure: