Normally the Badger hates sharing the limelight.

So with nearly 3000 additional furry little critters running everywhere at Baypark last Saturday, you'd think this varmint would be spitting badger bile.

Not this time - a solid third of the big 9000-strong crowd were kids, courtesy of some clever ticket pricing and very patient parents.

You've gotta love it. It brought a freshness back to Baypark, a glimmer of hope that rugby isn't a dying, old man's game but may indeed appeal to the next generation of Steamers supporters.

They cheer, they clap, they shout and every so often, one of them even watches the footy.

The Badger can remember some of the glory days at the Tauranga Domain, when big brawling impromptu games would erupt on the grassy embankment. One little blonde tacker in particular, probably no more than four, would get the crowd cheering whenever he laid the smack down on an opponent twice his size.

Luke Braid was still doing it on Saturday, this time for the Steamers.

It was just as well the Bay won last week though, cos there's nothing angrier than a beaten badger with a bereft belly.

Getting any sort of snack at Baypark was a nightmare. There's nothing so disheartening as shuffling down to the food stalls to find 500 people being served by three staff.

Luckily an elaborate system of badger tunnels meant I missed the traffic carnage as well, but the traffic management company who let queues form back to the harbour bridge should be in charge of cooking the snarlers at the next home game.

Just in from this week's Rugby News, hot off the press - Colin Bourke and Cory Aporo have made the Air New Zealand Cup Form XV, Bourkey for the second week in a row.

A request of Steamers coach Herb Schuler - can you please release our beloved No 8 the week of the Otago game so he can play for the All Blacks against Samoa. Many thanks.

It's not widely known but the Bay Badger has a `brother from another mother'. He's the Harbour Hamster, who dwells on the brilliant www.harbourrugby.com fan site.

The Hamster and his witty brethren had this to say about Saturday's game:

It would've been a travesty of natural justice if we'd escaped from this game with a draw or a sneaky win, but that doesn't make Zar Lawrence's 'try' hurt any less. The decision by the TMO to award it was right up there with some of the most piss-poor calls inflicted on the Warriors in their introductory years. We can but hope that somewhere in the pits of hell there is a spot reserved for officials who are overtly biased, and that each day they are forced to listen to Peter Montgomery's Olympic rowing commentaries.

Last off the list of rants this week comes from the supposed winterless north, where it's fair to say the Taniwha are decidedly frosty about a return to Heartland rugby.

In our opinion, it's a decision that rhymes with NZRU and often sticks to the Badger's fur, and Northland supporters also feel the same.

Apparently some of them are even planning an Okara Park pitch invasion before Friday night's game against the Steamers to protest at Northland's axing.

This paper would never condone such despicable behaviour ... but the Badger says go for your life.