What is the best way to tackle Sonny Bill Williams? I posed this question on Twitter recently following SBW's recent barn-storming display against The Sharks at Twickenham and received plenty of opinions - some more colourful than others - which I thought I would share with you.

So, what is the best way to tackle Sonny Bill?

"Bring DeWet Barry or Brian Lima out of retirement."

"Tranquilliser darts?"

"Food poisoning."

"David Pocock."

"Horse tranquilizer."

"Impossible."

"Below the knees, hold on tight, like James Small tackled Jonah Lomu."

"Get in the ring with him."

Interesting answers - some more viable than others. One other reader highlighted how Wallabies centre Stirling Mortlock stopped a rather green SBW when the latter was playing for the Barbarians in 2009 (see video above) and there is little doubt that he was stopped in his tracks.

However, on that occasion he was not helped by the pass from Kiwi fly-half Luke McAlister and was critically stopped behind the gainline before he could get up a head of steam. But that was SBW circa 2009 and while his union credentials had been boosted by a spell with Toulon he was playing for the Baa Baas whose pre-match preparation revolves around a hotel bar.

SBW is now a more refined rugby product and alarmingly for the rest of the world he is not the finished article. He runs intelligent lines (whilst also holding his own in defence) and is also blessed by dominant forward packs with both the Crusaders and the All Blacks and the service of arguably the world's greatest player - a certain Dan Carter.

Add SBW's own physical stature, pace and skillset and the problem of tackling him is all too apparent. But as any fan of the game will know, tackling him is only part of the problem due to his enviable ability to off load out of the tackle.

Our own archives are filled with pictures of SBW wearing defenders like a cloak, brandishing the ball like an apple looking for a supporting runner who he more often than not finds with a timely floated pass. So it is clearly not just a case of stopping the 1.91m, 108kg and green-booted (this week) machine but also ensuring the ball also comes to rest.

The obvious answer to both problems is to deny the Crusaders/All Blacks the ball in the first place - a task easier said than done. All Blacks coach Graham Henry is no doubt aware that he is in possession of a real game-breaking talent (in addition to at least a couple of others) and having made his international bow at the back end of last year he is sure to take a central role in the forthcoming Tri-Nations - that will be a key testing ground - and the World Cup.

Between now and then, Robbie Deans, Peter de Villiers, Martin Johnson, Warren Gatland and co will continue to ponder the answer posed here - good luck with that one.

Melbourne's 30,000-seater Rectangular Stadium or AAMI Park will play host to the Melbourne Rebels and is already the home of rugby league side Melbourne Storm and football sides Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart © Getty Images

An interesting piece offered by NZPA this week highlighted rugby union's apparent falling popularity if Australia and more alarmingly - the task facing the Melbourne Rebels if they are to buck that trend ahead of their Super Rugby bow in 2011.

Australia announced themselves as Tri-Nations contenders with an impressive victory over South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday but you wouldn't believe it if you were reading Melbourne's major weekend tabloid, the Sunday Herald Sun. The timing of the clash in Brisbane on Saturday night may have not helped their bid to hit the headlines in the following day's papers but somehow you don't think that would have made a difference - such is the city's infatuation with the Australian Football League (AFL).

"Of the 26 pages devoted to sport, 20 were brimming with stories about the latest round of the AFL," reported NZPA. "The Wallabies' 30-13 victory warranted 15 paragraphs on page 21; all up there were 36 stories concerning AFL plus a myriad of photographs and graphics.

"Australia's three-wicket loss to Pakistan at Headingly was also relegated, perhaps not surprisingly. Meanwhile, the Herald Sun's news section boasted 10-more AFL-related yarns, including a double-page spread detailing the players' "off-field party haunts".

"Melbourne's sporting obsession also attracts blanket coverage on television -- there are at least five shows on free-to-air, the same again on cable.

"The All Blacks used the sports mad city as their base during the 2003 World Cup to escape the hype of Sydney, so some of the older players already know their place in the pecking order. And as a reminder, the traditional captain's run at the test venue on Friday is unlikely to take place because Etihad Stadium is being prepared for the Essendon v St Kilda blockbuster later that night."

Rebels officials were no doubt always aware that they would face a battle to find a following in the city and the scheduling of the new-look Super 15 - a late February start and early August finish - will see it go head-to-head with the AFL. Add in the effort required to recruit a squad capable of holding their own on the Super Rugby stage and the Melbourne Storm salary-cap controversy that dragged in the now-departed Rebels chief executive Brian Waldron earlier this year and it is clear the side have some major hurdles to cross before they even take to the field.

Only time will tell if they can get anywhere near to attracting a large following to their 30,000-seater home at AAMI Park with half that figure a more realistic number. According to reports the Sydney-based Waratahs were the most popular Australian Super 14 franchise in terms of attendances (24, 204 average) with the Reds (22,815), Western Force (17,020) and Brumbies (15,256) lagging behind. The same figures list the Stormers as the most popular side (42,382) with the Bulls (34,290) and Sharks (25, 333) in second and third.

The Bulls' Francois Hougsaard dives over to score the all-important try at Loftus © Getty Images

What an amazing game the Bulls and the Crusaders played out at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night. For those of you that missed it, the Bulls claimed a dramatic 40-35 victory to cement their place at the top of the Super 14 table and book a home semi-final in this year's post-season but that is only part of the story of thrilling game where the lead changed an incredible ten times. Sevens tries, two yellow cards, a bucket load of drama and a hint of controversy top it all off.

The match may not have had as much riding on it as our selection of some of the most dramatic finishes of all-time but certainly warrants its place amongst them:

Australia 17-20 England, Rugby World Cup Final, Sydney, Australia, November 22, 2003
England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson kicked England to Rugby World Cup glory with an extra-time drop goal to set the seal on the northern hemisphere's first victory in the sport's global showpiece. Wilkinson's last-gasp effort was all that separated the sides after 100 minutes of intense rugby and was a fitting finale to the sport's best-ever tournament.

Wales 31-24 Scotland, Six Nations Championship, Cardiff, Wales, February 13, 2010
Wales produced one of the greatest escapes ever to claim a 31-24 victory over Scotland in a pulsating Six Nations clash at the Millennium Stadium. A last-gasp try from winger Shane Williams in stoppage time set the seal on a remarkable comeback that culminated with an amazing 17 points in the last three minutes. Tries from John Barclay and Max Evans had put the Scots on course for victory and the boot of fly-half Dan Parks gave the visitors a 10 point lead midway through the second half. But winger Leigh Halfpenny pounced to give Wales hope before Stephen Jones brought the sides level with a late penalty. But there was still time for one more dramatic twist with Williams diving over under the posts to break Scottish hearts.

London Wasps 27-20 Toulouse, Heineken Cup Final, Twickenham, England, May 23, 2004
With time running out, veteran scrum-half Rob Howley conjured an opening with a cunning grubber kick up the left touchline that Toulouse fullback Clement Poitrenaud tried to usher into touch or into in-goal. Howley dived for the ball and claimed the try but Irish referee Alain Rolland went to the Television Match Official before awarding the score. The try gave the Premiership side a crucial advantage with just seconds to play and Mark Van Gisbergan added the conversion to seal the win.

Harlequins 19-17 Stade Francais, Heineken Cup, Twickenhm Stoop, England, December 13, 2008
A last-gasp drop goal from fly-half Nick Evans following a thrilling final passage of play enabled the Premiership side to complete a notable double over their French Top 14 rivals and take a giant step towards this season's quarter-finals. Stade Francais looked on course to exact revenge for last weekend's defeat in Paris when Argentina fullback Juan Martin Hernandez slotted a drop-goal with just eight minutes remaining but the home side rallied once more for an epic final onslaught that spanned 29 phases.

Australia 35-39 New Zealand, Tri-Nations, Sydney, Australia, July 15, 2000
One of the sport's all-time great games was also blessed with a dramatic finish. An injury-time try from Jonah Lomu earned New Zealand a stunning victory over arch rivals Australia in Sydney in front of a world record crowd of 109,874 at Stadium Australia.

Leicester Tigers 13-12 Llanelli Scarlets, Heineken Cup semi-final, City Ground, April 28, 2002
Tim Stimpson kicked a last-gasp penalty from five metres inside his own half that hit the post and the cross bar before going over. His 60m effort booked Leicester's place in the 2002 Heineken Cup Final where they would go on to beat Munster.

Bulls 20-19 Sharks, Super 14 Final, ABSA Stadium, Durban, South Africa, May 19, 2007
The Bulls snatched a dramatic victory over South African rivals the Sharks in a pulsating Super 14 Final in Durban. Speedster Bryan Habana cut his way through a tired Sharks defence for an injury-time try that set up the match-winning conversion that was slotted by fly-half Derick Hougaard.

Is this Scrum.com or FT.com? © Scrum.com

A glance at the Scrum.com homepage on Thursday morning and you could be forgiven for thinking that you had landed on ft.com or even wsj.com such was the financial focus of our leading stories.

Wasps had moved quickly to dismiss reported threats of a winding-up order due to an unpaid tax bill while the New Zealand Rugby Union was also on the defensive after announcing record losses for the previous financial year. But in a classic case of burying bad news, the NZRU along with their SANZAR partners Australia and South Africa announced a bumper windfall courtesy of a new broadcasting rights deal with Sky Television (New Zealand), Supersport (South Africa) and Fox Sports (Australia). With the global economic pinch still wreaking havoc around the world it is perhaps not surprising that your favourite rugby destination would have such a slant, but it didn't stop there.

The most worrying development of the day was that playing out in Melbourne with the ugly word 'cheat' accompanying our other finance-based story of the day. Heralded by some commentators as the most shocking sports story to have ever surfaced in Australia, the Melbourne Storm's blatant and systematic abuse of the salary cap sent a web-based tidal wave across the country and then across the globe.

The fortunes of an Australian rugby league side may not seem that important to an ardent follower of union until you learn that the man accused of being the architect of the deception is Brian Waldron - the Storm's former chief executive who you may remember took the reins at Super Rugby expansion side the Melbourne Rebels earlier this year. I must stress that at present it is still not clear as to what role Waldron may have played, if any, in the scandal but it is hard to imagine the chief executive not being aware of such a set-up having been in charge of the team over the period in question.

John Hartigan, chairman of News Limited who are the owners of the Storm, left little doubt about his feelings having pinpointed Waldron as the orchestrator of his side's downfall. "In my view if we are to be honest as a company and as a sport we should look further than just rugby league," he said. "We don't want people like that in sport in Australia. It is entirely up to the Rebels."

If Waldron is dragged further into the mire of secret payments to players - with a possible criminal investigation pending - then it is safe to assume his days at the fledgling franchise are numbered. These things have a tendency to snowball and you can't help but sense that the figures accompanying the headlines are just the tip of the iceberg and Waldron will have to survive a whole different kind of storm if he is still to be in charge when the first season of Super 15 rugby rolls around.

The Rebels could wait to see how this scenario plays out but they may be better served by acting now in a bid to preserve their efforts to establish the new side in the sports-mad city. They can't afford to see their name sullied as they fight to find a following - this period in the lead up to their competitive bow is all about building bridges with fans, the media and sponsors and this can't be done with a cloud of negativity hanging over the team.

The Australian Rugby Union will also no doubt be taking a close interest in the matter as they look to capitalise on what is set to be a rocky few weeks for the 13-man code and at the same time preserve the integrity of the Rebels who are the only wholly privately-owned Australian Super Rugby franchise.

"It is clear from a Melbourne Storm perspective there will be more details to come and we will follow the situation with interest," said ARU spokesman Peter Jenkins. So will we.

Sharks fly-half Andy Goode has made a headline-grabbing start to his Super Rugby career © Getty Images

I was never the greatest fan of Andy Goode when he was plying his trade in the Premiership for Leicester Tigers and Saracens, in the Top 14 for Brive or on those occasions 17 occasions he was handed the England No.10 shirt but I have found myself wanting to fight the under-fire fly-half's corner since his shock switch to the Super 14's Sharks.

His surprise short-term move came in the wake of personnel crisis at the Durban-based franchise that had seen them lose Argentine playmaker Juan Martin Hernandez to injury and fellow fly-half Steve Meyer into retirement. Eyebrows were immediately raised at coach John Plumtree's decision to sign Goode despite his international credentials because he is not in the same crowd-pleasing class as Hernandez or his predecessor, the equally flamboyant Frenchman Frederic Michalak.

Goode did not help himself by getting sin-binned on his debut against the Crusaders last weekend just a few minutes after coming off the bench in Christchurch. His high tackle on opposite number Dan Carter drew scorn from New Zealand commentators who could not resist the "Andy wasn't very good" pun.

Goode was the subject of more ridicule on his first start for the Sharks on Saturday with the Waratahs providing the opposition in Sydney. The Fox Sports commentary team (including Rod Kafer who was Goode's rival for the Tigers and Sarries No.10 shirt) delighted in mocking his hair ("the only comb-over in the Super 14") and his approach to the game ("something tells me his is not a running fly-half") but Goode himself offered them more ammunition by collecting his second yellow card in as many weeks for a silly ruck infringement that he immediately regretted.

However, Goode did offer a timely reminder of what he can do with a long range drop goal in the opening minutes - a technique no doubt refined in the drop goal-loving Top 14. Despite a key penalty miss in the second half, he did enough to suggest he will retain the No.10 shirt next week for next leg of his five-week Super Rugby sojourn. But things will not get any easier in Canberra where the Brumbies and Wallabies fly-half Matt Giteau await.

Goode would accept that he has never been the most dynamic of No.10s and he has never had the ability to ghost through defences with the apparent ease of the likes of Carter and Giteau. But his lofty position in the Premiership's all-time points scorers list and his similar status in the Top 14 in the last couple of seasons tells you that he will always keep the scoreboard ticking over.

I'm still not a fan but object to the way he is being treated and ridiculed as if he is the flag-bearer for the northern hemisphere in the Super 14 - partly because he is not the best we can offer (they may get a shock is they think Danny Cipriani is from the same mould). I don't want him to take flak from a southern hemisphere rugby community that is still angry about not getting their way over the ELVs.

A little later this year the soon-to-be 30-year-old will find himself back on the Premiership stage with Worcester and Warriors fans can rest assured that Goode will be a better player for his Super Rugby experience and he may well have the last laugh.