On Saturday the Warriors beat the Rabbitohs in a game of rugby league. On Sunday the Blues beat the Lions at rugby union. Today, Andrew Mulligan reports on a miracle. Holy shit the Blues and Warriors won on the same weekend for the first time since…April 30th 2017. Not that long ago but given confidence … Read more
What’s in a name? Once again not much, if you’re an NRL commentator. The 2018 edition of the NRL kicked off last night, with a new look St George-Illawarra Dragons drawing a packed house for their clash with the Brisbane Broncos. Things have changed down in the land of the famed Red V, with a … Read more
After ending their dreadful 2017 season with a 9-game losing streak, the Warriors will be looking to create some more positive memories for their beleaguered fans. But where does last year’s abysmal failure sit within the pantheon of poor performances? James Dann looks back over the club’s history since 1995 to rank each of their … Read more
Ross Taylor scored an unbeaten 181 runs in yesterday’s ODI victory against the England men’s team. Madeleine ChapMAN accurately reports. After his heroic innings, Ross Taylor stood on the boundary rope at University Oval and stared adoringly at his wife, Victoria Brown. She was largely to thank for this moment, having also been a top … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, Alex Braae takes a look at a comically bad season for the Wellington Phoenix, who’ve just fired their coach, Darije Kalezic. Who? Kalezic is a Swiss/Bosnian/Dutch journeyman who arrived at the Wellington Phoenix at the start of the … Read more
The New Zealand Breakers have announced a new ownership group including two former NBA players. It’s a well-orchestrated transition which only serves to show how special former owners the Blackwells were, writes Andrew Mulligan. The Breakers just beat the Warriors to it, again. They were the first to bring a non-rugby title to the fully professional … Read more
After almost a decade of combat sports experience, New Zealand’s Israel Adesanya made a highly anticipated and violent entrance to the UFC on Sunday afternoon. Don Rowe reports. When Australian wrestler Rob Wilkinson crumpled to the floor at Sunday’s UFC event in Perth, his nose plastered across his face and bleeding profusely from cuts around … Read more
There are more problems than solutions when it comes to the integration of Sevens World Series events, but, as Scotty Stevenson discovered in Sydney, it is clearly the way forward for the sport. They crushed it in front of their home fans. The Australian women’s sevens side, in a prime afternoon spot, hammered New Zealand 31-0 to … Read more
From Auckland to Methven, two Aussie lads chased the essence of New Zealand rugby. Scotty Stevenson recounts their journey. Jay Staunton and Ricky Blanch have been mates since they were 13-year-old freshies at Brisbane Grammar School. They’re footy-mad boys from the heart of Brisbane, stalwarts of the Wests Bulldogs, where they make up two thirds … Read more
Someone had to do it. In 2015, around the time of the World Cup, the New Zealand Cricket Museum started selling this stunningly attractive poster. Designed by Into the White Press, it details the evolution of the New Zealand one day international cricket uniform, from its beige beginnings to years of glorious grey, the teal … Read more
Another big name All Black has been tempted to the Northern Hemisphere. Scotty Stevenson reports. The English Premiership has swooped on another front line All Black with Lima Sopoaga set to announce he has signed with Wasps for the northern 2018/2019 season. The deal will see the Highlanders and All Blacks first five depart New … Read more
NZ rugby needs to act, and act fast. While it is financially the most dominant code in New Zealand, it could lose the attention of potential athletes fast if they can see that there’s money to be made elsewhere. What will 2017 be remembered for by rugby fans? There’s a couple of strong narratives, neither … Read more
The Black Ferns recognition as the World Rugby Team of the Year is a big deal for women athletes around the world. Let’s just say it out loud for those in the back of the room: World Rugby, the body charged with running the game of rugby union around the globe, just handed its Team … Read more
With New Zealand’s rugby-playing women cleaning up at today’s World Rugby Awards, the head of New Zealand’s largest sports management agency outlines why pay parity is a red herring and the Black Ferns are the steak knives of our generation. 2017 might just be remembered as a breakout year for women’s sport. A capacity of … Read more
Wellington and Hurricanes stalwart Brad Shields may be in line to play for England at the next World Cup after allegedly turning down the chance to join the All Blacks on tour. Cue predictable outrage. But spare us the guilt trip, writes Scotty Stevenson. If it is true Brad Shields said ‘no thanks’ to a … Read more
The success of Tonga and Fiji in the Rugby League World Cup is a marker of what might happen if clubs gained more power in rugby, writes Jamie Wall. In a week where World Rugby revealed a bit more of its agenda than it probably wanted to, the controversy of the awarding of the 2023 … Read more
The best rugby team in the world facing down Australia’s league team in Tokyo? All it takes for the ‘might’ to turn into a ‘will’ is someone to stump up with the cash, writes Jamie Wall. This time of year really is the silly-season for the rugby rumour mill. Just last week we were subjected … Read more
New Zealand’s favourite alternative flag made a magnificent comeback at the All Whites vs Peru match on Saturday. Jamie Wall talked to one of the dedicated fans behind it. Turns out the flag referendum wasn’t a complete waste of money after all. As the All Whites and Peru took to the sun-drenched Westpac Stadium pitch … Read more
The Samoa Rugby Union needs a hand up, not a hand out, writes Scotty Stevenson. It also needs a complete administrative overhaul and an end to the culture of intimidation, cronyism and silence that disrespects the players and the game. Here we are again, then. Samoan rugby’s overlord, prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Maliegaoi, is passing … Read more
Billy Idol’s bizarre 2002 performance in Sydney was a seminal moment in NRL grand final history. Now, 15 years on, a Sydney journalist has commemorated the event by having Idol’s hovercraft performance tattoed onto his leg. Jamie Wall talks to Steve Zemek about his courageous move to immortalise this piece of rugby league history. The Warriors … Read more
There are plenty of reasons why the Wallabies scored an upset, none of them involving random sexist slurs, writes Jamie Wall. This morning, for some reason, the New Zealand Herald decided to float the idea that the new, still to be sworn in prime minister Jacinda Ardern “cursed” the All Blacks, leading to their defeat … Read more
Jamie Wall chats to Manu Samoa veteran Dan Leo about unfairness, welfare and the myth of ‘poaching’ in Pacific Island rugby. It’s the same depressing tale we hear every year: a Pacific Island nation tours, plays tests against tier one nations and the players receive a pittance in return. Add on to that the fact … Read more
There’s not a lot of hope for Australian rugby ahead of tonight’s test, says Scotty Stevenson. Despite the usual cork floats of confidence bobbing about in the sea of indifference that constitutes the vast majority of planet rugby in Australia these days, the third and final Bledisloe test in Brisbane is likely to go the … Read more
To the sound of country music, long suffering Northland rugby fan Scotty Stevenson fears a winning season could be inevitably lost. The night was decent enough for rugby. Northland was slowly emerging from its traditional wet winter and the evening promised to remain clear. A southerly wind chilled the dusk but it wasn’t enough to … Read more
The national secondary school basketball champs have been newly crowned, but more importantly, a star was brought to the fore. Madeleine Chapman introduces New Zealand basketball’s newest superstar. Charlisse Leger-Walker, a year 11 student at St Peters College in Cambridge, is the best school-aged basketball player New Zealand has ever seen. The Grand Final of … Read more
Inspired by Augustine Pulu’s goal post antics this weekend, Jamie Wall counts down his favourite moments of rugby cheating. One of the good parts about the Mitre 10 Cup, aside from the often frivolous attempts at defence, is the opportunity for a lot of players to try new things. Counties-Manukau’s Augustine Pulu certainly got in … Read more
Jamie Wall looks back at the years in which the rugby may or may not have changed the course of our political history. It’s no secret that rugby means a lot to New Zealanders. There’s been studies on how our obsession for the national game affects society off the field, for example how a single … Read more
There will be motivation aplenty for both teams tomorrow when the All Blacks face the Springboks at Albany, but the most motivated of all might be the only guy in the All Blacks team who remembers what it is like to lose to South Africa in New Zealand. They’ve pretty much all gone now, by … Read more
An eye-catching performance against Argentina on Saturday night has made All Blacks loose forward Vaea Fifita the talk of the rugby world. Jamie Wall was there for an equally spectacular moment in the Mitre 10 Cup last year. If you’ve ever come to Auckland, you’ll know about the traffic. It’s so bad it often dictates … Read more