Category: Radio New Zealand

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Toxic algae warnings issued for Hutt and Wairarapa rivers

Source: Radio New Zealand

By Madleine CarrWhite, Massey Journalism Student

File photo. Supplied / Greater Wellington Regional Council

Toxic algae warnings have been issued for Hutt and Wairarapa rivers.

Red alerts are in place for Hutt River at Silverstream, Waipoua River at Colombo Road, and Ruamahanga River at Double Bridges and Te Ore Ore.

Greater Wellington Regional Council advised people not to swim or let their dogs near the water.

The algae is a neurotoxin that acts like snake venom and is extremely harmful to humans and lethal for dogs if ingested.

“Toxic algae lives on the riverbed, where it’s usually out of reach,” Greater Wellington senior advisor integration and insights, Penny Fairbrother said.

“But during a flare-up like this, thanks to warm weather and a lack of rain, the algae lifts off the rocks and accumulates at the river’s edge, where it poses the biggest risk – especially to dogs who seem to love the smell and will try to eat it if given the chance.

“Even a small amount of toxic algae, the size of a 50-cent piece, can be enough to kill a dog.”

People should check the LAWA website for toxic algae warnings and alerts before visiting rivers in the Wellington region.

People who were feeling unwell after being in contact with algae were asked to see a doctor or contact Healthline on 0800 611 116.

Anyone who suspected their dog had swallowed toxic algae should visit the nearest vet immediately.

Greater Wellington was monitoring popular swimming spots weekly. It asked people to check the LAWA website for warnings and alerts before visiting rivers in the Wellington region.

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Multiple crashes block lanes, one dead, several hurt

Source: Radio New Zealand

Traffic was blocked in northbound lanes on the South-Western Motorway, SH20, at Onehunga, on Sunday morning. Supplied/ NZTA traffic camera

One person has died following a crash in Waikato.

The single-vehicle crash was on Howden Road in Temple View around 8.30pm on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a crash has blocked lanes on Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway at Onehunga, and northbound drivers are being warned to take another route.

Two vehicles were involved in the crash on State Highway 20, police said. One person had serious injuries and two were moderately injured.

“Motorists are advised to avoid the northbound motorway at this time, or delay travel,” they said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said the Queenstown Road offramp was closed as a result of the crash. Motorists should instead use the Hillsborough offramp.

“Allow extra time for diversions. Please follow the directions of emergency services,” NZTA said.

In Southland, Winding Creek Road in Southland was blocked following a single-vehicle crash between midnight and 1am.

Police said injuries were reported, and the Serious Crash Unit was advised.

“Motorists should avoid the road as emergency services work the scene or delay travel. The road is expected to be blocked for most of the day.”

And Invercargill’s Leet Street was closed following a single-vehicle crash around 3am.

“The Serious Crash Unit has been advised, and the road is expected to remain closed for most of the day while emergency services work at the scene,” police said.

“Diversions are in place, and motorists should account for extra travel time.”

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Multiple crashes block lanes, people injured

Source: Radio New Zealand

Traffic was blocked in northbound lanes on the South-Western Motorway, SH20, at Onehunga, on Sunday morning. Supplied/ NZTA traffic camera

A crash has blocked lanes on Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway at Onehunga, and northbound drivers are being warned to take another route.

Two vehicles were involved in the crash on State Highway 20, police said.

One person had serious injuries and two were moderately injured.

“Motorists are advised to avoid the northbound motorway at this time, or delay travel,” they said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said the Queenstown Road offramp was closed as a result of the crash. Motorists should instead use the Hillsborough offramp.

“Allow extra time for diversions. Please follow the directions of emergency services,” NZTA said.

In Southland, Winding Creek Road in Southland was blocked following a single-vehicle crash between midnight and 1am.

Police said injuries were reported, and the Serious Crash Unit was advised.

“Motorists should avoid the road as emergency services work the scene or delay travel. The road is expected to be blocked for most of the day.”

And Invercargill’s Leet Street was closed following a single-vehicle crash around 3am.

“The Serious Crash Unit has been advised, and the road is expected to remain closed for most of the day while emergency services work at the scene,” police said.

“Diversions are in place, and motorists should account for extra travel time.”

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Government data being held by ‘unvetted third parties’ – Treasury report

Source: Radio New Zealand

Government Communications Security Bureau director-general Andrew Clark. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) spy agency has taken six times longer than it should have to address questions about lax cyber security identified in a Treasury report.

The report last year mentioned that government data was “being managed or held by unvetted third parties”.

It gave no details, so RNZ sought them.

Director-general Andrew Clark apologised for taking 120 working days to respond, instead of the statutory 20 under the Official Information Act (OIA).

He then refused to answer virtually all of the dozen questions.

Clark said they had to keep incidents and vulnerabilities confidential or people would not share with them, and they needed that information to counter threats.

The Treasury report said government agencies had continued to raise concerns about the security of third-party vendors’ products and services, including poor security controls and unpatched software.

“Some agencies reported that vendors had offshored some services without their prior approval, meaning government data was being managed or held by unvetted third parties,” said the quarterly investment report for the three months to December 2024. Such reports are released publicly many months after they are done.

New Zealand’s small size as a market was biting it, the report suggested.

“Agencies assess that poor service delivery is likely driven by lower competition and less resourcing for comparably smaller contracts in New Zealand versus larger markets,” it said, under the title ‘Other emerging … issues’.

“Low competition, coupled with poor service delivery from some vendors, has also led to high reliance by many Government agencies on the same few vendors, which creates risk to service delivery across the public sector should those vendors suffer a cyber security incident or event.”

Many government agencies had become increasingly reliant on cloud-computing services from US Big Tech companies.

RNZ asked the GCSB, National Cyber Security Centre and Internal Affairs who the problem vendors were. Clark in his response would not name them or say anything about them.

“Providing this information would likely have commercial implications for these vendors” so that was refused on the grounds of unreasonably prejudicing someone’s position.

What about the government agencies that had raised the alarm?

“I am refusing those parts of your request where you have asked for information that has been provided to the GCSB in confidence by agencies,” was the reply, otherwise it might prejudice the supply of such info in future.

The unvetted third parties were not disclosed, and neither were the risks to service delivery that Treasury had told ministers were in play.

The risks information was refused on the grounds the GCSB “does not hold this information in the manner or format you have requested”.

Work was underway on digital investment and procurement, Clark said.

Asked what measures were taken, he said the National Cyber Security Centre provided a range of advice, and they had recently developed “minimum cyber security standards” to focus on the basics and encourage good practices.

The subsequent three quarterly reports after this one did not mention the threat again.

But other weaknesses did come up in them, and in one case Treasury was called out for them, in the latest quarterly report, to September 2025.

It said many data and digital projects did not include information relating to cyber security management or improvement.

It went on to fault the Treasury’s investment management system because it did not recognise the ongoing cost of cyber security, “making it difficult” to upgrade old systems and move away from on-site hardware to ‘as-a-service’ tech “which we know deliver better security results”.

“The current financing rules and settings around capital and operating expenditure are preventing agencies from modernising and improving their cyber security.”

Agencies’ approach to procuring IT systems or services was called “outdated and fragmented” by the government chief digital officer in the September quarterly report, six years after Treasury told the public sector to take an all-of-government approach to try to cut the IT upgrade bill of multi-billions of dollars.

The long wait for the response to the OIA request was put down by the GCSB to consultation and the “volume of information requested” by RNZ.

Most of Clark’s three-page response was taken up outlining the grounds for refusing the information.

RNZ asked for any report that focused on the threat, but did not get one.

Clark apologised for the wait.

“Our response … did not meet the statutory deadline and I do apologise for that. Thank you for your patience while we completed our response.”

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Crash blocks lanes on Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway

Source: Radio New Zealand

Traffic was blocked in northbound lanes on the South-Western Motorway, SH20, at Onehunga, on Sunday morning. Supplied/ NZTA traffic camera

A crash has blocked lanes on Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway at Onehunga, and northbound drivers are being warned to take another route.

Two vehicles were involved in the crash on State Highway 20, police said.

One person had serious injuries and two were moderately injured.

“Motorists are advised to avoid the northbound motorway at this time, or delay travel,” they said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said the Queenstown Road offramp was closed as a result of the crash. Motorists should instead use the Hillsborough offramp.

“Allow extra time for diversions. Please follow the directions of emergency services,” NZTA said.

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NRL: What we learnt from NZ Warriors’ win over Newcastle Knights

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mitch Barnett returned to the Warrior side against Newcastle Knights. David Neilson/Photosport

Analysis – Skipper Mitch Barnett’s comeback from season-ending knee injury has helped inspire his NZ Warriors to their best NRL start in eight years and second-best in history.

After losing three of last week’s starters, coach Andrew Webster was able to pull a few rabbits out of his hat to cover their absences – including two debuts and the return of an old favourite.

In his final season with the Warriors, Barnett, 31, was held out of the opening two games of the 2026 campaign as a precaution, but his arrival onto his old stomping ground of McDonald Jones Stadium helped boost his side when they needed it most.

“Awesome,” Webster confirmed. “He laid on that try for Jacko and it was nice to hear the Knights fans give him a cheer too.

“It was good to have him back. The last three weeks, he’s made life pretty hard for everyone at training, running hard and tackling like crazy.

“He’ll play more minutes in coming weeks and had to move him to edge-back row, where he did a great job.”

Barnett’s addition to the rotation will cause Webster some headaches over coming weeks, as he tries to balance his team’s winning momentum with the inclusion of their spiritual leader.

Here’s what we learnt from the 38-12 win over the Knights.

Best player

Hard to go past Dally M Medal leader Jackson Ford, who must surely take maximum points again from his 100th NRL appearance.

For the second time this season, he led the Warriors in both running metres (236) and tackles (44) – he led them in tackles for the third time – while also scoring his second try of the season.

Ford already paced the competition in post-contact metres, but chalked up 96 more in this performance, while slotting the first goal of his career, with the conversion of Luke Hanson’s last-gasp try.

“I didn’t get to see it, but I hear it was pretty cool,” Webster said. “He’s getting a lot of praise at the moment and he deserves it, but we’ve been celebrating him internally for a long time now.

“I’m glad everyone’s finally seeing it.”

Webster has a selection dilemma on his hand, now that Barnett is back to reclaim his No.10 jersey.

Despite Barnett’s return, Ford never left the field, after logging 70 minutes-plus in the two previous games.

Jackson Ford celebrates his 100th NRL game with ‘Mahi Mark’. David Neilson/Photosport

With a motor that big, maybe you keep Barnett on the interchange, tag-teaming with fellow skipper James Fisher-Harris and keeping the veterans fresh for a late-season charge.

Webster has a similar predicament at halfback, where Tanah Boyd produced another sterling performance, scoring his third try in as many games, laying on two try assists, breaking the line twice and assisting on another linebreak.

Only Ford’s form has robbed Boyd of more Dally M love, as he led his team with 87 Fantasy NRL points, and his dominance will make it hard for Webster to drop him, when Luke Metcalf becomes available next month.

Fisher-Harris continued his fine early-season touch, while lock Erin Clark is back to where he left off last season, when he was Dally M Lock of the Year.

Key moment

With halftime looming, the Warrior only led 12-6, but were on the right side of a heavy penalty count.

Referee Liam Kennedy had warned the Knights for their repeated infringement at the previous kickoff and finally snapped, when fullback Fletcher Hunt strayed offside near his own goal-line.

With Hunt in the bin, the Warriors needed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and did that, when debutant Luke Hanson put makeshift centre Leka Halasima across for a try and an 18-6 advantage at the break.

Last time Halasima appeared at this venue, he broke Knights’ hearts with his last-minute gamewinner – this one almost as important.

Halasima has now scored four tries in three games and doesn’t seem to care where he does it from – off the interchange, from the second row or the midfield.

The Warriors piled on 30 consecutive points, before the Knights could catch their breath, effectively ending the contest with 20 minutes still remaining.

That’s become a bit of trend this season.

Two weeks ago, they were 6-6 with Sydney Roosters, before unleashing 22 points either side of halfway to build an unassailable lead.

Last week, they conceded the first try to Canberra Raiders, before a 40-point avalanche that buried their opponents.

Best try

Again, so many to choose from.

Was it Barnett’s assist to Ford in the latter’s 100th game or Clark’s first for the Warriors in his 29th outing?

Let’s give it to the final flourish, where wing Dallin Watene-Zelezniak gathered a desperate Knights kick after the final siren and offloaded to fullback Taine Tuaupiki, who was a threat every time he touched the ball all night.

Tuaupiki burnt the Knights defence and had the tryline open, but heard the call from Hanson in support and threw a pass that had his mate sidestepping the goalpost to score.

Luke Hanson and Taine Tuaupiki celebrate their last-gasp try against Newcastle. David Neilson/Photosport

Hanson was able to celebrate his arrival in top grade appropriately, with Ford’s conversion the cherry on top.

Should first-grade be this much fun?

Injuries

While Hanson enjoyed a dream debut, the same couldn’t be said for Englishman Morgan Gannon, who lasted less than five minutes, before knocking himself out in a tackle and leaving with concussion.

He will sit out next week, but the Warriors seemed to escape any further casualties.

Hooker Wayde Egan left for a head check midway through the second half, but he was probably due for replacement anyway and returned for the final 10 minutes to close out the game.

There will be a few sore bodies on Sunday and maybe a little concern over Boyd, who was collected in a heavy tackle, as he kicked across the field late. Knights front-rower Trey Mooney was sent to the bin and Boyd walked off what will hopefully prove nothing more than a cork to his leg.

Tuaupiki and Fisher-Harris also stayed down after tackles, and Ford copped an elbow from Dane Gagai to the head, but all remained on the field afterwards.

Barnett seemed to come through 36 minutes without incident, entering the action after 25 minutes and leaving 20 minutes into the second half.

Presumably, fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita will be off concussion protocols and available next week, but second-rower Kurt Capewell’s calf will likely keep him sidelined for a few more weeks yet.

Centre Adam Pompey had his attendance record blemished, when he stayed in Auckland on babywatch. He’ll surely be back next week.

Newcastle Knights

Apparently, Knights coach Justin Holbrook was not impressed with the first-half refereeing and the final penalty count was 11-4 against, with two players sin-binned and three on report.

“I’m not a referee and, if that’s the way he sees it, it’s up to us to fix it,” he offered diplomatically afterwards.

“We haven’t had an issue with it until today, we got it wrong and paid the price for it.”

That’s also become a bit of a trend for the Warriors this season.

Two weeks ago, Roosters coach Trent Robinson seethed over the 11-4 count against his team and the NRL refs almost seem to be making up for all those years that the Warriors have suffered from suspect officiating.

Morgan Gannon’s NRL debut ends early with concussion. David Neilson/Photosport

Newcastle were also unbeaten over their opening two games, emulating last season’s start, when they lost their final nine games and ultimately took the wooden spoon.

“It wasn’t good obviously,” reflected Holbrook. “We played two really good games to start the year, but we were poor with the ball today and made some really basic errors.

“Our skill was poor and obviously our discipline, and you make the game really hard against an opposition that did the opposite of that. We had a tough afternoon.”

They have problems without injured stars Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown, and may lose more to judiciary next week.

Newcastle face another daunting challenge next Saturday, when they travel to unbeaten Canterbury Bulldogs.

What this result means

Don’t look now, but the Warriors are top of the table, baby!

OK, still only week three, but they have a points differential advantage over Penrith Panthers, while Melbourne Storm’s loss to Brisbane Broncos sees them slide a step behind.

The only team that could have topped them this weekend were – incredibly – Wests Tigers, who needed a 56-point win over South Sydney Rabbitohs. They couldn’t manage that.

This is just the second time in club history the Warriors have reeled off three wins to start their season – they managed five straight to start the 2018 campaign.

One hundred-and-twenty points across three games make them the most potent attack in the competition. That’s also the most they’ve ever scored in their opening three games.

What’s next

Next Friday, the Warriors will host the Tigers, whom they have beaten in their last nine encounters.

After several years of mediocrity, Kiwi legend Benji Marshall has dragged Wests off the bottom of the competition, finishing 13th last season.

They started this season with a bye and a promising 44-16 win over North Queensland Cowboys that convinced many they may be playoff contenders.

On Saturday night, South Sydney Rabbitohs dented that perception, with a thrilling 20-16 win over the Tigers, who also lost halves Jarome Luai and Adam Doueihi to injury.

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Horror won big at the 2026 Oscars – it’s time the genre was taken seriously

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ryan Coogler’s period vampire movie Sinners was nominated for a record-breaking 16 Oscars, bringing home four golden statues – including the coveted best actor prize for Michael B Jordan.

Weapons‘ Amy Madigan fended off stiff competition to win best supporting actress, and – at the PG-rated end of the horror spectrum – K-Pop Demon Hunters won best animated film and best original song.

Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus shuffled away from the ceremony clutching three Oscars in its cadaverous hands.

Australian actor Jacob Elordi scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in the sci-fi horror Frankenstein.

Netflix

41 photos

Frankenstein won best production design, best costume design, and best make-up and hairstyling out of nine nominations that included best picture and best supporting actor for Australian actor Jacob Elordi.

It would appear that horror is now considered up there with the costume dramas and masterpieces of world cinema that have long been mainstays of film industry awards.

But this has not always been the case. Aside from rare recipients such as William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973) – which took possession of golden statues for best adapted screenplay and best sound but missed out in all eight of its other nominations – horror has often taken a back seat during awards season.

It seems unfathomable now that Anthony Perkins didn’t receive any Oscar love for his now-iconic role as Norman Bates in Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Fans were also horrified, but not in a good way, when Ari Aster’s 2018 occult chiller Hereditary (and its trailblazing performance by lead actress Toni Collette) was completely overlooked by the Academy.

Linda Blair in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, which was nominated for ten Oscars.

YouTube screenshot

The Exorcist was the first of only a handful of horror features to be nominated for the best picture award.

Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010) and Get Out (2017) were all nominated, and more than worthy potential recipients, but were all snubbed.

In 1991, Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs won best picture (there’s much debate as to whether the film is a horror or a thriller – let’s just say it’s both), but why the wait for another success story like that of Sinners?

For many, the view that horror is less worthy of mainstream gongs stems from the “video nasty” era, when rental shelves at petrol stations across the Western world placed horror tapes on the top shelf alongside more lurid adult titles.

But horror is a very broad church and anyone with a passion for the genre will tell you of their love of everything from gore-fests such as Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981) to quieter, more atmospheric terrors like Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961) and Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963).

Indie horror is a hotbed of innovation and experimentation and an inclusive place to take risks and have fun. And perhaps one reason for horror’s ascension to the big league of film awards ceremonies is the way in which it is purpose-built to hold a mirror up to society’s problems.

Demi Moore is the beating heart – and sinew, bone and tendon – of The Substance.

Madman

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024) explored ageing, body image and media manipulation via twin powerhouse performances from Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore. Fargeat was the first woman to be Oscar-nominated for writing and directing a horror film, and Moore received a best actress nomination, but both were snubbed on the night.

Jordan Peele’s brilliant and disturbing horror-with-comedy Get Out (2017) took an unflinching look at racism, with the Academy awarding it Best Original Screenplay. Horror can tackle these big themes using allegorical storytelling, revealing that the scariest monsters of all are often ourselves.

While cheering on the great and good during the Oscars coverage on Sunday night, I was reminded of my own undying love for the genre.

I remembered my first-ever live book reading at a big horror convention called Horrorfind Weekend in Maryland, US. Tens of thousands of fans were in attendance, lining up for hours for autographs from horror luminaries such as George A Romero (Night of the Living Dead, 1968) and Tony Todd (Final Destination franchise, 2000s, and Candyman, 1992).

Night of the Living Dead was one of the first modern zombie horror films.

Courtesy Everett Collection

The panel discussions often continued in the bar afterwards, and I remember chatting with one of my horror heroes, the writer and filmmaker John Skipp (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, 1989). We were talking about how to reach a wider audience with our work, and Skipp reminded me, “If you make outsider art, you’ll attract outsider fans.”

Perhaps, this is the key to horror getting the gold standard of approval from awards voters. The more our leaders push us ianto ever widening margins with their endless stoking of culture wars, the more we become outsiders. We need to face our demons in order to overcome them. Many of us long to be seen, and horror stories see all of us.

The emerging generation of horror filmmakers like Ryan Coogler know this and embed it within their work. To paraphrase the (now Oscar-winning) song ‘Golden‘ from K-Pop Demon Hunters, horror is done hiding, and now it’s shining.

Frazer Lee is a Reader in Creative Writing at Brunel University of London.

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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to make State of the Nation speech

Source: Radio New Zealand

Winston Peters. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Winston Peters will be making his State of the Nation address in Tauranga on Sunday, purposely timed after the release of the quarterly GDP figures.

It also comes off the back of heavy questioning by the New Zealand First leader about the previous Labour government’s decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic, following the release of the second phase of the royal commission of inquiry.

Peters has been accusing Labour ministers of not passing on critical vaccine information to the public, which Labour strongly denies.

Currently, NZ First is trending upward in the polls. In the latest RNZ Reid Research poll, the party sat at 9.8 percent in the party vote, which would result in 12 seats in parliament – four more than what it currently holds.

Peters was third in the preferred prime minister ranking, at 12.6 percent. Labour’s Chris Hipkins was at 21.1 percent, with Christopher Luxon on 19.4 percent.

Last year, Peters faced disruptions from hecklers during his State of the Nation speech to a packed crowd on a range of topics, including the “war on woke”, diversity targets, water fluoridation and the Paris Climate Agreement.

This year, it was expected Peters would address the cost of living and the state of the economy, as well as make an election policy announcement.

Recently at Parliament, he said he would not make his State of the Nation speech until after the GDP figures were released. He noted other party leaders were premature making their speeches before this information was available.

On Thursday, Stats NZ data showed gross domestic product (GDP), the broad measure of economic growth, rose an anaemic 0.2 percent in the three months ended December, to be 1.3 percent higher than a year ago. On an annual average basis, the economy grew 0.2 percent over the year.

Expectations were for quarterly growth in a range of 0.2 to 0.5 percent, although the growth of the previous quarter was revised lower to 0.9 percent from 1.1 percent.

Late last year, Peters signalled he was willing to criticise his coalition partners after he savaged National’s suggestion of asset sales as a “tawdry silly argument”, which he said it was falling back on after having failed to fix the economy fast enough.

“Because they’ve failed to run the economy properly, they want to go to the assets of a time when the country was run properly, when we were number two in the world and built up by our forefathers and to start to flog those off … to so-called balance their books,” Peters said.

The recent attack on Iran by the United States and Israel had the government monitoring developments, along with how fuel and supply chains could be disrupted in New Zealand.

And last week the finance minister indicated the worst-case scenario Treasury had outlined was a rise in inflation to 3.7 percent.

Peters will likely address the global instability, and how that will impact New Zealanders.

He will also likely take a swipe at the opposition. In 2024, Peters used roughly half of his State of the Nation speech to criticise the previous Labour government, along with the media and the Green Party, before outlining New Zealand First’s plans for the country.

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Kim Gordon is as fearless as ever on new album Play Me

Source: Radio New Zealand

With each passing year, Kim Gordon grows more impressive. A fearless talent devoted to the avant garde who refuses to soften her artistic impulses, she’s not just releasing music into her 70s, but music that’s as challenging as her old band Sonic Youth were during their heyday.

There’s no denying Play Me is slight when compared to her 2025 release The Collective (it very much comes off as a collection of b-sides to that album), but it finds its own identity regardless, Gordon again adds vocals to trap and industrial beats, but branching out into motorik tempos and instrumental hooks that border on pop.

She worked with Justin Raisen, who helmed The Collective and has produced music for Charli XCX, Drake, and Lil Yachty, with results lighter and sillier than anything Gordon has done previously, and run through with sardonic wit. Aiming once again at topical targets, but with an even broader approach (which is saying something considering The Collective had a feminist song called ‘I’m a Man’), she holds a mirror up to things like tech bros and government censorship by approaching them at their level.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

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‘We’ve got the cattle’: Penney warns Crusaders just getting started

Source: Radio New Zealand

Crusaders winger Chay Fihaki goes over for his second try. Brett Phibbs / www.photosport.nz

Revenge served.

The Crusaders dished up a vengeful performance against Moana in Albany, to all but banish memories of their loss to the side at home in 2025.

“They stung us deeply last year,” said coach Rob Penney.

“I wouldn’t say revenge, but it was certainly something that we were well aware of, there was a lot more physical presence about us this year compared with last year.”

The defeat was buried in ruthless fashion, the Crusaders putting fifty on the proud franchise in their first appearance on the North Shore for the year.

After a lacklustre effort from a Will Jordan-less Crusaders against the Blues, Penney threw the challenge down to his backs to take the pressure off their superstar fullback.

Step up Sevu Reece, Chay Fihaki, Braydon Ennor and Leicester Faingaʻanuku.

The quartet were lethal with ball in hand alongside Jordan, combining for five scorching tries and some scintillating running rugby.

“You start rattling those names off, and how blessed are we with the talent that we’ve got? We’ve just got to keep supplying the opportunities. The ability for us to have multiple threats across the park is such a key for us, we’ve got the cattle.”

Penney worried too much reliance was being put on their superstar fullback, who was also handed captaincy duties for the clash with David Havili sidelined.

“Will stepped in and took over that leadership role superbly. So really, we didn’t miss a beat.”

After a rough start to their campaign, both Jordan and Penney felt things were clicking for the defending champs.

“It’s nice to get back-to-back victories, we’re a dangerous side and I think there’s still growth for us.” Jordan said.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Cantabs, up by just three at half-time, before the floodgates burst open.

“The job was not fully done, we felt that was close towards the back end of the first half, and the boys just went to work in the second half, it was awesome,” said Penney.

Penney said his side was still far from the finished product.

“We still have a wee way to go. I think we’ve got a lot in us, and so I hope we have the ability to unleash further.”

A scary prospect for opposition sides.

“I hope so,” said Penney.

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