Category: Sport

Source: Radio New Zealand

Analysis: Exactly seven days earlier, NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster sat in exactly this same seat and more or less predicted what would happen.

He was defending his decision to delay the introduction of young powerhouse Leka Halasima off the bench until after halftime of the season-opening win over Sydney Roosters.

“The day will come when Leka will play 80 minutes and I’m looking forward to that day, because it will be awesome, but he doesn’t need to do it right now,” Webster said. “He just needs to own his little time and have that impact.”

A week late, his team needed that performance from ‘Leka the Wrecker’.

Halasima had scored a try with his first touch against Sydney, but a week later, as the Warriors overwhelmed defending minor premiers Canberra Raiders 40-6, he fully lived up to Webster’s faith. Thrust into the starting line-up before kickoff through injury, he went the full distance, producing a try double and making his impact felt all around the park.

“Honestly, we were all just talking in the sheds about how proud we were of Leka,” Webster said. “He got a minute’s notice, knuckled down, scored two tries, but his tackling, his defence, his effort areas were the best parts of his game – and he did it for 80 minutes.

“Happy, super happy.”

To open their 2026 campaign, the Warriors have now put 40 points on two highly rated opponents and, while Webster insisted the Roosters scoreline was flattering, he was comfortable his team had earned every bit of their advantage over these opponents, who had a winning head-to-head historical record against them and had won their last three meetings.

This is just the fourth time the Auckland NRL club has begun a season with back-to-back wins – they have only once strung three together. In 2018, they rattled off five.

“Wins like tonight aren’t a surprise to us, but at the same time, we’ve got to get better,” Webster insisted.

Here’s what else we learned from the win over Canberra:

Best player

Halasima was originally selected to come off the interchange, probably in a very similar role to last week, but all that changed when veteran second-rower Kurt Capewell pulled up lame with a calf strain in warm-ups.

His first try came in the 49th minute, when he chased a kick into goal from halfback Tanah Boyd and dived unopposed for the touchdown.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, he propped off his left foot inside one sprawling defender, brushed off counterpart Noah Martin metres from the line and then tumbled over in the tackle of Kiwis centre Matt Timoko for his second try.

His 35 tackles were only a couple less than team-leading Jackson Ford (37) and he ran for 114 metres. After pacing the Warriors in tries last season with 13, he is already among the competition’s leaders with three in two games.

Supposedly filling in for Luke Metcalf, halfback Tanah Boyd continued to stake his claim for a fulltime role with another outstanding performance, scoring a try, kicking five conversions and a penalty, while providing two try assists.

Webster rated his showing against the Roosters as his best in a Warriors jersey – this was his second best.

Front-rower Ford put in another massive effort – he was finally subbed off with five minutes remaining and was his team’s top fantasy scorer with 75 points. He led the Warriors in tackles and run metres last week, and ran for 154 metres this time.

Centre Ali Leiataua showed why he was missed last season, amid the Warriors’ midfield injuries, and may now take some unseating, when Rocco Berry returns from shoulder surgery.

After entering the game early, fullback Taine Tuaupiki was a constant threat on attack, running more than 200 metres and reminding everyone why he was so valued as Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad’s back-up – for now.

Key moment

Leiataua had already delivered a solid first-half performance, highlighted by six tacklebreaks and an assist on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s first try.

With the halftime score level at 6-6, he broke the contest open for the Warriors soon after the break, lurking in midfield to pick off hooker Tom Starling’s pass and gallop 50 metres for the go-ahead try.

The Warriors piled on 34 unanswered second-half points to have the Raiders totally demoralised by the closing minutes.

“That was a bonus,” Webster said of the intercept try. “We spoke about how well they offload the ball and just to stay up.

“Ali was up and made his own luck there. Awesome.”

Try of the game

So many to chose from, but how were the delightful soccer skills of lock Erin Clark in the build-up to Boyd’s try near the end?

Already up 30-6, Boyd created the opportunity with a well-taken 40-20 and then, at the end of the next set, put a kick along the ground towards the goal area.

Clark overran his chase, but flicked the ball up with his heels, and Boyd was following to gather and score.

By then, everything the Warriors attempted turned up diamonds and more than a few Raiders heads went down after this audacious blow.

Injuries

Webster will be holding breath this week over an injury toll that disrupted this line-up against Canberra and may impact future selections.

Capewell’s departure was followed by five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita in the ninth minute, after he knocked himself out in a tackle. Fullback Nicoll-Klokstad moved to the halves and Tuaupiki came off the bench to replace him.

Captain James Fisher-Harris was also pulled from the field before halftime for a concussion check, but passed and returned to play an inspirational role in the result.

Ten minutes from the end, Nicoll-Klokstad also left the field for a test. By then, victory was safe and Webster simply slotted hooker Wayde Egan into the vacancy to close it out.

“We have something organised for every situation,” he assured. “Capey went down in warm-up with calf, so straight away, we knew that Leka was going to start.

“We knew, if we got an outside back or half injury, we would activate Taine, and Charnze would move to the halves or centre or wing.

“We had the plan and then Chanel went down, so we activated Taine, and then ‘Nuck’ went down, so we put Wayde Egan at half.”

The substitutions perfectly illustrated how administrators probably envisaged their new six-man interchange working, with teams now able to utilise specialist replacements, like Tuaupiki, off the bench, rather than playing forwards out of position among the backs.

Previously, Harris-Tavita’s injury may have caused an entire re-alignment of the backline, with Nicoll-Klokstad to five-eighth, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to fullback, Adam Pompey to wing and Halasima to centre – or Egan stationed in the halves for most of the contest.

“The best part was the boys were so calm and so clear during adversity,” Webster said.

Harris-Tavita is definitely out next week, so Webster must likely choose between Nicoll-Klokstad out of position or a first-grade debut for Luke Hanson.

If Nicoll-Klokstad failed his head injury assessment – and Webster had no outcome to report – the spine may include both Hanson and Tuaupiki.

Calves are tricky injuries – and trickier the older you get – so Capewell, 32, may need some time to heal. On the positive side, second-rower Marata Niukore, also recovering from a calf, played for the reserves in the curtainraiser and would be a like-for-like replacement.

Co-captain Mitch Barnett also nears a return from last year’s season-ending knee injury.

Canberra Raiders

The visitors started strongly with the opening try to fullback Kaeo Weekes, but had little else to offer for the rest of the journey.

Coach Ricky Stuart is usually the first to point the finger, if he thinks his team has been treated poorly by match officials, but this contest wasn’t close enough to blame anyone else.

“Disappointed with the result and the scoreline obviously,” he offered. “When you’re on, you’re on and when you’re off, you’re off.

“We had our chances, but they defended very well. You can’t take anything away from their defence – they scrambled well and defended well.

“That intercept, and then we made an error and they scored off that to put them 12 ahead,” Stuart identified the turning point. “With a big home crowd behind them and them on the front foot, it was going to be a big task coming back.”

After needing Golden Point to overcome Manly Sea Eagles in their season opener, the ‘Green Machine’ face another examination next week, when they host Canterbury Bulldogs, who also needed extra time to edge St George Dragons in their Vegas opener, before drawing the bye this week.

Tuivasa-Sheck 150th

The veteran wing had a mixed night, not at all helped by the loss of Capewell and Harris-Tavita from his edge.

He had a pass thrown behind him and another that dipped at his feet in the first half, but eventually led his team with 210 running metres.

While he couldn’t find the tryline in his milestone game for the club, RTS was caught off guard, when Boyd tossed him the ball to convert Watene-Zelezniak’s final try.

“Just hit and hope,” he winked. “I was in shock at the time, but all the boys were egging me on, so I took the role on and was surprised it went over.”

Tuivasa-Sheck kept the kick low, with a little right-to-left fade that steered it safely between the uprights.

Webster observed: “If we’d missed the top eight by two points, I was never going to forgive him.”

What the result means

Again, too early in the season to make any definitive difference on the competition table yet – but Warriors are on top and become the first team to record two victories in the new season.

After two big wins, their points differential is comfortable (+58), remembering they finished only +21 for all of last season and never ventured above +36.

[h}What’s next

Warriors travel to Newcastle Knights, who took out the 2025 wooden spoon, but have changed coaches in the off-season and won their season-opener against North Queensland Cowboys 28-18 in Vegas.

Kiwis coach and Warriors assistant Stacey Jones will have a chance to discuss Kalyn Ponga’s impending international allegiance switch with the player after the game.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A major World Rugby and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation has resulted in anti-doping rule violations being confirmed against six players and one member of the athlete support personnel from the Georgia national rugby union team.

Launched in 2023, the investigation, named Operation Obsidian, looked into claims that players engaged in sample substitution in blatant contravention, outlined in Code Article 2.2 of anti-doping rules.

A report released on Saturday by both bodies reveals five instances where sample substitution occurred, also finding that advance notice of testing was being given to players from the Georgia national rugby union team by employees of the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency (GADA).

It also determined that doping control officers were not observing athletes notified for doping control and not witnessing urine passing, which are clear non-conformities under the rules.

“What has been happening in Georgian rugby is outrageous and will send shockwaves through Georgian sport and government, as well as the global game of rugby,” said WADA President Witold Bańka.

“I also praise World Rugby’s commitment to uncovering the facts and its willingness to work collaboratively with WADA to deliver this strong result for rugby.

“This is not the end of the story as further investigation is now going on deeper into Georgian sport.

“WADA has brought Operation Obsidian’s findings to the attention of the Government of Georgia to address the issues in the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency.

“As the next steps are being considered, clearly, WADA has lost confidence in GADA’s anti-doping program and wholesale changes must now be made by the relevant authorities,” said Banka.

WADA has also extracted samples collected from athletes of other sports in Georgia, with an expert review of the Athlete Biological Passports related to these samples now underway.

The six players, and the support personnel member, are yet to be named, with World Rugby saying the full disciplinary (results management) process has to be completed firdst.

But in a statement, the organisation says the investigation was triggered when irregularities in urine samples were identified by World Rugby’s athlete passport management programme, covering an extended period of time prior to Men’s Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

World Rugby alerted WADA immediately and the two bodies worked closely together.

World Rugby said it took all anti-doping matters extremely seriously and was an unwavering champion of clean sport.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Taking over a struggling team mid-season is one of football’s toughest gigs. Chris Greenacre has now done it four times for the Wellington Phoenix.

The club turned to the experienced coach again last month after Giancarlo Italiano’s abrupt departure adding another chapter to his extraordinary coaching journey.

Coaching was always Greenacre’s plan. Along with a handful of Tranmere Rovers team mates in England in the early 2000s he was part of the Professional Football Association’s pilot scheme of putting current players through their coaching badges. By the time he landed in New Zealand as a Phoenix player he had a UEFA B licence but no real outlet to use it.

Little did he know his first real head coaching job would be, what was at the time, New Zealand’s only professional team.

It is a position many coaches struggling in lower leagues could only dream of landing in their lap, but for Greenacre the unconventional rise was not always easy to navigate. He has yo-yoed between head coach and assistant roles, between the A-League team and the Reserves team in New Zealand domestic competitions.

The Englishman went from being a club legend on the field that hung up his boots somewhat prematurely in 2012 to just months later being head coach while Ricki Herbert was on international duty with the All Whites.

“If I’m really honest, I didn’t know anything, and that’s just the nature of the beast,” Greenacre said of the first time, 13 years ago, in a role he now has a level of familiarity with.

“I think in an ideal world, if you can come through the youth team ranks and develop like that, I think it’s really the best way forward.

“But unfortunately, or fortunately, my path was to go straight in at the top, which rarely happens.”

However, being in the right place at the right time has been a theme during Greenacre’s 17 years with the Phoenix.

Whether it was scoring a crucial goal from centre-forward in one of his 84 A-League games or a timely transition to coaching.

Herbert had been the one to see Greenacre’s potential on and off the field.

Injured and frustrated with his lot at Tranmere Rovers, Greenacre arrived at the Phoenix in 2009 after a chance conversation with former Socceroo Gareth Edds.

Edds was on the radar of A-League clubs wanting to bring Aussies home and on the other side of the world Rovers players were paying attention to what the league was doing.

Despite not taking the field, due to injury, when Herbert and former Phoenix chief executive Tony Pinata visited England to check out their potential visa player, the bosses liked what they saw from the level that the Rovers were playing at and the wheels were in motion to get Greenacre from League One to the A-League.

Herbert then opened the door for the shift straight from player to assistant coach, a role that Greenacre could not turn down despite feeling like he could have played on.

“It was a bit of a risk, I think, because I’m a bit of an advocate for players to play as high as you can for as long as you can. I still say that to players now, if you can keep playing, keep playing, it’s the best place to be.

“Then coaching is probably the next best thing.

“I probably didn’t take my own advice, but felt that, hopefully, coaching was where I wanted the next part of my football journey to take me.”

Since then Greenacre has maximised his opportunities working as an assistant with four of the next five Phoenix coaches after Herbert.

He also filled in as an interim coach after Ernie Merrick, Darije Kalezic, Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay.

He was not an assistant to Italiano – opting instead to go back to the Phoenix academy system for professional and personal reasons.

“It was me recognising that I need more hands-on on the grass, where I’m making the main decisions, and that’s what that allowed me to do over that period of time.

“Also my daughter was about six at the time, during the Covid time, so to not travel to Australia and to spend some time with my wife and daughter was crucial as well.

“On the back of that, I’d completed my pro licence and it was a way of me to be able to put into practice the knowledge and stuff that I needed on my coaching journey at that particular time.”

After two and a bit seasons in charge, Italiano left after a big loss to their northern rivals Auckland FC last month and Greenacre, who is head of the Phoenix academy’s pro development, once again got the call from management to fill the void.

The academy operates separately from the A-League team and Greenacre had no insight into what had gone on this season before his sudden arrival with the top team.

“You never really understand what’s going on internally when you’re on the outside, even though you’re a staff member at the club.

“You don’t know what the relationship is with players and the past coach, you just see a product like you see with the fans on the weekend, so you really have no detail around what’s going on. I think the key to it for me has been trying to get around as many people as I can who were directly involved in it, not involved in it, players, to try and get a real feel as quickly as possible of where you think you might be able to improve it, keep it, steady the ship.”

Taking over with only a small number games left in the season is more about continuance rather the stamping his own style.

“The players are conditioned in a certain way of training, and you may not always see eye-to-eye in that, but you’ve got to also understand that these players are conditioned in this moment, so changing behaviours is really, really difficult instantly, and that obviously takes time, but we don’t have time.”

As a coach, Greenacre wanted to be a balance between man manager and tactician.

“I think the way the game’s evolved, certainly man management’s a really big part of that. Generations have changed, and I think generations look at the world differently.

“I think as a coach, you have to evolve like that. If you remain stuck in, as they say, old-school ways, I think you’re getting left behind. It’s really important that you evolve with the generations that you’re coaching with.”

Nurturing relationships with star players as well as those who did not make it professionally was important to Greenacre in his work with the academy and Reserves team.

“I get really proud of being involved in some of the players that have gone on to do great things and get moves and play overseas.

“I’m as much proud of some of the guys that I’ve played who haven’t made it, who I know I’ve had a really good connection and relationship with, and you still get text messages and calls even now off players that didn’t quite make it, and they appreciate that what we were trying to do in terms of helping them develop as players.”

Being tactically up to speed was also important to the 48-year-old.

“I’m sure in the next few months, years, that my beliefs and how I see the game being played will evolve again.”

Over time Greenacre had taken the “best attributes” of some coaches he had worked with and integrated them into his own approach to coaching.

“There’s obviously coaches that I haven’t enjoyed playing under, coaches that I’ve worked alongside where I’m kind of not really a fan of what they’re doing, and even if it’s the learning from, I probably wouldn’t do that because look how this has made me feel.

“There’s a lot of people that I’ve been really fortunate enough to and proud to have worked with, whether the relationships have been great or not so much.”

The way Greenacre believed he could finally turn the recurring interim role in a permanent position was by winning. The Phoenix have six games left in the season.

Before the end of the month the club is expected to name their next head coach.

“Results give you the best chance, and instant success, I suppose, probably gives you the best opportunity.”

Being a familiar face around NZCIS where the Phoenix are based could also finally give Greenacre an edge this time.

“I think, having been in an environment for a long time, people get to see actually how you work on a daily basis, and not necessarily when you’re under the spotlight of a first-team coach, so I suppose people get to see your mannerisms and things that you do and things they may like, things they don’t like.”

Greenacre’s reputation and ability to develop sought after talent through the academy to the first team who were then sold on to Europe could be another tick on the appointment check list for a club that valued being a stepping stone in player’s careers.

“Ultimately, the powers that be make the decision, and if it’s yes, it’s great, if it’s not, it’s not, and we kind of move on, and that’s just how professional sport works.

“I do have aspirations to coach at the highest level. If that happens, great. If it doesn’t, it’s a similar role to playing. I didn’t quite make it to the Premier League, but I aspired to be there.

“Am I happy that I made a living out of the game as a player at the level I did? A hundred percent. I’ve been proud to say that I made a living out of the game.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Second-rower Leka Halasima and winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scored a try double each, as NZ Warriors overpowered Canberra Raiders 40-6 at Auckland’s Go Media Stadium.

The contest was locked at 6-6 at halftime, but the home side piled on 34 unanswered points to draw away in the second half.

Halasima was a late replacement into the starting line-up, after veteran Kurt Capewell strained a calf in warm-ups, but delivered the 80-minute performance predicted by coach Andrew Webster a week earlier.

The Raiders scored first through fullback Kaeao Weekes, but Watene-Zelezniak responded and halfback Tanah Boyd slotted a penalty for the halftime scoreline.

Centre Ali Leiataua had provided the final pass for his winger’s try and had one of his own after the break, when he intercepted a pass in midfield and scampered away to spark the onslaught.

Canberra beat the Warriors twice last season, en route to the minor premiership, but had no answer in the rain at Mt Smart.

Veteran wing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck couldn’t score a try in his 150th outing for the Warriors, but had the distinction of slotting the final conversion of Watene-Zelezniak’s second try.

See how the game unfolded in our blog:

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Source: Radio New Zealand

This week’s one of despair for New Zealand cricket lovers, after the Black Caps were outclassed in the T20 World Cup final.

But, today is a special anniversary in cricket history – it’s 70 years since New Zealand won its first test match, after 26 years of trying.

The victory over the West Indies at Auckland’s Eden Park came in the 45th attempt, going back to January 1930. They’d suffered 22 losses and drawn 22.

As the victorious cricketers walked off Eden Park many in the crowd jumped the fence and swarmed their heroes.

Among the fans sprinting to the middle was 11-year-old Anand Satyanand.

The future governor-general of New Zealand, now Sir Anand, rushed to see history unfold as it seemed the game was heading for a tight finish.

“I went from Richmond Road School with a small group of friends,” he said.

“We were a cricket-mad school, as I recollect, and from Richmond Road one caught the bus to the reservoir on the corner of Ponsonby and Great North Road and then walked along and across the gully to Eden Park.”

Once there he was among those snapped by press photographers capturing the euphoric scenes.

“I was sitting on the terraces with my friend Ken Pratt… and clearly in a moment of excitement we jumped the fence and walked across the ground, hence that photograph that appeared in the New Zealand Herald of the two teams coming off the field, surrounded by a group of cricketing followers.”

A copy of that now hangs in Sir Anand’s laundry. In the picture he’s carrying his school satchel over his shoulder.

It was a low-scoring match – both teams scored at less than 2 runs an over – and the West Indies on the final day needed 268 runs to win the series four-nil.

But the New Zealanders, especially medium fast bowlers Harry Cave and Don Beard, took advantage of the tricky conditions and bowled them out for 77.

The New Zealand line-up even included former West Indies player Sammy Guillen, but was missing the great batsman of the era, Bert Sutcliffe, who played 42 tests but was never once on a winning side.

Expectations heading into the game were low. The West Indies had thrashed New Zealand in the three preceding tests and it was only a year since New Zealand was humiliated – bowled out for 26 by England, still a world-record low score.

It was quite the turnaround. At the after-match presentations captain John Reid was hailed as a hero, as the crowd gave him more than one round of three cheers.

He later said it was the best day of his cricket career – the non-drinker even tasting champagne during the celebrations.

“For once it wasn’t us who bowled that one loose ball each over, or who dropped the vital catch,” he told journalist Joseph Romanos in their 2000 book, John Reid – A Cricketing Life.

Bill Frith, who was then 10, remembers watching as much of the match as he could, rushing there on the final day from Mt Roskill Intermediate.

In those days you’d get into the last session for free.

“I remember being on the terraces, which were grass at that time. It was quite a good-looking ground at that time, and I can remember the jubilation at the end, with the players pulling the stumps out and souveniring them and and that sort of thing.”

Still years until daylight saving arrived, the players were battling the gloom, but New Zealand had conditions in its favour.

“In those days you could go out and inspect the pitch. And the pitch there, around where the ball pitched, was sort of like corrugated iron,” Frith said.

“I’d be interested to know what it was like on the day we bowled the West Indies out.”

The Press newspaper described the bedlum: “It was a memorable scene at the end. The ground, all green and gold, was besieged by the crowd of 7000 that watched the final act…

“The crowd, savouring to the full the flavour of the occasion, had not fully dispersed when the teams left the ground an hour later.”

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack even reported local offices closing early to let workers head to the ground as victory drew near.

Frith and Sir Anand both thought the win might herald a period of success, but it wasn’t to be, and New Zealand struggled at cricket until the 1970s, not winning another test until the 1961-2 summer.

Since then the team has risen to be one of the best in the world – a long innings the pair have enjoyed watching.

Both men fondly remember watching cricket history take place.

“I follow cricket today, but not with the day-to-day enthusiasm of when I was 10 and 12,” Frith said.

“I used to go down to Eden Park and watch all the club games. I used to go and watch the Black Caps practice, and they’d sometimes bowl to me.

“I was the archetypal cricket tragic at that time.”

Sir Anand was similar, although he said his playing ability never matched his enthusiasm.

“I think it was a vital turn of the road for New Zealand cricket to to be able to foot it against a major cricket playing nation and to win,” he said.

“New Zealand had been treated as a rather secondary sort of member of the world cricket fraternity.

“England and Australia only played us on an irregular basis, but the victory against the West Indies was a pointer to the the modern game, where New Zealand is a contender that is treated very seriously.”

SCORES: New Zealand 255 (John Reid 84, Tom Dewdney 5-21) and 157-9 declared (Denis Atkinson 7-53) beat West Indies 145 (Hammond Furlonge 64, Tony MacGibbon 4-44, Harry Cave 4-22) and 77 (Cave 4-21, Don Beard 3-22).

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Tall Ferns have lost their second successive match at their World Cup qualifying tournament, going down 74-51 to a classy Italy combination.

As coach Natalie Hurst noted, it was an improvement on their opening 99-50 defeat to sixth-ranked Spain on Thursday.

After a slow start in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the New Zealanders outpointed Italy in the second quarter and got to within two points of the Italians seven minutes into the third stanza.

But Italy pulled away late in the third quarter with a couple of big three-point plays, and the Tall Ferns were well-contained the final quarter, scoring only seven points.

It’s been a big step-up in intensity for the youthful Tall Ferns to be taking on European sides such as Spain and Italy, and Hurst said she was happy they had learned from the loss to the Spaniards.

“It was quite a big improvement on yesterday, just the way we went about it after the first quarter,” Hurst said at the post-match media conference.

“There were still way too many turnovers for us, too many points scored against us in that category, but we’ll take a lot of positives out of that,” Hurst said.

“We just want to keep building, that was another building block for us, and we walk away from it relatively happy.”

Tegan Graham led the scoring for the Tall Ferns, with nine, one more than Emilia Shearer and Ella Tofaeono, while Cecilia Zandalasini showed her class with 18 for Italy.

There was a big cheer in the New Zealand camp when guard Briarley Rogers scored her first international points in the fourth quarter.

Italian centre Lorella Cubaj paid tribute to the Tall Ferns, saying they put her team under pressure in the second and early in the third quarter.

“We were affected a little bit by their physicality. They are a very physical team, they are a very good team honestly.

“They were able to put us in a bit of a struggle there. I’m just happy we responded.”

The New Zealanders play Senegal on Sunday (7am start NZ time), and take on defending champions the United States and Puerto Rico next week.

The top three teams (excluding the US who have already qualified) from this six-team tournament will earn spots at the World Cup in Germany in September.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Eliza McCartney’s impressive pole vault at the New Zealand athletics championships last weekend has won her a place at the world indoor champs in Poland.

McCartney was in a three-way battle with Imogen Ayris and Olivia McTaggart for the two women’s pole vault places in the New Zealand team for the champs later this month.

Ayris was the front-runner after she cleared 4.76 metres in finishing third at an indoor meet in France nearly three weeks ago, while McTaggart and McCartney had recently vaulted 4.70m, which was the automatic qualifying mark for Poland.

But McCartney soared 4.81m at the national champs at Auckland’s Trusts Arena last weekend to ensure selection with Ayris, while McTaggart is the unlucky non-travelling reserve in the New Zealand team named today for the worlds, which take place in Toruń from 20-22 March.

McCartney’s vault was just a fraction better than the 4.80m which secured her silver at the 2024 world indoor champs in Glasgow.

All nations were limited to two athletes per event in Poland.

A number of prominent athletes – Sam Ruthe, Sam Tanner, James Preston, Hamish Kerr, Maddi Wesche, Rosa Twyford and Jacko Gill – were eligible for selection but made themselves unavailable to focus on preparing for other international events.

But two other world indoor champs medallists will join McCartney in Poland – with Tom Walsh defending his men’s shot put crown, while last year’s 3000m steeplechase champion, Geordie Beamish, will run in the 3000m flat event.

Sprint stars Zoe Hobbs and Tiaan Whelpton will run in the 60m events, after sealing qualification at the Sir Graeme Douglas International meet in Auckland last month. Hobbs finishing fourth in the world indoor champs in Glasgow in 2024 and sixth in Nanjing last year, while Whelpton matched his New Zealand resident record over 100m at the Douglas meet.

Middle distance athlete Alison Andrews Paul returns for her second world indoors in the women’s 800m, which will also be contested by debutant Boh Ritchie, while James Harding and Thomas Cowan will run in the men’s 800m.

Harding and Cowan have traded the New Zealand indoor record this season, with Harding holding the mark at 1:46.44, set in February in the United States.

National record holder Lex Revell Lewis and national indoor record holder Annalie Kalma run in the 400m events, while Tapenisa Havea will compete at world senior level for the first time in the women’s shot put. She finished fourth in the shot put and seventh in the discus at the 2022 world under-20 champs.

New Zealand team for 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, 20-22 March.

Men

Tom Walsh, shot put

Geordie Beamish, 3000m

Tiaan Whelpton, 60m

James Harding, 800m

Thomas Cowan, 800m

Lex Revell Lewis, 400m

Women

Zoe Hobbs 60m

Eliza McCartney, pole vault

Imogen Ayris, pole vault

Alison Andrews Paul, 800m

Boh Ritchie, 800m

Annalies Kalma, 400m

Tapenisa Havea, shot put

Reserve (Non travelling)

Olivia McTaggart, pole vault

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland golfer Ryan Fox is in hospital after being forced to withdraw from the Players Championship in Florida.

Fox pulled out of the unofficial fifth major just before the opening round because of illness.

He has since revealed that he is in hospital after suffering from kidney stones.

“Not exactly the week I had planned here,” Fox said on Instagram.

“Unfortunately some kidney stones took me down on Tuesday night and then had to be dealt with surgically this afternoon.

“Devastated to miss out on such an amazing event, hoping to have a quick recovery and be back at it soon.”

He was replaced in the 123-man field by David Ford, who will be among the 15 players competing for the first time at the TPC Sawgrass.

Fox has been in good form so far this year, he has finished in the top 25 in all four events he’s played and pocketed $1.7 million.

The 39 year old won the Myrtle Beach Classic and the Canadian Open last year and is No 44 in the world rankings.

The Players Championship is worth $43 million with the winner taking home $7.7m.

Fox’s best result at the Players Championship was last year when he finished tied for 20th.

American Colin Morikawa also withdrew from the tournament with a back injury, but world number two Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is playing after recovering from his own back injury.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland golfer Ryan Fox was a late withdrawal from the Players Championship in Florida.

Fox pulled out of the unofficial fifth major just before the opening round because of illness.

He was replaced in the 123-man field by David Ford, who will be among the 15 players competing for the first time at the TPC Sawgrass.

Fox has been in good form so far this year, he has finished in the top 25 in all four events he’s played and pocketed $1.7 million.

The 39 year old won the Myrtle Beach Classic and the Canadian Open last year and is No 44 in the world rankings.

The Players Championship is worth $43 million with the winner taking home $7.7m.

Fox’s best result at the Players Championship was last year when he finished tied for 20th.

American Colin Morikawa also withdrew from the tournament with a back injury, but world number two Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is playing after recovering from his own back injury.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Black Caps opener Finn Allen has received the top price for a New Zealand player in the men’s auction for The Hundred cricket competition in Britain.

Allen, who had the top strike rate at the recent T20 World Cup, was bought by the Trent Rockets for $364,000.

He is joined at the Rockets by Matt Henry who was bought for $170,000, while Mitchell Santner was a direct signing for the Nottingham based team.

The Manchester Super Giants bought Allen’s fellow opener Tim Seifert for $227,000.

New Zealand bowlers were popular in the auction with Lockie Ferguson going to Welsh Fire for $227,000, Trent Boult to MI London for $227,000 and Adam Milne to London Spirit for $113,000.

Rachin Ravindra was retained by the Welsh Fire, while Daryl Mitchell went unsold.

Spinner Abrar Ahmed was bought by Sunrisers Leeds to allay concerns that Pakistan players would be ignored by franchises affiliated to the Indian Premier League.

Abrar was bought for $432,000 by Leeds, the franchise entirely controlled by the owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad and based at Headingley.

Uncapped English 21-year-old spinner James Coles pipped more established names to fetch $888,000, the biggest price of the auction.

The Hundred, matches of which consist of 100 deliveries for each team, starts in July.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand