Category: Sport

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Black Caps have won the fifth and final T20 match against the West Indies in Dunedin by eight wickets.

With the fourth T20 rained off, the Black Caps have won the series 3-1.

The West Indies set New Zealand a target of 141 after the visitors were bowled out in the 19th over. Black Caps fast bowler Jacob Duffy took four wickets.

Tim Robinson got New Zealand off to a strong start with 45 runs, while fellow opener Devon Conway anchored the innings by scoring 47 not out.

The first of three One Day Internationals against the West Indies starts on Sunday at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Black Caps take on the West Indies at University Oval in Dunedin in the fifth and final match of the T20 international series.

New Zealand lead the series 2-1, after the fourth match was wiped out by rain in Nelson on Monday, with just 6.3 overs played.

First ball is at 1.15pm.

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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 FC owner Bill Foley has sold his interest in Scottish football club Hibernian.

The Scottish Premier League side has confirmed that majority shareholder Bydand Sports LLC has completed the acquisition of Black Knight Football Club’s shares.

Hibs chairperson Ian Gordon said in a statement: “Over the last few months, we have had detailed conversations with the Black Knight Football Club group regarding Hibernian FC.

“During those discussions it became clear there are philosophical differences in our visions for the club. We mutually agreed this decision was best for both organisations.”

Foley, who owns English Premier League side Bournemouth, bought a 25 percent stake in Hibernian in early 2024.

Many Hibs supporters had become concerned that Hibernian FC would become a feeder club for Bournemouth, which Foley bought in 2022.

The 80-year-old billionaire has not attended a Hibs game.

Foley is the chairperson and chief executive of Black Knight Sports and Entertainment group, which also owns the Las Vegas Golden Knights NHL club.

In 2023 the Australian Professional Leagues awarded a licence to Foley’s group with Auckland FC entering the A-League in 2024.

All Whites keeper Alex Paulsen was signed by Bournemouth from the Wellington Phoenix in June 2024 and then went out on loan to Auckland FC for the 2024-25 A-League season.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand motorsport fans have a chance to sit alongside Formula 1 star Liam Lawson on a race circuit.

The Racing Bulls driver will return to Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell in December to provide hot laps for charity.

Three hot lap experiences alongside Lawson in a V12-powered Aston Martin Vulcan Supercar will be up for grabs, with all proceeds being donated to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ.

One of the three charity hot lap experiences will be paid for by a sponsor.

The remaining two Vulcan ride experiences with Lawson will be auctioned to the highest bidder with all proceeds going to charity.

Lawson will be at Highlands on Tuesday, 23 December.

The 23-year-old finished seventh at last weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil which improved him to 14th in the F1 Drivers’ Championship.

There are three Grands Prix remaining with the next in Las Vegas next week.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Their partnership may have come to an end but Erin Routliffe said she has a friend for life in Gaby Dabrowski.

The pair announced their split earlier this week following the season ending WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.

During their time together Kiwi Routliffe and Canadian Dabrowski won seven titles including two US Open crowns and the WTA Finals title in 2024.

They first played together in 2023 and soon afterwards won their first title at Flushing Meadows.

Dabrowski was already an established doubles player and had previously won Australian and French Open mixed doubles titles, while Routliffe was still climbing the doubles rankings.

“I’m so grateful to her for taking a chance on me at the beginning of our partnership when I was not ranked anywhere near where she was,” Routliffe told RNZ.

“I’ll have a friend for life and even though our business partnership is ending it changed my life completely.

“I’m really happy with the time we had together and we will spend time together on tour, just not as business partners.”

Doubles combinations don’t tend to last particularly long and Routliffe is delighted she and Dabrowski managed to succeed in their two and a half years together.

“It happens all the time in doubles, business partnerships end, so we both knew it had ended and we’re really grateful for it happening.

“We lasted a really long time while a lot of people barely last a month or two.

“When you’re playing doubles and you’re with them every single day and have a business together a lot of times nothing really happens, it’s just time for it to end.”

Routliffe intends to play the ASB Classic in Auckland in the new year but is yet to announce who her doubles partner will be in 2026.

“We’re excited to play with other people now.”

This week Routliffe is playing for New Zealand in the Billie Jean King play-offs in Poland where they take on Poland and Romania.

The Kiwi team of Routliffe, Vivian Yang, Elyse Tse and Jade Otway are the underdogs in their group, but Routliffe, who will play doubles at the teams event, said they’re excited.

“Billie Jean King Cup is a week where you see different results every year where people show up and don’t show up on different days and so we’ll do everything in our power to put up a fight and go down swinging.”

The Polish team includes world number two Iga Swiatek.

Routliffe lived the first four years of her life in New Zealand before moving to her parents’ homeland of Canada. She switched her allegiance to New Zealand in 2017.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Black Caps v West Indies – fifth T20

First ball: 1.15pm

University Oval, Dunedin

Live blog updates on RNZ Sport

Black Caps seamer Jacob Duffy expects the T20 series against the West Indies to end on a fitting note in Dunedin today – by going down to the wire.

New Zealand can clinch a 3-1 series victory if successful at University Oval but the tourists say they’re determined to square proceedings 2-2 in what has been an entertaining and closely-fought contest.

The first three games followed a similar pattern, with the team batting first winning but having to quell an electric late chase to do so.

The West Indies won the opener by seven runs before the home side responded with wins by three runs and nine runs.

Monday’s scheduled fourth match in Nelson was abandoned in the seventh over.

Duffy said the West Indies’ array of hard-hitting batsmen, all the way down to No.11, meant they were never out of the contest.

“I think they got a bit of a hard time before they came here but they’re a very, very good Twenty20 team especially,” Duffy said.

“They’re a seriously powerful lineup all the way to the bottom. It’s something you’ve got to be very aware of.

“Obviously, you want to take wickets but, for them, they can just keep going because they’ve got such great depth so you can’t afford to switch off.

“It’s been an awesome series. What a way to close it out in Dunners.”

West Indies captain Shai Hope admitted the Black Caps new ball attack – spearheaded by Duffy – had been highly effective in home conditions.

One of the world’s most effective T20 batsmen, Hope admitted he and the rest of the tourists’ top order had failed to fire.

“A few of us, myself included, have to raise our hand at the top, especially in these conditions,” Hope said.

“You see how important the new ball is to the New Zealand bowlers. We’ve allowed them to break through the top order, which makes it that much more difficult to set the score that you want.

“But you must take your hat off to the guys in the lower order. They have been tremendous throughout the entire series.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls F1 team has apologised for an incident during the podium presentation at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil on Monday.

Video on social media showed an employee of the team appearing to encourage fans to boo race winner Lando Norris of McLaren.

The employee also gave a thumbs-down before the video was stopped by another member of Racing Bulls.

In a statement Racing Bulls said “We’re aware of the video from the weekend’s podium. It doesn’t reflect our team’s values or the spirit of VCARB. The matter has been handled internally.

“We believe in celebrating great racing and showing respect to every driver, team, and fan both on and off the track.”

Norris’ victory extended his lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 24 points in the drivers’ championship.

The Englishman receives some negative responses from the public for McLaren’s perceived favouritism of him over Piastri.

Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson finished seventh and Isack Hadjar eighth at Interlagos, leaving the team sixth in the constructors’ championship.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Breakers have got back into winning form, beating the Brisbane Bullets 113-84 on the Gold Coast to record their fourth win of the NBL season.

The victory was also their second in the league’s in-season tournament, the Ignite Cup.

The Breakers put in an impressive showing at both ends of the court in the first half as they grabbed a 68-36 lead.

They were just as strong in the second half, shooting 15/18 from the field and 6/7 from three-point range to blow Brisbane away.

Sam Mennenga scored 25 points and had six rebounds, while Parker Jackson-Cartwright had 15 points and seven assists.

Izaiah Brockington added 19 points on 8/10 shooting, Karim Lopez 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Rob Baker II 12 points and 11 boards as the Breakers shot 58 percent for the game.

Casey Prather impressed for Brisbane with 26 points, eight rebounds and four assists before leaving the game with a knee injury.

The win means the Breakers are two from two in the Ignite Cup, while they remain ninth on the NBL table with four wins and nine losses.

Having let some games slip in recent times, coach Petteri Koponen was a lot happier with this performance.

“We played an excellent first half and kind of killed the game there, and the guys were more mature this time and finished the game the right way.

“Defensively we were great once again, and that opened opportunities at the offensive end and we shot the ball well.”

The Breakers are at home to the Perth Wildcats on Saturday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Wellington Phoenix women lost more than half of their attending fans last season compared to the season prior.

On average the Phoenix had 739 people at their home games at Porirua Park in the 2024/25 A-League Women season. This was 61 percent fewer fans than the 2023/24 season and the biggest decline in the 12-team competition.

A report by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) showed Adelaide United had the most supporters at home games with an average crowd of 2731.

Adelaide was one of two clubs to have have grown their attending fan base season-on-season with a 58 percent increase. Brisbane Roar had a minor increase of 1 percent to an average of 2344 supporters.

Western United, a club currently in hibernation, had an average of 676 fans, the lowest of all clubs.

Across the A-League Women the average attendance was 1559 in 2024/25, down by 26 percent.

The Wellington Phoenix women opened their current season on Saturday, as part of the double-header with the men’s New Zealand derby, and the club reported 4655 fans in attendance at Sky Stadium. It was the second highest women’s attendance in the club’s history.

The Phoenix have nine more home games this season to prove this was not an anomaly.

The A-League Women peaked at an average attendance of 2139 in the 2017/18 season and had been in a decline until the 2023/24 season.

The PFA report noted the biggest factor in the downturn last season was likely that the Women’s World Cup-driven boost in the the 2023/24 season crowds had not been sustained.

“These findings change the narrative around the league’s trajectory. Instead of asking whether the league is growing fast enough, the question now is whether the league is in fact growing,” the PFA report said.

In August Auckland FC announced it would now not enter the A-League Women until at least the 2027/28 season as the APL, who run the league, wanted to review the competition before committing to expanding.

“It is important we take into consideration the challenges unique to our women’s game, and we expand the league at the right pace and with the right investment to ensure long-term sustainable growth,” APL executive chairperson Stephen Conroy said.

A survey of Australian fans by Gemba and included in the PFA report claimed “…the women’s supporter experience is really quite second rate”.

Fans were asked to rank factors that would attract supporters to games. At the bottom of the list was high quality on-field performance. At the top was access to players in-person and through digital content.

While fans were not flocking to Phoenix games the players ranked their own satisfaction in the club environment very highly.

The PFA report showed the Phoenix players had seen a large improvement in scores for club operations and culture last season.

The Phoenix women believed their integration with the men’s side of the club was better than it had ever been. The Phoenix were the top of the league in this category and still quite a way ahead of the next best Melbourne City.

“Given that Wellington finished ninth, this result is evidence that the players’ survey feedback is not simply a reflection of the vibes created by on-field results, but a genuine attempt to assess distinct elements of their experiences. The club deserves credit for the environment it has created,” the PFA report said.

Not everything was rosy for players across the league. According to the report 67 percent of players experienced sport-related psychological distress last season.

The share of players experiencing global (general) psychological distress, anxiety, and depression was also significantly higher in 2025 than in 2020.

In 2024/25, 41 percent of the women experienced disordered eating, 34 percent experienced alcohol misuse and 28 percent had disturbed sleep.

Players across the A-League Women would also rather be playing in a different competition. Results showed the players were eyeing the WSL in the United Kingdom, the NWSL in the United States or another overseas league, making the A-League the competition they least wanted to be playing in.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

England v All Blacks

Kick-off: 4:10am Sunday 16 November

Allianz Stadium (Twickenham), London

Live blog updates on RNZ

Analysis – At 9pm Thursday evening Scott Robertson names his All Black side to take on England this weekend, and it will feature a few changes from the one that beat Scotland. There are some injury-enforced ones, but it will be interesting to see if Robertson makes others based on form or simply match ups with Steve Borthwick’s England side.

England will be desperate to reverse the last few results with the All Blacks, that have seen them draw one test and lose three more by less than a penalty goal.

Here are the main talking points.

Loose forward situation

The pack is going to have a youthful look about it no matter what, but given the bulk of the so-called ‘Pom Squad’ Borthwick can call on off his bench, will Robertson be tempted to bring Simon Parker back into the fray? It feels logical given the big man was specifically used that way against the Springboks.

Parker starting would mean one of Peter Lakai or Wallace Sititi, who have both been excellent, goes to the bench at the expense of Du’Plessis Kirifi.

A reprieve for Rieko?

Caleb Clarke’s injury curse continues, but this now opens the door for Rieko Ioane and his imposing height to come back against what will likely be a kick-heavy English game plan. The other option is to move Will Jordan to the wing and bring Ruben Love in at fullback.

Barrett v McKenzie

DMac’s game-changing shift off the bench last weekend certainly sparked up the conversation as to whether he should be starting over Beauden Barrett, however the Clarke situation could see both of them in at fullback and first five respectively. Having McKenzie ready to come on and make a big impact is a weapon Robertson will likely want to keep holstered, especially since McKenzie played a match-winning role in the same fixture last year.

Scott Barrett back?

They’re giving the skipper as much time as possible to recover from his leg cut sustained in Chicago, and his experience in the second row will be valuable despite the very good performances by Fabian Holland and Josh Lord.

Samipeni Finau’s return home means that the All Blacks are down at least one locking option, so if Barrett can’t play then it might mean Josh Beehre is thrust into test rugby at one of its most inhospitable venues.

A change in the front row?

No one is playing badly but it can’t hide the fact that the scrum wasn’t anywhere near as effective at Murrayfield as it was against Ireland. Maybe some of those legs need a rest and the temptation must be there to send out the monster duo of Tamaiti Williams and Pasilio Tosi as starters.

Roigard’s workload

Cortez Ratima has only played 11 minutes of the last three tests, not even coming on at all against Scotland. Cam Roigard is certainly not showing any signs of slowing down though, but Robertson would do well to remember the situation with Wallace Sititi playing all four tests on the tour last year.

Sititi picked up a knee injury that wasn’t detected until January which kept him out of most of Super Rugby Pacific, and given Roigard has already suffered two injury setbacks of his own this season, there should be some sort of workload management going on here.

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