Category: Sport

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ireland has won against Australia’s Wallabies at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

It was the third of four autumn internationals to be played by Ireland in 2025.

Ireland had played Australia 38 times since first meeting in 1927, with the Wallabies securing 22 wins. There had been one draw between the two sides.

See how the match unfolded with our live blog below.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Analysis – In hindsight, the All Blacks going all in on dubbing this an ‘official’ Grand Slam tour is looking like a lamentable decision right now. The 33-19 loss to England at Twickenham busted that manufactured dream, which makes the loss seem far worse now, but really when you look at all the parts of the result it’s bad enough anyway.

That’s the second hiding the All Blacks have taken this season, after the disaster in Wellington against the Springboks. It’s not unprecedented – the 2023 All Blacks managed to get thumped by the Boks and France in successive weeks – but it really makes it hard to believe this new regime is making any real forward progress.

Instead, it very much gives off the impression that this is a reactive playing and coaching environment, so New Zealanders probably need to get used to the fact that the All Blacks are not the innovators in world rugby anymore and probably won’t be for a while. That’s not to say they can’t be, but the evidence was clear that out of the two sides, it was England that adapted better and were just simply more ruthless.

The ‘Pom Squad’ concept obviously isn’t new, but adjusting their game plan on the fly was something that Steve Borthwick had clearly planned for. After an opening 10 minutes of dominance that yielded no points for England, only to turn around and concede two tries, they changed the script and kept in touch with two sweetly struck drop goals from George Ford.

It’s not like the All Blacks were playing badly – they’d scored two good tries and the lineout was doing great work off the English throw ins. That should have been enough to win a test on its own, but Codie Taylor’s yellow card and Cam Roigard’s injury swung things back even more for the home side.

The card seemed very harsh, especially since it was the first penalty the All Blacks had given away in the game to that point, but it also showed a bit of a flaw in planning. Taylor being off and the reluctance to lose any of the loose forwards meant the All Blacks suddenly had no lineout thrower, but when they were awarded a penalty near halfway, they tapped and went rather than taking a shot at goal to at least kill off some of the sin bin time.

Roigard’s injury did a similar bit of exposure, considering that his replacement Cortez Ratima had played a grand total of 11 minutes of rugby in the last six weeks. It showed: Ratima’s hesitancy at the base of the scrum led to a couple of key turnovers and generally poor quality ball.

Ratima wasn’t alone though. Damian McKenzie was unable to repeat his heroics from last weekend in a bench performance that added little other than late call up Sam Darry causing some more lineout problems for England. Contrast that to the English replacements, with Henry Pollock coming on with the intensity of the Ultimate Warrior to play a big role in the win.

Throw in a couple of shocking missed kicks for touch from Beauden Barrett that robbed the All Blacks of some chances to kill the game off before halftime, and all of a sudden you had all the ingredients for a loss. Then there’s the fact that England were just good and got a lot better, and there’s your reason for the score blowing out.

And the most concerning thing is that it’s not the first time that’s happened this season. The humiliation in Wellington occurred thanks to an inability by the players and coaching staff to figure things out in time against a far more flexible opponent.

That was Rassie Erasmus, though. Borthwick is no chump, and this is not the same, stodgy English rugby team from the old days, but the reality of how hurtful it is that the All Blacks have been outthought and outgunned by them is extremely palpable.

There should be fallout from the culmination of this season’s results. With one coaching change so far on this tour, the question now is if there needs to be more, and we’ve got all summer to talk about it.

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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 Silver Ferns have opened up the three-Test series against England with a 61-58 win in London.

Trailing by three at half-time, England upped their intensity in the third quarter and levelled things 47-all heading into the final spell.

When the Silver Ferns shot out to a 53-49 lead in the final quarter, the Roses made two changes, which saw Elle Cardwell make her return to international netball.

But New Zealand held their nerve and continued to find shooter Grace Nweke under the post.

Kate Heffernan had a big game at wing defence, with six deflections.

Test two starts at 4am on Monday.

See how the match unfolded below.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow all the rugby action, as Ireland take on Australia’s Wallabies at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

It is the third of four autumn internationals to be played by Ireland in 2025.

Ireland have played Australia 38 times since first meeting in 1927, with the Wallabies securing 22 wins. There’s been one draw between the two sides.

Kickoff is at 9.10am NZT.

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

The All Blacks’ Grand Slam hopes are over, following a comprehensive 33-19 loss to England at Twickenham. Despite scoring the first two tries and leading at halftime, the All Blacks let the game slip in the second half following a controversial yellow card to Codie Taylor soon after the restart.

However, Scott Robertson’s side can’t blame that moment for the defeat, as England closed out the last half an hour playing very composed and effective rugby. Tries to Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck could only be matched with one by Will Jordan, which meant that England could control the pace of the game.

Earlier, the All Blacks would’ve been pretty pleased with the way things were going after the repulsed a long run of English possession and territory. With their first real chance they scored through Leicester Fainga’anuku, then followed it up with another well-constructed try to Taylor.

However, England’s game plan adjusted impressively and they gained territory again, culminating in two well struck drop goals to George Ford.

Taylor’s yellow card was an exceptionally tough call given that it was the first penalty the All Blacks had conceded in the whole game through 42 minutes, but arguably the bigger setback was when Cam Roigard was forced from the field with injury at the same time. Roigard’s absence was notable for the rest of the match, as Cortez Ratima and the rest of the All Black bench struggled to make an impact.

In contrast the English replacements, nicknamed the ‘Pom Squad’, injected a great deal of energy. None more so than young flanker Henry Pollock, whose footwork set up Roebuck’s match-sealing try.

It was England’s ninth ever win against the All Blacks and first since the famous 2019 World Cup semifinal result, and their first at Twickenham since 2012. It reverses a run of incredibly tight All Black wins, with three matches last year decided by three points or less.

The All Blacks now move on to Cardiff to play a struggling Wales, in the last test match of the season.

Read how the game unfolded here:

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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 All Blacks take on England at Allianz Stadium in London’s Twickenham.

Recent history is on the visitors’ side, with the All Blacks winning the last five games against England at the London ground. The hosts’ last victory over New Zealand at Twickenham was in 2012.

The All Blacks are coming off the back of a shaky win over Scotland, in which they almost blew a 17-0 halftime lead.

Kickoff is at 4am NZT.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

All Whites v Colombia

Sunday, 16 November

Kickoff 1pm

Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Live blog updates on RNZ Sport

Much separates New Zealand and Colombia on a football field.

Not only are the two nations 72 places apart in the FIFA world rankings, the approach to the game differs in South America, compared to Oceania.

Their flair and goalscoring is something the All Whites can’t easily replicate, and would be foolish to try, but the region’s reputation for football’s “dark arts” and “playing on the edge” is of interest to All Whites coach Darren Bazeley.

“It’s something that we probably need to keep developing ourselves,” he said. “That sort of street game, street knowledge, game intelligence at times, but we’re also really happy with a group of honest, hardworking players that we have in the squad.”

Bazeley does not want the his players caught up in incidents that can lead to ill-discipline, when they play Colombia in Florida on Sunday.

“We’ve got real good discipline throughout the squad, but there’s going to be some challenging moments, and players at times need to get involved and look after themselves, look after each other and get through those tough moments.

“We don’t want to be losing players [to red cards], that’s for sure. That would make things really difficult for us.”

Defender Michael Boxall is a senior player in the All Whites side and, playing in Major League Soccer in the United States, he has come up against players similar to those New Zealand will encounter across the November international window against Colombia and Ecuador.

“It’s one of those things where you can give advice, but in the heat of the moment, you could find players who could be crafty and get under your skin,” Boxall said.

“I think this is just a good opportunity to experience this in a friendly match, as opposed to at a World Cup that could have massive consequences on the team.

“We’ll all have words with the whole squad about how to approach it, but until you’re really in it and experience it firsthand, we won’t really find out how you deal with it.”

Aside from the niggle, the All Whites will also face attacking threats from Colombia that will challenge the defensive structure.

“The past handful of games that I’ve played with the like of Finn Surman, Tyler [Bindon] Franny [Francis de Vries] as well on my left side, everyone has worked their arses off as a group to make it easier on each other.

“I think, against top players like these, it’s never an individual performance that’s going to shut down, for example Luis Díaz. I think it’s the whole collective, not just the back four and goalkeeper.

“We understand what we have to do. It’s the whole 11 guys keeping things as compact as we can that’s going to make things more difficult than expecting one player to just pocket one of the more inform players in the world.”

Bazeley had to make late changes to the squad and they will look to find new ways to score goals without leading goalscorer and English Premier League striker Chris Wood.

“We’ve got some players that are runners,” he said. “They run in behind really well, the timing of their runs is really good.

“We’ve got into a position over the last year, where we’re putting a lot of balls into the box for Woodsy, and trying to feed him and replicate some of the service he gets at his club, and that’s hard to replace.

“We’ve definitely talked around the type of balls that we feed into the box for these different strikers, because they are different. We’re going to look to try and get into different type of areas, and maybe provide some different type of delivery for whoever.

“We’ve got a style of play that we don’t tweak too much away from. We’re obviously aware of a lot of [Colombia’s] strengths, and we’ve raised them and we’ve looked at how we can help defend them.

“We need everybody to be at the top of their game and to work together, help each other. There’s going to be some tough moments, they’ve got some good players, but if everybody’s in that frame of mind to work together and to work hard, we can deal with that.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker has refuted a positive drugs test taken on the day of his heavyweight defeat to Briton Fabio Wardley in October.

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions has confirmed Parker tested positive for traces of cocaine and could face a lengthy ban from the sport.

“The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) last night informed all required parties that Joseph Parker returned an adverse finding following an anti-doping test conducted on the 25th October in relation to his bout with Fabio Wardley,” Queensberry said.

Parker has since posted on social media, insisting he is innocent of wrongdoing.

“Before my recent fight, I took a voluntary test and have now been informed that it returned an adverse result,” he said. “This came as a real surprise to me.

“I did not take any prohibited substance, I do not use performance-enhancing drugs and do not support their use.

“I am co-operating fully with the process now underway and I am confident the investigation will clear my name.

“Thank you to everyone who has sent messages of support. It means a great deal to me and my family.

“When the investigation is complete, I will speak openly and answer questions.”

Parker’s career is already in limbo, after a disastrous technical knockout decision in the 11th round against Wardley at London’s O2 Arena.

The winner of that fight was being groomed as the next challenger for the undisputed world crown currently held by Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.

Parker, 33, was apparently ahead on points, when the fight was stopped in the penultimate round.

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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 Kiwi women experienced a unforgettable Billie Jean Cup playoff tie, taking on the powerhouse Polish side led by six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek.

The scoreline was one-sided for Elyse Tse, who lost to Swiatek 6-0 6-1 in a rare showdown, as the world No. 2 cruised to an easy win.

The 24-year-old Polish player was in rampant form in Gorzow.

Ranked at No. 909, Tse did well to make to the most of the moment and keep Swiatek on court for 43 minutes.

New Zealand’s Vivian Yang put up more resistance against world No. 124 Katarzyna Kawa, but ultimately lost 6-4 6-4.

In the women’s doubles, Erin Routliffe and Jade Otway couldn’t break Poland’s dominance against Linda Klimovicova and Martyna Kubka.

Routliffe’s serve was broken at 2-3 in the opening set and, two games later, Otway’s serve was also broken.

New Zealand fell 6-2 6-2, after an early second-set break sealed their fate.

The New Zealand team will take on Romania on Sunday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rivez Reihana has been handed his first start on tour, replacing Josh Jacomb in the All Blacks XV named to play Uruguay in Beziers, France on Monday morning (NZT).

Coach Jamie Joseph’s team will be out to complete a perfect record in their three-match tour, which has featured wins over the Barbarians 33-19 and England A 31-14.

Crusaders playmaker Reihana impressed off the bench last week in Bath and pushes rising Chiefs pivot Jacomb to the bench, linking with promoted halfback Folau Fakatava in a much-changed side.

Former Japan head coach Joseph was familiar with world No.15 Uruguay, who have recorded test wins this year over Portugal and Romania but were beaten 52-17 by Argentina.

“I’ve coached against them three times. They bring passion, South American emotion, a very passionate team,” he said.

“They wear their hearts on their sleeves and play in the same kind of way. very abrasive in the defence side of things and go hard at the breakdown.

“They do a lot of mauling, love the scrum. That’s kind of what you would say is the traditional kind of game from the South Americans. We’re expecting a real gritty game and no doubt they’ll get into us up front and try to put us under pressure there.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we can weather the storm.”

All Blacks XV

Jacob Ratumaitavuku-Kneepkens, Chay Fihaki, Braydon Ennor, Dallas McLeod, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Rivez Reihana, Folau Fakatava, Dalton Papali’i (captain), Sean Withy, Te Kamaka Howden, Caleb Delany, Josh Beehre, George Dyer, Bradley Slater, Josh Fusitu’a. Reserves: Daniel Rona, Josh Jacomb, Xavier Roe, Kaylum Boshier, Devan Flanders, Benet Kumeroa, Siale Lauaki, Brodie McAlister.

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