- The Waikato Magic, have escaped with a one goal win over the Sydney Swifts to make the Preliminary final of the Trans-Tasman Netball Competition and will play the Queensland Firebirds. The Melbourne Vixen qualified for the Grand Final by beating the Firebirds. (The Magic were the first NZ team to win the Championship in 2012).
NRL:
- Warriors traveled to Perth to play the Rabbits - they played well, but sadly 5 Rabbitohs tries in the last 20 minutes ended their challenge.
- The real winner out of this round is the NSW Blues - with it likely that Slater, Cronk, Inglis & Cherry-Evans will be out of the Maroons team named this week. Was interested to read that a couple of key players have said the competition should break for Origin. Can't see TV liking the idea, but you never know.
- Would say, at this early stage, the Roosters are favourite to win the competition. Penrith are on top of the table (who would have thought that), but not sure they can win the competition.
- Hard to believe, but Friday night's game, was only the second time this season both teams have scored over 100pts. On the free kick - 'Play well enough, and you can’t lose to a single call. Teams that deserve to win have taken chance out of the equation.' That said, might be fair to say Geelong stole the game
- Sydney had a good win over Gold Coast, and their slow start is probably behind them. Really looking forward to their game next weekend against Port Adelaide. It is their biggest test so far this season.
- What to say about Richmond - a 60 point turn-around - and they lose to the Kangaroos by 28 pts. Awesome 8 goal third quarter from the Kangaroos.
- A more competitive match between Melbourne & Collingwood this year (though sadly the Pies still won).
- The Kookaburras and Hockeyroos are both travelling well. The Men are sitting at 4-0 and the Hockeyroos only loss was against the hosts - The Netherlands.
- NZ is definitely out of contention in both the Men's & Women's tournaments.
- The Women's Final featured the first Romanian in 30 years - Simona Halep. Halep has never beaten Sharapova - but last night's final was the closest match between them in four meetings.
- The top two seeds - Nadal & Djokovic have made the Men's Final. It is the 42nd time they have played. Nadal won in four sets & his ninth French Open title.
- Sadly the Bryan Brothers lost in the quarter finals of the Men's Doubles.
- The Super XV is taking its international break. Australia beat France (50-23). Wallabies were impressive. Sad the new captain Moore was injured in the first five minutes, and will miss the rest of the season.
- The All Blacks were rusty against England - with a 78 minute try to Conrad Smith settling the result. England were impressive (and on another night with cleaner hands & a bit of luck - they may well have won). Fair to say expecting some improvement in the All Blacks execution next weekend. Cruden's decision to take the quick tap was risky, but it was an attacking decision, which is what I like to see on the field.
- Great to see the BlackFerns play before the test too. The BlackFerns won 90-12 against Manu Samoa. Will be interesting seeing the game against Canada (who bet the Australian Wallaroos, 22-0).
- The Springboks beat a World XV (47-13) in Cape Town, for more results see here.
- The Junior World Cup is currently on in NZ - with each team playing their second match yesterday - the Junior All Blacks lost 24-33 to South Africa, Australia 24-38 lost to England. Given the rules of the tournament the three group winners (& the 2nd placed team with the most points) qualify for the finals. Will be interesting to see which team makes up the four with England, South Africa definitely winning their groups, France is most likely to win their group (but Ireland or Wales could pip them). The last place could be Australia, New Zealand or Ireland, depending on how the results go. Final round of matches is on Tuesday.
World Cup:
- Four days to go, not a World Cup story but the Junior All Whites - make history - first NZ Men's side to secure a point against Brazil...
- Thank you Les
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