#FlyingKiwis - Ben Waine made himself a Port Vale legend in one week, Max Mata scored a last-minute derby winner, Finn Surman captained Portland again, a big clean sheet for Alex Paulsen, more goals for Moses Dyer, a rare defeat for Elijah Just, and more
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Older White Ferns may no longer be the best and the T20I series vs South Africa will help sort through the clutter ahead of a T20 World Cup
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The Football Ferns went to Honiara, won all three games handily, qualified for the next round of WCQs, blooded several debutants, got everyone in the squad good minutes, and here's the stuff to know...
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Setu Tu and Siale Faeamani are the first two #KiwiNRL debuts of 2026. Both are wingers from Auckland who came through the NZ Warriors system
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Jess Kerr leads the slower swing/seam group...
Emma Black, Marama Downes, Missy Banks, Lucy Boucher, Amie Hucker, Stella Cornelius, Jess Ogden
Lea Tahuhu retires from ODIs. Perfect timing for the next wave of hostile seamers to take over...
Ready: Rosemary Mair, Bree Illing, Molly Penfold, Kayley Knight
Rising: Louisa Kotkamp, Jess Simmons, Josie Penfold, Ayaan Lambat
The fastest players at Mt Smart weren't involved in the Warriors win vs Roosters but the team played much faster with more ball movement for a crisp home win to spark up the season #UpTheWahs
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Offloads
2025: 7.7 per game
vs Roosters: 16
Tackling leaders
Jackson Ford: 28 tackles @ 80%
Kurt Capewell: 25 tackles @ 73.5%
Wayde Egan: 24 tackles @ 92.3%
Erin Clark: 21 tackles @ 91.3%
Halves balance
Receipts | runs | passes
Tanah Boyd: 59 | 11 | 43
Chanel Harris-Tavita: 32 | 6 | 22
Kicking
Tanah Boyd: 12 kicks - 354m
Chanel Harris-Tavita: 5 kicks - 142m
Most dummy passes
Tanah Boyd: 9
Wayde Egan: 5
Adam Pompey: 3
Jackson Ford: 3
Kurt Capewell: 3
Erin Clark: 3
Demitric Vaimauga: 3
Most passes in forwards
Erin Clark: 12
Demitric Vaimauga: 4
James Fisher-Harris: 3
Jackson Ford: 2
Kurt Capewell: 2
Jacob Laban: 2
Most tackle breaks
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad: 7
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak: 5
Adam Pompey: 5
James Fisher-Harris: 3
Leka Halasima: 3
NZ Warriors vs Roosters bits and bobs...
Metres per run leaders
Ali Leiataua: 8 runs - 90m @ 11.2m/run
Samuel Healey: 3 runs - 32m @ 10.6m/run
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck: 16 runs - 166m @ 10.3m/run
Adam Pompey: 14 runs - 144m @ 10.2m/run
Must be time for another geeze through the Wellington Phoenix academy stocks, picking out five men and five women worth tracking as they progress towards the A-League (and beyond)
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Auckland FC do things a little differently with their development set-up and based on their National League efforts it's working a treat... so here are five players you'll want to get accustomed to as the AFC Ressies get back into action for year two
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Plunket Shield hot pockets for the hearty domestic cricket fan...
-Matua Henry Nicholls & Brad Schmulian
-Sneaky Zak Gibson
-Emerging batters scoring quickly
-Otago's new young wave
-Nathan Smith slow brew
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U19 players Dezman Laban, Tyson Hansen, Gordon Afoa and Micah Sula move up to U21s. There is a hole at edge forward and Bishop Neal isn't named in U19s so he may also step up.
Other new recruits are Hohepa Chandler from Tauranga who is starting prop and Tama Darlington who is a half/hooker utility from Waikato.
3 new Aussie recruits named for NZ Warriors in U21 Jersey Flegg Cup.
Tainyn Clarken at fullback. Braelen Marsh at hooker. Jeriah Vagana-Malaitai in wider squad. Add in Brandon Norris on the wing and for Aussies are named in the first team list.
Christian Sikuvea (Mangere East) is brewing in the small forward pipelie with similar agility/power as Erin Clark. Makaia Tafua (Linwood) and Jacob Auloa (Pt Chev) are hookers who can also play as small forwards.
Funkiest selections are big forwards Emosi Ravosai (Southern Cross Campus) and Tepatasi Laumalili (Mangere East).
Geronimo Doyle is the only senior player for NZ Warriors in NSW Cup. Samuel Waterworth may fit that profile as a middle forward from Hibiscus Coast in Fox Memorial. The other 16 players named are all youngsters on the rise through the Mt Smart system.
All 3 Aussie halves started at the U21 level or younger. Not local juniors but working through the system like local juniors.
Warriors have good regional mix in their U21 halves with Harry Inch (Nelson College) and Maui Winitana-Patelesio (Te Aroha). All Warriors halves in U19/U17 are from Aotearoa.
Tokoaitua Owen (Ngongotaha): Souths Logan U19
Nehemiah Vavau (Otara): Souths Logan U19
Jordan Hotere (Hibiscus Coast): Wynnum U19
Te Hurinui Twidle (Turangawaewae): Eels NSW Cup
Tyrone Hurt-Pickering (Marist): Roosters U21
Haami Loza (Mangere East): Panthers U21
Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi): Bulldogs U21
Jamayne Feast (Papanui): Rabbitohs U21
NZ Warriors have 3 young Aussie halves in NSW Cup.
Luke Hanson, Jett Cleary and Jack Thompson.
Meanwhile there are lots of young #KiwiNRL halves in Australia...
Recent Blackcaps bowling units for funky wins
3rd Test vs West Indies
Duffy, Foulkes, Rae, Patel, Phillips, Mitchell
3rd ODI vs India
Jamieson, Foulkes, Clarke, Lennox, Mitchell, Phillips
T20WC semi vs South Africa
Henry, McConchie, Ferguson, Neesham, Santner, Ravindra
Support our work on Patreon and jam our weekly bonus pod every Thursday. Full newsletters are also on Patreon. Lots of Blackcaps chat here as well as some Tall Blacks and Ben Waine stuff
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