Field of Dreams
Mangatainoka farmer Neil Symonds has taken his fanaticism for rugby to a new level. There are Test centuries and famous tries scored in many a backyard but not many play host to actual sporting…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Retiring From the Pitch
Former New Zealand opening batsman Dunedin-born Matthew Bell has announced his retirement from all forms of the game, after struggling with injuries over the past two seasons. “It’s a decision that’s been coming for…
Springboard for MLS
Auckland football player Michael Boxall has made the first pick in the supplemental draft for Vancouver team the Whitecaps. Boxall said of his selection: “Vancouver’s a great place to come to, and I’m excited…
Relief for Black Caps
The New Zealand Black Caps ended their 11-game losing run in one-day internationals thrashing Pakistan in Wellington to take a 1-0 lead in the six-match series. Seamer Tim Southee took a career best 5-33…
Pursuit Win for Trio
New Zealand’s women — Rushlee Buchanan, Kaytee Boyd and Jaime Nielsen — took gold in the pursuit event in Beijing to strengthen their position at the top of the World Cup rankings. The New…
Golfer’s dream courses
The sister golf courses of Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers are included in a list of Toronto Star travel writer Ian Cruickshank’s “top five places that still need to be played.” “Kauri Cliffs teeters…
Young Guns Qualify
The Young All Whites have qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 211 beating Tahiti in Auckland 2-. Cameron Howieson had coach Steve Cain’s side off to a dream start with a long-range…
Keat Makes a Splash
“ midfielder Daniel Keat looks to join the ranks of those En Zedders who first made a splash playing in Major League Soccer,” Bleacher Report’s Jo-Ryan Salazar writes. “And he gets to do it…
Sydney’s Secret Weapon
Thirty-four-year-old former Olympian basketballer and Albanian coach Dunedin-born Mark Dickel recently played at point guard for the Sydney Kings. The Sydney Morning Herald asked: “Is it a publicity stunt or the ultimate act of…
Ali plots his return
All Black lock Ali Williams, 29, “plots international comeback” from the east Midlands where he is “exorcising a few mental demons as well as playing his first rugby for nearly two seasons.” Having…
Honoured this year
Golfer Bob Charles, 74, has been made a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), restricted to 2 living New Zealanders, in the New Year Honours. Carterton-born Charles was the first left-hander to…
Kayaking with Seals
Tauranga winemaker Tim Taylor, 24, has kayaked almost 1km on his attempt to be the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation of New Zealand. Taylor has been travelling for 25 days, paddling for…
Dealing in Cricket
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the USA Cricket Association (USACA) have announced an historic deal that is designed to grow the game exponentially in one of the ICC’s target markets. The partnership establishes a…
Wright takes up reigns
Former Black Caps test captain and coach of India from 2 to 25, John Wright is the new coach of the New Zealand cricket team, taking over from Mark Greatbach beginning with the Boxing…
Tickets sales on track
Rugby New Zealand 211 Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden has said that key World Cup match ticket sales and revenue targets had been met in 21. Since the sales program was launched earlier this…
Sweet Start to Season
Dunedin cyclist Alison Shanks, 28, has won two gold medals at the UCI World Cup in Cali, Colombia at the Alcides Nieto Patiño Velodrome taking first place in the 3m individual pursuit and in…
Incentive for training
All Black Sonny Bill Williams, 25, will soon step back into the boxing ring for a bout against Australian Scott Lewis on January 29 ahead of the Super rugby season and the 211 World…
Sinkhole Record
New Zealander William Trubridge, 3, has set yet another world freediving record descending 1m on a single breath into Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island in the Bahamas beating his previous 95m world record….
Sevens trophy for NZ
New Zealand has beaten England in the Sevens World Sevens final 22-19 in South Africa taking the title in extra-time. New Zealand’s captain Aucklander DJ Forbes, 27, said of the team’s win: “We really…
Man of many matches
The International Rugby Board’s player of the year Richie McCaw, 3, “is a hero to many… establish himself as one of rugby’s great players,” The New York Times’ Emma Stoney writes. “As a fresh-faced…
Easy on the eye
Auckland’s Eden Park features in green design blog Inhabitat which describes the renovation of the stadium for the 211 World Rugby Cup. “For a century Eden Park has been the epicentre of rugby and…
Benji Bags the Boot
New Zealand Test captain and Wests Tigers star five-eighth Benji Marshall, 25, has won the 21 Rugby League Golden Boot Award. Now in its 25th year, the prestigious award is presented to the game’s…
Swell Protection
Nineteen New Zealand top surf breaks will now be officially protected from inappropriate use and development under the revised New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement which came into effect in early December. New Zealand is…
Demanding legacy
“All Blacks centre Ma’a Nonu believes the team’s success comes from always striving to improve their performance and like every All Black ever come across, Nonu is reluctant…
Tasman talent shift
Western Force’s New Zealand recruit Willie Ripia, who has just signed a two-year contract with the team, expects the migration of New Zealanders across the Tasman to continue in Super rugby. Murupara-born Ripia, 25,…
Better and better
All Black captain Richie McCaw, 29, has become the first to be chosen world player of the year three times in a New Zealand sweep at the International Rugby Board (IRB) awards. New Zealand’s…
Carter’s kick to history
All Blacks first-five Dan Carter kicked himself into the history books as the record points scorer in the history of Test match rugby on Sunday morning as New Zealand played Wales at the Millennium…
Trophy for Team NZ
Dean Barker has led Emirates Team New Zealand to victory over defending America’s Cup champion BMW Oracle Racing winning the 21 Louis Vuitton Trophy. The final in Dubai marked the last series for America’s…
Open for Business
The first of New Zealand’s ‘Great Rides’, the 64km St James Cycle Trail, has been opened by the Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson. This section is the first fully competed track in the Nga…
Better with age
The “exceptional player” Brad Thorn is set to earn his 5th cap for New Zealand against Wales at Cardiff on November 28, after missing the last game due to a hamstring injury. “At 35…
Kiwis in a League of their own
The Kiwis took an exhilarating victory from the Kangaroos at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, winning the Rugby League Four Nations by four points in the game’s final minutes (with a spectacular final minute try and…
Impressive on Wheels
A New Zealand mountain biking trip features in the extras of Canadian adventure documentary DVD release, Follow Me, which is paired with a slide show by New Zealander Caleb Smith of Wellington-based mountain bike…
Sons change codes
The sons of former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan and ex-All Blacks skipper Tana Umaga have chosen to play league rather than pursue representative careers in union. Matt McGahan, 17, and Cade Umaga, 16, are…
Karapiro Medals
New Zealanders Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won gold with a narrow win over their rivals at this year’s Rowing World Championships on Lake Karapiro. The coxless pair edged ahead with less than 4m…
Marks a trail blazer
Auckland-born Sean Marks, 35, the first New Zealander to play in the NBA, has been signed with Portland’s Trail Blazers. Marks came out of the University of California-Berkeley and was drafted 44th overall by…
Regatta on the Bay
Four-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, 48, returns to San Diego, 16 years after he took the America’s Cup away from the United States, with his own regatta, the RC 44 Championship Tour. The…
Debut at Twickenham
Sonny Bill Williams makes his All Black debut against England at Twickenham on November 7 replacing Conrad Smith in the No 13 shirt. The 25-year-old former league international returned to New Zealand in the…
Not Just a Number
Black Caps cricket captain Daniel Vettori, 31, became the second player after Stephen Fleming to play 1 Tests for New Zealand when he took the field in the first Test against India in Ahmedabad…
Chunder Champs
Rotorua was the host of this year’s Singlespeed World Championships (SSWC) held over Labour Weekend with some 9 competitors clad in fancy dress riding mountain bikes over the 4km course with the added bonus…
Most compelling on earth
“If there’s been a bad New Zealand side over the years, I must have missed it,” the Telegraph’s Paul Ackford writes, admitting to being “consumed by the All Blacks”. “You can sneer as much…
Super Contract for Tony
Former New Zealand international utility player Motu Tony, 29, has signed with UK Super League club Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. Samoan-born Tony has had spells with rugby union clubs Hull and Nottingham since, as well…
Big Man in Front
Hawke’s Bay prop Clint Newland, 3, has signed a three-month deal with Irish side Leinster. “He’s a big man,” Leinster coach Joe Schmidt said. “He’s 6ft 3ins, 130 kilos, so we think he’s pretty…
On the Astral Express
Sailing legend Aucklander Graeme Kendall, 63, has completed a 51,856km solo round-the-world voyage, including the first ever non-stop solo passage through the Arctic Northwest Passage, sailing the 37km over 12 days on the purpose-built…
On the Cusp of History
Could the current All Blacks squad be the finest of all time? Scotland on Sunday sports columnist Iain Morrison thinks so writing that “their success over the years in terms of statistics and the…
English Physicality
New Zealand striker Greg Draper, who is currently under contract with Hampshire team Basingstoke Town, “has had a big hand in recent good form, finding the back of the net eight times…
Rugby Takes Off in US
New Zealander Craig Knight is the recruiting co-chairman of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Rugby Club and tells the University’s student newspaper that he initially expected American rugby to be a little primitive,…
Professional Profile
Hamilton-born professional triathlete Keegan Williams, 3, is profiled by online triathlon magazine Slowtwitch. Perhaps the best sign Williams might yet follow in the footsteps of legendary New Zealand ironman Cameron Brown was his 21…
In Memory of a Mother
Auckland weightlifter Stanislav Chalaev won a silver medal in the under-15kg class at the 21 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Russian-born Chalaev lifted 15kg in the snatch and 184kg in the clean and jerk. The…
Strength in Numbers
Shot put champion Valerie Adams took gold in Delhi with a winning throw of 2.47m and her coach Didier Poppe predicts Adams is capable of yet another metre. She destroyed a decidedly average field…
Medals on Wheels
Dunedin cyclist Alison Shanks, 26, claimed New Zealand’s first gold medal in the women’s 3m individual pursuit final at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi earning glory over the strong Australian team. The 29 world…
Indian on Show
Burt Munro’s world famous Indian Scout motorbike, used to set land-speed records in the 196s, was on display at October’s Oildorado Days Rails to Trails Car Show in Taft, California. In 1967, on the…
Spirited Win for NZ
The Black Caps have been awarded the Spirit of Cricket Award at the recent LG ICC Awards celebration in Bengaluru, India. In total, this is the third time New Zealand has won this award…
Los Angeles Win
New Zealander Bevan Docherty, 33, has won the 11th annual Los Angeles Triathlon finishing in 1 hour, 5 minutes and 21 seconds, which was 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Javier Gomez of Spain. A…
On Board Solo
Rob Thomson, 28, a Canterbury University arts graduate from Christchurch, has completed the longest unassisted skateboard journey ever made, travelling for 462 days over 12,000km from Leysin, Switzerland across Europe, North America and China…
Common Goal in Delhi
Gymnast Misha Koudinov, 19, hopes he can help New Zealand take its first ever men’s team medal at the 19th Commonwealth Games in Delhi. “My goal is to make all of my routines as…
Wooing the shuttle
Auckland badminton player Joe Wu, 24, who currently holds the triple national title holder in the sport, is representing the country at the 21 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Originally born in Taiwan, Joe immigrated…
