On The Track

Sam Ruthe's 4-Min Mile, Kiwi-NRL deep cuts, Blackcaps & White Ferns prep, A-League football, Steven Adams, All Whites & heaps more

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Scotty’s Word

Blackcaps and White Ferns double-bangers will be played at Eden Park on Friday night then Bay Oval on Sunday...

Blackcaps at Eden Park in T20Is

Team: 10-14

• Jimmy Neesham: 83avg/184sr | 14.7avg/8.9rpo

• Daryl Mitchell: 34.7avg/176sr

• Finn Allen: 31avg/210sr

• Ben Sears: 18.6avg/9.3rpo

Blackcaps at Bay Oval in T20Is

Team: 8-3

• Michael Bracewell: 64avg/178sr

• Mitch Hay: 41avg/205sr

• Glenn Phillips: 29.6avg/163sr

• Tim Seifert: 28avg/162sr

• Ish Sodhi: 22.3avg/7.4rpo

• Jacob Duffy: 5.1avg/4.5rpo

• Zak Foulkes: 22.6avg/9.4rpo

White Ferns vs Australia in T20Is

Overall vs Australia: 21-29

Since start of 2018: 2-14

Six losses in a row

Best batters in T20Is vs Australia (of current squad)

• Suzie Bates: 24.4avg/101sr

• Jess Kerr: 21avg/105sr

• Sophie Devine: 20.1avg/105sr

• Georgia Plimmer: 18.8avg/96sr

• Amelia Kerr: 18.4avg/96sr

Best bowlers in T20Is vs Australia

• Brooke Halliday: 7.6avg/8.1rpo

• Sophie Devine: 19.6vg/6.5rpo

• Lea Tahuhu: 19.6avg/6rpo

• Amelia Kerr: 20.5avg/6.9rpo

Best youngsters in Plunket Shield...

Rhys Mariu (23yrs)

• Plunket Shield: 687 run @ 85.8avg/72r, 2 x 100, 3 x 50

• First-Class: 62.5avg/63sr, 4 x 100, 7 x 50

Bevon Jacobs (22yrs - now in IPL)

• Plunket Shield: 476 runs @ 59.5avg/57sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50

• Same as First-Class record

Jarrod McKay (24yrs)

• Plunket Shield: 23w @ 32.8avg/4.1rpo

• First-Class: 40.2avg/4.1rpo

Adithya Ashok (22yrs)

• Plunket Shield: 15w @ 31.2avg/3.5rpo

• First-Class: 33.6avg/3.4rpo

Bonus Pod is in the paid section along with my thoughts on the young White Ferns who played vs Sri Lanka but dropped out of the squad to play Australia. In the NZ Warriors vs Roosters preview yarn I dropped a list of my best Warriors youngsters yet to play NRL and that was only a list so I have expanded on my choices beyond the wall for the paid subscribers.

I chatted through these NZW stats in the Bonus Pod...

Completion Rate

• 2023: 6th - 79%

• 2024: 1st - 82%

• 2025: 1st - 84.1%

Missed Tackles (per game)

• 2023: 12th - 33.4

• 2024: 12th - 29.5

• 2025: 11th - 30

Penalties Conceded (per game)

• 2023: 7th - 5.6

• 2024: 13th - 5.1

• 2025: 14th - 4.5

Kiwi-NRL deep cuts...

Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Upper Hutt) on extended bench for Storm

Makahesi Makatoa (Western Suburbs - New Plymouth) lingering on extended bench for Roosters

Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu) on extended bench for Rabbitohs. Bayleigh Bentley-Hape (Moerewa) slides back to fullback in NSW Cup

Starford To'a (Mt Wellington) keeps his starting centre spot for Tigers

Ken Maumalo (Papatoetoe) on extended bench for Titans

Tyrone Thompson (Maraenui) on extended bench for Knights

Tray Lolesio (Otara) getting consistent selection as starting prop for Redcliffe in Queensland Cup

Jeremiah Schuster (Marist) on extended bench for Sunshine Coast

Lennix Tovo (Levin Old Boys) at fullback again for Townsville

Phranklyn Mano-Le-Mamea (Otara) on extended bench for Souths Logan - first season out of NZW system

Paul Turner (Hikurangi) on the bench for Tweed

Lafi Tuinauvai (Waitemata) on the bench for Roosters in NSW Cup

Francis Manuleleua (Papatoetoe) on bench for Knights

Bailey Simonsson (Tauranga) returns to starting centre for Eels

Cassius Tia (Marist) at halfback for Bulldogs

Eels vs Bulldogs in Jersey Flegg Cup (U21s) has Te Hurinui Twidle (Eels - Turangawaewae) and Bronson Reuben (Bulldogs - Kaiapoi) named in the halves

Jarome Falemoe (Southern Cross Campus) on the wing for Knights

Musical jam…

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Wildcard’s Notebook

If you haven’t learned about emerging kiwi track runner Sam Ruthe yet then you’ll probably want to get onto that pronto. Last night, at Mt Smart Stadium (well, the athletics track on the number two anyway), Ruthe became the youngest person in history to run a sub-four minute mile. Not the youngest from New Zealand but the youngest from anywhere. Despite the wet weather in Auckland, Ruthe crossed the line with an official time of 3:58.35, aged 15 years and 241 days. The previous youngest sub-four miler was Jakob Ingerbritsen who once upon a time was shattering youth records all over the place and is now one of the superstars of world track – having won Olympic gold medals in 1500m (2020) and 5000m (2024). Ruthe just beat that guy’s record.

Ruthe won the 3000m race at the NZ championships a few weeks back, becoming the youngest ever NZ champ. He broke the record for the fastest 3000m run by a 15 year old in November and has already topped that effort twice since. He also ran a dead-heat with Sam Tanner to share the NZ 1500m title more recently.

What’s cool about that is Tanner has been a mentor to Ruthe. In fact, Tanner was the pace setter for Ruthe’s mile attempt... one of them, anyway. They had an 800m runner lead the first two laps then Tanner took over. Tanner ended up running the whole thing, winning it by half a step ahead of Ruthe. Ben Wall (24yo) also came in under four minutes making Ruthe and Wall the 49^th and 50^th New Zealanders to achieve that feat. Even better is that when Sam Tanner ran his first sub-four mile, back in 2019, Nick Willis was there setting the pace. Now Tanner’s done the same for the next exciting prospect to come along. That’s some top tier quality blokesmanship right there.

Now it’s time for some Auckland FC stat grabs heading into the international break. Check beyond the (pay) wall for my preferred All Whites starting line-up as well as some Welly Nix Women forecasting and a bit of Auckland FC crowd size focus.

Auckland FC With Max Mata On The Pitch:

• 552 minutes (30.7%)

• 18 goals scored, 4 goals conceded (+14 GD)

• 2.93 GF, 0.65 GA per90

Auckland FC Without Max Mata On The Pitch:

• 1248 minutes (69.3%)

• 21 goals scored, 16 goals conceded (+5 GD)

• 1.51 GF, 1.15 GA per90

And another AFC-related stat...

Most Crosses Attempted This ALM Season:

1. Francis De Vries (AFC) – 156 (6 assists)

2. Mikael Doka (CCM) – 127 (6 assists)

3. Marin Jakolis (MAC) – 126 (8 assists)

4. Zach Clough (ADL) – 123 (2 assists)

5. Jack Clisby (WSW) – 99 (8 assists)

Auckland FC attempt the most crosses in the A-League with 22.4 per game. Wellington Phoenix attempt the fewest with only 9.8 per game. Second-fewest is Perth Glory with 13.9 per game... which is closer to fourth than it is to the Nix directly below them. The Nix also take the fewest shots per game (8.1), while AFC are mid-table with 14.8, which isn’t all that different to how the Phoenix played last year except they aren’t scoring hardly any goals. In their past 11 matches, they’ve only scored more than once on one occasion (also the only game they won in those 11 matches: 2-1 vs Macarthur).

Kosta Barbarouses added to his tally in the draw with Sydney FC. That was his first non-penalty goal for months... it was also his eighth of the season thanks to how well he began the term. The Nix’s next best goal scorer is Hideki Ishige with two. Nobody else has multiple goals in this squad. In contrast, Auckland have eight players with multiple goals including three with at least seven:

Guillermo May (8), Logan Rogerson (7), Neyder Moreno (7), Nando Pijnaker (3), Jake Brimmer (3), Jesse Randall (2), Max Mata (2), and Hiroki Sakai (2)

The Aussie NBL finals are going to a deciding game five. Melbourne United had the chance to close it out at home but turned in an insipid performance to lose 80-71 to the Illawarra Hawks in a game that was extremely low-scoring for most of the way (they traded buckets in the final minutes to get it close to respectability). Rob Loe was pretty good with 6 points and 5 rebounds in 21 minutes, including a highlight block. Flynn Cameron was held back way too long but ended up scoring 4 points in 9 minutes with an even plus/minus. However, United were unable to overcome the lack of Shea Ili who missed his second game in a row due to the concussion protocol after he took a knock in game two. He was close to playing in game four so fingers crossed he leads them to glory in Illawarra on Sunday.

Kiwi Minutes In NBL25 Finals

Shea Ili: G1 – 30:32 | G2 – 12:23 | G3 – DNP | G4 - DNP

Rob Loe: G1 – 15:51 | G2 – 9:00 | G3 – 16:49 | G4 – 20:50

Flynn Cameron: G1 - DNP | G2 – 6:14 | G3 – 2:39 | G4 – 9:05

In games where the Houston Rockets give Steven Adams at least 10 minutes, they are 22-11. Adams took a little while to shake off the rust after so long out injured but since the turn of 2025, he has played 443 minutes (in 31 games) with the Rockets outscoring opponents by 122 points with him on the floor. The only player in the entire roster with a better plus/minus since January 1 is Alperen Sengun who is +133 in 1069 mins. Only a little bit ahead in more than double the playing time.

This afternoon, the Rockets won their eighth game in a row by beating Orlando. Adams had 3 points and 6 rebounds. Nothing fancy there... except for being a game-best +22 in a shade under 23 minutes. Sengun played 37 minutes in that game so you already know there was more double-big action on display. We’re now up to +83 in 81 minutes of Sengun+Adams. Net Rating holding steady at +43.4 (125.6 ORtg, 82.1 DRtg). They’re overlapping more and more and the stats aren’t getting any less amazing. The Rockets are 24-9 in the games where those two have been used together.

Musical Jam...