The Red Sea
Kiwis lost to Tonga, Kiwi Ferns beat PNG, Blackcaps swept India, Milly Clegg in NWSL, Ford Trophy, Tall Blacks & MNL Team of the Week
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New Zealand vs India Third Test Debrief (Cricket)
White Ferns ODI Series vs India & Women's Championship Update (Cricket)
The Steven Adams NBA Comeback Tour With The Houston Rockets Has Commenced (Basketball)
Flying Kiwis – October 30 (Football)
2024 Aotearoa Kiwis Squad Breakdown (Rugby League)
2024 Aotearoa Kiwi Ferns Squad Breakdown (Rugby League)
2024 Pacific Championships: New Zealand Kiwis & Kiwi Ferns Notebook vs Australia (Rugby League)
2024 Pacific Championships: New Zealand Kiwis & Kiwi Ferns Notebook vs Tonga & Papua New Guinea (Rugby League)
Scotty’s Word
Tonga beating New Zealand Kiwis was not an upset or a shock. Prior to the Pacific Championships, we all acknowledged that there were lots of players missing for NZ Kiwis. While I am impressed with Kiwis depth, international rugby league is a different beast to NRL footy.
International experience matters. Tonga had four players from their 2017 World Cup win over NZ (Daniel Tupou, Tui Lolohea, Jason Taumalolo, Siliva Havili). Even though they had lost five Tests in a row prior to the win over Kiwis, this group toured England last year and has spent lots of time together building their playing style/cohesion.
This is most evident in Isaiya Katoa who made his debut for Tonga at the 2022 World Cup. Katoa is a young player but he has played eight Tests for Tonga - more than Sione Katoa and Haumole Olakau'atu (seven). (Isaiya) Katoa has played twice as many Tests as Leo Thompson, while Griffin Neame and Mattew Timoko have played five Tests each.
Katoa has played more international rugby league than Nathan Cleary (five).
Tonga is a grizzly international rugby league team who are comfy with the intensity of Test footy. Many kiwi lads were playing in that arena for the first time. Tonga vs anyone at Mt Smart is amazing. Tonga vs NZ at Mt Smart is the closest thing rugby league fans in NZ get to State of Origin.
I’d be foolish to suggest that anything would come close to Tonga vs Samoa at Mt Smart though.
Tonga rode the red sea, rampaging through Kiwis. Addin Fonua-Blake (who played for NZ at the 2017 World Cup, having played for Tonga earlier that year, and then switched back to Tonga after the horrible Kiwis campaign) and Jason Taumalolo led the middle mahi to get the hefty lead.
Somehow Kiwis dragged themselves back into the contest. Keano Kini, Phoenix Crossland, and Joseph Tapine scored bangers.
Kiwis couldn’t execute the winning play though. Usually that’s due to blokes being tired after a hectic game. Sometimes the best halfbacks make it really obvious what’s happening: quick runs down the middle, as close as possible but don’t get too close to the tryline (easier to charge down), and kick ya droppie.
Katoa was the bloke who did that. Tonga win.
The loss stings. Kiwis have had two hearty performances for a squad filled with emerging talent so it’s not devastating. Battled with Australia and hung on. Did just enough not to get swept away in the red sea. I had fun.
22,363 folks showed up at Mt Smart. Most of them were Tongan fans, although 17,005 folks showed up in Christchurch and most of them were NZ Kiwis fans. Regardless, those are bigger crowds than the Pacific Championships final last year in Hamilton (13,269) and some of the biggest rugby league crowds of my lifetime outside of World Cups.
We deserve some mid-season action, but credit where it’s due with consistent international rugby league via Pacific Championships. Pacific Championships, World Test Championships, and A-League expansion in Aotearoa have been fabulous initiatives.
Kiwi Ferns had a solid win over PNG and will play against Australia in the women's Pacific Championship final. Brutal and sloppy. That’s what I love about international rugby league (brutal like Auckland FC vs Wellington Phoenix).
Every collision in Kiwi Ferns vs PNG was crazy. Sloppy in a good way. The skill and intensity delivers more razzle dazzle instincts, balancing out the lack of reps teams have to build combinations compared to NRL/NRLW.
Mackenzie Wiki made her debut and scored three tries. Having two of the most powerful outside backs in Wiki and Leianne Tufuga on the wings is enticing, exactly the recipe to defeat Australia. Wiki played because Apii Nicholls didn’t and Shanice Parker moved to fullback. Parker and Nicholls are top notch veterans so it’s a tricky selection call.
Alexis Tauaneai moved from bench to starting prop alongside Brianna Clark, bumping Teakaraanga-Katoa to the bench. This is the best way to use Tauaneai and Teakaraanga-Katoa, although Tiana Davison (middle) and Annessa Biddle (edge) should come back into the team vs Australia.
Far better distribution of kicking mahi between Tyla King and Gayle Broughton compared to Shaun Johnson and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad...
Tyla King: 5 kicks | 4 kicks
Gayle Broughton 8 kicks | 2 kicks
Shaun Johnson: 26 kicks | 13 kicks
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad: 0 kicks | 0 kicks
Australia had a kicking split of 15/3 (Moses/Dearden) and Tonga had a 13/4 split (Katoa/Lolohea) vs Kiwis. It's very difficult to win a game of international rugby league with one half doing all the kicking.
Kiwi-NRL Summer Signing Tracker
Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu) moves from Sharks to Rabbitohs
Peter Hola (Marist) moves from Raiders to Dolphins
Tray Lolesio (Otara) extends with Dolphins
Vaka Sikahele (Manurewa) train/trial with Storm
Temple Kalepo (Ellerslie) train/trial with Cowboys
Blackcaps World Test Championship Stats
Batting
Rachin Ravindra: 855 runs @ 50.2avg/60sr
Kane Williamson: 757 runs @ 50.4avg/51sr
Glenn Phillips: 559 runs @ 34.9avg/77sr
Daryl Mitchell: 528 runs @ 29.3avg/50sr
Tom Latham: 513 runs @ 23.3avg/48sr
Devon Conway: 412 runs @ 22.8avg/53sr
Tom Blundell: 267 runs @ 14avg/59sr
Tim Southee: 209 runs @ 13avg/77sr
Mitchell Santner: 175 runs @ 21.8avg/56sr
Matt Henry: 156 runs @ 17.3avg/103sr
Ajaz Patel: 63 runs @ 7.8avg/33sr
Bowling
Ajaz Patel: 37w @ 26.4avg/3.7rpo
Matt Henry: 33w @ 16.4avg/2.9rpo
Glenn Phillips: 30w @ 27.3avg/3.4rpo
Will O'Rourke: 26w @ 19.4avg/3.1rpo
Mitchell Santner: 26w @ 21.6avg/2.8rpo
Tim Southee: 15w @ 52avg/3.1rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 8w @ 22.2avg/2.6rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 7w @ 36.8avg/3rpo
Ben Sears: 5w @ 32.2avg/4.8rpo
Ish Sodhi: 4w @ 45.2avg/4.5rpo
Blackcaps vs India Stats
Batting
Rachin Ravindra: 256 runs @ 51.2avg/76sr
Will Young: 244 runs @ 48.8avg/53sr
Devon Conway: 227 runs @ 37.8avg/62sr
Daryl Mitchell: 157 runs @ 31.4avg/52sr
Tom Latham: 145 runs @ 24.1avg/56sr
Tim Southee: 70 runs @ 23.3avg/83sr
Tom Blundell: 53 runs @ 10.6avg/47sr
Bowling
Ajaz Patel: 15w @ 23.8avg/4.6rpo
Mitchell Santner: 13w @ 12avg/3.2rpo
Matt Henry: 10w @ 15.3avg/3.1rpo
Glenn Phillips: 8w @ 35.1avg/4rpo
Will O'Rourke: 7w @ 18.4avg/3.3rpo
Tim Southee: 3w @ 31.3avg/3.2rpo
Ish Sodhi: 1w @ 36avg/5.1rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 7ov @ 5.4rpo
Ford Trophy yarn coming tomorrow after the Sunday games. Otago defeated Wellington (273 vs 159), Canterbury defeated Central Districts (204 vs 201/7) and Auckland defeated Northern Districts (248 vs 252/5).
Ford Trophy Ladder
Auckland: 4-1 | 17pts
Canterbury: 3-1 | 16pts
Wellington: 2-2 | 11pts
Otago: 2-3 | 7pts
CD: 1-3 | 6pts
ND: 1-3 | 6pts
Ford Trophy Stat Leaders
Batting
Chad Bowes: 283 runs @ 94avg/150sr
Curtis Heaphy: 276 runs @ 69avg/72sr
Brad Schmulian: 246 runs @ 49.2avg/92sr
Jack Boyle: 238 runs @ 47.6avg/94sr
Dale Phillips: 224 runs @ 44.8avg/76sr
Henry Cooper: 219 runs @ 54.7avg/88sr
Michael Sclanders: 217 runs @ 54.2avg/79sr
Will O'Donnell: 194 runs @ 38.8avg/73sr
Luke Georgeson: 175 runs @ 35avg/94sr
Brett Hampton: 161 runs @ 40.2avg/116sr
Bowling
Blair Tickner: 11w @ 17avg/5.5rpo
Matt Bacon: 10w @ 17avg/5.2rpo
Jimmy Neesham: 8w @ 10.3avg/3.2rpo
Zak Foulkes: 8w @ 13.8avg/3.9rpo
Scott Kuggeleijn: 8w @ 28.1avg/5.7rpo
Angus McKenzie: 7w @ 13.1avg/3.3rpo
Lockie Ferguson: 7w @ 15avg/4.1rpo
Adam Milne: 7w @ 17.4avg/4rpo
Peter Younghusband: 7w @ 21.7avg/5.1rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 7w@ 29.2avg/5.9rpo
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
It took until the last 18 minutes of the season but we finally got to witness a Milly Clegg NWSL debut for Racing Louisville this afternoon. Racing Lou were already out of the playoff hunt before their game kicked off and they were pretty poor overall in losing 3-1 to San Diego Wave in the final game, particularly the first 25 mins which saw them go 2-0 down. Fortunately, the silver lining was that they had nothing left to do but chuck on a few fringe players. Clegg made a debut, as did Colombian defender Angela Baron. Clegg only got a few touches so it wasn’t much of a cameo but it was a huge milestone in her career and should put her in a good place leading into next season.
Clegg becomes the eighth NZ woman to feature in the NWSL. Her teammate Abby Erceg is miles out in front having made over two hundred appearances. Erceg just polished off her third career season in which she played every single minute. She’s done it two years in a row, Erceg never misses games for Louisville. She is coming off contract now though so we’ll see how that goes.
NZers in the NWSL
Abby Erceg – 205 games (8 goals)
Katie Bowen – 91 games (2 goals)
Ali Riley – 64 games (2 goals)
Rosie White – 44 games (7 goals)
Rebekah Stott – 31 games
Macey Fraser – 4 games
Emma Kete – 3 games
Milly Clegg – 1 game
Both Clegg and Fraser debuted in 2024. Fraser spent most of the season injured while Clegg missed the start and then needed nine bench appearances before she finally got subbed on in the last game. Slow beginnings there but both are under contract for a couple more years so it’s all part of the bigger picture.
Well, it is for Clegg... for Fraser it’s not so clear because of the managerial change and all the player transfers during Utah’s season. Fraser hasn’t played since hurting her ankle at the Olympics and spent the last couple months of the American season back home in Christchurch on an “excused absence”... which hopefully just means they were letting her recover at home rather than it means she was being iced out. We’ll let that situation unfold naturally because this is Clegg’s spotlight after all.
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The Tall Blacks today named their first squad of the Judd Flavell Era. They’ve got Asia Cup qualifiers coming up later this month – away to the Philippines on Nov 21 and then home against Chinese Taipei in Christchurch on Nov 25. Should win both of those, but especially the homer. Most of the squad is consistent with what we’ve been seeing lately, however U17 World Cup standout Oscar Goodman (who recently announced he’ll be attending Michigan Wolverines in the USA college stuff) has been graced with a call-up, as has Breakers development player Kaia Isaac who was part of Flavell’s back-to-back NZ NBL champion Canterbury Rams squads.
Of the 13 players, 10 are currently with Aussie NBL clubs while Taylor Britt and Corey Webster offer locally-based experience and Goodman rounds out the group. Webster, Le’afa, Vodanovich, Harrison, Mennenga, and Cameron were also part of the Olympic qualifiers earlier this year. Nobody from further overseas was selected, probably because these games aren’t that important in the grand scheme (we’ve already won two out of two in qualifying and the local lads can do the mahi without any fuss). Here’s the full squad...
Taylor Britt (Canterbury Rams)
Walter Brown (Tasmania JackJumpers)
Flynn Cameron (Melbourne United)
Max Darling (NZ Breakers)
Oscar Goodman (NBA Global Academy)
Hyrum Harris (Perth Wildcats)
Tyrell Harrison (Brisbane Bullets)
Kaia Isaac (NZ Breakers)
Izayah Le’afa (Sydney Kings)
Sam Mennenga (NZ Breakers)
Tom Vodanovich (SEM Phoenix)
Sam Waardenburg (Cairns Taipans)
Corey Webster (Auckland Tuatara)
Some stray statistics from one of the great Test series victories ever...
The Blackcaps have become the first team ever to whitewash India in an Indian home series. India had only ever failed to win a single Test in two previous home series: South Africa in 2000 (0-2) and England in 1980 (0-1). You have to go all the way back to 1983 for the last time that India even lost three home Test matches in the same calendar year. They just did so in a month.
In contrast, the Blackcaps had never won a Test in India and now they’ve won three in a row. They’d not won an away series at all since beating England 1-0 across two matches more than four years ago. This was the first time NZ has won three matches in a single series. And as for whitewashes, here’s a complete history of those...
As you can see, only four of them came in foreign conditions and the other three were all in Zimbabwe. Never had the Blackcaps swept a three-match series before, not even in Aotearoa. (Obviously, this doesn’t include one-off Tests since those aren’t series).
Ajaz Patel at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai:
25 wickets @ 15.40 avg (26.3 sr)
Ajaz Patel everywhere else:
60 wickets @ 35.03 avg (65.4 sr)
Ajaz Patel in Aotearoa:
0 wickets (49.0 overs)
You know what? Ajaz actually had a better bowling average in this Test than he did in the one where he took a 10-for. Innings figures for Ajaz Patel at Wankhede: 4/106 & 10/119 (2021), 5/103 & 6/57 (2024). Mumbai Magic times two.
Kane Williamson stats in this series:
N/A
Tom Blundell’s career Test innings in India:
13, 2, 8, 0, 5, 3, 41, 0, 4
That’s nine innings totalling 76 runs at an average of 8.44. He also scored 14 runs at 3.50 avg in Bangladesh last year, though he did get a fifty on the recent Sri Lanka tour (116 runs @ 29) and was pretty good in Pakistan when they went there two years ago, with two fifties from three innings.
Virat Kohli Test Average By Opponent
Sri Lanka – 67.81 (18 inns)
South Africa – 54.15 (28 inns)
Bangladesh – 48.72 (13 inns)
West Indies – 48.52 (21 inns)
Australia – 47.48 (44 inns)
England – 42.36 (50 inns)
New Zealand - 38.36 (27 inns)
MNL Team of the Week #6
GK – Silvio Rodic (Birkenhead United) – Gotta be good to keep Wellington Olympic to a single goal. Rodic made several saves, commanded his area, and laid a platform for a win that probably makes Birko favourites to qualify for the final now.
RB – Stephen Hoyle (Napier City Rovers) – Looks like we’re going with an all-central-defender quartet this week... which is fitting since that’s almost what Rovers did. Stephen Hoyle was great on return from U17 WWC assistant coaching duties. Powerful at the back. Set up the winning goal. Primo stuff.
CB – Corban Piper (Wellington Phoenix) – Ridiculous to think he’s only a handful of games into his centre-back transformation because he was winning big headers and courageous blocks all day long in the clean sheet win over Wests.
CB – Aidan Carey (Western Springs) – Another superb defensive outing from the middle man at the back for the Swans, including last-ditch tackles, a clearance off the line, a nudge that could have cost him a penalty but didn’t and therefore counts as good defending, and plenty of class on the ball. He’s been amongst the very best CBs all season and this was a shining performance.
LB – Danny Boys (Coastal Spirit) – Another CB to round out the group. Apologies to George Andrew and Dylan Connolly who came close to selection but had to hype up the 39yo Englishman with the mint left-boot because he bossed it for Coastal on the weekend, showing the young bucks at Eastern Suburbs how it’s done.
CM – Luke Jorgensen (Birkenhead United) – Whatever I wrote the last two weeks, it all applies again for a third week in a row. Birko have this ceaseless energy to how they play, running further and faster and for longer than anyone else. Jorgo leads the way with it. As exhausting as it is impressive.
CM – Joe Hoole (Coastal Spirit) – Actually, similar things are true about Joe Hoole as to Jorgensen. Team captain. Ruthless in the challenge. Never stops running. Jorgo is a little more technical but Hoole has that heavy boot that makes him a goal presence. Scored a net-ripper in another Coastal victory this week. Also his third TOW selection, joining Jorgensen and Coughlan in that prestigious honour.
CM – Reid Drake (Western Springs) – This guy went to Kiwitea Street to play his old team, was rushing them on the press all day, nearly started a fight with Mario Ilich, went close to getting sent off himself, then scored an 87th minute equaliser on the way to a famous late victory. Sheer perfection.
FW – Curtis Hughes (Birkenhead United) – Nearly had his bro Monty Patterson in this spot, but games are decided on moments and Hughes had two of them: winning a penalty to get his team level then nodding in the winner soon afterwards. Great running, keen dribbling, and some clutch production.
FW – Emiliano Tade (Western Springs) – It’s like a new lease of life seeing him in green and white. Ninety minutes wherever possible, drifting into super areas and spotting clever passes that nobody else can. Of course he set up the winning goal against his old mates at Auckland City. Of course he did.
FW – David Yoo (Coastal Spirit) – Signing of the year? Another goal and assist in the 2-1 win against Eastern Subs taks Yoo tied for Golden Boot and Assist King both. He’s such a wicked dribbler and he’s in a team that lets him go to town with those counter attacks. Christchurch United might have to stage a kidnapping to get him back from Coastal’s clutches next year.
Musical Jam...