Ineos Britannia turned up for the opening match race against Team New Zealand in Barcelona with a dud battery. You can’t be serious.
With Team New Zealand jumping to a 3-0 lead, the whole thing is a bit flat.
Winner: Black Ferns confidence booster … but
A third WXV1 loss in Canada would have been a disaster, a year out from the World Cup defence.
A third-quarter burst of ball running from Georgia Ponsonby, Kaipo Olsen-Baker and co saw the Black Ferns pull away for a big rugby win over France.
But the French were poor at this tournament, offsetting too much optimism around the Black Ferns’ much-needed win.
England remain overwhelming favourites to lift the cup next year. The gap has not closed.
Winner: TJ Perenara
Picked for the All Blacks northern tour…the veteran halfback’s test career is extending further than almost everyone predicted. It’s a cautious decision by All Blacks coach Scott Robertson who gives the impression he is still feeling his way on the international stage.
Winner/Loser: Take your pick
Outgoing World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont predicted that the 2028 finals of the new biennial Nations Championship would be held in Qatar. Cash-strapped rugby had little choice, he reckoned.
Middle East money might save rugby, but it could also ruin it if the links with the rank and file are broken even further. Hard to tell at this stage.
Loser: Bomb squad jealousy
South Africa’s brilliant rugby replacement strategies might be tackled in the board room.
In the same interview, Beaumont said rugby should reduce the number of substitutes, so games open up in the last 20 minutes.
Well, why didn’t you do something about it Bill? You’ve been in charge for eight years.
While claiming not to be pointing the finger at South Africa, the old England/Lions forward reckoned “maybe the bomb squad could run for a bit longer and a bit further”.
Would Beaumont be promoting the rule change if England had pioneered the South African tactic? Ask yourself.
Winner/Loser: The All Whites
The Oceania qualification process has been set up for New Zealand to succeed and progress to the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals.
They duly opened with an easy victory against Tahiti at a low-key (to put it mildly) venue in Vanuatu. The All Whites now face poor opposition on home soil.
Ultimately, appearing at the expanded 2026 World Cup in North America will bring a glamorous profile to New Zealand football.
But what we are going through right now is an embarrassment to the game.
The All Whites are far too good for their Oceania opponents, and the match coverage is hidden away on FIFA+.
The qualification route should involve headline-making drama and quality football. And a soft pathway will leave the All Whites poorly prepared for the big show.
Winner: Rafael Nadal … and this quiz question
The Spaniard was part of the greatest rivalry in tennis history - the enduring battle with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal has just announced impending retirement with 22 grand slams - including 14 French Open titles - and an Olympic gold medal heading his trophy haul.
A superb Nadal retrospective by the former British player Annabel Croft, in the Times, detailed his major weapon - a spinning forehand she described as “one of the most vicious shots of all-time”.
She continued that Djokovic - the undisputed greatest - had told her that those who had not faced it “do not at all realise what it’s like to try to hit that ball back with the curve, the spin, the rotation and the way in which it rears up off the court”.
Nadal will also be remembered for his incredible stamina, and a humble everyman personality.
And his retirement announcement was in keeping with the persona, made in 12 languages. For the record, he posted ‘many thanks to all’ in Spanish, Catalan, English, French, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Portuguese, German, Swedish and Serbian. Classy…and a potential quiz question.
Winner/Loser: Kiwis coach Stacey Jones.
Why is international rugby league in such a poor state?
The almost total domination of the sport by the NRL is a contributing factor.
And because New Zealand’s players only emerge on the other side of the ditch, our national team lacks identity.
Having Australian Michael Maguire in charge of the Kiwis didn’t help either, even if he did a great job performance-wise culminating in the destruction of the Kangaroos last year.
The trouble is, the Kiwis look like a branch of the NRL. The transtasman rivalry has lost the them-against-us intensity that used to drive the interest.
It’s hard to know what the answer is.
At least Jones’ appointment helps give the Kiwi league team desperately needed identity, even if his coaching credentials are a major worry.
And Jones’ legendary status may have helped persuade Shaun Johnson to come out of retirement, briefly, when the Kiwis were hit by an injury crisis in the halves. A call from Jones would have been hard for Johnson to turn down.
Johnson’s presence will also help the Kiwis’ image.
But I don’t see any real remedy for the state of international league. There will be the odd slightly memorable game, and that will be it.
The great days are gone, it is what it is.
Winner: Women’s basketball in America … and here … and a prediction.
What an incredible year thanks largely to phenomenal publicity magnet Caitlin Clark.
The WNBA is booming, and on ESPN last week the owners of the New York Liberty boldly predicted their club would become the first (US) billion-dollar franchise in women’s sport.
The Liberty is currently valued at around $250m. Owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai - who also have a major stake in the Brooklyn Nets where Kiwi Sean Marks is GM - bought the Liberty for an undisclosed amount in 2019.
At the time it was virtually an unwanted item, having accumulated losses of more than $150m since it became a foundation WNBA club 12 years earlier.
Meanwhile, rising WNBA star Jordan Horston of the Seattle Storm is beginning her stint in the New Zealand league with Wellington-based Tokomanawa Queens.
This is an incredible coup for a sport that has the potential to become the dominant women’s team code in this country.
Loser: English football
Repeat champions Manchester City are at war with everyone else in the English Premier League over financial rules. And they are claiming victory after a tribunal verdict was released last week.
But everyone is losing because the credibility of the EPL has been hit by a confusing ruckus that creates confusion over whether Manchester City even deserve to be considered champions.
Added to that, England - the home of the world’s highest-profile league - were beaten 2-1 at Wembley by little old Greece who also had three goals disallowed for offside.
Winner: The baseball playoffs … a Subway Series?
The MLB playoffs have been outstanding, headed by a great series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
As always, some players thrive in the postseason - think the Dodgers’ Kiké Hernández. Others - even Japanese freak Shohei Ohtani - struggle to match their regular season form.
Both the New York Yankees and Mets have reached the championship finals, meaning the World Series could be a tantalising subway series for the first time since 2000.
