Back of the net!
Football Ferns provide antidote to a winter of discontent, PLUS: The Week That Was and the Weekend That Will Be.
There were several moments towards the end of the Football Ferns stunning win over former world champions Norway where you could be forgiven for being exasperated by the home side’s inability to “close this bloody game out”.
It’s one of those stock phrases you throw out in times of spectating stress but in this case it carried with it the gravity of truth: this New Zealand team, quite literally, had no idea how to close out a World Cup victory.
Until last night’s World Cup opener at Eden Park, it had been 12 losses and three draws. For that reason alone it has to be one of the biggest boilovers in the country’s sporting history.
According to my Google machine, the Football Ferns have played 31 competitive matches since the start of the last World Cup and this one, winning five and losing (gulp) 22. In 18 of those matches they were held scoreless and on just three occasions did they enter a non-binary digit in the goals column.
It has been a period of such on-field futility - that followed hard on the heels of a period of off-field turbulence - that winning World Cup co-hosting rights appeared to amount to little more than a cruel joke.
Combine that with a tranche of negative commentary over ticket sales (which was addressed in the last newsletter) and there was at the very least a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the tournament on this side of the Tasman.
Thanks now to Hannah Wilkinson’s wonderfully constructed training-ground goal, some gritty defending and a Vic Esson fingertip save, the public now has a genuine football touchstone; something to get behind other than the tedious exhortations of getting out and appreciating just how lucky we are that the Gods of Zurich have blessed us with their presence.
Ticket sales, particularly for the Football Ferns, got a turbocharged boost last night.
There was a lot to love about that game: the record crowd, the colour, the goal, the dramatic intervention of VAR and the tears at the final whistle. For a moment it was easy to forget that just 12 hours earlier most headlines concerning the World Cup were accompanied by the words “New Zealand shooter”.
This was a deeply satisfying end to a profoundly tragic day in Auckland.
It’s just the start.
FURTHER READING:
Richard Irvine went along last night… and missed the goal.
ESPN’s World Cup diary covers off the injury that has rocked Australia’s campaign (among many other things).
The Ringer’s entrance survey roundtable is US heavy, but interesting nonetheless.
This Guardian interactive - Your guide to all 736 players - is actually a bloody handy resource that I referred to several times last night.
What’s next for the Football Ferns (NZH)?
Weekend games (all Sky Sport):
Today: Nigeria v Canada, Melbourne, 2.30pm; Philippines v Switzerland, Dunedin, 5pm; Spain v Costa Rica, Wellington, 7.30pm.
Tomorrow: USA v Vietnam, Auckland, 1pm; Zambia v Japan, Hamilton, 7pm; England v Haiti, Brisbane, 9.30pm; Denmark v China, midnight, Perth.
Sunday: Sweden v South Africa, Wellington, 5pm; Netherlands v Portugal, Dunedin, 7.30pm; France v Jamaica, Sydney, 10pm.
NZ next match: v Philippines, Wellington, Tuesday 5.30pm, Sky Sport 1 and Prime.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
The future of the Commonwealth Games has never felt so tenuous after the state of Victoria first said “yeah”, then went “nah”.
The saga and the Games’ future is summed up nicely by the Beeb.
Already, the leaders of every other Australian state have ruled out picking up the tab.
Western Australia’s premier Roger Cook called the event “ruinously expensive”, saying “the Commonwealth Games aren’t what they used to be”.
And while New South Wales was widely seen as the most viable Australian alternative due to its existing infrastructure, its premier Chris Minns said, “hosting the Commonwealth Games would be something nice to do. Schools and hospitals are must do’s”.
Australia’s last host city - the Gold Coast, which held the event in 2018 - says it would be “impractical to think that any city could step in now with such a short timeframe”.
And even if it was possible, few countries have the means.
Just one Games has been held outside the UK or Australia in the last 20 years - the 2010 outing in the Indian capital, Delhi. Originally expected to cost $270m, India ended up spending 16 times that - almost $4.1bn.
Remember, too, the last event was only held in the home of Black Sabbath because Durban was stripped of its hosting rights.
Meanwhile, Kereyn Smith, NZ’s vice-president of the CGF, is not happy.
“It’s quite unprecedented,” she told the ABC, “There’s respect and there’s integrity around the process and the communication … it feels to me like those things have been compromised as part of this process.”
It was quite the newsy week for cricket, what with the audio rights sold to SENZ and my friends at The ACC and the announcement of incoming test tours from twin nemeses South Africa and Australia, the former of which is already under an availability cloud. NZ Cricket are in no mood for turning, it appears, as Cricket South Africa look to bump the tour back for a week or two to accommodate their IPL-funded domestic T20 tournament. Welcome to the new world…
“These tests have been part of the FTP since it was announced two years ago,” Richard Boock, NZC’s manager of public affairs, told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve collaborated and agreed dates with CSA, who have confirmed the tour, acknowledged the arrangements and have been in receipt of the schedule for several weeks. Flights have been confirmed, dates for the practice game have been agreed, and we’re looking forward to the squad’s arrival. The Proteas are a popular and formidable test team and we view them as an important part of our home summer schedule.”
Oh, and they announced a squad to the UAE that really is something - 22 players!
Adi Ashok and Dean Foxcroft get anticipated call-ups, and there is excitement, too, to see if the new Kyle Jamieson looks like the old Kyle Jamieson.
NZ T20 Squad for UAE and England: Tim Southee (c), Finn Allen (Eng), Adi Ashok (UAE), Chad Bowes (UAE), Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver (UAE), Devon Conway (Eng), Lockie Ferguson, Dean Foxcroft (UAE), Matt Henry (Eng), Kyle Jamieson, Cole McConchie (UAE), Adam Milne (Eng), Daryl Mitchell (Eng), Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips (Eng), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Henry Shipley (UAE), Ish Sodhi (Eng), Will Young (UAE).
Not a bad time for Rugby Australia to announce the regurgitation of the Anzac XV concept last seen on the Lions tour to the sunburnt country in 1989. It was hardly a stunning success back then, with just three New Zealanders in the starting XV and the combined team losing 15-19.
The [2025] fixture will be held at Adelaide Oval as one of the lead-up matches to the first test between the Lions and the Wallabies at Brisbane’s Lang Park.
It’s not a bad deflection for Eddie Jones, whose particular brand of magic is already being scrutinised in his second stint with the Wallabies.
It is Australia’s second straight defeat under new coach Eddie Jones, the first time they’ve been beaten back-to-back by Argentina and their fifth successive defeat in the Rugby Championship, where they sit dead last in 2023. It drops the Wallabies to eighth in the world rankings 54 days out from the World Cup and keeps the much-ballyhooed Jones’s jumpstart of Australian rugby on blocks.
A joint production between CJZ and Karl Stefanovic and Richard Weinberg’s Karlinberg Entertainment, the as-yet-untitled docuseries will follow the squad through team camps, training sessions, dressing rooms, and on the field as they take part in the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup, and warm-up matches, culminating in a historic campaign in France as they vie for a third Rugby World Cup trophy.
Sounds unmissable.
SVG is going Stateside again, and he’s taking a Supercars rival with him.
Shane van Gisbergen has been confirmed for a second Nascar Cup Series start, and will go head-to-head with Supercars rival Brodie Kostecki. Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his maiden Nascar Cup Series start with Trackhouse Racing’s Project91 program.
The three-time Supercars champion will return to the saddle of the #91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the Indianapolis road course race next month… Kostecki will race for Richard Childress Racing.
The NZ sports media lost Steve Orsbourn last week. A legendary camera operator and visual journalist, Ors livened up any room he walked into.
In Business Desk ($), his great mate Trevor McKewen remembers him.
Ors, as he was commonly known by and loved within the NZ sports media fraternity, was the unsung hero behind a TV camera lens who brought fans everything from the All Blacks to boxing to motorsport.
He wasn’t just brilliant at capturing that action. He was also a multi-talented storyteller who was the creative genius behind telling the story of David Tua’s career as well as other great NZ athletes during separate stints at TV3 and Sky Sport…
But more than that, Ors was a loyal and dear friend of many in the NZ sports media. Always thinking of others, a fantastic tourist and a gem of a man.
Vale, old mate … we’re going to miss you dearly.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Just your semi-regular reminder that this segment is neither exhaustive, nor does it look beyond the global weekend.
I cannot provide evidence more persuasive than the following that Wah-mania is real: the Mairangi Bay monthly poker school has moved venues at the 11th hour to ensure we have access to a TV. While the venue must remain a closely guarded secret, I can confirm that the playlist is “Straya” and is headlined by this four-minute masterpiece.
As for the Warriors, it didn’t go so well the last time they had a hyped-up Friday night clash in dreadful weather against top eight opposition. Have lessons been learned?
NZ Warriors v Canberra, Auckland, tonight 8pm, Sky Sport 4
Just one of the reasons the Open Championship remains my favourite golf tournament of the year.
Pretty stunning patch of land they have at Hoylake, near Liverpool, which is hosting its 13th Open. It might look great to the eye, but Daniel Hillier and Ryan Fox will be feeling less charitable about it after shooting 7-over 78s in the opening round. They will need a minor miracle to make the weekend.
There is a three-way tie for the first-round lead at 5-under, and three others at -4. If any of you had a bingo card of Open contenders with any more than one of these names on it before the tournament started, you’re either a liar or watch waaaay too much golf: Christo Lamprecht, Tommy Fleetwood, Emiliano Grillo (all -5), Antoine Rozner, Adrián Otaegui and Brian Harman. I’ve never been able to watch Harman hit a ball this year without thinking of Kiwi golfer Michael Hendry’s line about him being “one of the most awful human beings I’ve ever met”.
Open Championship, round 2, Hoylake, tonight from 5.30pm, Sky Sport 6
If Headingley provided evidence of cracks in the visitor’s exterior, then England’s battering-ram approach on day two has transformed those hairline fractures into fissures. It also highlighted how fiendishly difficult it can be to captain a side under pressure when you’re also the guy relied on the most to staunch the runs as a bowler. Pat Cummins looked lost. He bowled poorly and muffed two simple chances in the field, one he didn’t even see as it spooned lazily off Moeen Ali’s bat. As England’s assault, led improbably by Zak Crawley’s 189 from 182 balls, sharpened, the arm-waving and face-pulling from vice-captain Steven Smith became ever more frantic.
Cummins needs a break, England needs a break in the weather. Bazball could have been designed with Manchester weather in mind, but they’re going to need a few dry hours here and there to get the series back to The Oval at 2-2.
England v Australia, 4th test day 3, Manchester, tonight, 10pm, TVNZ+ and Duke
Former Danish fish factory worker Jonas Vingegaard has blown apart the Tour de France this week. He’s dismantled the man regarded by most to be the best rider of a bike in the world, Tadej Pagacar, to such a degree that let’s just say it’s invited a degree of suspicion not seen on the tour since a certain Texan started collecting maillot jaunes for fun. Vingegaard’s Jumbo Visma team revealed their leader had been tested four times in two days this week.
To be honest I fully understand the scepticism. We have to be sceptical, with what happened in the past, otherwise it would happen again,” Vingegaard said.
The result of the tour is a foregone conclusion, but the final push into Paris and the sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées is always worth a look.
Tour de France, stage 21, Paris, Monday 2.20am, Sky Sport Select
So much to love. You could add a missed peno and 9 terrifying minutes of stoppage time too!
Big chance for England in the Ashes tonight, Brook & Stokes against a tired attack on a good deck. It felt like Oz were light in their first dig and it was proven so. I feel like they started the series looking strong and as it’s gone on they’ve faded. England the opposite. Could be a fascinating last game and a half, with the momentum the way it is I think England will look back and say “what if” if Australia retain the urn, and the odds are for that. Agree with you Dylan about Cummins, it really wasn’t great from first to last ball of the day for him.