The All Sport Breakfast

After claiming victory over both France and Scotland, the Black Ferns are looking to cap off their Northern Tour with a win over the current World Champions: England. 

The Red Roses showed some vulnerability last weekend, drawing with Canada, and the Ferns will be aiming to capitalise on that, defeating them for the first time since 2022's World Cup Final. 

Winger Justine McGregor joined D'Arcy to preview the clash. 

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The fish heads have met. And will meet again. And again, and again. Then possibly, hopefully, maybe they will arrive at conclusion that will rescue the game of rugby from itself.  

On Thursday NZR met with key rugby stakeholders to start hammering out a plan which will, all things going well and good, beat some financial sense into the national game. As it stands, the game will die if the status quo remains. The key question, begging a rapid and brutal answer is this: earn more or spend less?   

Based on conversations with the boss of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association Rob Nichol, the answer is simple. The game needs to stop spending money on things it can't afford, on things it doesn't need.  

Bog standard budgeting really.   

Disclaimer: this is plainly a very simplistic assertion, from a simple man who is not neck deep in the fiscal weeds of running an enormous and important machine.   

The issue the game faces is this. Every character around the summit table needs a haircut and a shave, but no-one wants to be the first on the chair when Sweeney Todd opens for business. No one wants to face the prospect of a skinhead or a mullet or a cutthroat blade shave for the benefit of all.   

The game isn't poverty stricken as it stands, but the trajectory, a favourite line in NZR board-speak, is boring in and down. Collapsed scrum, broken necks.   

Like in most households, the cost-of-living crisis is real, and as tempting as it is to put it all on the plastic and worry about it later, i.e. the ill-advised but impossibly difficult to ignore Silverlake debacle, this is a short-term and fraught process, destined for failure.  

I get the distinct feeling that David Kirk knows what has to happen and this current series of board room exchanges is merely lip service before the buck is forcibly stopped. Right there.  

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The Davis Cup returns to Auckland this weekend. 

After a big win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in February secured our promotion to Group 1, New Zealand is set to take on Japan. 

Artem Sitak is the non-playing captain for the New Zealand team, and joined D'Arcy to discuss the event. 

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The Australian NBL season has arrived. 

The Breakers are set to begin their campaign tomorrow afternoon, going up against the Illawarra Hawks at Spark Arena. 

Guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright joined D'Arcy to preview the season opener. 

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After kicking off their WXV Global Series with a win over France, the Black Ferns are back in action this weekend. 

They're taking on Scotland, building towards next weekend's major clash against England – the World Champions. 

Prop for the Ferns, Maddison Robinson joined D'Arcy to preview the clash. 

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Tomorrow the Warriors face the first of possibly three club-defining crossroads. The first junction to be successfully negotiated is the one blocked by the Newcastle Knights. Beyond that does not warrant comment. It's Newcastle or the bush. Nothing else matters.  

It's easy to punch down on the prospects of the team. Their first foray into the 2026 finals season exposed many a fissure that the team has papered over so far. This is not a criticism of the team. It's what finals football is, a deep interrogation of all teams, peeling back layers to expose the vulnerabilities each team has been careful to mask.   

The Warriors 2026 are a relatively inexperienced group who are flirting with greatness. The white-hot atmosphere of finals football will be turned up a notch at Eden Park. That firestorm last week may have cooked the side, but it was survivable, such is the reward for finishing the regular season near the top of the table. A loss wasn't season ending. This week, should they be exposed to the same barbeque, the charred remains will be scraped off the plate into the bin of lost promise.   

However, there are reasons as fans to embrace the positive possibilities. The pants-down bottom slap of last week served as a timely reminder of the fine line between celebration and commiseration. The team now know how delicate that hair-trigger is, and are now experientially aware of that impossibly fine line.  

Speaking to some of the team on Tuesday, the biggest takeaway was a sense of calm. There was little in the way of stress. There was a contained excitement, carefully managed internal confidence, framed by the fresh recognition of soul crushing defeat and the joy of playing their favourite game on the biggest stage.   

That's a heady mix.  

Up the Wahs. 

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The pressure is on for the Warriors. 

They're gearing up for a do or die match against the Newcastle Knights – a win would book them a spot in next week's preliminary finals while a loss would end their season. 

Earlier in the week D'Arcy caught up with Warriors co-captain Mitch Barnett to discuss Sunday's clash. 

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Pole vaulter Imogen Ayris has admitted the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest was hardly a target to begin the year.  

The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and compatriot Eliza McCartney qualified for the event in its maiden running as two of the top eight ranked athletes. 

Ayris explained to Adam Cooper how she went from being happy sitting outside the world's top 15, before flying up into contention. 

The pair are scheduled to compete early tomorrow morning. 

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After a comfortable win over the Springboks Women, the Black Ferns are kicking off their WXV Global Series campaign. 

They're back in action early Sunday morning, facing France at Matmut Stadium in Lyon. 

Atlanta Lolohea is coming off the bench for the Ferns, and joined Adam Cooper to preview the clash. 

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It's the final showdown in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry. 

The All Blacks have one last chance to level the series, as the Springboks are leading 2-1 as they head into the Baltimore clash. 

Elliott Smith, Newstalk ZB's Voice of Rugby, is on the ground in the States, and caught up with winger Will Jordan to preview the final test. 

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