Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The All Blacks and Highlanders winger Waisake Naholo will be out of action for up to six weeks after suffering a knee ligament injury at training yesterday.

A statement from the Highlanders said Naholo is currently in a knee brace after a scan revealed a grade two ligmament injury.

Naholo's absence is a major blow with the side having also lost All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith for a month due to an ankle injury.

The Highlanders, who are currently second to last in the New Zealand conference, had a bye last round and play the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Friday night followed by two more local derbies against the Crusaders and the Blues.

No replacement has yet been named for Naholo.

Foran out for three months.

The Kiwi rugby league international Kieran Foran has suffered a major injury setback and is likely to be out of action with Canterbury in the NRL for up to three months.

Foran has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and is likelyt to require surgery, according to Fox Sports.

It's another blow for the 28-year-old New Zealander who has battled injury and personal problems in recent years but produced a man of the match performance in the weekend win over West Tigers.

The injury is also likely to rule him out of the Kiwis test against Tonga in June.

Advantage Arsenal in Champions League race

Arsenal's jumped up to third in English football's Premier League to move into pole position in the battle for the final two Champions League berths.

The Gunners have beaten Newcastle two-nil in London to climb above rivals Tottenham and Manchester United.

Arsenal's 14 points behind title challengers Manchester City, but two points clear of Spurs and United, and three clear of Chelsea.

Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette scored the Gunners' goals.

Good start for New Zealand sailors.

A couple of New Zealand crews have made a good start to the Princess Sofia sailing regatta in Spain, the first major event of the European season.

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders scored two wins from their three races today and are second overall in the Nacra 17.

Andrew Maloney is third overall in the Finn and Alex Maloney and Molly Meech are fourth in the 49erFX

Not all classes got on the water today, including the men's 49er class which includes Olympic champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

Waikato lure Auckland flanker to Hamilton

Chiefs loose forward Taleni Seu has switched from Auckland to Waikato for this year's Mitre 10 Cup.

The 25-year-old has played more than 20 matches for Auckland and 30 plus games for the Chiefs in Super Rugby.

Waikato head coach Andrew Strawbridge says they're pleased to have secured Seu's services for the 2019 season.

"He's a very talented player and his ability to play a number of positions to a high standard will provide us with some choices," Strawbridge said.

Taleni Seu will link up with Waikato for the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup at the conclusion of the Chiefs' Super Rugby campaign.

Big pay day for Black Caps

The Black Caps have been confirmed in second place in the ICC Test Cricket Championship and been awarded $734,000.

India retained their title for the third year running and won the purse of almost $1.5 million.

The prize money was based on the ICC Test Team Rankings on the cut-off date of April 1st.

The Kane Williamson-led side, who also had the satisfaction of seeing their captain get the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for 2018, earnt 734 thousand dollars after finishing with 108 points, eight behind India.

Williamson said: "It's an awesome achievement for our side to finish second in the ICC Test Team Rankings and as a team we should be very proud. It's come off the back of a lot of hard work and perseverance; not just by the eleven guys on the field, but the entire squad and support staff.

"It's been especially pleasing to see the consistency we've shown in the longest form of the game over a decent period of time. We're now all really looking forward to the ICC World Test Championship getting underway and the added context the competition will bring."

Steven Adams up for award

Kiwi basketballer Steven Adams is one of the 12 nominees for the NBA'S Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award.

The award recognises the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.

It's been running since the 2012-13 season, with Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jamal Crawford having received the award last year.

The winner will be announced at the NBA Awards in late June.

World Cup squad set to be named

In little over 24 hours New Zealand Cricket will reveal the 15 players who will make-up the Black Caps squad for this year's one-day World Cup in England and Wales.

New Zealand Cricket will announce the squad at Tai Tapu Primary School in Canterbury at 11am tomorrow.

Black Caps coach Gary Stead, selector Gavin Larsen and one-day regulars Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls will be on hand for the announcement.

Most of the intrigue has surrounded who will be the second specialist spin bowler behind Mitchell Santner and who will back-up first-choice wicketkeeper Tom Latham.

Ireland lose a flanker

Ireland flanker Dan Leavy will miss this year's Rugby World Cup in Japan after he was ruled out of the rest of the season with a "complex" knee ligament injury.

Leavy suffered the injury during Leinster's 21-18 Champions Cup quarter-final victory over Ulster at the weekend after coming off the bench in the second half.

24 year old Leavy won the last of his 11 caps against Argentina in November after missing last year's Six Nations with a calf injury.

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was already sweating over the fitness of flanker Josh van der Flier, who is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing groin surgery, but could return for the World Cup.

Mystics get their first win

The Northern Mystics have scored their first win of the ANZ netball Premiership beating the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 54-44 in Auckland.

It took six long, frustrating weeks but the Mystics finally got their first win.... they remain bottom of the table, while the Magic are fourth.

Led by their captain Phoenix Karaka in defence, who took home the MVP honours, the Mystics came from nine goals down in the second spell to dominate the last two quarters.

Crotty heading to Japan

All Black and Crusaders midfielder Ryan Crotty will play his rugby in Japan at the end of the year.

The Crusaders centurion and 44-Test All Black has announced he will leave New Zealand rugby after the World Cup, and link up with Japanese club Kubota Spears.

30 year old Crotty joins fellow All Blacks such as Ben Smith, Owen Franks and captain Kieran Read in confirming 2019 will be their last in New Zealand.

Crotty made his Super Rugby debut in 2009 and first appeared for the All Blacks in 2013.

Coll rises in world rankings

New Zealand's top men's squash player Paul Coll has risen to a career high world ranking of five.

Coll, the highest ranked Kiwi male since Ross Norman in 1993, claimed his biggest title to date after beating Egypt's Tarek Momen in the final of the Canary Wharf Squash Classic last month.

As a result the 26-year-old has risen two place to climb to number five.

World Champion Ali Farag remains at the top of the rankings, with fellow Egyptians Mohamed ElShorbagy remaining at number two and Tarek Momen number three.

Joelle King is the top ranked number woman at number five.

Tele'a gets 4 weeks

The Blues winger Tanielu Tele'a has been suspended for four weeks of Super Rugby.

Tele'a was sent off late in the Blues' 24-9 win over the Stormers at Eden Park on Saturday night, for a tip tackle on Stormers winger Dillyn Leyds.

The Sanzaar judiciary accepted a guilty plea from Tele'a for contravening Law 9.17: A player must not tackle, charge, pull, push or grasp an opponent whose feet are off the ground.

His suspension is up to and including May 4th.

As a result, Tele'a will miss the Blues' games against the Waratahs, Chiefs, Highlanders and Brumbies, before being able to return on May 10 against the Hurricanes.

QPR sack McLaren

English Championship football club Queens Park Rangers have parted ways with manager Steve McClaren after the former England boss oversaw a dismal run of results since the turn of the year.

McClaren, who was appointed QPR's manager on a two-year contract last May, has managed only one win in their last 15 league matches. The club slipped from eighth to 17th in the standings and sit eight points above the relegation zone.

McClaren, a former assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, was England's manager between 2006 and 2007 but his 18-month tenure ended after they failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championships.

Sri Lankan Test captain apologises for drink driving

Sri Lanka's test captain Dimuth Karunaratne has apologised for his actions in a drink-driving accident that injured one person in Colombo and led to the cricketer's arrest on Sunday.

The injured driver was later discharged and Karunaratne was released on bail, with Sri Lanka Cricket stating they would conduct their own inquiry into the incident.

Karunaratne was Sri Lanka's captain when they became the first Asian team to win a test series in South Africa last month.