Latest - Sam Cane will captain the All Blacks in their opening Rugby Championship game against Argentina next week.
With Kieran Read one of a number of Crusaders being rested for the game, Cane will captain the All Blacks for the third time when they take the field in Buenos Aires.
All Blacks flanker Sam Cane Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2018 www.photosport.nz
Read's usual deputy Sam Whitelock will also miss the trip.
Cane hasn't played fo the All Blacks since injuring his neck playing against the Springboks in Pretoria in October last year.
Just three of the crusaders Super Rugby winning side, midfielder Braydon Ennor and wingers Sevu Reece and George Bridge will travel to Argentina.
Midfielder Sonny Bill Williams will also travel, but coach Steve Hansen says he may not play as he's still recovering from a hamstring injury.
Phoenix sign English striker
The Wellington Phoenix have signed the man they hope will be able to fill the gap left by the departure of striker Roy Krishna.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The A-League club has signed Englishman David Ball on a two year contract.
The 29-year old striker comes from English Football League Championship side, Rotherham United, having spent the 2018/19 season on loan at Bradford City where he scored seven goals in 42 appearances in League One of the EFL.
Head Coach, Ufuk Talay is happy to have secured Ball's services after a thorough search for a number nine.
"David is vastly experienced and having played in the EFL for a long period, brings in the qualities we are looking for in a front man.
"He has proven to be a goal scoring threat wherever he has played, and we are looking forward to him continuing that in the Hyundai A-League."
Krishna, who won this season's Golden Boot and was named A-League player of the season, has moved to India.
Bevin out of tour.
Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) has been forced to leave the Tour de France with broken ribs, becoming the first rider to abandon the 2019 edition of the race.
Patrick Bevan competing in the Tour of Southland. Photo: Photosport
The New Zealander suffered a heavy crash on stage 4, some 100 kilometres from the finish line in Nancy.
He got back on his bike and finished the stage, and completed Thursday's stage 5 in the Vosges hills, but the pain in his chest only increased.
He went straight for an X-ray after finishing the stage in Colmar, and it emerged he had fractured two ribs.
-BBC
Venus beaten in Wimbledon semi-finals.
New Zealand player Michael Venus and South African partner Raven Klaasen have been beaten in the semi-finals of the men's doubles at Wimbledon.
The third seeds have suffered a 3 sets to 1 loss to Colombian second seeds, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
New Zealand's Artem Sitak and German playing partner Laura Siegemund have been beaten in straight sets in their mixed doubles quarterfinal.
Six gold medals and one bronze for Kanah Andrews-Nahu at Pacific Games
Auckland weightlifter Kanah Andrews-Nahu has won seven medals at the Pacific Games in Samoa.
The 18-year-old snatched 94kgs and clean and jerked 112kgs for a total of 206kgs in the U76kg competition.
The results saw her win gold in all three disciplines at the Pacific Games. Andrews-Nahu also took gold in the Oceania Seniors, gold in the Oceania juniors, gold in the Commonwealth juniors and bronze in the Commonwealth seniors which were run concurrently.
New Zealand teammate Bailey Rogers competed in the same division, winning silver in the snatch, bronze in the clean and jerk and silver overall.
Japanese rugby looms for Genia, Cooper
Veteran Wallabies playmaking duo Will Genia and Quade Cooper will join Japan's Kintetsu Liners following this year's Rugby World Cup.
Wallabies halfback Will Genia. Photo: Photosport
The Melbourne Rebels duo, who also played Super Rugby together in Queensland for the Reds, are the latest top players to head to Japan to play club rugby after the country hosts the World Cup.
The Liners, who play in Japan's second-tier Top Challenge League, said halfback Genia will link up with the club after the World Cup, but five-eighth Cooper, who was not named in the Wallabies' Rugby Championship squad, could move to Japan as soon as September.
Japan's domestic league season will begin in January 2020, which is later than usual due to the World Cup, which starts on 20 September.
Fellow Wallaby David Pocock will also return to Japan in 2020 and it is not just Australian players who have been enticed to Japanese rugby next season.
All Blacks Kieran Read, Brodie Retallick and Ryan Crotty will also be heading to Japan, along with South African loose forward Duane Vermeulen.
-Reuters