Latest - The Wellington Phoenix will base themselves in New South Wales again for the new A-League season with the squad leaving next week.
The club says the plan is to have all of their players assembled in New South Wales next week.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The new season starts on December 27th.
The squad members not New Zealand or Australia based will have to undergo two weeks quarantine before beginning training.
The Phoenix only have 14 players signed for the new season, but say they will be announcing new signings in the coming weeks.
Should a trans-Tasman bubble eventuate during the season, the club will review the potential to play home games in New Zealand later in the season.
This is dependent on changes being made by the New Zealand government around the two week quarantine process upon a person's return to New Zealand, when it is deemed safe to do so, and the costs incurred of relocation back to New Zealand.
Some players and staff will take their families and or partners with them to Australia for some or all of the season.
The Phoenix will fly to Australia next week.
The Phoenix spent the latter part of the last season based in Sydney.
General manager David Dome says once a decision was made to start the season on December 27th, they had to act quickly to get their players into a pre-season situation and having that in Australia was the best option.
"We already have quite a few of our players already in Australia. So, the decision was made once we worked out how the season was going to play out was just to shift the players straight to Australia and get into a pre-season and hopefully that will give us the best preparation we can get."
The two overseas players Ulises Davila and Stefan Marinovich will have to undergo two weeks of quarantine in Sydney before joining the rest of the squad.
The club is expected to announce a number of new signings in the coming weeks
Spurs up to fifth
Tottenham have moved up to fifth in the English Premier League after a 1-0 win at Burnley.
It leaves All White Chris Woods side still without a win this season and 18th on the 20-team table.
Son Heung-min scored his eighth league goal of the season with a 76th minute header.
Meanwhile West Bromwich Albion and Brighton and Hove Albion remain near the relegation zone after a 1-all draw.
The point leaves Brighton 16th in the Premier League, two points above West Brom who sit 17th and are still without a league win since being promoted.
-Reuters
Umaga set to play for England
Jacob Umaga has been added to the England rugby squad for this weekend's Six Nations decider in Italy and the November Nations Cup games.
Jacob Umaga Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Umaga, the son of Mike and nephew of Tana Umaga, got his first call up to the England senior side in January, but hasn't played.
First-five Joe Simmonds was man of the match in Exeter's Champions Cup victory over Racing 92 last week and had another perfect day with the boot in the weekend's Premiership final win over Wasps.
However, coach Eddie Jones has included uncapped Wasps number 10 Umaga as backup to Owen Farrell, with George Ford absent through injury.
England could seal the Six Nations title with a bonus-point win against Italy this weekend if the result of France v Ireland goes their way.
England then play four games in the Autumn Nations Cup.
Former Canterbury halfback Willie Heinz is also in England's 36-man squad.
-Reuters
Stars missing from Indian team
India have left out the injured duo of opener Rohit Sharma and quick Ishant Sharma from the test and limited-overs squads for their upcoming tour of Australia but will continue to monitor their progress.
Rohit Sharma Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Ishant has been ruled out of remainder of the ongoing Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates after suffering an abdominal muscle tear earlier in the tournament.
Rohit, who captains defending champions Mumbai Indians in the Twenty20 competition, has also missed the last two IPL matches with a hamstring injury.
Limited-overs stalwart Rohit has reinvented himself as a test opener and his injury creates uncertainty around who would partner Mayank Agarwal at the top of the batting order in the four-test series.
India have named Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill in the test squad and one of them could land the role should Rohit fail to recover.
Uncapped quick Mohammed Siraj was also named in the 18-member test squad, which contains two wicketkeepers in Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant.
Pant was omitted from limited-overs squads where Rahul was preferred.
Four additional bowlers -- Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan - will accompany the team on the tour.
India are scheduled to play four test matches in December-January, preceded by three one-day internationals and as many Twenty20 matches, though the exact itinerary is yet to be finalised.
-Reuters
Cricket SA board quits
Cricket South Africa's entire board has resigned with an interim committee likely to be tasked with bringing the governing body out of its administrative turmoil.
A day after five members, including acting president Beresford Williams, stepped down CSA said its other board members have also resigned.
CSA has been battling governance issues with a damning internal report providing a long list of concerns about the actions of various staff members.
Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa told the International Cricket Council this month that he intended to intervene in the running of CSA unless it committed to governance reforms by Oct. 27.
-Reuters
Kelly announces reirement
The Australian driver Rick Kelly has announced an immediate end to a 19-year stint as a full-time Supercars driver.
Kelly's full-time Supercars career began in 2002, spending seven seasons as part of the Clayton-based Holden empire.
That netted Bathurst 1000 victories in 2003 and '04 alongside New Zealander Greg Murphy under the K-Mart Racing banner, as well as the '06 championship in the rebranded HSV Dealer Team.
Kelly Racing is yet to confirm a replacement for the 37-year-old ahead of the 2021 season, or whether Kelly will return as a co-driver.