Latest - Canterbury has won the first golden point match in Mitre 10 Cup history.
Photo: Photosport Ltd 2020
Replacement back Isaiah Punivai has intercepted a pass and run 60 metres to score in the fifth minute of extra time to secure Canterbury a 31-26 bonus point win over Wellington in Christchurch.
The scores had been level at 26-all at fulltime after Canterbury flanker Tom Christie scored in the 77th minute.
The result lifts Canterbury to fourth in the premiership, after back-to-back defeats, while Wellington remain third a point ahead of the red and blacks.
Premiership leaders Tasman visit bottom of the table North Harbour this afternoon, with the Mako a chance to pull six points clear of the chasing pack.
Storm advance to another preliminary final
The Melbourne Storm are one win away from the NRL grand final for the sixth straight season after beating the Parramatta Eels 36-24 in their qualifying final in Brisbane.
Photo: Photosport Ltd 2018
Their win was soured by a late knee injury to five-eighth Cameron Munster.
Munster and the Storm will now have a week off before facing the winner of next weekend's semi-final between the Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders.
The Raiders have advanced to the second week of the finals after beating the Cronulla Sharks 32-20 in their elimination final in Canberra.
Week one of the finals concludes this evening (Sunday) when the South Sydney Rabbitohs play host to the Newcastle Knights for the right to play the Parramatta Eels next week.
Warriors women no match for defending champs
The Brisbane Broncos have started their quest for a third straight NRLW title with a 28-14 win over the Warriors in Canberra.
Photo: Photosport Ltd 2020
The Warriors started brightly, scoring the first two tries of the match to jump out to an 8-nil lead.
But the Broncos then took control scoring the next five tries to open up a match-winning advantage.
The Warriors side was only cobbled together last week with only five players from last year's squad able to commit to basing themselves in a bubble in Australia.
Earlier the Sydney Roosters beat the St George Illawarra Dragons 18-4 in the other opening round match.
Chelsea and Everton post comfortable league wins
Chelsea settled their stuttering start to the season with a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League as Ben Chilwell marked his league debut for the Blues by scoring the opening goal and creating another for Kurt Zouma.
Jorginho Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Jorginho sealed the win with two late penalties in a second-half demolition of Palace who had stifled Chelsea in a goalless first half.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin became Everton's first player to score in the opening four matches of a Premier League season as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 to keep their perfect start intact.
The result left Everton top of the standings on a maximum 12 points from four games, three ahead of Leicester City and champions Liverpool, who each have a game in hand.
Leeds United and Manchester City have played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in Leeds and Newcastle's beaten Burnley 3-1 in the late kick-off at St James' Park.
- Reuters
Novak Djokovic has maintained his imperious progress at the French Open with a 6-0 6-3 6-2 drubbing of Colombian Daniel Galan to move effortlessly into the last 16.
Photo: AFP
The 33-year-old was rarely extended by his 153rd-ranked opponent and even found time to help out with court sweeping duties when the match was interrupted by rain.
Djokovic, like 12-time champion Rafa Nadal, has reached the last 16 without the loss of a set although things will toughen up with powerful Russian Karen Khachanov up next.
Khachanov earlier beat Chile's Cristian Garin in four sets.
Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin of the USA has beaten Romanian qualifier Irina Bara 6-2, 6-0.
- Reuters
Italian leads Giro d'Italia
Italian Filippo Ganna has won the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, a 15.1-km individual time trial between Monreale and Palermo to claim the first Maglia Rosa leader's jersey of this year's race as Geraint Thomas opened an early gap on his rivals.
Photo: AFP
The Ineos-Grenadiers rider, who claimed the time trial title at the world championships last week, clocked 15 minutes 24 seconds to beat Portugal's Joao Almeida by a massive 22 seconds.
"Today I knew I was one of the hot favourites but I tried to stay calm," said Ganna.
"We did it, what a great result and what a thrill to wear the Maglia Rosa on my first Giro, which is a good omen for the rest of the race."
Briton Thomas, also from Ineos-Grenadiers, was the best of the pre-race favourites when he took fourth place in 15:47, with his compatriot Simon Yates losing 26 seconds to the 2018 Tour de France champion.
- Reuters