Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest- Warriors halfback Kodi Nikorima has been granted an immediate release from his contract.

Nikorima who was signed to the end of this season, will continue his career with NRL club the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

"He wanted to take up an offer elsewhere. Given the circumstances we weren't going to stand in his way," Warriors general manager football Craig Hodges said.

Nikorima joined the Warriors in May 2019 after 86 appearances for the Brisbane Broncos, making his club debut in the Magic Round clash against St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium.

His 59th and final appearance for the Warriors was against the Sydney Roosters on 17 April.

Meanwhile, just-signed Sydney Roosters halfback Ronald Volkman and hooker Freddy Lussick have joined the Warriors immediately.

The 19-year-old Volkman's three-year contract from 2023 through to 2025 was announced last week but he will now link up with the Warriors early.

Volkman's 21-year-old teammate Lussick has been secured on a contract to the end of 2022 campaign.

Both players joined the Warriors in Redcliffe on Monday.

Black Sticks women get new interim coach

Former player Darren Smith will take over as the interim head coach of the Black Sticks women's side for the rest of the year.

He will lead the team through to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, including the World Cup and this week's Trans-Tasman series.

Irishman Graham Shaw stood down last month after three years in charge to return home.

Smith is currently the High Performance director for Hockey New Zealand, was previously the head coach of the Black Sticks Men until September 2021 and before that, head coach of the Irish national women's side.

He played 212 tests for New Zealand between 1995 and 2012.

Warriors lose to 12 man Sharks

The Warriors were unable to make the most of a one man advantage for more than an hour as they were beaten 29-10 by the Cronulla Sharks in their NRL game at Shark Park.

Cronulla broken a 14-year record by overcoming the sending-off of Will Kennedy and the sin-binning of Jesse Ramien to win.

The Sharks were down to 12 men for more than an hour after Kennedy was given his marching orders for a clothesline-type tackle on Warriors fullback Reece Walsh in the 16th minute.

They were then down to 11 midway through the second half when Ramien was next to spend time on the sidelines for a high shot on Warriors back-rower Euan Aitken.

However, the home side hit the lead in the first half and never let it go to absorb pressure and come up with 17 unanswered points in the second 40 minutes to record a huge win against all odds.

The win was the first by a team with less than 13 players on the field in 14 years after the Sea Eagles managed to beat the Raiders in 2008 despite former NRL player Adam Cuthbertson being sent from the field.

The Sharks are fourth on the table, four points behind leaders Melbourne, while the Warriors are tenth.

Mystics win Auckland derby

The Northern Mystics stay well clear at the top of the ANZ Premiership netball standings after beating cross town rivals the Northern Stars 54-41.

In a match that always has an extra edge and with the Northern Challenge Trophy on the line, the Stars made a huge improvement on the first instalment of the three-game series after the Mystics stunned them by 24 goals just two weeks ago.

The Mystics had to rely on the quality of their all-round depth, keeping their noses in front throughout but always having to look over their shoulder as the Stars refused go away.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, the Tactix beat the Magic 51-48.

It was tight through out the game before the Tactix got the edge in the final quarter.

The Steel play the Pulse in Dunedin tonight.

The Mystics have 26 points from ten games, the Pulse have 18 from nine, Stars 16 from nine, Steel 12 points from seven games, Tactix 10 from nine and Magic five from eight.

Top ten finish for Fox

Auckland golfer Ryan Fox has finished in a tie for eighth at the British Masters at the Belfrey in Warwickshire.

Fox fired a final round one under par 71 to finish six under par for th tournament.

He was four shots behind the winner Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark.

It is the sixth time Olesen has won on the European Tour which is now known as the World Tour.

Fox pockets $67,000 and moves up to 13th in the World Tour season standings.

Conway leads Chennai to big win

Black Caps batsman Devon Conway hit a man-of-the-match 87 to help his Chennai Super Kings to a convincing 91-run win over the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.

Conway hit five sixes and seven fours with his 87 coming off 49 balls.

Chennai scored 208 for six and then bowled Delhi out for 117 in the 18th over with Moeen Ali taking three wickets for 13 runs.

It is Chennai's fourth win and improves them to eighth on the table, while Delhi are fifth.

Lucknow Super Giants and Gujrat Titans top the table.

Alcaraz wins in Madrid

Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz completed a magical week with victory over defending champion Alexander Zverev in the Madrid Open tennis final.

The 19-year-old, who had beaten Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in his previous two matches, swept aside the German second seed 6-3 6-1.

It is Alcaraz's second Masters 1000 crown after Miami last month and his fourth title of the year.

He is set to rise to sixth in the world before the French Open later in May.

-BBC

Brumbies keep the heat on NZ teams

The ACT Brumbies remain contenders for the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific title after beating New Zealand opposition for the third straight week.

The Blues hammered the Melbourne Rebels 71-28 at Eden Park on Friday to stay top of the standings but the Brumbies and New South Wales Waratahs both won on the eastern shores of the Tasman Sea on Saturday to restore pride for Australia.

The Brumbies were at their clinical best as they outmuscled the Chiefs 38-28 in Hamilton to stay two points behind the Blues in second place ahead of the Crusaders, who romped to a 53-15 victory over the Western Force in Perth.

The Waratahs beat Moana Pasifika 26-20.

Australian teams were only able to win two of 25 matches against New Zealand sides last season so three victories from three matches against trans-Tasman rivals this year have marked the Brumbies out as genuine championship contenders.

"I said to the boys 'great teams win in New Zealand'," said coach Dan McKellar.

"Not that we're a great team but we're a team on the rise. We'll certainly enjoy it but we've got the Crusaders next week so it doesn't get any easier."

-Reuters

Cavendish wins stage three

Mark Cavendish marked his return to the Giro d'Italia with a commanding sprint on stage three of the Grand Tour race, a 201km-ride from Kaposvar to Balatonfured, as Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel retained the overall lead.

Cavendish and his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team mates timed their move to perfection as he was given the perfect lead-out by Michael Morkov with just under 300 metres remaining and he comfortably out-sprinted the peloton with an impressive effort.

The Manx rider held his effort all the way to the finish line and saw off Arnaud Demare of Groupama-FDJ and UAE Team Emirates' Fernando Gaviria to claim the 16th Giro d'Italia stage win of his career, nine years after his last.

Van der Poel, serving as the lead-out man for Alpecin-Fenix team mate Jakub Mareczko, finished 17th in Hungary to and will wear the Maglia Rosa when the race moves to Italy for stage four in Italy.

-Reuters

Root to return to four

England's new test skipper Ben Stokes wants predecessor Joe Root to return to number four in the batting order for the series against New Zealand, a position where he has accumulated over 5,000 runs and notched up 14 centuries.

Root, who resigned from the captaincy after the series defeat against the West Indies, scored two hundreds while batting at three in the Caribbean but Stokes feels that he is more suited to his original position.

"I've already spoken with Joe. I've asked him to go back to four and I'm going to be at six," Stokes said.

"Wherever Joe bats he gets runs, but his best position is at four. Joe will probably be averaging 90 now instead of 60 so it'll be good."

Root averages 51.27 at number four compared to 39.67 at three.

The 30-year-old earlier said that he would recall veteran fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who were left out of the three-test series against the West Indies which England lost 1-0.

The first of three tests against New Zealand gets underway at Lord's on June 2.

-Reuters

Alvarez upset

Canelo Alvarez suffered a surprise defeat as Russia's Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his World Boxing Association light heavyweight title with a win by unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

All three judges scored the fight 115-113 in Bivol's favour at the end of 12 rounds as the Mexican was handed only the second loss of his career, nine years after he was beaten by Floyd Mayweather in November 2013.

Bivol silenced the sell-out crowd to take his record to 20 wins from 20 fights while Alvarez, widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world before the bout, slips to 57-2-2.

Alvarez, the overwhelming pre-fight favourite, was rarely able to find a way through Bivol's defensive guard as the 31-year-old put on a disciplined display.

The Russian regularly used his jab to keep Alvarez on his heels, unloading flurries of punches to redden the smaller man's face and convince the judges to award him the fight.

Alvarez had previously won at lightheavy weight, defeating Sergey Kovalev by knockout to win the World Boxing Organization version of the title in Nov. 2019, but Bivol proved too good to succumb.

-Reuters