Former All Black hooker Andrew Hore may come out of having given up work and play one last ready, without fear for Otago on Friday.

Hore has been telephoned into the small military group for this Friday’s first-rated last against North harbor on Friday night.With Liam Coltman on All Black tax and starting hooker Sam Anderson-Heather fighting a fat lower part of the leg trouble, the hooking cupboard was uncovered for Otago.

Sekonaia long stick was the only hooker left so trainer Cory Brown has whistled up Hore.Hore (38) went away from first-class rugby at the end of the 2013 divisions of the year but has been playing for his Maniototo club side in the Central Otago club competition.

Stephen Kearney is down playing the expectation on Shaun Johnson in tonight’s Anzac test, saying the halfback is just another “spoke in the wheel” in the Kiwis’ team.

Much of the focus will be on Johnson at Hunter Stadium, in the absence of Kieran Foran, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Issac Luke in the New Zealand spine. The back line is also without Dean Whare, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Manu Vatuvei and Peta Hiku, which surely puts more onus on Johnson to deliver.

He’ll be the main option to spark the attack, create and score tries, as well as the only recognised kicking option in general play.

But Kearney, who gave Johnson his test debut four years ago at Eden Park, shrugged off the added hype about the Warriors No7.

“I haven’t put anything on his shoulders,” said Kearney. “I think he wears enough on his shoulders as it is [and] I haven’t put any pressure on him. If the forwards do their job and the opportunities arempresented to us, I’ve got no doubt Shaun is the best in the business to take advantage of them.”

It’s typical of Kearney who has worked hard over the last two years to create a `team first’ culture. In the past individuals like Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall tended to take most – if not all – of the spotlight, which created a different dynamic within the team. But in this Kiwis environment Johnson, from the outside anyway, is just another player.

“It’s a collective, it’s about everyone doing their job and Shaun is a spoke in the wheel too,” said Kearney. “That’s all he is. Everyone’s role is important in this team. For Shaun to do his role Jesse [Bromwich] has to do his role, so does Adam Blair, Jason [Taumalolo], Lewis [Brown].”

Kearney also reiterated his belief in his rookies and the players in makeshift positions, like Tohu Harris, Jordan Kahu, Brad Takairangi, Gerard Beale and Manu M’au.

“They have been chosen to get a job done for us and I have all the confidence in the world that they will do that, said Kearney. “But they will have 12 team mates on the field and four team mates on the bench helping to get their jobs done too. That is where we draw our strengths from…all our success has always been a 17 man plus effort.”

The Kiwis concluded their preparations on Thursday night with their traditional team dinner. Members of the men’s team presented jerseys to their counterparts in the Kiwi Ferns, while former Kiwi Jeremy Smith delivered an emotional speech to both teams.

- NZ Herald

Welcome to nzherald.co.nz’s live streaming of the NZ NBL game between the Taranaki Mountainairs and the Nelson Giants from New Plymouth.

nzherald.co.nz has live streaming of 24 regular season NZ NBL games.

NZ Herald

Black Caps coach Mike Hesson remains coy on Kane Williamson’s future as captain over the three cricket formats.
The side arrived back in Auckland on Friday after being knocked out by England in the semifinals of the World Twenty20.
Hesson said he thought Williamson did an “excellent job” in his first tournament as captain since taking over from Brendon McCullum.
“We had so many different conditions, every pitch we turned up to was different. You couldn’t just roll out the same method that you did in previous games and I thought [Williamson’s] ability to adapt to the conditions, and also get engagement from all of the players, was excellent,” said Hesson.

However, Hesson wasn’t clear-cut on Williamson’s future over the three formats going forward.
“Look, that’s something we’ll look at in the future. We’ve got a Test team coming up, but I think he did an excellent job.”
When pressed, Hesson said he wasn’t in a position to give a direct answer, stating that he and Williamson regularly talk and will continue to be in discussions ahead of the next tour.
The Black Caps will next be in action in August when they tour to South Africa.

Herald cricket writers David Leggat and Andrew Alderson answer three key questions following the Black Caps’ semifinal defeat to England at the World T20.

1) Is it a concern that New Zealand get so close but can’t win a tournament or a testament that they are always in with a chance?

David Leggat: The latter. New Zealand are often labelled perennial semifinalists, but a team who don’t make the big dance. That ended a year ago in Melbourne and let’s face it, you’d rather be running around at the sharp end of a world event than packing up early, like Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka on this occasion. Any suggestion that they bottled it today does England a disservice. A good, confident New Zealand team were beaten by an England side who happened to have the most effective batsman on the park and canny bowlers.

Andrew Alderson: Naturally, the inability to seize crucial tournament opportunities must irk, but at least they’re close. It would take a harsh, and perhaps prejudiced, critic to argue they are disappointing overall.

This team is delivering rare levels of consistency in New Zealand cricket circles. Their last two white-ball tournaments (the World Cup and World T20) are examples; they were peerless staying unbeaten in pool play.

England must also take kudos. They sought to emulate New Zealand’s fearless strategy post-World Cup, and the apprentice is now regularly bettering the master. England has morphed into a side with swagger and chutzpah. Despite their opening hiccup against the West Indies, they look capable of replicating their 2010 tournament victory. One of New Zealand’s recent methodologies has been ‘find a way to win’, regardless of circumstance. England usurped that mindset in Delhi.

2) What was more costly for the Black Caps – the end of their batting innings or the start of their bowling innings?

David Leggat: The end of the batting, without question. From 89 for one after 10 overs, New Zealand must have been eyeing 180, minimum. New Zealand’s early overs weren’t flash, true, but with an extra 25-30 runs in the bank it must have helped the self belief. That said, England’s bowlers did a quality job, Chris Jordan in particular was outstanding, with 140kmph-plus yorkers. You had the feeling, on a pacier pitch than most they’d played on earlier in the tournament, that New Zealand’s bowlers had to do everything right if an aggressive England top order got going. Respectively, they didn’t, and they did.

Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo re-injured the leg which almost cost him his World Cup dream and for which he sought traditional healing in his native Fiji. Late in New Fracture Game Against Non-Nahl sustayaneda bluesa hence the Eden Park last Friday on two injury-tricks in the kanphirmeda% yesterdaya B. X- ray.

“While this is very unfortunate for Waisake, the positive news is that this injury is not as bad as his last fracture,” Highlanders doctor Greg Macleod said. “He is already managing well and it’s expected his rehab will take six to eight weeks.”

Naholo made headlines around the world last year when he made a quick recovery from a leg fracture suffered while playing on debut for the All Blacks against Argentina in Christchurch in July ahead of his World Cup call-up in September.

Last year travelled back to Fiji for a treatment he said consisted of the use of natural elements such as leaves. However, Macleod said he wouldn’t travel home for a similar treatment this time.

Highlanders halfback Fumiaki Tanaka, meanwhile, injured a calf during his last training in Auckland before the Blues match and was replaced on the reserves bench by Josh Renton. “Fumi has torn his calf and we expect the recovery to take four weeks, said Macleod.

Head coach Jamie Joseph, who watched his side lose 33-31 after taking a 24-20 lead to halftime, said: “To lose players for an extended period is always disappointing but you have to expect injuries to occur at some point. As a group we simply deal with it and move on.

The focus for the players now will be to rehab well and work to make themselves available again.”

The first round of Super Rugby is in the books with great wins by the Blues and Chiefs, excellent performances in hard fought New Zealand derbies by the Highlanders and Crusader, while Hurricanes enjoyed an early crack at duty free shopping. Our Rugby Editor Nigel Yalden watched all the action (he has to, it’s his job) to produce his New Zealand Team of the Week:

1. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (Blues) - after a solid first half Tu’ungafasi become more and more prominent as the game progressed through the second; rock solid at set piece to compliment the work rate around the field

2. Liam Coltman (Highlanders) - industrious as always around the paddock, good at scrum time and while the Highlanders lineout had a couple of miscues only one could be attributed to a poor throw by Coltman.

3. Owen Franks (Crusaders) - it’s been a while since the All Black tighthead has had to play more than an hour of rugby, but he chugged away to the end, delivering quality work at the scrum, ruck cleanout and defensively.

4. Patrick Tuipulotu (Blues) - In his first competition game since double hip surgery last year, he thought he was going to play around sixty minutes. Then Steven Luatua got injured and he had to go the full eighty. His ball carrying in midfield (crikey he took some stopping) was the pick of a top quality all round second row performance – great to see him back and into it with such gusto.

5. Brodie Retallick (Chiefs) - he was … well, you know … Brodie Retallick.

6. Teleni Seu (Chiefs) - Mighty fine debut wearing the Chiefs number 6 jersey that’s synonymous with work hard, physicality & athleticism courtesy of Liam Messam; excellent lineout forward too. The prospect of Seu, Cane and Michael Leitch combining is a rather exciting one for Chiefs fans based of this young man’s first effort at this level.

7. Blake Gibson (Blues) - there were three outstanding openside performances from the New Zealand teams, but while Sam Cane and Shane Christie were standouts for their sides, Gibson was even better. Watching the replay, you consistently saw him in and around the action. Great at the breakdown, quick around the park, did his share of the work of defence and capped it off by rampaging through Ben Smith for a try – my NZ Forward of the Week

8. Kieran Read (Crusaders) - he’s going to be held to a higher standard than any other New Zealand player this season, but Read was extremely busy and physical on Saturday night.

9. Bryn Hall (Blues) - made really good decisions, gave Ihaia West great service and thus helped lead that backline the way a nine/ten combo at this level should. It was also brilliant to see him creating chaos by having a dart or too around the fringes of the ruck

10. Ihaia West (Blues) - despite the early goal-kicking wobbles, West, in tandem with Bryn Hall, controlled and guided things very well for the Blues. Great recognition of space behind the line & a deft kick set up the Blues first try and displayed the steely calm you want to see from the on-field general –

Honourable Mention: Aaron Cruden (Chiefs) – directed the Chiefs nicely in a performance that was subtle yet still very influential. Others got the plaudits & justifiably so, he’s impact on that game was there for all to see.

11. James Lowe (Chiefs) - very little action went the left wings way for all the franchise, but Lowe found a way to get more involved than others & a key figure in some very clinical exit plays by the Chiefs.

12. Charlie Ngatai (Chiefs) - Ngatai and George Moala are likely contenders to fill the vacant All Blacks second five jersey against Wales in June and both showed way. Ngatai had a more complete involvement than Moala, who I felt drifted in and out of his game a bit. Ngatai does everything well and even has a spiral punt to keep us old fella’s happy.

13. Malaki Fekitoa (Highlanders) - all the centres this weekend were solid defensively but didn’t show out to any significant level on attack. Felt that Fekitoa made the most of his few opportunities with the ball in hand, hence he gets the nod, but overall an unspectacular weekend in the race to replace the Snake.

14. Melani Nanai (Blues) - plays very physical for a slightly built young man and finds a way to get involved in the game, yet never got badly out of position on defence.

15. Damien McKenzie (Chiefs) - he’s just so much fun to watch play rugby. Great hands, great feet, no fear, full noise for the full 80 minutes and impressed with some excellent goal-kicking (that penalty from 50 metres was a peach of kick) – his positional play was pretty darn good too – my NZ Back of the Week

- Radio Sport

Front-rower Ben Matulino admits he was embarrassed with his personal effort in the Warriors’ heavy NRL trial defeat to St George Illawarra in Nelson last weekend, but says it was a necessary wake-up call ahead of round one.

Matulino believes his side were guilty of complacency following a solid start to the season that saw the Warriors advance to the final of the NRL Auckland Nines before belting an understrength Gold Coast outfit 40-18 in their first trial outing two weeks ago.

Big things are expected of the Warriors this season, with new recruits Issac Luke and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck bolstering their line-up, but Matulino says the eight-tries-to-two defeat to the Dragons proved they can not just expect results to fall their way.

“It was [disappointing]. I went missing,” said the 27-year-old Kiwis international. “I was pretty embarrassed when I walked off the field with how I had played. It was nowhere near how I wanted to play, especially heading into round one. “We have to work hard to get wins and we all know we can’t just expect to turn up in round one and win just with the squad we’ve got.”

Matulino said coach Andrew McFadden “was pretty pissed off” with the leaky defensive effort but was pleased they had been taught a lesson ahead of their season opener against Wests Tigers at Campbelltown on March 5.

The timely defeat will ensure the Warriors don’t get ahead of themselves. In recent years they have looked the goods in pre-season but then dropped off the pace. “He was pretty pissed off and, at the same time, I think he was a little happy that it happened then and not in round one,” he said.

“We’d been going pretty well over the past month in the nines and then with another big score against Gold Coast.

“He said we had got a little bit complacent and didn’t turn up but that was probably a good thing that it happened to bring us back down to the ground. I’ve still got a lot of things to work on and defence is one of them.” The Dragons had come with plenty to play for after coach Paul McGregor had demanded an improved performance following their Charity Shield loss to South Sydney.

The visitor’s forward pack played with a greater intensity and two former Warriors – Russell Packer and Leeson Ah Mau – relished the opportunity to dish it out to their old side. “The Dragons wanted it more. They were led by their middle boys with Russell and Leeson,” said Matulino.

“Russell was playing against his old club and it was his second game against an actual NRL squad. He was out there to prove himself and I thought he played really well and he pumped out a lot of minutes.” After stealing the show on the field, the Dragons pair them then took their former teammates to the cleaners in a post-match round of poker.

“Russell and Leeson came to the hotel afterwards and we just played poker in the team room,” said Matulino.

“He stuck around for a bit and then took all our money and left.”

New Zealander Joseph Parker, already considered one of the hardest workers in the heavyweight division, has vowed to leave nothing to chance following the announcement of an elimination fight which could put him on the brink of a world title challenge.

Parker will go up against France-based Cameroon boxer Carlos Takam in May – probably in New Zealand – for a chance to fight the winner of the Anthony Joshua v Charles Martin IBF world title fight in London on April 9.

It will be 24-year-old Parker’s biggest test of his undefeated 18-fight professional fight career, a bout which will be the most significant involving a New Zealand heavyweight since David Tua’s failed title challenge against Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas in 2000.

If he is successful against the 35-year-old Takam, Parker will get a mandatory challenge against either Joshua or Martin by January 16 next year at the latest, and the Las Vegas-based south Aucklander has told trainer Kevin Barry that he is prepared to work like never before.

“Joe is a very hard worker in the gym and it’s a testament to his hard work that we’ve had such great results,” Barry said. “When I said to him ‘you’ve always done everything I’ve asked of you’, he said, ‘I will work harder than I’ve ever worked before’. This is a life-changing opportunity for him.”

The preparation will be key for Barry and Parker because both are expecting the fight to go 12 rounds. Parker has gone the distance only twice as a professional, most significantly a unanimous decision after 10 rounds over Sherman Williams in 2014.

“This is the step up that we’ve been preparing ourselves for for the last three years,” Barry said.

“Joe’s drive over the last three years has been easy to see. Everyone has seen him collect regional belts while working his way up the rankings. This is the next step up and it’s a big step. It’s got a lot of risk but there are also big rewards here.”

Barry took Tua to his title shot against Lewis and saw his charge overwhelmed on the big stage. There was little sign of the punching power that Tua was renowned for, and he succumbed to a unanimous points defeat.

There are no indications the laidback Parker will suffer the same pitfall. He was extremely relaxed before his last fight, a stoppage over American Jason Bergman in Apia in January, and his team will endeavour to create the same atmosphere before his next one.

“We’ve found a formula which works and we will not be deviated from that,” Barry said. “If we have this fight in New Zealand it makes boxing history in New Zealand. We’ve never had a fight there before where the stakes are so high – a world heavyweight title elimination fight. It would be easy to get wrapped up in the pressure and everything else but I will not let that happen with Joe.”

The 1.94m tall Parker will have youth and height on his side against the 1.89m Takam. He will also have an advantage in terms of hand speed and Barry will want to see him scoring points at every opportunity.

“People just don’t want to fight Carlos Takam because of how physically durable and strong that he is. Joe is going to have to be very smart. It will be very important that Joe follows the game plan. We need to fight him on the outside.”

Parker said: “When I was a young boy I always dreamed about becoming world champion and this next fight is going to take me that much closer to me fulfilling my dream.”

Joseph Parker
Age: 24
Weight: 108kg
Height: 1.94m
Record: 18-0
IBF ranking: 6
Carlos Takam
Age: 35
Weight: 112kg
Height: 1.89m
Record: 33-2-1

- NZ Herald

The Asia Cup is one of the lesser fancied tournaments in terms of public imagination. Amongst the many multilateral series being played in international cricket, this is one tournament that has struggled to find its own niche. Tournaments like the World Cup, World T20 and the ICC Champions Trophy all hold its own place in the public memory mainly because of the relevance of the prefix of ICC before it. The Asia Cup however struggles to capture that fascination mainly because of the anonymity of the Asian Cricket Council. Habebhera, I wish the tournament is No Going S. A non-perkassara k 0 and the bill for the world in the bay in front of playeda unlike prebhiyusa editiyanasa format.

Given that it features the top nations from the sub-continent, it cannot but act as a perfect build-up to the premier event that begins barely a day after the final of this tournament. That adds an extra edge to the significance of the 2016 edition in Bangladesh.

Much of the questions to the captains in the pre-match press conference surrounded Mustafizur Rahman and his exploits against the Indians last year in the ODI series. That series win catapulted Bangladesh’s growing prominence in the fifty-over format. The off-field drama surrounding the then ICC chairman and president (N Srinivasan and Mustafa Kamal) during the ICC World Cup 2015 also fuelled a rivalry that is in its infancy.

India and Bangladesh cannot be placed on level terms based on cricketing skills alone but the frenzied nature of the T20 format quells a lot of the imbalance. Bangladesh’s rise in the fifty-over format cannot be directly correlated to an increase in stature in T20Is. They drew a series against Zimbabwe at home recently and will need to raise their game in T20s just as they have done in the other limited overs format.

The Asia Cup thus presents them with a perfect opportunity to kick-start proceedings. Playing on home turf comes with its own advantages. The vociferous crowd support is a given and the know-how of conditions is a crucial factor as well. They are no longer considered ‘minnows’ in the international arena and India will still remember being stung in ODIs by the same opposition. For the hosts, this acts as a perfect setting to gather some momentum going into the World T20. The same holds good for other teams as well but for Bangladesh, the significance of a victory against India in the opener, in front of their home crowd, might be a bigger shot in the arm.

For India, having arrived upon a settled T20 squad is a boon but they will be focussing on sustaining the momentum gained by winning back-to-back T20I series wins. They will be focussing on striking a balance between winning games and providing opportunities for all their members of the T20 squad.

They might already be forced to make one injury enforced change if MS Dhoni doesn’t pass fit on the day of the game. The skipper has been suffering from back spasms and Parthiv Patel might end up donning the gloves without yet attending a practice session in Dhaka. If it comes down to that then India will also be forced to tinker their batting order as Patel is a batsman who finds the top-order more suited to his style. The rest of the batting order picks itself but one concern for India might be the lack of batting game-time for Yuvraj Singh. A promotion in the batting order might be on the cards at some point during the tournament if Singh does not get enough chances naturally.

The bowling unit is a far more settled one with Jasprit Bumrah’s performances filling in for a gaping void while Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja know their specific roles in the format.

The hosts on the other hand will try experimenting a little more before they arrive upon their final eleven ahead of the World T20. The absence of Tamim Iqbal does leave a hole at the top of the order, but Imrul Kayes is expected to make up for it with his experience. They could also plump for a rookie in Mohammad Mithun to take up the top-order slot while the slot for a third pacer might be a shoot-out between Al-Amin Hossain and Taskin Ahmed. There will be a lot of focus on how Mustafizur performs in his second season after catching many a big name by surprise when he first came on.

India were found out recently on a pacy pitch at Pune and if Mirpur offers something similar to the one offered to the India U19 team in the World Cup final recently, then it could offer them more than a slight challenge. But as the qualifier games showed, this pitch may not have as much life on it.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza, Abu Hider, Arafat Sunny, Mohammad Mithun, Nurul Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman

India: Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Parthiv Patel