NZ Para-skier selected for sixth Paralympic Winter Games
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RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
France names eight uncapped players to face All Blacks
Joris Segonds will make his test debut at No 10 for France. Photo: Photosport All Blacks v France Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 5 July Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin Live blog updates on RNZ France coach Fabien Galthie has named eight debutants, including five starters, in a depleted squad for their opening match of a three-test tour of New Zealand in Dunedin. Tom Spring is set to make his debut on the right wing in the clash on Saturday while Joris Segonds will earn his first cap at No 10. Alexandre Fischer will earn his first cap in the third row, Tyler Duguid in the second row and Giorgi Beria as prop. Props Paul Mallez and Regis Montagne, along with versatile forward Jacobus van Tonder, who can play in the second or third row, will hope to debut off the bench. Captain Gael Fickou, who is the most-capped player in the squad (94 caps), will lead the side from the centre while veteran prop Rabah Slimani will return to international rugby for the first time since October 2019. Pierre-Louis Barassi, Pierre Bochaton, Joshua Brennan, Nicolas Depoortere and Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, who all played in the Top 14 final last Saturday, are out of the squad and will be available for the second and third tests. The All Blacks side was named yesterday , with debutants lock Fabian Holland and loose forward Christian Lio-Willie named in the starting side, while prop Ollie Norris and loose forward Du'Plessis Kirifi will prepare to debut off the bench. France: 1. Giorgi Beria, 2. Gaetan Garlot, 3. Rabah Slimani, 4. Hugo Auradou, 5. Tyler Duguid, 6. Alexandre Fischer, 7. Killian Tixeront, 8. Mickael Guillard, 9. Nolann Le Garrec, 10. Joris Segonds, 11. Gabin Villiere, 12. Gael Fickou (capt), 13. Emilien Gailleton, 14. Tom Spring, 15. Theo Attissogbe. Bench: 16. Pierre Bourgarit, 17. Paul Mallez, 18. Regis Montagne, 19. Romain Taofifenua, 20. Cameron Woki, 21. Jacobus van Tonder, 22. Baptiste Jauneau, 23. Antoine Hastoy. All Blacks: 1. Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Fletcher Newell, 4. Scott Barrett, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Tupou Vaa'i, 7. Ardie Savea, 8, Christian Lio-Willie, 9. Cameron Roigard, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Rieko Ioane, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Billy Proctor, 14. Sevu Reece, 15. Will Jordan Bench: Taukei'aho, 17. Ollie Norris, 18. Pasilio Tosi, 19. Samipeni Finau, 20. Du'Plessis Kirifi, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Quinn Tupaea, 23. Damian McKenzie - Reuters
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Wimbledon over for Lulu Sun with doubles exit
Lulu Sun has had an early exit from Wimbledon. Photo: PHOTOSPORT New Zealander Lulu Sun's Wimbledon has ended early, with her elimination from the doubles in the first round. Sun, who was beaten in the first round of the singles earlier this week, teamed with Leylah Fernandez in the doubles, but they were beaten 6-2 6-1 by sixth Asia Muhammad (US) and Demi Schuurs (Netherlands). Despite the decisive scoreline, the match took one hour and 13 minutes, with Sun and Canadian Fernandez attacking hard but failing to convert five break points. Sun was one of the big stories at last year's tournament , making the quarterfinals after starting as a qualifier, but this year's event has been a short-lived affair. She was beaten 6-4 6-4 by Marie Bouzkova in the first round of the singles on Tuesday. Sun was ranked 68th as a singles player at the start of the tournament but faces a rankings drop following her early exit. Sun said she and Fernandez had a difficult draw in the doubles. "Not really a first-round match-up you want to face,'' she told Tennis NZ. "But it was also not the best match from me and Leylah. We had a lot of opportunities in the first part of the first set, and then they started to be the aggressor, so they didn't give us a lot of chances when they came forward, and they were varying the different types of balls to make it hard to rally with them." Sun said despite her results this week she loved playing on grass again. "But unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of wins. I did get some good matches here and there, not as in wins, but against good opponents and I can potentially turn that and work on it for the end of the season to create something." Fellow New Zealander Erin Routliffe and regular partner Gaby Dabrowski, who won their first round doubles match against China's Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai 6-1 6-4 on Thursday, will play Polina Kudermetova (Russia) and Zeynep Sonmez (Turkey) in the second round. In the men's doubles, Michael Venus and Croatian Nikola Mektic advanced from the first round with a 6-4 7-6 victory over Briton Lui Maxted and Connor Thomson in a tight match that lasted one hour 25 minutes. The eighth seeds, Venus and Mektic will play Brazilians Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo in the second round.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Why Barbara Kendall backs women's Olympic water polo campaign
In 2015, Barbara Kendall received the Sport NZ Leadership Award at the Halberg Awards. Photo: Photosport Ltd 2015 Five-time Olympian Barbara Kendall has thrown her weight behind the New Zealand women's water polo team in their bid to qualify for the next Games. The 'White Caps' believe they have a golden opportunity to qualify for Los Angeles 2028, with the Olympic quota for women's water polo increasing from 10 teams to 12. The team narrowly missed out on Paris 2024, falling just two goals short of Olympic qualification. Women's water polo was only added to the Olympics in 2000, with men's water polo on the programme since 1900. No New Zealand team have ever qualified for the Olympics in the sport. Kendall competed at five Olympic Games, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in windsurfing. She is now the White Caps performance coach and was introduced to water polo through her two daughters. "They started playing at school and just loved it," she said. "There was no-one at the school really managing it, so I just stepped in and ended up managing water polo for Whangaparāoa College, right up until both of them finished. "I didn't really know much about it, but I knew how to put a team together." Eldest daughter Samantha later joined the Atlantis City club in Auckland, where Kendall met White Caps head coach Angie Winstanley-Smith. "What she was trying to achieve was a big dream with very little resource to try and get a team to the Olympic Games in Paris," Kendall said. "There was no money, so it was pretty much a voluntary role, just building a plan and it's taken a long time. "She was, like, 'Barbara, we'd love to have you on the team just supporting' and I went, 'Yep'." NZ women's water polo team - the White Caps. Photo: Catharyn Hayne Photography NZ Water Polo chief executive Jan Shearer competed at three Olympics in sailing, winning a silver medal with Leslie Egnot at Barcelona 1992. Olympian Polly Powrie joined the White Caps a couple of years ago as team manager. Powrie is a two-time Olympic medallist, winning gold at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016, alongside teammate Jo Aleh in the women's 470 sailing class. England-born Winstanley-Smith represented Great Britain for 11 years, including the 2012 London Olympics, before retiring in 2014 and moving to New Zealand. "Angie is an outstanding individual," Kendall said. "Most people wouldn't dedicate their life to it, it's a real life calling. "Then, when Jan became CEO, it was, like, 'Right, I'm in', because Jan's an amazing operator, and then Polly joining as well. When you have really good operators in behind a good coach, who knows what can happen, so that was why I joined." Kendall knows what it's like to prepare for Olympic qualification, but that's brand new territory for the White Caps squad members. Some have spent time playing in the American college system on scholarships, some are coming from club level. "Taking them from that level to actually what's required when you step up into high performance systems is quite a big jump and some people don't make it, because it's relentless, it's 24/7. "It's meticulous and so many boxes need to be ticked to ensure that you are operating under a high performance energy stream. It's tiring and it's really hard." Kendall enjoys working within a team sport. "What a privilege to work with a group of female athletes striving to be their very best," she said. "The dynamics are quite different, because you can have one person off and it can affect the whole team. "They learn to understand their teammates, and what stresses them or what motivates them. They have to be able to adapt and have empathy. "All those things you learn from a team sport, which you probably don't learn from an individual sport, because it's all about you, but in a team sport, you've got to look outside yourself a lot more." The NZ women's water polo team at a training base in Auckland. Photo: Supplied Kendall said she had a "million stories" she could share about the realities of high performance sport, "based on everything I learnt in 25 years of travelling overseas, sleeping in cars, little support". "When you get to the end of it, you may not qualify for the Olympic Games," she said. "You may not win a medal, but what you have learnt that has made you you, that's priceless ...and that's where I come in." Kendall's philosophy is to grow the person, then the athlete will flourish. "In high performance sport, you go into pressure cooker situations and all your fears surface, so it's how you embrace them and learn through them. It can be a really tough journey, so understanding that is actually when the most growth occurs, and you are much stronger and resilient from those times." The White Caps are currently on the road, gaining valuable experience in Europe against the world's top teams, before heading to the world aquatics championships in Singapore. Kendall will rejoin the team there, after a quick detour to watch daughter Aimee Bright compete at the 2025 iQFOiL world championships in Denmark. Bright is one of New Zealand's top young windfoilers, a newer evolution of windsurfing. New Zealand sailors Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (right) at the Olympics. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Winstanley-Smith, who started coaching the team in 2017, appreciates that she has now got a management team stacked with Olympic experience. One of her assistant coaches is Eelco Uri, a former Dutch player, who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics with the Netherlands men's team. Winstanley-Smith said of Kendall: "Anyone who meets Barbara, it's impossible not to feel energised. "She's been to five Olympics, she works with the IOC. Ultimately, what she brings is, 'Yes, this is high performance, but it's fun, we choose to be here'," she said. "She challenges the environment, and gets us to look at each other as people and how we can connect, and how everyone is different and how we navigate that within a team, so she's been gold in that respect for me." Shearer spent three years as CEO of Snow Sports NZ, before taking charge of NZ Water polo in 2021, when Covid was having a big impact. She is also board chair of Canoe Racing NZ. Winstanley-Smith's first three months of communication with Shearer was over Zoom, when Auckland was in lockdown. "She came in, and just provided a support for me and a guidance in the New Zealand high performance environment, and her connections and ability to get stuff done is just incredible. "Immediately, her knowledge and expertise, she came from Snow Sports and we've all seen the success they have had, and also Canoe Racing New Zealand, so two organisations she's been involved with who've had a lot of Olympic success, I don't think that's by chance." Jan Shearer (left) and Leslie Egnot at the Barcelona Olympic Games, 1992. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Winstanley-Smith said Powrie was the most unassuming, laid-back person she had ever worked with. "So level-headed, which is fantastic for me, because she balances my ADHD out, so it's great," she laughed. "She just loves being involved in sport, but not for the limelight. The girls can sit down at breakfast in tournament and chat through, 'What was the morning like before you went out to sail your last race and won gold' - those key moments that Polly has lived that she can bring real-life experience." White Caps captain Jessica Milicich, 29, has been in the squad for nine years and said missing out on Paris was difficult, but it made them confident they could make it. She said having so much Olympic experience around the team was invaluable. "Having Angie lead our programme has been really important for us," Milicich said. "We wouldn't be in the position that we are today without her. "She's really driven the women's programme forward in the time that she's been head coach. I've never met anyone as technically capable as her. "She understands what you're going through in high-pressure moments, she is very calm in times of stress, she is just so valuable and we are lucky to have someone like her involved." Jessica Milicich of the NZ women's water polo team. Photo: Deep Blue Media Milicich said also having Powrie and Kendall in their camp filled them with confidence. "They both came to the Doha world champs with us last year and the impact that they had was so positive, so all of our feedback was that we wanted them to be involved moving forward. "Barbara creates an atmosphere where she brings out the best in everyone. She is really focussed on how we can perform as a group and individually at our best, so I think that is really important, because when you get to those international moments, she has so much experience and value to offer. "Then Polly is just awesome. Having the two of them, I think we are very fortunate, and I don't think you'd look across any other staff or team management, and have the same kind of experience or value." Traditionally, Europe produces strong water polo teams like Hungary, Greece and Italy. USA is strong in women's water polo and Australia won silver in Paris last year. "For us to break in to that upper tier, we are a little bit further away, so the more we get exposed to those kind of teams, the better," Milicich said. Water polo is now one of 10 recognised team sports under the High Performance Sport New Zealand programme, which has bumped up their funding. "Singapore is one of our first world championships where we haven't had to do much fundraising," Milicich said. "It's covered, but normally, it has been self-funded. "To get to this point where we can now move forward and hopefully continue to grow the sport is really exciting." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
