Auckland FC's Neyder Moreno departs after one season
Auckland FC's import midfielder Neyder Moreno will not be with the A-League football club next season.
The Colombian signed with Auckland in October after not being with a club since the middle of 2024.
He played 24 games for Auckland, including Saturday's loss to the Melbourne Victory.
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NZ Herald
8 hours ago
- NZ Herald
The greatest rivalries in sport - Auckland v Canterbury and the battle for the 1980s
Rugby, in fact, was relatively late to the idea of championships. New Zealand only got a national provincial championship in 1976, with rugby until then a series of traditional annual fixtures combined with ad hoc arrangements made between board chairmen. The Ranfurly Shield was both in the centre of the rugby room and frustratingly out of the reach of most. When the NPC did arrive, it was not necessarily dominated by the biggest unions. Bay of Plenty won the inaugural championship under the guidance of Eric Anderson and in the first five years there were five different winners, with Canterbury, Wellington, Counties and Manawatū following BoP's footsteps. By the time 1982 rolled around, Auckland, the largest union in the country by some margin (it still had all the North Harbour clubs at that stage), had still to win. Canterbury had won just once. If anything, Wellington, with their star-studded backline, were the strongest of the main centres, though they were rudely shocked when Canterbury stormed Athletic Park to win the Shield in 1981. As a country, the start of the '80s was a time of monumental change. In 1981, the Springbok tour literally divided the country with barbed wire. In 1984, the Fourth Labour Government would start a process of deregulation that forever altered the country's economics. Auckland, with its new skyline of construction cranes and high-rise buildings, was the obvious benefactor. The rugby and societal changes would combine to foster the domestic game's greatest rivalry, one that with the gradual diminishing of the provincial game, will never be equalled. It all coalesced with a match described with only the merest hint of hyperbole as The Game of the Century. After years of underachievement, John Hart, a yappy little former halfback from the Waitemata club, who worked at corporate behemoth Fletcher Challenge, got his hands on the team in the blue and white hoops. In the same year, the Ranfurly Shield holders turned their team over to a gruff Omihi farmer who'd come through the classic Canterbury path of boarding at a posh school, in his case St Andrew's, before returning to the land. Alex Wyllie, a former All Black and part of the infamous 'Black Hat Gang' on the controversial 1972-73 tour to Great Britain and Ireland, had little time for yappy halfbacks. This was the age of Grizz and Harty — two men who could not have been cut from more different cloth and who perfectly embodied their home provinces. The teams they created were in many respects cast in their own image, but in other ways contradicted it. Auckland might have been slick and corporate in comparison to their Mainland rivals, but they were not soft. Canterbury might have been more hardbitten and callused, but they were not without flair and mischief. They represented provinces with a natural suspicion of each other, though the disdain mainly flowed in one direction. This was the age when the pejorative term JAFA arrived, when the country perceived Aucklanders to be living in an episode of the show Gloss that would arrive midway through the decade — all big hair, shoulder pads, cocktails and lattes. As Auckland seemingly boomed, the rest of the country wasn't doing as well, especially those places that relied on manufacturing. The rural-urban divide, magnified by the different attitudes to the Springbok tour, was widening. Auckland, with its multicultural, financial outlook, was increasingly seen as a land apart. Wrote Grant Fox in The Game The Goal: 'It is a risky business to be seen in some way to be defending Auckland these days. There has been, in varying degrees of intensity, a complex out there about Auckland and Auckland rugby. I think it has something to do with success… something to do with the big city thing. It is unmistakably there.' As the rivalry developed, it was almost like Hart had Auckland, Grizz had The Rest of New Zealand. In 1982, Hart took Auckland to their first NPC title. Canterbury were second by the barest of margins. They actually beat Auckland at Eden Park, but a draw against 1979 champions Counties proved costly as Hart's men won the championship by a single point. The following year the balance was restored, with Canterbury romping through the season unbeaten, the highlight being a 31-9 pasting of Auckland in the Ranfurly Shield challenge on Lancaster Park. Perhaps nothing illustrates how much rugby has changed as the fact this scoreline was seen as seismic. Said Wayne Smith, who was playing first five-eighth, in Grizz - The Legend: 'We were in the tunnel, ready to run on to the field, and Grizz suddenly grabbed my jersey and said, 'Run it from everywhere.' You know, he just had a feeling, maybe he'd seen something in the Aucklanders' eyes, maybe he just knew we were at our peak and could tear them apart.' A lot of the country rejoiced at Auckland's embarrassment, as this was a team that was just starting to gather a swagger. Grant Fox was controlling things with metronomic accuracy at first-five, while John Kirwan, a blond butcher's apprentice plucked from third grade, was rampaging up and down the wing. Andy Haden, the Whetton twins and John Drake were marauding in the pack. If Canterbury were great in '83, Auckland were ridiculous the next year, winning nine out of 10 and compiling a points differential of +361. They put 50 on Waikato, 53 on Manawatū, 65 on both Bays, Plenty and Hawke's, but most staggeringly of all, they scored 32 for the loss of just three when they smashed Canterbury. Fans were already salivating at the prospect of a Shield challenge the following year. They got their wish. Canterbury were going for a record 26 defences when Auckland rolled into town. Lancaster Park was packed to the gunwales, with kids lining the dead-ball lines by the end of the game, which would create iconic images. It was such a febrile atmosphere that the Canterbury players ran to each side of the ground to thank the crowd before the match. It didn't help. Auckland rinsed the home team in the lineouts and sauntered to an unbelievable 24-0 halftime lead. From Grizz - The Legend: Wyllie wasn't angry about his team being down 24-0 at halftime, more sorry for them. They weren't losing with dignity. Victor Simpson noted there were no recriminations. 'He came out, grabbed the ball, said, 'Look, they scored their points with this, so can you'.' Slowly, then quickly, the Cantabs got back in the match as Auckland started to fluff their lines. As time ticked down, Canterbury scored two tries in two minutes to close the score to 28-23. With time up Smith hoisted the ball to the heavens. It eluded flailing fullback Lindsay Harris and bounced high into the in-goal with Craig Green, Kirwan and Fox in pursuit. The ball bounced Kirwan's way and he palmed it dead and referee Bob Francis whistled the game over. Auckland celebrate winning the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury in 1985. The Cantabs were left to ponder their slow start while the rest of the country, watching live on Sport on One, marvelled at the spectacle. Wrote Graham Hutchins in Magic Matches: 'Everyone won something at Lancaster Park in 1985. Auckland the Ranfurly Shield, Canterbury undying respect. And for once the media hype was right. It was, in all probability, that most elusive and ephemeral of any rugby promoter's dream — the match of the century.' The rivalry continued, though the main characters would soon shuffle off, with Hart and Wyllie becoming Sir Brian Lochore's assistants in the inaugural World Cup success. After some tortuous politicking, they would end up as co-coaches of the 1991 campaign where their oil-and-water personalities would ensure it was never a happy, cohesive or successful campaign. There were flashpoints in the NPC, particularly in 1990 when Canterbury contrived to ensure there were no scrums following the sending off of hooker John Buchan in the fourth minute. His replacement, Phil Cropper, (there's a name worth googling), informed the ref he was unable to play in the front row and weirdness ensued on the field and friction off it, where Gary Whetton insinuated that Canterbury were not real men. In 1996, with the birth of professional rugby, the rivalry shifted to the Blues and Crusaders. The essence was still there, but it was never quite as piquant. Professionalism flooded the game with money, so the them-and-us element of playing Auckland was never as strong. If anything, the Crusaders, not Auckland, have taken on the role of 'Them'. - Words by Dylan Cleaver
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
Netball: Third-time lucky Tactix win their first ANZ Premiership title
Tactix players as they celebrate winning the final. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Nothing pleased Tactix coach Donna Wilkins more than seeing her veteran players win their first ANZ Premiership title in the red dress in Auckland on Sunday night. The Mainland Tactix won netball's ANZ Premiership for the first time by stunning the Northern Mystics 58-46 in the grand final. For Jane Watson, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Erikana Pedersen, and Ellie Bird - they had suffered two heart-breaking grand final losses in 2020 and 2021. They came the closest in 2021, losing by just two goals to the Mystics. By then Karin Burger had joined the side and had well and truly become a stalwart of the team. Wilkins said the thought of winning an elusive title was what kept bringing some of the older players back. "It's pretty special… we don't know who's going to come back next year, our focus has been on finals. For some of those old heads and experienced ones that keep coming back because they want to win a championship, that's what I'm most proud of now they've got it," Wilkins said. Tactix captain Pedersen embraced Selby-Rickit straight after the game. "She just said that she felt relief - was her first emotion and it is a bit like that because I know we deserved to be here and deserved to win, we've worked so hard. "We had a lot of people doubting us, you know as they should, we came to Mystics territory, they were number one but we knew we could do it, we had the full belief, we've trained our butts off. The last few weeks in particular our intensity at trainings have been unreal… we've been coming out of them exhausted." Karin Burger and Jane Watson. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Tactix shooter Ellie Bird capped off a superb season by shooting 50 from her 53 attempts, and even pulled off two intercepts. Just two weeks prior, the Mystics had beaten the Tactix by 14 goals to win the minor premiership and advance straight to a home grand final. Everything was stacked against them - the Mystics have won every grand final they have appeared in, and six of the eight grand finals had been won by the team who claimed the minor premiership. But the Tactix showed a lot of fight when they beat the Pulse in the elimination final and Wilkins philosophy? "Finals netball is getting into it and giving yourself a chance." The former Silver Ferns defensive pairing of Burger and Watson picked up where they left off from that Pulse game. Ellie Bird has been a Tactix stalwart. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Watson unsettled Australian import shooter Donnell Wallam, who had not looked flustered all season. "They are big game players, they are experienced, they are used to playing against tall shooters. I told them they needed to get touches early and Jane did right from the get-go so it made it a little bit doubtful for them to just let rip and throw that ball in," Wilkins said. "They were doing one or two more passes before they would launch it in, whereas a couple of weeks ago it was just 'catch-boom', so we needed to nullify that connection between Peta [Toeava] and Donnell and I think we did a good job of that. "And because we are so clinical in looking after our own possession off our centre pass, even if teams hit a couple of two point shots, they don't make headway and we showed that on Monday night." Once again Wilkins stuck with her starting seven, apart from a brief period where Pedersen had to come off the court due to cramping. "Everything was going, my toes, my calves, my quads, my hips… but we knew we needed to prepare for a tough game, I think Teeps [Selby-Rickit] started cramping as well," Pedersen said. Despite the cloud hanging over the domestic competition, with Netball New Zealand still trying to pin down a broadcast deal for 2026, Wilkins said none of that was a distraction. "We had an opportunity to win a championship, that's been our focus, it's been about us." She was looking forward to taking the trophy to Christchurch. The Tactix and their National League predecessors, the Canterbury Flames, had not won a title since the introduction of franchise netball in 1998. The Flames played in four Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup finals but lost all four to the Southern Sting. "It's a long time coming, enjoy just being together as a team and enjoy the moment with our family and friends and we'll worry about next year next week," Wilkins said. The Tactix may look a little different next year. Bird is off to Australia and doesn't plan on coming back for another season. It remains to be seen whether the likes of Pedersen and Watson might call it a day. Selby-Rickit had one of her finest seasons and the 33-year-old may well be on the radar of an Australian team. Coach Robyn Broughton and captain Bernice Mene after Southern Sting beat Canterbury Flames in the 2001 Coca Cola Cup domestic final. Photo: Photosport To guide the Tactix to the title in her first season as head coach is a dream start to Wilkins' elite coaching career. Pedersen was full of praise for the former Silver Fern and Tall Fern. "Donna's been in our position, she knows what it's like to play in high pressure matches. She's very disciplined in the way that we play on attack but she's just brought this winning mentality, like even warm up games, she's is all about winning and I love that because I think that's what our Tactix team needed." Competitive, clinical with possession, and sticking with a starting seven are all traits associated with the late great Robyn Broughton, one of New Zealand's most successful netball coaches. Broughton became an icon of Southland netball during her long tenure with the Southern Sting, where she was head coach from 1998-2007, winning a record seven Coca Cola/National Bank Cup titles during that time. Wilkins played many seasons under Broughton, as did Tactix assistant coach Te Huinga Selby-Rickit. When Wilkins was asked what the legendary coach would have made of it, she shared that she treasures a photo of her old friend. "Well I actually brought [the photo of] Robbie with me, I normally talk to her before we play our home games but this week I thought I better take it with me and I think it might have helped. She's always there, God she coached me and Hu [Te Huinga Selby-Rickit] and a lot of the players, it's pretty special," an emotional Wilkins said. Donna Wilkins Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2025 The Mystics were denied a historic three-peat and were denied a chance to play their best netball. Despite easily beating the Tactix two weeks prior, Mystics coach Tia Winikerei said they knew the visitors were going to bring some venom. "When you get beaten like that and you're a quality side like they are, you come back fierce and you want to win. "Tactix came out very very strong and we didn't cope with that very well… we let them over power us, we actually just didn't execute what we should have in that first quarter and that hurt us for the rest of the game. "I didn't see any momentum shifts throughout the game and so the story of the first quarter was almost the story of the whole game." Mystics captain Michaela Sokolich-Beatson said they were not blindsided - "They did exactly what we thought they were going to do." The Tactix have now become the fourth franchise to win the title, since the competition began in 2017. The Steel have won twice, and the Pulse and Mystics three times each. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
ANZ Premiership grand final live updates: Northern Mystics v Mainland Tactix
Northern Mystics celebrate a halftime lead against Central Pulse. Photo: Marty Melville / Photosport It's grand final time in this year's ANZ Premiership - can the all-conquering Northern Mystics make it three titles in a row? Play starts at 4pm. Follow all the action with RNZ's live blog:
