Latest - Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read has signed with Counties Manukau for the upcoming Mitre 10 Cup season.
Kieran Read Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Read, who hails from the South Auckland region and played his junior rugby with the Drury club, retired from the international game after last year's World Cup.
The 128-test All Black then signed on with Toyota Verblitz in Japan's Top League. He will play another season there in 2021 but before returning overseas has agreed to terms with the Steelers - a team he supported growing up.
"While I played a lot of my representative rugby in Christchurch, my roots will always be in Counties Manukau," the former Rosehill College student said.
"I remember going along to games in Pukekohe as a kid and while I've been aligned with the province in recent years, my All Blacks commitments have meant I've never actually had the chance to pull on the red, black and white hoops in a Mitre 10 Cup game."
Read, who is based in Christchurch, will link up with the Steelers ahead of their team camp in Ohope in a fortnight's time and is expected to take part in a pre-season game against Bay of Plenty in Whakatane on 4 September.
Ko drops out of top 10 at British Open
Unheralded German Sophia Popov struck a three-under-par final round of 68 to claim her maiden major title at the women's British Open, finishing two strokes clear of Thailand's Jasmine Suwannapura at Royal Troon.
Lydia Ko Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Popov, the world number 304, started the day with a three-shot lead but kicked off in inauspicious fashion, bogeying the first hole after landing in a bunker off the tee before bouncing back with birdies on the second and third.
The 27-year-old made another birdie on the sixth to turn in 34 and added two more on the 15th and 16th before closing with a bogey on the 18th -- with victory already assured -- and finished on seven-under for the tournament.
Germany's first female major winner said after the victory that she had almost quit playing last year.
New Zealand's Lydia Ko faded to finish outside the top ten .
Starting the day tied for seventh, the former world number one shot a two-over par final round to finish tied for 14th.
Ko completed the tournament at four-over par, 11 shots behind Popov.
- Reuters
Langasque claims first European Tour title
Golfer Romain Langasque overturned a five-shot deficit to win the Wales Open at Celtic Manor.
The Frenchman, 25, carded six birdies and no bogeys in a superb closing 65 to claim his first European Tour title.
Langasque finished on eight under par, two shots ahead of Finland's Sami Valimaki, with Englishmen David Dixon and Matthew Jordan a shot further back.
Victory also secured Langasque a US Open debut in September.
New Zealander Ryan Fox has finished tied for 15th.
Fox carded a final round of one-under 70 to end up two-under for the tournament, six shots behind Langasque.
- BBC
England have edge in cricket Test
England forced Pakistan to follow on on day three of the final cricket Test at the Ageas Bowl despite a defiant century by visiting captain Azhar Ali.
Azhar Ali Photo: Yasir Nisar Photography
Azhar's controlled 141 not out dragged his side from 75-5 and the point of implosion in reply to England 583-8 declared.
He shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 138 with wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, who battled to 53.
After Rizwan was removed by Chris Woakes, England could have run through the tail had it not been for an incredible passage of play that saw three catches dropped in the space of 10 James Anderson deliveries.
Anderson eventually had last man Naseem Shah caught at third slip to complete figures of 5-56 and move to 598 Test wickets.
With Pakistan 273 all out, 310 behind, they were given half an hour to bat again in the evening gloom, and Azhar promoted himself to open.
However, just as the players returned for the start of the Pakistan second innings, the umpires decided the light was not good enough to resume.
- BBC
ICC adds three more stars to Hall of Fame
The International Cricket Council (ICC) inducted three retired greats of the game into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during a show broadcast around the world via ICC digital channels.
Jacques Kallis Photo: PHOTOSPORT
South Africa's gritty all-rounder Jacques Kallis and talented Australian World Cup-winning all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar were joined by Zaheer Abbas of Pakistan, a stylish batsman of the 1970s and 80s who was also known as the Asian Bradman.
Kallis is the fourth South African player inducted and Zaheer the sixth from Pakistan Sthalekar is the 27th from Australia and the ninth woman player in the list, which includes five from Australia.
In all, 93 players have been inducted so far under the system, which sees retired players become eligible five years after playing their last international match.
Former Warrior injured with new club
The Knights have won three in a row for the first time in the 2020 NRL season but any hat-trick celebrations were put on ice because of fears five-eighth Blake Green has finished his year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Blake Green Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Knights coach Adam O'Brien said after the game that it was not confirmed but it was looking like Green had torn his ACL, part of the "carnage" that had caused havoc with his squad this season, following on from serious injuries to Connor Watson, Andrew McCullough and Jayden Brailey.
The Hunter men finished off the Cowboys 12-0 in the dying minutes.
But thoughts were with former Warriors player Green. The injury could be the end of the NRL road for the veteran half, who celebrates his 34th birthday in September.
- NRL
NFL teams cancel training after positive Covid-19 tests
Several NFL teams cancelled or rescheduled training sessions on Sunday after a single laboratory returned a number of positive tests for Covid-19, the league has said.
The Chicago Bears pushed back training from morning to the afternoon. Initial testing had revealed that nine players and staff members had tested positive but the results later turned out to be false positives, and the team put off training until the afternoon "out of an abundance of caution", the Chicago Tribune reported.
The NFL said the clubs were taking precautionary measures while working to either confirm or rule out the positive tests.
"Saturday's daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey," the league said in a statement.
"We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results.
"Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures... to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results."
- Reuters
