League taggers in Auckland are being made to pick between two competing associations, thanks to sanctions forbidding involvement in both. Two tag organisations, New Zealand Tag Football Inc. (NZTFI) and Tag20 Rugby (T20) are both formerly part of Kiwitag, but are in dispute over a rule imposed by NZTFI.  NZTFI recently said any individual who [...]

A three-year-old boy stands in the crowd at an All Blacks training session in Auckland’s Victoria Park. It’s August 2001 and Tim Sail is waiting to meet his sporting hero, Jonah Lomu. As the imposing figure dressed in black bends down to greet the little boy, a photographer immortalises the scene. Ten years on, the [...]

If rugby players seem like robotic cyborg super-athletes now – in 40 years’ time they probably will be. Bionic implants, built-in chips, nanobots and genetic engineering will all be part of the New Zealand rugby landscape by 2050. These predictions have been made by Victoria University Associate Professor Ian Yeoman, and will be part of [...]

As Party Central hosts about 50,000 people in Auckland’s central city on September 9, the spirit of rugby is on show in other areas of the city as well. A new exhibition opens at Auckland Museum called Ake Ake Kia Kaha – the spirit of Māori Rugby. It features interviews from some of the greatest [...]

Rugby fans in Hamilton are offering Welsh rugby supporters free accommodation around the time of their team’s crucial Rugby World Cup matches against Samoa and Fiji. The idea was launched by a group of supporters from the Hamilton area and is lead by local businessman Basil Lennan. Lennan is a childhood friend of Wales head [...]

Kitted out in rugby gear and painted from head to toe in silver, busker Creaghie Beere strikes a familiar pose for passers-by in the Auckland CBD. Beere, who often stands for hours plying his trade, and other buskers are being urged to seize the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to perform in front of [...]