The All Blacks ended their Rugby Championship with a more comfortable win against Australia and finished second in the Championship, 2 points ahead of Argentina.
The NRL Grand Final is on Sunday night where the minor premiers the Storm take on the second placed finishers the Panthers.
Big Nelson Asofa-Solomona has been suspended for this game after a careless high tackle in the opening minute of last week’s game.
Both teams have injury concerns with a few of the Storm players feeling a bit sore and through their game last week. Panthers playmaker Cleary has a shoulder issue that he has taken time out for during the year.
This should be a close contest as no other teams have got close to them in the finals series.
Home advantage will be with the Panthers as the game is being played at Accor stadium in Sydney, and not at AAMI park in Melbourne.
We will pick the Panthers to edge this one out, but Injuries could play a role in deciding the final result.
Since 1999 the NRL Grand Final has been held at Stadium Australia (Accor Stadium).
The NRL and NSW government have a contract to continue hosting the Grand Final there until 2046.
The Dally M awards were held on October 2nd with Jahrome Hughes winning player of the year. It’s nice seeing another Kiwi win after Shaun Johnson missed out last year. Craig Bellamy won coach of the year and can top it off with a winners ring this weekend.
The White Ferns started their World Cup warm up game with a comfortable win against South Africa before losing to England.
Their first World Cup game starts at 3am tomorrow versus India before facing off against Australia on the 9th.
The Black Caps had another test that they would like to forget against Sri Lanka. Managing to take only 5 wickets in the second test before being dismissed for 88 was a poor start. The follow on was enforced and they could not make the Sri Lankans bat again.
With a three test series over in India coming up, this is not a good sign
Tim Southee has lost his captaincy as part of the disastrous run of form the team has gone through. We will see what other changes are made to help the team become competitive as Tom Latham has taken over as captain.
The Silver Ferns have lost the first two games of the Toni Jamison Trophy against England. The final match of the series is on 6 October at 7.30pm in Invercargill.
Following this series they will have a couple of weeks break before playing the Constellation Cup against Australia.
Shane Van Gisbergen is competing in the NASCAR Xfinity series finals. 12 drivers made it into the playoff series, with the button four dropping out after three races. (Rounds 27-29).
The number of cars competing in the playoff events are the same as during the regular season. Only the 12 drivers who finished top after 26 races made it to the playoffs where they can still win the season title.
As the title contenders are cut down to 8, another 4 will drop out after 3 more races. (Rounds 30-32).
Unlike the earlier rounds, the points earned do not carry over for the Championship race. The Championship will be decided by the driver who finishes the highest of the final 4 in the championship race.
More information about the NASCAR playoffs can be found here:
https://www.giltrap.com/latest-news/2024/september/nascar-xfinity-playoffs-explained
Current point standings can be found in the following link under playoffs.
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