Savea out, Black Ferns make history as Wahs set new club record

The Black Ferns have made history in South Africa, Fiji have opened their Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Under-16 Women’s campaign in style and the Warriors have set a new club record.

But there is concern for All Blacks captain Ardie Savea, who has been ruled out of the final Test against South Africa after suffering a shoulder injury.

Savea left the field in the first half of the All Blacks’ 29-24 loss to the Springboks after scoring two early tries. His absence was seen as a turning point, but head coach Dave Rennie says the team will not use it as an “excuse”.

“He certainly won’t be travelling to the [United] States,” Rennie said in a media conference. “He was massive, wasn’t he, but Wallace came on and played well, so we’re certainly not going to use that as an excuse.”

The All Blacks face South Africa in Baltimore on 13 September, kicking off at 9am NZT.

In other Test match results, the Australian Wallabies drew 28-28 with Argentina in Mendoza.

All Blacks captain Ardie Savea has been ruled out of Test four in Baltimore after suffering a dislocated shoulder in their 29-24 loss against the Springboks. Photo/Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix/Photosport.

Black Ferns make history

The Black Ferns overcame four yellow cards to beat the Springboks Women 52-20 and claim their first-ever Test victory on South African soil.

Mererangi Paul, Georgia Ponsonby, Ayesha Leti-I’iga and Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu were all sent to the sin bin, but the Black Ferns still scored seven tries.

“Hugely proud of our girls and the effort that we brought,” co-captain Ponsonby told Sky Sport after the match. It wasn’t pretty at times, but we stuck in there and we still managed to score some cool tries.”

Wahs rewrite the record book

The Warriors have also made club history, winning a record 18 regular-season games after edging Manly 31-30 at Go Media Stadium.

That beats their previous record of 17 wins, set in 2002 when they went on to reach the National Rugby League (NRL) grand final.

The Warriors will now host the Dolphins in their opening playoff game at Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday, 12 September at 6.05pm (NZT).

It was a different result for the Warriors women, who lost 40-32 to a lower ranked Cronulla Sharks.

The Wahs women remain seventh and must beat the Broncos in Brisbane on Sunday, 13 September at 2pm (NZT).

Fiji, NZ fire in Honiara

Fiji have made strong starts to the OFC Under-16 Women’s Championship in Honiara.

Fiji thrashed the Cook Islands 11-0, with Adi Reva scoring five goals to become the first Fijian to reach that mark in a single U16 championship match.

New Zealand also opened their title defence with a 5-0 win over hosts Solomon Islands, with Jess Saunders scoring a hat-trick.

Fiji and New Zealand meet on Wednesday, while Solomon Islands face the Cook Islands.

Breakers bounce back

The New Zealand Breakers have split their opening two National Basketball League (NBL) Blitz 26 games, beating the Tasmania JackJumpers 96-86 after losing to the Sydney Kings.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright led the way with 23 points and eight assists, while Charles Bediako added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kouat Noi also returned from injury, scoring eight points in four minutes.

Head coach Gordie Herbert was pleased with the defensive response.

“I thought in the third quarter we got our defence set better, we got control of the game and control of the tempo better."

The Breakers face South East Melbourne on 8 September and Melbourne United on 10 September before opening their season against the Kings on 20 September.

NZ advance at FIBA World Cup qualifiers

New Zealand have also advanced to the next window of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) 2027 World Cup qualification in Qatar, while Guam have been eliminated.

Fiji have secured a place in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers second round.

The next qualification window runs from late November to early December.

For more information on both competitions and the qualification process, click here.