For the first time in her career, CJ Bott has had to learn how to lead without crossing the white line.

The Wellington Phoenix captain has spent much of the club’s breakthrough A-League season watching from the sidelines, since her https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/584796/phoenix-captain-cj-bott-announces-pregnancy pregnancy announcement] i January.

There was never any chance she would miss Saturday’s grand final against Melbourne City at AAMI Park though.

“I’m definitely travelling,” Bott said. “You wouldn’t be able to hold me at home just yet.

“I’ve still got a few more weeks until I’m medically unable to travel, so I’m making the most of it. I’ll be there with bells and whistles, and I’ll lose my voice screaming on the sidelines.”

Bott played seven matches at the start of the season, before stepping away from playing duties, remaining involved with the squad in an off-field leadership role, as the Phoenix surged to the first grand final in the team’s five-year history.

She described her second season with the Phoenix was “definitely a different season”.

“It started off well, being on the field, and then having to take a step back, because of the pregnancy, it took a little bit to get used to and was a tough pill to swallow in many ways, because all I want to do is be out there and doing my part with the team.

“I think as the season’s progressed, and our new signings have stepped up and really embraced their roles, and the rest of the girls have also stepped up, they’ve done such an incredible job.

“I mean, there’s been some nailbiting moments of the season, but overall, they’ve done incredibly well and I’m just so proud of how they’ve handled the season.”

Coach Bev Priestman was determined to keep Bott closely involved this season, because of her leadership and experience within the group.

“It did take a little while to see where I best fit into that role, because I wanted to give [Mackenzie Barry] the time and the space and the energy and support to do her role as captain as well.

“It’s taken a bit of adjustment, but I think now I’ve figured out where I’m best fitted, and I really just try and support the girls in whatever way and whatever capacity they need me.”

Defender Emma Pijnenburg, who replaced Bott in the squad, said the Football Ferns international remained an influential figure within the team.

“She just has this aura and, when she speaks in the circle, everybody is hanging on to every word,” Pijnenburg said. “She has a lot of experience as well, a senior player in the team, and she brings a lot to the team, whether she is on the field or not,” .

The Phoenix finished the season in second place and came from behind to win the two-legged semifinal against Brisbane Roar to secure the grand final match-up, but Bott said it was not all plain sailing to get to the pinnacle game of the season.

“I don’t think it’s a shock, given the team we had at the start of the season, but based on all our injuries and unfortunate events that have occurred during the season, it is somewhat of a surprise that we’ve somehow managed to keep our heads above water and still perform, given all the difficulties this team’s been through.

“The season has been so important towards the development of women’s football in this country, in this city specifically, and I’m so excited to see what can happen in the weekend.”

Watching from the sidelines has not come naturally to Bott.

“I hate it,” she said. “It is so hard just sitting there and not being able to do anything, but I’ve had to embrace it.

“I’ve got no other choice in the matter and the girls need me no matter what. I’ve just had to bite my nails quietly and just be their biggest cheerleader.”

Bott arrived at her hometown club last season, after eight years playing professionally in Germany, Sweden, Norway and England, and was surprised by the level of professionalism at the Phoenix.

“I didn’t quite know what to expect coming in,” she said. “I knew they had access to world-class facilities, but I think that’s one thing, having the backing from the wider club and having the staff involved.

“Our staff are incredible, they are probably some of the most professional staff I’ve ever had.

“Besides the fact that a lot of our girls have to, unfortunately, work two jobs, it is the most professional environment I’ve probably been a part of and it’s the most enjoyable environment I’ve been a part of in a long, long time.”

Bott is off contract at the end of this season and definitely has plans to return to football in the future, and “absolutely” would like that to be with the Phoenix.

Before she can think about her playing future, she will have to handle a few more “nervewracking” moments in the stands, as the Phoenix women play for the club’s first piece of silverware.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

An urban renewal project in New Plymouth’s CBD is revealing traces of the city’s past – piece by piece.

The derelict Metro Plaza is being demolished to allow a stretch of the Huatoki Stream – which has been hidden from view for about a century – to be uncovered.

The Devon Street address has been home to a multitude of businesses over the years including a bakery, drapery, tearooms, and furniture store before in more recent years hosting a cafe, night club and even a Subway outlet.

Senior project manager Steve Ilkovics said the May and Arrowsmith bakery was the earliest to leave its mark.

“The bakehouse was the first building on this site probably built about 1908 or 1910 and there’s some interesting history around how it linked up with some of the old flour mills and the mill building across the way at Powderham Street.

“Potentially it had the capacity to bake all the bread Taranaki needed back in those days.”

An article published when the bakehouse opened in 1918 by the Taranaki Daily News proclaimed it “would be hard to find its equal among the bakehouses of the Dominion”.

The top floor held up to 305 tonnes of flour, which was fed through to two large hoppers to mixing machines on the second floor, where the dough was fed down to the ground floor where there were “five big ovens, each capable of holding 480 to 500 loaves”.

About “9000 dozen eggs” could be stored in the cellar and a concrete platform was specially constructed on the ground floor for breaking the vast quantities needed each day.

Ilkovics said experts had been bought in to examine the wooden beams which held up the three-storey bakehouse.

“They identified this wood as being Oregon pine, know as Douglas Fir here in New Zealand as well.

“These are 14m-long beams, which are probably from the heart of the tree, but interestingly we didn’t start growing Douglas Fir in New Zealand until around about the 1870s or 1880s, so we can only assume these were imported from the United States.”

New Plymouth District Council intends to repurpose the beams as street furniture, decking, handrails and other public‑space features.

Demolition manager Brett Wheeler, of Wheeler Demolition, said the job had not been without its challenges.

“Probably managing the stream, the awa looking after that has been toughest. If it was a different kind of demo we would’ve just caved all this in and loaded it out.

“But the methodology of this one had to be cut and carry because we can’t put too much weight on certain parts of the floor especially at the front where it’s all timber framing, so we’ve had to crane diggers into certain points.”

His crew had made several surprising finds.

“So a good one’s just down here. We pulled one of the walls away and the foundation for this building, we’re standing on, is like a pretty old bluestone masonry wall, which is pretty cool.

“No one knew it was there until we ripped down three layers of walls and found it.”

Ilkovics had a theory about that wall.

“The blockwork that you can see under the old wooden building there. We believe that is part of the old railway embankment.

“A trainline used to run through this site, along this edge, and that was the original Waitara to New Plymouth line.

“This section was made redundant when the line was diverted along the coast, but a lot of the old brickwork, stonework was just sort of left in place.”

Ilkovics, who said it was a privilege to work on such a project, said another find was the steel framing of a drapery that once occupied the site.

“This beam on the ground here was part of the old McGruer’s building, which was constructed in the 1930s, again we didn’t know much about it until we peeled back the cladding.

“We found it was an import and you can actually see here from the stamp that it’s come from a company called Dorman Long & Co in Middlesbrough, England which still fabricates steel components and exports them around the world today.”

The company famously supplied steel for both the Auckland and Sydney harbour bridges.

The New Plymouth District Council had partnered with property developer K.D. Holdings and Ngāti Te Whiti to create the Huatoki public space which is part of its $10 million centre city strategy.​

Construction of the wider project – which included new retail, office, and hospitality spaces on both sides of the stream, was due to begin next year

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Pharmac has added the weight-loss drug Wegovy to its list of medicines suitable for future funding.

In a decision released Thursday, the drug-funding agency confirmed it had added Semaglutide – brand name Wegovy – to its list of ‘Options For Investment’, which includes all the medications that Pharmac would fund, if the budget allowed.

The order of that list is not made public for commercial reasons.

If chosen for future funding, Wegovy would be available to people with a Body Mass Index of 35 or more with at least two comorbidities.

In February, Pharmac’s obesity treatments advisory group recommended the drug be funded with high priority.

Currently unfunded, Wegovy would cost someone about $400 a month.

The original application was for Wegovy to be funded for chronic weight management in adults with a BMI of more than 30.

According to the 2024/25 New Zealand Health Survey, that would apply to an estimated 34 percent of New Zealanders over 15 years of age, but the committee’s recommendation bumped that up to a BMI of 35, in line with comparable countries like Canada, England and Scotland.

“However, the group also considered that this threshold could be raised to a BMI of 40… if funding treatment down to this level proved to be cost-prohibitive or not cost-effective.”

With a BMI over 50, a person would not need comorbodities to qualify, according to the recommendation.

Below that threshold, a person would need to have at least two of the following – dyslipidaemia, hypertension, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea or established cardiovascular disease.

It also included a condition that treatment would stop, if someone did not experience at least a 10 percent reduction in weight after six months.

It noted that, due to the “relatively high prevalence of obesity and weight-related comorbidities, the budget impact of funding semaglutide for weight management would be very high”.

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Moana Pasifika is not the only club facing closure since the Super Rugby Pacific competition kicked off in 2022.

The Melbourne Rebels suffered a similar fate at the end of the 2024 season, which reduced the then-12-team competition to 11.

There are calls for changes to mitigate what many believe is the growing risk of the competition going under.

Last weekend’s New Zealand Rugby (NZR) annual general meeting (AGM) heard all five of New Zealand’s franchises – the Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, and Hurricanes – were bleeding money in 2025.

Moana Pasifika, which could be called the financially weakest of all the clubs, was doomed to follow the Rebels into oblivion for many reasons.

That reality was announced last month, with funders and current licence holders, the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA), announcing they were backing out because of financial challenges.

This decision comes after extensive consideration of the financial, operational and strategic realities facing the franchise, as well as professional rugby in New Zealand.

Moana Pasifika said on 15 April, that despite the tireless dedication of players, staff, and supporters, it is no longer viable to continue the franchise at this level of competition.

“This is one of the hardest decisions we have ever made. We are immensely proud of our players, staff, and the community who have supported our team over the years,” Moana Pasifika chair Dr Kiki Maoate said.

“Across our rugby, pathways and community programmes, we have been able to support a growing hub of Pacific talent across multiple sporting codes, both locally and in the Pacific region. This is something we are extremely proud of and will continue to support and advocate for as best we can.

“Our commitment now is to ensure a smooth transition for everyone affected and to celebrate our legacy by finishing the season strong.”

The Moana Pasifika Charitable Trust was founded by Savae La’auli Sir Michael Jones KNZM and Tuifa’asisina Sir Bryan Williams KNZM in 2021, with a mission to create the first professional Pacific rugby team.

It is that ‘Trust’ model which is now believed to have been a downfall that has limited the franchise’s ability to secure long-term funding from sponsors.

World Rugby and NZR both stepped in the initial stages, but both organisations have stated publicly they will not do that now, leaving the club and its owners to either stay firm on their decision to close or sell to interested buyers.

Enter Kanaloa Consortium – backed by a number of Pasifika heritage former All Blacks.

Kanaloa’s CEO Tracy Atiga said they have been given until 15 May – tomorrow – to send in their proposal to NZR to save Moana Pasifika for disbanding.

She has also said that part of that NZR agreement is for Kanaloa to get the support of both PMA and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association (NZRPA).

She has been outspoken about what she calls unsupportive stance taken by both the PMA and the NZRPA who had, as she claimed, shown no interest in getting Kanaloa’s proposal or bid supported.

However, both PMA and Moana Pasifika chief executive Debbie Sorensen and NZRPA’s Rob Nichol have stated that Kanaloa should send their proposal to NZR, if they were serious about their bid.

Kanaloa, which was known to many until the revelation that Moana Pasifika was going to close, had initially sent a proposal to PMA’s Sorensen last year but did not get any response, and had also bid for a franchise license in 2020/2021 but were also unsuccessful.

A point of interest: Kanaloa threatened to sue NZR in November 2020, because they claimed the union breached its own rules by granting Moana Pasifika a licence, even though the new franchise did not properly participate in the tender process.

Anyway, NZR has also stated they are open to discuss any proposal that would save Moana Pasifika.

“NZR is open to receiving proposals that present a long-term and sustainable plan for Moana Pasifika,” a NZR spokesman said, adding “that opportunity is available for the next few weeks”.

For Kanaloa that period ends on Friday.

‘The model doesn’t work’

It is going to be telling to see how things play out in the next few days and week.

Media reports in Aotearoa say that reports tabled at the NZR AGM indicate all five of New Zealand’s teams made losses last year and the private equity investors who hold varying stakes in those teams have called for changes, including a possible move to full private ownership.

“When we got involved, we knew the Hurricanes were losing money. The model doesn’t work,” Malcolm Gillies, a co-owner of the Wellington-based Hurricanes, told the Rugby Direct podcast.

“Unless there’s change, it’s not going to work. You’ve got five franchises in New Zealand and none of them are making a lot of money. The whole system has to change.

Gillies believes the competition in its current form is unsustainable.

“If it stays the way it is now, I fear for it. If there’s change then I believe we’ve got a product. But if it doesn’t, I believe it’s going to die. That’s my honest opinion.”

NZR contracts and retains control over Super Rugby Pacific players under the current system.

Full private ownership would follow the England and France situation, where clubs directly contract the players.

Moana Pasifika players basically come under the Pacific Rugby Players (PRP) association, which has stated their ultimate focus is making sure players’ welfare are looked after.

It is their number one job, chairman Valentine Tauamiti told RNZ Pacific this week.

So right now, PRP will request discussions on any proposal they see might fit the bill. Thus, their request to NZR that the Kanaloa bid gets discussed.

While Atiga and Kanaloa have yet to send their proposal through, a number of things needs to be verified:

• How has their management record been? Has Kanaloa successfully managed sports teams to the magnitude of a Super Rugby franchisee in the past?

Records show Kanaloa had tried to get into the Major Rugby League in the USA three years ago also but failed. But Atiga is confident they have the money, the experience and the people to fund and manage Moana Pasifika, fulfilling all the requirements that needs to be met, with international player fees paid out on top of players’ contracts.

• Do they have a viable and sustainable business plan?

The reality on the ground is Super Rugby clubs need more than NZ$15 million to survive annually. And there is no guarantee ticket sales, TV rights and sponsorship endorsements will meet that need annually. Atiga and Kanaloa believe their model will work and ensure financial safety going forward.

• Will Kanaloa be able to have security, or guarantee, that would cover the costs if the franchise folds?

This is a critical factor that would need to be part of any sale agreement. Buyers must prove they have the added security, in the form of a building or assets, that can be used to meet the financial demands, ensuring there are no debts left when a franchise folds. RNZ Pacific understands this is one area both the PRP and the NZRPA demand as being part of any proposal.

RNZ Pacific has been reliably informed that the PMA is selling its Christchurch building, the Maoate House, which is now on the market.

Sorensen has been asked to confirm the sale, but it is believed that is being done as part of the funding agreement when the PMA took up Moana Pasifika.

Moana Pasifika has two more games to go this season, one at home next weekend and the other away in Australia.

Whether those two matches will be their last as a Super Rugby Pacific team – or the start of a revamp – is anyone’s guess right now.

One thing is clear: NZR and the stakeholders involved will need to act fast if Moana Pasifika is to be saved.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Former England women’s wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor has been appointed as fielding coach for head coach Brendon McCullum’s men’s team for their test series against the Black Caps.

She is the first woman to coach an England men’s side in a major sport, the BBC reported.

Taylor, 36, had 226 caps in all three formats at international level for England, playing no small part in their World Cup victory in 2017.

Taylor has been appointed as short-term cover for Carl Hopkinson, who is involved with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

She has been working with the second tier England Lions team coached by former all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and has clearly made a big impression.

“I just think she’s one of the best in the business at what she does,” England men’s director Rob Key told reporters.

“She’s been outstanding, and she’s worked a lot with Andrew Flintoff and (England performance director) Ed Barney. They can’t speak highly enough of her. So from what we can see, she’s one of the best in the business.”

The men’s side was criticised for poor fielding during their Ashes series in Australia last summer, after they didn’t take a specialist fielding coach on tour.

Hopkinson was reappointed as fielding coach after that series.

England have named [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/595137/england-drop-zac-crawley-bring-in-three-uncapped-players-for-black-caps-first-test their squad for the first test against New Zealand, which starts on 4 June at Lord’s.

Zac Crawley has been dropped, replaced by newcomer Emilio Gay, with fast bowler Sonny Baker and wicketkeeper-batter James Rew also uncapped.

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The White Ferns will attempt to level their ODI series against England on Saturday after the second match was washed out in Northampton.

Showers arrived just as the toss at the County Ground was due, resulting in a two-hour delay this morning NZT.

When the weather did clear, Melie Kerr won the toss and opted for New Zealand to bowl, telling broadcasters they wanted to know what they would be chasing with rain interruptions likely.

The rain immediately returned and 75 minutes later the match was abandoned.

England won the first match in Durham on Monday by one wicket, with their final pair just managing to overhaul the White Ferns’ total of 210.

The third match is in Cardiff, with a scheduled start time of 10pm NZT.

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A broken collarbone couldn’t stop Kiwi equestrian Tim Price from delivering one of his best-ever results, as he surged to silver at the Badminton Horse Trials.

In a remarkable finish on Monday (NZ time), Price climbed from 10th after the dressage on the opening day, to sixth in the cross country phase, before jumping clear to secure silver.

The experienced multiple Olympian credits his upbringing with his parents and two brothers on a Canterbury farm for sparking his interest in the global equestrian stage.

“We had a small horse stud, 50 acres odd in Oxford, and there were horses coming out our ears,” the 46-year-old, Price said.

“I was working with horses young and old, and it was very normal to be dealing with horses every day.”

At the family-run block, stallions were bred to mares, before the pony club, show jumping and eventing competitions shaped the direction of Price’s life.

The three-time Olympian calls England home where he’s found a special rural corner of countryside with his wife Jonelle, who also competes at the highest level in three-day eventing for New Zealand.

“Down here in Dorset we’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s a beautiful farm with an excellent equestrian facility, owned by a great man who puts a lot into this estate,” Price said.

Of the husband and wife duo, Jonelle was the first to wear the silver fern at the 2012 Olympics Games in London.

The eventing power couple have represented New Zealand together now at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

Price said his silver medal at Badminton is only just starting to sink in after a couple of days.

Before the event, he tried his best to keep his broken collarbone from a biking injury under wraps.

“It wasn’t something I really wanted to make public in the last few big events, so I just said I had a busted shoulder,” he said.

“Badminton has eluded me. It’s a very difficult event to win. It’s tricky to get the best out of your horse so early in the northern hemishpere season.”

“I was really happy with the result with Falco, he was just class all the way through.”

The 17-year-old gelding is a superb jumper, however only time will if he can compete at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“He’s now been second at one of the biggest five star events at Badminton, he was sixth at the Paris Olympics, he’s been a great horse, not just for me, but for New Zealand in teams.”

“He’s getting a little on the older side, in two years time is the Los Angeles Olympics – that might just be a little late in his career for him.”

Nonetheless, Price has his sights firmly set on the World Championships with Falco later this year in Aachen in Germany.

“Possibly Burghley in the autumn – just to show everyone how cool he is.”

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Sir Graham Henry wants to bring a simplistic approach to the table as he returns to the All Blacks fold as a selector.

Head coach Dave Rennie confirmed on Tuesday that Henry would join him and assistant coach Neil Barnes as selectors, with the All Blacks having their first test of the year against France in Christchurch’s new Te Kaha Stadium on 4 July.

Henry, 79, said one of the things he had learned during his coaching career, which included a Rugby World Cup title with the All Blacks in 2011, was sharing responsibility with the players.

That involves “everybody being on the same page and spending the time to ensure that happens so that everybody feels comfortable with what they’re trying to do”, he told Morning Report.

“I think that’s the key, giving players additional responsibility and ownership, and the more ownership they have, I think, the better they play. That’s how we approached it 20 years ago.”

The sport appears different now, but Henry said the same approach should ring true.

“I haven’t been in a coaching group for some time. It appears to be more complicated. And maybe that’s more difficult, but simplicity is key, I think. The more simple we can keep the game, I think the better the boys will play,” Henry said.

“The pressure is even greater today because the athletes are bigger and faster, so you’ve got less time to make decisions. The simplicity of what you’re trying to do is key, so that you actually can function. If it gets too complex, it makes it extremely difficult.”

Henry said the selectors had an extensive list of players to consider. “The competition for the All Black team is very real, and there’s a lot of very good players, and there’s going to be some very good players who don’t get selected, which is a healthy situation, but difficult for them, obviously.”

He said it was tough leaving players out. “But that’s the job, isn’t it. So you’ve just got to do your best. And I think making sure that you select correctly is a very important part of the side playing the best it can play.”

Henry coached Wales from 1998 to 2002 and the British and Irish Lions in 2001, before being All Blacks head coach from 2004-11. His record with the All Blacks was 88 wins from 103 tests. More recently, he was involved with the Black Ferns set-up during their World Cup winning campaign in 2022.

He gave an insight into the role of a selector, saying there was a huge amount of statistical information now available on players compared to his time with national side, but that was a back-up to the main job.

“At the end of the day, you watch players play, and if you watch them for a long time – you don’t watch the game when you’re selecting, you just watch the individuals – you get a very good sense of whether they can do the job or not,” he said.

Players could be observed over an extensive period of time. “You know by viewing them whether they can put it in at the next level.”

Henry said he hadn’t missed the pressure of being involved at the top level, but was “very humbled” to be asked by Rennie and excited by the opportunity.

“I love the game. I think the game has got some challenges right now, so I’d like to try and help improve the game in this country, if I can.”

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Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, the Māori queen, has met with Prince William at Windsor Castle in London.

They discussed “a range of global topics”, a post on the Kiingitanga Facebook page said.

“Te Arikinui affirmed her belief in the power of indigenous knowledge and intergenerational stewardship to help solve the world’s environmental and social challenges.

“During the visit, Te Arikinui also attended a celebration of rangatahi who have improved their lives with support from The King’s Trust Aotearoa New Zealand, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.”

A pleasure to meet with Māori Queen Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po today at Windsor Castle. pic.twitter.com/ILFeMSmDqX

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 12, 2026

Kiingitanga said she was “following in the footsteps of her tūpuna and continuing eight generations of engagement with the British Royal Household”.

Prince William also posted about the encounter on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, saying it was “a pleasure”.

Te Arikinui was elected queen in 2024 following the death of her father, Kīngi Tūheitia.

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The Wellington Phoenix women’s inaugural captain Lily Alfeld saw her playing career end prematurely. Now she has a front row seat to a season that is reshaping the club.

Alfeld was the first signing in the club’s history ahead of the Phoenix entering the A-League women competition in 2021. She played all but one game in goal during the team’s inaugural campaign as the expansion side battled to get a foothold in the league.

But injuries soon took their toll.

Alfeld missed all of the following season with knee and back injuries, before back surgery in 2023 that ultimately ended her playing days.

But the Phoenix were determined not to lose one of the foundational figures of the women’s programme. The club created an operations role that allowed Alfeld to rehabilitate her injury and continue to have a positive influence on a women’s programme that was still in its infancy.

“I was hoping for a slightly longer career, so when it was cut a bit shorter than planned that was a tough six months to just get my head around,” Alfeld said of the transition from player to staff member.

Now Alfeld is at the coalface of the club in the community, leading culture and community engagement.

While sidelined with injury Alfeld, she became known for her vocal support from the stands, “that was about the only way I thought I could contribute”.

“But now my role looks slightly different, I’m a little bit less vocal and more behind the scenes. I’m still the team’s biggest cheerleader.

“I’m just so stoked to see them finally start to get the reward for all the efforts that they are putting in.”

That reward has come in the form of a historic campaign.

The Phoenix are preparing for their first grand final appearance on Saturday against Melbourne City in Melbourne, Alfeld said it was the “perfect time” to be in her role promoting the club.

The former goalkeeper said the Phoenix have changed a lot since she lead them out for their first game against Western Sydney Wanderers in December 2021 during the Covid era when their home base was in Wollongong in New South Wales.

“The thinking that first season [was] we’re just like so happy to be here. But as that time has evolved, and as the years have gone on, I think every year it’s been how do we get better? How do we push? How do we increase our investment, our standards, our expectations?” she said.

“I think every year it’s been slowly chipping away, and I think they’ve just finally nailed making an incredible programme.

“I have no doubt that this is the best female programme in the league and they’re finally getting that result.”

Alfeld was part of a squad that made football history in New Zealand in 2021 when the club entered the league, Saturday night will be another historic moment regardless of the result against Melbourne City.

Prior to this season the Phoenix had never made the top six in the competition to progress to finals. Meaning they had never been in a semifinal, or even close to being in a showpiece of the women’s game with silverware on the line.

“When they announced Bev as the coach and then they secured a lot of incredible signings, I think it all of a sudden went from let’s push for top six to, wow, we really are contenders here,” Alfeld said of this season.

“There was almost this added pressure and expectation that anything less than probably a final would be, for lack of a better word, a failure.

“We had the right ingredients, so it’s been really interesting to see how the team has dealt with that, and I think Bev has been an incredible leader that has kept everyone focused and on the task at hand and game by game, because it is so easy to get carried away, especially when the success hasn’t always been there.

“It is a long time coming, but I think they’ve just got all the ingredients right this year and it’s all come together perfectly.”

Alfeld was impressed with the “incredible resilience” of the players who had to overcome a one goal deficit from the first leg of the home and away semifinals against Brisbane Roar to win the second in front of their home supporters at Porirua Park to secure the grand final berth.

“It just shows the grit and the mental strength this team has to overcome a challenge that they haven’t faced before. “

The second semifinal on Sunday was played in front of a record crowd of nearly 6000 people.

Alfeld remembered the early days of playing in closed stadiums in Australia during Covid, with a bit of online support “from mainly family and friends”.

“It felt like a small supporter base to where it is now.

“It’s not just young girls, it’s young boys that you see are just so excited to meet these players, to hear about their stories and their journeys.

“My favourite part is just going into that school and meeting a kid that is just so excited to meet this player and that aspires to be like them. It’s pretty special that these players get the opportunity to be those role models.”

Alfeld grew up as a Phoenix supporter – of the men’s team.

She started her top level playing days at college in America and then for Perth Glory in the A-League before she got the opportunity to come home and have an influence on the next generation of players.

As the Phoenix women play out their best season Alfeld was happy with where she was.

“I’m very lucky I have that front row seat to witness all that and to see the effects on the community and our supporters.”

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The return of a centuries-old Māori warrior’s cloak to Aotearoa New Zealand has brought surprise, intrigue, and an ancestral connection for the traditional Māori weaving experts studying it.

The cloak, a pauku, is one of only seven warrior cloaks known to exist around the world, and it’s the first to return home.

Dr Kahutoi Te Kanawa, pou ārahi, curator Māori, at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, said the pauku is a “living treasure”.

“The importance for me is that the taonga is home. It’s home.”

Dr Te Kanawa is co-director of Auckland Museum’s Māori and Pacific textile and fibre research centre, Te Aho Mutunga Kore, where the pauku is on a five-year exhibition and research loan from the Oriental Museum at Durham University, England.

She said it was “intriguing to come so close to the minds and thoughts and skills of our ancestors that left us with these”.

Dr Te Kanawa and her sister, Dr Rangi Te Kanawa – herself a specialist researcher and conservator of Māori textiles – grew up immersed in the knowledge of traditional weaving, passed on from their mother and grandmother.

They are both members of Auckland Museum’s tohunga expert weavers’ advisory group, Taumata Māreikura, which is analysing the cloak.

It’s the oldest cloak Rangi has seen in Aotearoa in her 25 years as a conservator, and a great example of tūturu Māori, an authentic Māori object, she said.

The cloak was made with a close twining stitch, she said: “So close, it would have been impenetrable to a wooden spear, so thus it became a warrior’s cape.”

Made from harakeke, flax, the pauku has two sections, one of which is constructed of dyed black fibres. Rangi said the dyeing process has caused the fibres to deteriorate.

“From a conservation point of view, we’ve had this great loss of black, the loose threads have become vulnerable.”

But that loss has exposed the underlying, undyed fibres which gives more information about the construction, Rangi said.

The group’s investigation of the pauku goes beyond identifying the techniques used – they also intend to revive those skills.

“You can see for yourself that it’s done in chunks and different blocks, and how to manipulate the fibres so that it’s raised and gives that raised and recessed effect with the pattern,” Kahu said.

“Those are the skills that we’re about to attempt to do.”

The pauku is thought to have been made in the 18th century, and through studying the pauku, they are gaining insight to the weaver’s world.

“To do something like this, it would have to be an absolutely skilled kairaranga, weaver,” said Kahu.

The weaver’s focus would have been on making the pauku, and to do that, she would have been supported by other villagers, she said.

“So if the weaver had two or three tamariki, children, they would be looked after by the aunties, they would be fed.

“She would be looked after so that she could focus on her task at hand.”

Such a task would require a great deal of mental stability and focus, Kahu said.

It is unknown how the pauku came to be on the other side of the world, although investigations are underway to track down its journey, said Rachel Barclay, senior curator at the Oriental Museum.

“The cloak first came to the Oriental Museum in the mid-1960s, from a family called the Trevelyan family who had a large estate in Northumberland, just north of us.

“But then how it came into their ownership has been one of the things that we’ve been struggling with in recent years.”

The pauku had been at the museum for decades “with no one really understanding how incredible it was until that amazing day when Rangi, and Patricia Wallace, and other people came to visit us,” she said.

While work continues at Auckland Museum to understand how the pauku was made, in the UK, Rachel Barclay is getting closer to solving the puzzle of how it got to Durham.

It looks increasingly like there was a network of women collectors within the British aristocracy, whose histories haven’t been recorded, “that people are just beginning to discover”, she said.

And prior to its arrival on British shores, “all roads lead us back to Joseph Banks and Cook’s first voyage,” she said.

Auckland Museum said Te Aho Mutunga Kore will schedule bookable visits for members of the public to see the pauku to minimise movement and risk to the fragile taonga.

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The White Ferns let victory slip through their grasp in a tense one-wicket loss to England in Durham to kick-start their three-match ODI series.

The hosts crawled to 211 for nine in the 49th over, surviving a key dropped chance late in the chase and just doing enough to overhaul New Zealand’s 210 all out in difficult batting conditions at Chester-le-Street.

Only three players posted scores above 35, including New Zealanders Maddy Green (88) and Melie Kerr (55) who put on 105 for the third wicket before the last eight wickets fell for 63 runs.

England had similar struggles in their chase, losing wickets steadily, with only Maia Bouchier (59) able to defy a methodical New Zealand attack before she was the second victim of captain Kerr (2-54), lobbing a catch to midwicket.

At that stage the home side were 160-7 but their lower order displayed grit, most notably skipper and allrounder Charlie Dean, who finished 31 not out and hit the winning runs with 10 balls to spare.

The match swung in the 47th over when England were nine down and Dean slashed a full toss from Bree Illing straight to Nense Patel in the gully.

The chance came at an awkward height and was spilled, opening the door for the hosts to eke out victory.

Illing was New Zealand’s tightest bowler, taking 1-31 off 9.2 overs while fellow-seamer Rosemary Mair claimed 3-42.

Green was the game’s best batter, striking nine fours in her 107-ball knock, the 33-year-old falling short of a fourth ODI century when she was caught on long-on off the bowling of Tilly Corteen-Coleman.

Kerr said batting proved more difficult than she anticipated.

“The wicket was a bit slow, we thought 250 would be a good score. We were set up to do that but unfortunately lost wickets at the back end,” she said.

“We fought hard with the ball to take it deep. We have to learn and be better but I thought our bowlers were outstanding.”

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Explainer – New Zealand has announced would-be citizens will have to pass a test about starting next year. What might that look like and how do other countries do similar tests?

The test on various topics around New Zealand life and government would be required for many applying for citizenship from next year.

“Becoming a New Zealand citizen is a significant milestone in a person’s life and a great honour,” Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden said in announcing the change.

“This change reinforces the value of New Zealand citizenship, and what it means to obtain it.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report on Thursday that New Zealand was following similar tests in other nations.

“I just don’t think there’s any harm,” Luxon said of introducing the tests.

The exact date the test will launch hasn’t been set, but the announcement said late 2027.

While it will be new to New Zealand, tests like this aren’t uncommon – they’re already in use in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States among others.

Here’s what we know so far about citizenship tests and what we can learn from other countries.

Who has to take the test?

If you’re applying for citizenship by grant from late 2027, you’ll have to take it in addition to any other application requirements.

There are three ways to become a citizen – by birth, by descent (being born overseas but having at least one parent who was a NZ citizen when you were born), or by grant – which means you’re a foreign national who has usually been a permanent resident of NZ for at least five years.

Most people who apply by grant will have to take the new test, but there are some exceptions – you don’t have to sit the test if you:

• are under 16 years old
• are aged 65 or over
• have been granted a waiver for the English language requirement for citizenship
• are not of full capacity
• have a severe medical condition that would prevent completing the test
• have unique personal circumstances that would prevent completing the test
• are a New Zealand citizen by descent applying for citizenship by grant
• are applying from overseas but meet the presence requirement – for example, if they live in Niue, the Cook Islands or Tokelau, or are working overseas for the NZ government.

“Exemptions from the test are intended to ensure the approach is proportionate, fair, and in line with approaches taken in comparable countries,” van Velden said.

Van Velden also told RNZ’s Checkpoint there would be no exemptions based on income levels.

How’s test taking going to work?

The test will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions and applicants must get 15 answers, or 75 percent, correct to pass.

The test will be only offered in person, at locations throughout New Zealand.

The aim is not to just have testing spots in main centres, the announcement said. Service accessibility to all will be a key consideration, van Velden said.

“I did consider an online test, however, with rapid development of AI and ability for individuals to have help at home, I considered this a less robust test than an in-person test,” van Velden said.

What’s it going to cost?

There will be a fee to take the test in addition to existing citizenship application fees, but a specific amount hasn’t been chosen yet.

“The cost itself hasn’t been borne out yet,” van Velden told Checkpoint.

The Department of Internal Affairs plans to look for a potential third-party provider to provide the test and the cost would be determined then, she said.

“I do believe it is important that there is a cost to the test because we do want people to study for it, and when there’s a user-pays component … people do take that seriously and if there wasn’t a cost, it is possible that people might sit multiple times without looking at the guidance that DIA provide.”

Currently, applying for citizenship by grant costs $560 for adults and $280 for children aged 15 and under.

If you fail the test, you can take it again but the government says applicants “will likely” have to pay a new fee each time they sit the test.

If you fail to pass the test three times, you have to wait 30 days. You’ll only get six tries in total to pass the test, however, and then you’ll be “provided options” including withdrawing your citizenship application and getting a partial refund of application fees.

What kind of questions will they be asking?

In the announcement, van Velden said the topics will include the Bill of Rights Act, human rights, voting rights and democratic principles, New Zealand’s system of government, some criminal offences and questions about travelling overseas on a New Zealand passport.

Notably, there was no mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi or Māori tikanga in the announcement.

However, there will be a Treaty of Waitangi question in the test, van Velden confirmed to RNZ.

She said the questions themselves have yet to be decided.

“I won’t go into any particular question itself because we won’t be releasing those, but the questions are revolving around freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association, the fact that men and women have equal rights, that we have protection from discrimination, that we have free elections … all the things that have made our country good.”

The Department of Internal Affairs is handling the details of how the test will be implemented. There will be guides and other resources ahead of the test introduction to allow people to prepare and pass.

“On balance, it’s very, very similar to what the UK and Australia have been doing for years,” Luxon told RNZ.

“It’s probably not a bad thing to remind people that things like freedom of expression, freedom of speech and women having equal rights, all those kind of things, to have them positively affirmed is probably a good thing.”

Will the test remain even if the government changes before 2027?

Of course, there’s also an election this year, so will that have an impact?

When asked by RNZ if he supported the exam, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he was open to strengthening citizenship rules, but expressed concern about no mention of the Treaty of Waitangi in the original announcement.

“Do we want those who are gaining New Zealand citizenship to basically be signing up to adhering to New Zealand’s rules and so on? Yes, of course, that’s inherent in the citizenship process, but excluding a big part of our own history from that seems to undermine what they’re trying to do.”

As noted, van Velden has since indicated there will be one question on the Treaty.

How do tests work in other countries?

As mentioned, Australia, the US and UK all have some form of test most applicants for citizenship must take.

“New Zealand has looked at approaches used in comparable countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada when developing the test,” van Velden said.

“This includes elements like the number of questions, passing rates, exemption categories, and delivery approach.”

Sample questions available online in training sites and apps show these tests have a wide spectrum of possible questions would-be citizens might be asked – and perhaps a guidepost for how New Zealand’s test might work.

Australia requires a test and has a 20-question multiple choice exam that asks questions about Australian values and history. A practice test is also available online where questions such as “Who can deliver a Welcome to Country?” and what Anzac Day commemorates can be found.

In the United Kingdom, most applicants must take the “Life in the UK” test with 24 multiple-choice questions about British traditions and customs and show English language proficiency. Practice tests on an unofficial test preparation website ask questions such as who William Shakespeare was and whether pool and darts are traditional pub games, plus somewhat harder questions such as “Who was reigning in England when Wales became formally united with England by the Act for the Government of Wales?” (If you answered Henry VII, you’re correct!)

Over in the United States, a two-part test covering English language skills and civics is required for many applicants. The civics test is conducted as an oral test of 20 questions from a possible 128. Sample questions for that one cover how the three branches of American government work, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and why America entered the Vietnam war.

There’s also a few freebies such as “What is the name of the President of the United States now,” in case the applicant hasn’t been paying attention to, well, anything, the last 10 years or so.

Sometimes questions on a test can be controversial. For instance, The Washington Post reported many took issue with a question that asked “When did all women get the vote?” The test’s answer was in 1920 – after the US Constitution was amended to allow women to vote – but many pointed out that Black and Native American women voters actually faced barriers to voting for decades after 1920 and the wording of the question to say “all women” was misleading.

It goes to show that the questions – and how they’re phrased, especially around touchy issues – could be a tricky road to navigate in putting together New Zealand’s future citizenship test.

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Is New Zealand about to get its own version of a law that caused uproar in New South Wales, clashes in Sydney’s streets and that has now been thrown out?

The Law Society here is worried the Policing Amendment Bill which is making its way through Parliament with strong police backing will clamp down on political protest.

“It’s a clear parallel,” said Timothy Roberts, president of the New South Wales Council of Civil Liberties.

There is evidence behind the concern – the Independent Police Conduct Authority last year found police exhibited a lot of uncertainty and inconsistency about the limits of lawful protest and what the restrictions should be, and called for explicit laws to protect protesters’ rights.

But the government on Wednesday said: “Our police have a strong, long-standing track record of upholding civil liberties and human rights.”

Last month New South Wales’ top court threw out a law enacted after the Bondi Beach terror attack.

The public assembly restriction declaration or PARD scheme expanded police powers to restrict protests in certain areas.

In such a zone in Sydney in February, police clashed with people protesting the visit of Israel’s president.

The city’s mayor Clover Moore said, “Seeing the unrestrained force used to impose those demarcations was disturbing.”

Roberts said the new law had a lot to do with it.

“The police were completely inflexible. So they could have released the crowd to march on from the area peaceably. But because of the political pressure, the legislative framework, they didn’t.

“And that inflexibility led to some really serious violence,” Roberts told RNZ.

Like Roberts, Samantha Lee saw parallels between the PARD and the New Zealand bill. Lee is assistant principal lawyer at Redfern Legal Centre which is working to get criminal charges against Sydney protesters dismissed.

“What the court found is that this executive power is a breach of the constitution in terms of the political freedom of communication and that what it was really doing is stopping the right to protest,” Lee said.

“Protesting has a long history in Australia, as it does there in New Zealand. And the court did say a lot about that, that police should not remove a person’s ability to bring governments to account, even if they’re protesting against against matters that the police don’t like,” Lee said.

The NSW law was rushed in. The New Zealand bill was hurriedly drafted without public consultation.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he was open to feedback on any bill, “which is exactly why it goes through the select committee process so New Zealanders can have their say and ensure that it’s fit for purpose”.

The bill’s first part would expand police intelligence-gathering powers; its second part would expand their powers to declare areas off-limits ahead of time in case of imminent public disorder. It would extend the power beyond roads to many public places, and add an instant $1000 infringement fee for someone who entered or did not leave a zone, plus adding a new offence of failing to give police identifying details.

Most reporting has focused on the first part.

The Law Society is pushing the select committee to amend both parts of the bill.

“The difficulties in enforcement and the desirability of ‘closing’ a space are acknowledged, as is the prospect that disturbances may involve other areas (parks etc, other public spaces such as river beds) which are not roads,” it said.

“Against this, however, there are also valid concerns regarding the risks of undue expansion, in that political protests involving disorder may lead to closure of roads and accessible places, and thus prohibitions on entry and potential arrests.”

The bill made “vague” references to “public safety objectives” that could trigger closure, risking “creep in their use into the field of legitimate protest”, the society said.

Paul Rishworth KC helped write its submission.

“It needs to be reconsidered as to how it all applies to public protest,” Rishworth said.

“An example would be that if a protest of some sort is happening or is planned for the following day, and there is either actual counter-protest or the threat of counter-protest, that might be seen as producing disorder or likely to produce disorder, then that might be a reason for closing it down.”

There were existing powers police had to deal with boy racers, he added.

The bill was not a direct parallel with PARD but was in the same universe, and at the very least should be amended to require regular reporting back by police on how they were using the new powers, Rishworth said.

Also, the Law Society wanted preconditions on closures to be added, and the infringement offences removed since the offence of obstruction already existed.

However, Police Association president Steve Watt rejected that part two went too far.

“What it’s aimed to do is increase public safety around those public places where disorder and other events like boy racers might tend to congregate,” said Watt.

“The police are, you know, extremely well-versed when it comes to lawful protests from members of the public.

“I can’t see police using this law as a method of shutting down lawful protests.”

Mitchell said the bill as a whole was about “reinstating police’s ability to lawfully collect and record information to keep communities safe, not introducing new powers”.

“I’ve seen the concerns raised and will consider any sensible changes which improve clarity, but my focus is on restoring the tools police need to keep Kiwis safe.”

Police consulted about part one of the bill with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, but not about part two.

The bill’s regulatory impact statement talked about police working through the issues as they implemented it.

Last year, after a two-year investigation, the Independent Police Conduct Authority found both the law, and police practices and understanding, were lacking around protesters’ rights.

It called for explicit legislation to protect them.

“Without such a legislative regime, the preservation of fundamental rights is likely to come under increasing threat,” it said.

Documents attached to the policing bill did not mention the IPCA investigation. The authority declined to comment while the bill was before Parliament.

The bill sees the IPCA and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as the main watchdogs over how police used it.

However, the authority recently told MPs it lacked resources, and the Commissioner has put out several statements opposing the bill, saying the level of oversight was inadequate.

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The return of two key fast bowlers, and the maiden selection of a batting allrounder, are the highlights in the Blackcaps squad to play upcoming test matches against Ireland and England.

Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke are back from injury, while Dean Foxcroft has earned his first ever test call up, for a one off test against Ireland later this month and three tests against England next month.

“I was blown away (to be picked),” Foxcroft said.

“It’s quite surreal and a dream come true.

“From a young age you dream about playing test cricket or even just to be in a test squad – so I’m buzzing and I can’t wait,” he said.

Foxcroft’s impressed of late, having contributed strongly on the recent Black Caps white-ball tour of Bangladesh.

Jamieson and O’Rourke’s return are timely, especially with reigning Sir Richard Hadlee Medal winner Jacob Duffy to miss the tour as he and his wife await the birth of their first child.

Jamieson hasn’t played test cricket since suffering a back stress fracture in February 2024, while O’Rourke’s been out since July last year with the same injury.

“It’s a great privilege to start this next period of sustained red-ball cricket with all our pace bowlers ready to go,” Black Caps coach Rob Walter said.

“Kyle’s been on a journey of getting his body ready for test cricket. He’s really fit and strong at the moment and will bring a unique edge to our bowling line-up.

“Will brings a quality set of skills and physical attributes which make him a hugely exciting addition to any test team,” he said.

Wellington’s Ben Sears is another fast bowler to return from injury, but he’s been selected for the Irish test only, and will be a travelling reserve for the tests against England.

Sears has played just the one test for New Zealand, against Australia in 2024.

Michael Rae and the uncapped Kristian Clarke are two others, that have been included for the Ireland test only.

Other features of the 19-strong squad see Kane Williamson being included, as he looks to add to his test career runs tally of 9461. He last played for the Blackcaps in a test series against West Indies late last year.

Matt Henry, Zac Foulkes, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips and Jamieson will join the squad late, once their stints in the IPL conclude later this month.

And Mitchell Santner could also still be involved in the tour. Despite missing selection, his shoulder injury is being monitored.

There are no specialist spinners in the squad.

The one-off four-day Test against Ireland begins at Stormont in Belfast on May 27, with the three Tests against England to be played at Lord’s (June 4-8), The Oval (June 17-21) and Trent Bridge (June 25-29).

Blackcaps test squad to Ireland and England: Tom Latham (C), Tom Blundell, Kristian Clarke (IRE only), Devon Conway, Zak Foulkes, Dean Foxcroft, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rae (IRE only), Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears (IRE only & 16th travelling reserve for ENG), Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Kane Williamson, Will Young (IRE only).

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A body had been found in the water near a remote Sottish island where a New Zealand monk disappeared last month.

Justin Evans, 24, went missing from the Golgotha Monastery, on Papa Stronsay, shortly before midnight on April 11. The island is home to only a handful of monks of the Catholic order Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, the group was founded in the 1980s and had links to New Zealand, including a monastery near Geraldine.

Do you know more? Email melanie.earley@rnz.co.nz

Police Scotland said the body was found just before 7.30am on Wednesday in the water near Stronsay, the closest island to Papa Stronsay.

The body was yet to be formally identified, police said, but Evans family, who were from Christchurch, had been informed.

The death was being treated as “unexplained”, police said, and an investigation was ongoing.

It said a report would be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal (a public prosecutor in Scotland).

The founder of the monastery, Father Michael Mary, earlier told RNZ it was believed Evans was suffering from “long-term hypothermia”.

He called the situtation “utterly tragic”.

Mary said Evans went by the name Brother Iganatius Maria while at the monastery and had lived there for about two years.

“We are a close community and this has hit us all very hard and is deeply hurting. We hope to find him and hope that the sea will give him up soon.”

Evans had three brothers who were all monks, Mary said, and two of them also lived on the island which at the 2022 Census had a population of just nine.

“Brother’s family are in New Zealand which only adds to the pain of loss and separation.

“This is our biggest tragedy since our arrival here in 1999,” Mary said.

A spokesperson for the order in New Zealand, also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, said everyone in the order knew and loved Evans dearly.

“Our hearts are completely broken with the loss of this beautiful man. He loved being part of the religious family and probably would have become a priest.”

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The White Ferns have beaten an England development side by 18 runs at Chester-le-Street to open their tour of England.

After deciding to bat first in the 50-over game, New Zealand were bowled out for 200 in the 48th over.

New Zealand slipped to 49 for four when captain Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green were both dismissed for one.

However, 44 from Jess Kerr, 30 from Flora Devonshire and 22 from Izzy Sharp got the tourists through to a respectable score.

Left arm spinner Phoebe Brett took five wickets.

In reply, New Zealand were able to give most of their squad some game time with nine bowlers used.

Suzie Bates took three wickets and Rosemary Mair and Nensi Patel two each as the development side was dismissed for 182 in the 49th over.

New Zealand and England meet in three ODI and three T20 internationals starting at the same ground on Sunday.

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When Paris Lokotui ran out in last year’s ANZ Premiership grand final, she was on the brink of everything she had worked for – and quietly preparing to walk away from it.

The 24-year-old had just reached 50 domestic matches and would go on to help the Mainland Tactix secure their first premiership title.

Most netball pundits would agree it was just a matter of time before the wing defence broke into the Silver Ferns, but Lokotui chose to pursue a new path in rugby and has quickly progressed.

“I kind of had an understanding of what I wanted to do … even probably a couple of weeks leading up to the final, just in my head, although I didn’t really convey that to other people,” Lokotui said.

The Tactix lost seven players after the grand final, including three stalwarts, who were poached by the Australian league.

“I was finding out where everyone else’s movements were, that kind of gave me a better understanding of you know this was the right decision to make for myself.”

The Tactix had been in two grand finals but a domestic title had agonisingly eluded the franchise for years.

“It was just a whole lot of relief and pride that we could do it, not only for ourselves or the netball community but for Canterbury. It was really special and I don’t think it really hit me until I kind of left that setting, looking back it was definitely one of the highlights of my sporting career.”

Lokotui’s talents were identified early – she was named the 2021 Aspiring Silver Fern and made her first Silver Ferns development squad that same year.

After rupturing her ACL in 2022, she got back on court ahead of schedule when she joined the Tactix midway through the 2023 season. Later that year she was named in the Silver Ferns squad for the first time but didn’t get a debut over that 2023/24 international window.

A year later she was dropped down to the development squad, and two weeks after last year’s ANZ Premiership grand final, just missed out on the 2025/26 Silver Ferns.

In any other era, Lokotui may have become an established Silver Fern by now, but her career coincided with once-in-a-generation player Kate Heffernan.

With Heffernan the incumbent wing defence/centre slide for the Silver Ferns it was always going to be hard to find space for Lokotui, and she also had tough competition on either side of WD.

Lokotui had the ability to cover goal defence, but that was well covered by Silver Ferns WD/GD slide Karin Burger, while rookie Parris Mason could also make that transition.

Lokotui had the potential to be developed into a formidable centre, but that was taken care of between Heffernan and Maddy Gordon.

For similar reasons, despite an impressive 2025 season, there was no room for Magic WD/C slide Georgie Edgecombe either.

Still, Lokotui could have bided her time and found herself in the Silver Ferns after the 2027 World Cup cycle.

Given she was so close to breaking into the Silver Ferns, did that make it harder to walk away when she did?

“Yes and no, I think that I had played netball for a long time at a high performance level, I was in and around that environment for a long time.

“I just think that at the time, you know I had given everything that I could to the sport and I was okay with where I left netball and proud of the kind of adversity that it took to even stay in that Silver Ferns space.

“But I guess when you’ve given everything to the sport and haven’t made it as far as you’ve wanted, it was all right and I’ve kind of just accepted the fact that that’s where my career ended.”

Lokotui played several sports when she was younger. By the time she left school she had already represented New Zealand in netball (NZ Secondary Schools), basketball (Junior Tall Ferns) and water polo (New Zealand U16).

The talented sportswoman spent a season playing in Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa in 2023 and could easily have taken that path.

Lokotui said rugby could open the door to several career pathways, including sevens, which has been on the Olympic programme since 2016.

“There are a lot more avenues that you can take for rugby, there’s sevens, if you wanted to go down the league route there’s NRLW. There’s also many competitions outside of New Zealand like in Australia, in England, Japan, so there are a lot of opportunities now for women in rugby.”

It’s not the first time promising netballers have switched to the rugby codes.

Most notably, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spent a couple of seasons in the former ANZ Championship before becoming one of rugby’s greatest female players, dominating both Sevens and 15s.

In recent years, Grace Kukutai went from ANZ Premiership netball to sevens, to Super Rugby Aupiki, and more recently playing in league’s NRLW.

Lokotui grew up around rugby. Her father is former Tongan lock Tukulua Lokotui, who went to two Rugby World Cups. Her brother Cody Lokotui was part of the Crusaders academy, and played NPC rugby for Wellington last year.

She started considering a rugby switch about two year’s ago.

“Rugby has just always been a part of my life with my Dad playing professional rugby for many years, my brother and my little sister playing it growing up. But actually leaving netball and switching to rugby was probably something I started thinking about within the last couple of years. To finally be in this position where I’m actually giving it a good crack and succeeding is really special to me.”

Lokotui won’t rule out returning to netball, but for now her focus is seeing how far she can go in rugby.

“At the moment I just really want to give rugby a good shot, whether that’s for a couple of years or 10 years, who knows.”

Her only real rugby experience until last year, was playing sevens for her college in the final two years of school with her mates.

She took her first formal step last year when she turned up to pre-season trainings with Canterbury’s wider domestic squad, and was out of her comfort zone.

“Just being in and around that environment for Canterbury FPC (Farah Palmer Cup) just trained a couple of times, just trying to get the idea of 15s.

“I think the daunting aspect was that you know I’ve never really been in a position where contact was a really big factor. But I’m the type of person who really likes to embrace challenges and this rugby community has really embraced me as well with two hands and that’s really helped me along my journey.”

Because Lokotui grew up watching so much rugby, she already had a pretty good understanding of the 15s game and the rules.

“I kind of got the gist with my brother and my Dad playing it but in terms of just trying to implement structures and the rugby-specific language that they use, that was a challenge. But I know that I’m a really fast adaptor and that’s been an aspect where I’ve tried to take it on with two hands and if I got it wrong, then I got it wrong, it’s about how I can learn from it.”

Lokotui then got her first taste of a sevens tournament format when she was named in one of four squads for the 2025 Ignite7 tournament in Tauranga at the end of last year.

Last month, Lokotui was named in the Matatū squad for the 2026 Super Rugby Aupiki season with head coach Blair Baxter describing her as an incredibly versatile athlete, with a competitive edge.

Lokotui said the rugby community had been extremely welcoming – “looking from afar before I transitioned, it was a community that you wanted to be a part of so to be in and around it now, it’s been awesome”.

Lokotui will cover both loose forward and lock for Matatū and said the improvements she had made since showing up to her first practice were huge.

“Over the past six months there’s been a whole lot of learning and just trying to make sure that the people around me can support me but not only that, just knowing how I can be a better athlete.

“It’s been a really hard six months I guess but really proud of the steps that I’ve taken and the want to be a good rugby player not only for myself but for my team-mates.”

Netball blazed a trail when it became the first professional women’s sporting league in New Zealand nearly two decades ago. But other codes have caught up with basketball, rugby, and cricket having their own semi-professional competitions now.

Lokotui said elite netball had set her up well for the Super Rugby Aupiki competition, which is coming into its fifth season.

“Just being professional at a high level, I think netball really instilled that in me quite young and to come from a sport where a lot was given to you, but a lot was demanded of you, it really prepared me for this next step to a completely new sport and that professionalism, that hard work ethic and that discipline has translated over.”

Lokotui has been getting in as much training as she can over the past few months. Matatū begin their pre-season proper this week, with Aupiki kicking off in the middle of June.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

HUALIEN, TAIWAN – Media OutReach Newswire – 6 May 2026 – The “Pacific Ocean International Festival of Rock Balancing and Arts” officially kicked off May 1st at the Qixingtan Scenic Area in Hualien. The event brings together renowned artists from Sweden, Spain, Iraq, Japan, and Turkey, collaborating with local Taiwanese creators. Through traditional rock balancing and interdisciplinary artistic concepts, the festival fosters a cross-cultural dialogue along the Pacific coastline, showcasing vibrant creative energy.

Centered on public participation, the festival features a diverse range of activities, including international art exhibitions, professional rock balancing competitions, family-friendly experiences, local markets, and hands-on workshops. Visitors are invited to engage directly with nature and create their own rock artworks. A photography contest encourages participants to capture the diverse beauty of rock stacks under varying light conditions and perspectives, while a short video competition invites creative visual storytelling.

During the preparation phase, the organizers established a strategic partnership with Scotland’s European Land Art Festival and received its official endorsement. This collaboration aims to develop Hualien into a key Asian hub for international competitions, strengthening connections with Europe and the United States.

The opening ceremony featured a unique musical performance inspired by rocks, presented by Professor Lin Tze-ying and students from Taipei National University of the Arts, alongside local Hualien students. Their performance blended the region’s distinctive natural soundscape with its rich cultural heritage.

Running through June 30, the festival transforms Qixingtan Scenic Area into a two-month outdoor art venue, inviting both domestic and international visitors to experience the enchanting intersection of art and nature between the mountains and the sea.

Hashtag: #Hualien

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

When Paris Lokotui ran out in last year’s ANZ Premiership grand final, she was on the brink of everything she had worked for – and quietly preparing to walk away from it.

The 24-year-old had just reached 50 domestic matches and would go on to help the Mainland Tactix secure their first premiership title.

Most netball pundits would agree it was just a matter of time before the wing defence broke into the Silver Ferns, but Lokotui chose to pursue a new path in rugby and has quickly progressed.

“I kind of had an understanding of what I wanted to do … even probably a couple of weeks leading up to the final, just in my head, although I didn’t really convey that to other people,” Lokotui said.

The Tactix lost seven players after the grand final, including three stalwarts, who were poached by the Australian league.

“I was finding out where everyone else’s movements were, that kind of gave me a better understanding of you know this was the right decision to make for myself.”

The Tactix had been in two grand finals but a domestic title had agonisingly eluded the franchise for years.

“It was just a whole lot of relief and pride that we could do it, not only for ourselves or the netball community but for Canterbury. It was really special and I don’t think it really hit me until I kind of left that setting, looking back it was definitely one of the highlights of my sporting career.”

Lokotui’s talents were identified early – she was named the 2021 Aspiring Silver Fern and made her first Silver Ferns development squad that same year.

After rupturing her ACL in 2022, she got back on court ahead of schedule when she joined the Tactix midway through the 2023 season. Later that year she was named in the Silver Ferns squad for the first time but didn’t get a debut over that 2023/24 international window.

A year later she was dropped down to the development squad, and two weeks after last year’s ANZ Premiership grand final, just missed out on the 2025/26 Silver Ferns.

In any other era, Lokotui may have become an established Silver Fern by now, but her career coincided with once-in-a-generation player Kate Heffernan.

With Heffernan the incumbent wing defence/centre slide for the Silver Ferns it was always going to be hard to find space for Lokotui, and she also had tough competition on either side of WD.

Lokotui had the ability to cover goal defence, but that was well covered by Silver Ferns WD/GD slide Karin Burger, while rookie Parris Mason could also make that transition.

Lokotui had the potential to be developed into a formidable centre, but that was taken care of between Heffernan and Maddy Gordon.

For similar reasons, despite an impressive 2025 season, there was no room for Magic WD/C slide Georgie Edgecombe either.

Still, Lokotui could have bided her time and found herself in the Silver Ferns after the 2027 World Cup cycle.

Given she was so close to breaking into the Silver Ferns, did that make it harder to walk away when she did?

“Yes and no, I think that I had played netball for a long time at a high performance level, I was in and around that environment for a long time.

“I just think that at the time, you know I had given everything that I could to the sport and I was okay with where I left netball and proud of the kind of adversity that it took to even stay in that Silver Ferns space.

“But I guess when you’ve given everything to the sport and haven’t made it as far as you’ve wanted, it was all right and I’ve kind of just accepted the fact that that’s where my career ended.”

Lokotui played several sports when she was younger. By the time she left school she had already represented New Zealand in netball (NZ Secondary Schools), basketball (Junior Tall Ferns) and water polo (New Zealand U16).

The talented sportswoman spent a season playing in Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa in 2023 and could easily have taken that path.

Lokotui said rugby could open the door to several career pathways, including sevens, which has been on the Olympic programme since 2016.

“There are a lot more avenues that you can take for rugby, there’s sevens, if you wanted to go down the league route there’s NRLW. There’s also many competitions outside of New Zealand like in Australia, in England, Japan, so there are a lot of opportunities now for women in rugby.”

It’s not the first time promising netballers have switched to the rugby codes.

Most notably, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spent a couple of seasons in the former ANZ Championship before becoming one of rugby’s greatest female players, dominating both Sevens and 15s.

In recent years, Grace Kukutai went from ANZ Premiership netball to sevens, to Super Rugby Aupiki, and more recently playing in league’s NRLW.

Lokotui grew up around rugby. Her father is former Tongan lock Tukulua Lokotui, who went to two Rugby World Cups. Her brother Cody Lokotui was part of the Crusaders academy, and played NPC rugby for Wellington last year.

She started considering a rugby switch about two year’s ago.

“Rugby has just always been a part of my life with my Dad playing professional rugby for many years, my brother and my little sister playing it growing up. But actually leaving netball and switching to rugby was probably something I started thinking about within the last couple of years. To finally be in this position where I’m actually giving it a good crack and succeeding is really special to me.”

Lokotui won’t rule out returning to netball, but for now her focus is seeing how far she can go in rugby.

“At the moment I just really want to give rugby a good shot, whether that’s for a couple of years or 10 years, who knows.”

Her only real rugby experience until last year, was playing sevens for her college in the final two years of school with her mates.

She took her first formal step last year when she turned up to pre-season trainings with Canterbury’s wider domestic squad, and was out of her comfort zone.

“Just being in and around that environment for Canterbury FPC (Farah Palmer Cup) just trained a couple of times, just trying to get the idea of 15s.

“I think the daunting aspect was that you know I’ve never really been in a position where contact was a really big factor. But I’m the type of person who really likes to embrace challenges and this rugby community has really embraced me as well with two hands and that’s really helped me along my journey.”

Because Lokotui grew up watching so much rugby, she already had a pretty good understanding of the 15s game and the rules.

“I kind of got the gist with my brother and my Dad playing it but in terms of just trying to implement structures and the rugby-specific language that they use, that was a challenge. But I know that I’m a really fast adaptor and that’s been an aspect where I’ve tried to take it on with two hands and if I got it wrong, then I got it wrong, it’s about how I can learn from it.”

Lokotui then got her first taste of a sevens tournament format when she was named in one of four squads for the 2025 Ignite7 tournament in Tauranga at the end of last year.

Last month, Lokotui was named in the Matatū squad for the 2026 Super Rugby Aupiki season with head coach Blair Baxter describing her as an incredibly versatile athlete, with a competitive edge.

Lokotui said the rugby community had been extremely welcoming – “looking from afar before I transitioned, it was a community that you wanted to be a part of so to be in and around it now, it’s been awesome”.

Lokotui will cover both loose forward and lock for Matatū and said the improvements she had made since showing up to her first practice were huge.

“Over the past six months there’s been a whole lot of learning and just trying to make sure that the people around me can support me but not only that, just knowing how I can be a better athlete.

“It’s been a really hard six months I guess but really proud of the steps that I’ve taken and the want to be a good rugby player not only for myself but for my team-mates.”

Netball blazed a trail when it became the first professional women’s sporting league in New Zealand nearly two decades ago. But other codes have caught up with basketball, rugby, and cricket having their own semi-professional competitions now.

Lokotui said elite netball had set her up well for the Super Rugby Aupiki competition, which is coming into its fifth season.

“Just being professional at a high level, I think netball really instilled that in me quite young and to come from a sport where a lot was given to you, but a lot was demanded of you, it really prepared me for this next step to a completely new sport and that professionalism, that hard work ethic and that discipline has translated over.”

Lokotui has been getting in as much training as she can over the past few months. Matatū begin their pre-season proper this week, with Aupiki kicking off in the middle of June.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand