
New Zealand Rugby announce new sponsorship deal with Gallagher Insurance
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has announced a new multi-year sponsorship deal with American company Gallagher Insurance.
The deal will see the Gallagher Insurance logo will appear on both the training and match-day shorts of the All Blacks and all international NZ teams.
The agreement was revealed at an event at the All Blacks Experience in Auckland.
Gallagher's agreement with NZR comes hot on the heels of the exit of previous sponsor Ineos - with whom a settlement was reached two months ago following the termination of their multi-million-a-year deal.
The Ineos logo appeared on the training shirt before the petrochemical giant's exit, with Toyota taking over the rights from April. The Japanese manufacturer has now been joined by Gallagher in making up the gap left by Ineos.
'This is a partnership that reflects the scale, ambition and passion for rugby both our organisations have,' said Mark Robinson, CEO of New Zealand Rugby. 'We couldn't be more excited to align with Gallagher Insurance, who already have deep expertise in elite sport, along with a key business focus in New Zealand and globally.
"This partnership helps solidify where we're heading, not just with our teams on field, but as a sporting brand off the field too.'
Furthermore, Gallagher have also signed All Black and two-time World Rugby Player of the Year Beauden Barrett as one of their global ambassadors. Barrett's role as an ambassador will see him supporting Gallagher's community commitments in New Zealand and around the world.
The Illinois company, who will also become the official insurance broker of NZR, will sponsor NZ referees' jerseys across domestic competitions from 2026.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Our village was made famous by huge TV show – now busloads of brash tourists block our driveways… nowhere's off-limits
RESIDENTS of a town made famous by a hit TV show have hit out at brazen tourists who peer through their windows and block their driveways. 5 Locals have been subjected to tourists peering in their windows Credit: Twitter - @markchristie 5 St Mary's church features heavily in the show Credit: David Hartley Locals have said the town, which features in Downton Abbey, has become a magnet for tourism and now attracts thousands of Some residents told the Telegraph that the tourism has made them a small fortune and helped to improve local amenities. Others have slammed the tourists, demanding their quant village be freed of "brash American accents." Residents of Bampton have told horror stories of their encounters with tourists. Read more in TV Locals have been subjected to selfie-sticks appearing at bedroom windows, Guided tours of the village are offered to fans of the hit show with some charging as much as £500. Busloads of fans are taken around the small village to visit filming locations made famous by the Local shop owners have claimed at one point they were making £1,000 a day from the tourists. Most read in News TV The thousands of pounds raised from visiting TV fans has been used to fund renovation works to buildings. Local services have also been improved using the massive wealth brought into the community. Despite all this locals still hit out saying they've had enough of nosey tourists One resident told "Let me tell you – Bampton was a beautiful, expensive place to live long beforehand." 'I live on the main square and they often stand in my driveway. They just go everywhere.' The 5 Highclere castle, the main filming location, is more than forty miles away from Bampton Credit: Getty 5 Tourists pay £500 for guided tours of the towns filming locations Credit: SWNS 5 Bus loads of tourists are brought into the small town Credit: SWNS Even though it has been a decade since the last episode of the original series was aired tourists still flock to Bampton. Locations including The main set for the historical drama, Highclere Castle, is forty miles away. The Residents claim that visitors spend most of their time and money in a few select locations, bringing no benefit to the rest of the town. A resident told The Telegraph: "They contribute to the library, but apart from that they don't have enough time. 'We are better off with individual travellers, with families in cars – not the buses. There's so much more to Bampton than The Community Hub receives shedloads of support but according to locals the other shops and businesses are left to fend for themselves.


Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Author interview: Fighting past the pain barrier to deliver a riveting mystery
I was keen to talk to Michelle McDonagh about her third novel — and not just because it's a great read. I've been thinking about her recently, because her first crime drama, published in 2020, centred on a murder suicide taking place on a farm — and the deaths occurred in the farm's slurry tank. With the tragic case of Mike Gaine currently in the news, Michelle is getting goosebumps. 'I wrote that after I'd heard of the tragic case of the Spence family in the North,' she tells me over Zoom. 'That was in 2012, where a father and two sons went into the tank after a dog, and the sister was the only one who survived. 'I remember being so horrified by it that it always stuck in my head.' Her first two novels were set in Galway, the county Michelle comes from, but she's switched to Co Cork for this third novel, and centres the story in Blarney — where she's lived for the past 18 years. But there's a Boston link too — and that city was Michelle's starting point. I've always wanted Boston to come into a book because I went there on a leave of absence. 'I worked for The Irish Voice which had just opened an office there,' she says, 'but came back after a few months because I'd fallen in love with a crazy Galway man.' She's speaking of her husband, Greg: 'I had to go halfway round the world to meet him, but it was a brilliant summer.' The book starts when an American tourist is found dead in Blarney. She's identified as Jessie De Marco, who travelled from Boston looking for the father she's never known. She's been searching via social media, and is found on the grounds of Blarney Castle. 'Rock close, where its set — and the Wishing Steps are so atmospheric,' says Michelle. 'The rocks go back to Druid times — and are 2,000 or 3,000 years old. 'It even smells ancient, and there's a rock shaped like a witch's profile. It's an incredible place. 'I was standing at the steps one day, and I thought, the American tourist could be found at the bottom of the steps.' A crime technician told me that a fall is the hardest murder to prove. 'I didn't know what had happened at the outset, or until I had my plot.' Hearing of the death, Jessie's estranged mum Dani arrives to identify her daughter's body. She recognises a respected local, Tadgh, claiming he's the father Jessie came to find. Convinced someone killed Jessie, she starts a media-fuelled frenzy of an investigation, which sees everyone taking sides. As the plot weaves and twists, it appears that there are many people who might conceivably have caused the girl's death — certainly they have something to hide. The plot covers many issues: Grooming; childhood trauma; good and bad mothers; how far would you go to protect your child? Which was the most important to Michelle? 'It's in the title, Some of This is True,' says Michelle. 'It's about who is telling the truth here and what is the truth? 'Your memory can change your perception of what actually did happen; did that person mean what they said? Dani and Tadgh have different versions of events, but they both start to question their versions. Could Tadgh have done something that Dani misconstrues?' Switching from journalism to being an author A former journalist with the Connacht Tribune, then The Irish Times, Michelle started writing her debut during a Faber course she took in lockdown. How did she find the switch from journalism to author? 'Writing a novel is totally different,' she says. 'Before I sent my first book out, I got a UK editor to look at it, and she said: 'When you're writing, leave your journalist outside the room, and when you're editing, let the journalist come back.' 'When you're writing a news piece, you want to get as much information and facts into it as you can, and I was going down all these rabbit holes, and dumping all the information in. 'She said:'No! People don't want to read all that stuff. They want to know what happens next.'' Although Michelle plots quite thoroughly and has photos of her setting pinned around her office walls as she types — she doesn't stick rigidly to it. 'The plot changes along the way, and changes further when I get my editorial notes,' she says. 'Pacing is always an issue. I'm too slow at the beginning and put everything into the end. 'It's a matter of moving things around and bringing some things up to the front. 'I usually cry for a week when I get the notes, and think, I can never do this! But when you start, it is never as bad.' For the record, Some of This is True is perfectly paced. I, literally, could not put the book down. I loved the complete picture of a contemporary small town that Michelle presents; we see the hero-worship afforded to GAA coaches and stars; we're shown right-wing protestors and social media trolling. It's a heady mix. Michelle says she's nervous about this book, and not just because it's the first she's set outside Galway. She's suffered from chronic pain for the past six years, and recently it's been particularly severe. I was in so much pain writing this book, that I missed my deadline and had to ask for an extension. 'That's the last thing you want, as a journalist,' she says. 'I've seen nearly 20 consultants across a range of specialities. 'I've had numerous surgeries and bits removed, and nobody has been able to find a cause for the pain. It's constant. Painkillers don't work. I can't sleep. 'I'm so drained that I can't stand, and sitting is agony. My GP said all he could suggest was CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy], and that I learn to live with it.' Recently, Michelle met a brilliant physiotherapist, who, diagnosing 'The Hidden Prankster' — a problem with a deep-seated muscle — believes he can help her regain equilibrium. He has started working with her, and she feels a great sense of hope. As well as this, Michelle suffers from anxiety — a condition she passes on to a character in each of her books. How does she gain a semblance of calm? 'It's simple things,' she says. 'It's reading. It's being around my family [Michelle has three children, Lucy, Jake, and Kiana]. 'It's being around my dog, Brody, and my daughters have a pony stabled on a nearby farm. Sitting there, surrounded by nature is sustaining. Female friends are massive, and my sister is my best friend. 'I do a podcast, Natter, with Kate Durant. She energises me. She's the glass half full, and I never got the glass in the first place.' Michelle McDonagh hosts the 'Natter' podcast with Kate Durrant: 'She energises me. She's the glass half full, and I never got the glass in the first place.' Three books in, is being a published author all Michelle believed it would be? 'When you dream about something for so long, you think, when you've got it, you will be a different person,' she says. 'You'll never have anxiety or low mood, but you're the same person. My dream was to go into a bookshop and see my book on the shelf. 'I can do that now. My name is there, but its surreal. It doesn't even feel like it's me.' The best part, she says, is meeting other authors: 'And particularly crime writers. We have a WhatsApp group, and from the beginning, they've been so welcoming. 'And it's not just crime writers. I've grown up reading people like Patricia Scanlan and Sheila O'Flanagan, and amazing writers like that have reached out the hand, and said: 'Come on in. Join our group.''


The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Adam Azim out to prove he is ready to fight American star Devin Haney after accepting bout on ONE WEEKS' notice
ADAM AZIM is ready to prove he is ready for the likes of Devin Haney - after accepting a super short-notice fight. Azim faces Mexico's Eliot Chavez this Saturday in Barnsley after having just a week to prepare for the bout. Advertisement 3 Adam Azim is ready to prove he is ready for the likes of Devin Haney Credit: Richard Pelham / The Sun 3 Azim's next opponent Eliot Chavez Credit: Facebook But the Azim, 22, told "He is a top-level fighter but I don't think he's the same fighter that he was before. "If he's running on the backfoot, throwing one jab every two rounds, why not?" Advertisement Haney, 26, was dropped three times by Ryan Garcia, also 26, in April 2026 in what looked to be his first defeat. But the result was overturned when Haney had his undefeated record restored and returned with Garcia - who accepted a one-year ban but blamed the positive test on a tainted supplement - also fought on the same night. Advertisement Most read in Boxing CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS But he was Azim is targeting the top names at the 140lb division Haney used to rule as WBC champion - and slammed the American's safety-first style. Three-weight world champion Vasily Lomachenko retires after more than 400 FIGHTS in lengthy video He said: "For me I can fight front foot and back foot. Advertisement "Haney, I think he's got enough power just to keep someone off, but I don't think he has that one-punch power. "But I think if I was going to fight him I think I'd beat him with speed." 3 Former WBC world champion Devin Haney Credit: X / Realdevinhaney