Latest news with #ShizuokaBlueRevs

RNZ News
02-07-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Pasifika Sipoti in brief for 2 July
Semi Radradra of Fiji is tackled by Sam Costelow of Wales during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Wales and Fiji at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux on September 10, 2023 in Bordeaux, France. Photo: Adam Pretty - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images Fijian midfielder Semi Radradra is off to Japan after finishing up his two-year rugby deal with Lyon in the French Top 14. Radradra has played union, league and sevens - representing Australia in league and playing for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL, as well as playing for Fiji at two Rugby World Cups and taking a sevens gold medal from the Tokyo Games. Planet Rugby reported he has signed with the Shizuoka Blue Revs in Japan's League One. Samoa's national under-21 netball team includes the best of their players in New Zealand, Australia and Samoa. The Samoa Observer reported the team, preparing for the upcoming Netball World Youth Cup 2025 in Gibraltar, has been selected, following a series of trials and fitness assessments. Head coach Paula Stuart said the journey to the World Youth Cup began two years ago, which included winning the regional qualifiers in the Cook Islands. She said the trials were critical in identifying the next wave of talent to carry Samoa netball through. The Republic of Fiji Military Forces rugby team will take on the British Army Rugby team in a curtain-raiser, ahead of the test match between Fiji and Scotland in Suva on 12 July. The British Army is bringing a 38-member squad on its Southern Hemisphere tour, which includes fixtures in New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia. The team consists of 26 players and 12 coaching and management staff, including eight Fijian players and two Fijian staff members. Colonel Graham Taylor, the Chief of Staff for the UK Defence Academy, said this match represents everything that is good about military rugby. Fiji dominated the Pacific Rim Deaf Rugby Tournament at Surfer's Paradise in Australia. FBC reported the men's team defeated Australia 40-10 in the final. The women's team scored three wins in their final day matches, beating Australia 38-7, blanking Japan 40-0, and overpowering Samoa 44-5. Photo: runitstraight24 A veteran sports commentator has slammed the "run it straight" phenomenon, calling it "dreadful". Fauano Ken Laban, who recently announced his bid to run for mayor of Lower Hutt in Aotearoa, has expressed his concerns over the organisation known as 'Run It'. Online footage from their recent event in Dubai shows former rugby league player Kevin Proctor falling to the ground and having what appears to be a seizure. In an Instagram post later, Proctor said he was "all good" and was heading home. "We all know what we sign up for getting in there. It's a contact sport and unfortunately I put my head in the wrong place and came out second best. Ya win some ya lose some, but no hard feelings." Fauano told Pacific Waves he would ban anyone from trying to host 'run it straight' events in Lower Hutt if he becomes mayor.


The Advertiser
18-05-2025
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Steelers storm their way into Japan Rugby semi-finals
The Kobe Steelers, coached by former Wallabies mentor Dave Rennie, are through to the semi-finals in Japan Rugby League One after upsetting Aussie Sam Greene's in-form Shizuoka Blue Revs. On a damp Saturday afternoon in Osaka, former Chiefs flyhalf Bryn Gatland starred for Kobe, creating two of his side's four tries in the 35-20 quarter-final victory. This included the game's defining score in the 73rd minute when a perfectly placed cross-kick found winger Inoke Burua, who steamrolled over luckless Shizuoka fullback Futo Yamaguchi, who is 26kg lighter than the Kobe man, to push the Steelers ahead 29-20. Two late penalty goals from the Kobe flyhalf completed the victory, allowing the New Zealander to finish the afternoon with 13 points. Former Dolphins centre Valynce Te Whare had earlier scored the opening try for the Blue Revs off a cleverly worked midfield move, but the ex-NRL cult figure's eighth try of the season was followed nine minutes later by his concession of a penalty try. The 24-year-old also received a yellow card from the high-tackle incident after mistiming an attempt to prevent Kobe winger Kazuma Ueda from scoring in the corner. Kobe face defending champions Brave Lupus Tokyo in Saturday's opening semi-final. Rennie is one of two ex-Australian coaches who will feature in the second round of the playoffs, with the Robbie Deans-coached Saitama Wild Knights to meet Bernard Foley's Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay on Sunday, after the latter beat Tokyo Sungoliath 20-15 in a nervous finish. Former All Black skipper Sam Cane and Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe both scored tries for Sungoliath on Sunday, but they were unable to overcome a high error rate alongside the concession of a 14-9 penalty count. The accuracy of Foley off the goalkicking tee also proved pivotal, with the Wallaby successful with all three of his attempts, while Kolbe missed three out of five for Sungoliath. The Kobe Steelers, coached by former Wallabies mentor Dave Rennie, are through to the semi-finals in Japan Rugby League One after upsetting Aussie Sam Greene's in-form Shizuoka Blue Revs. On a damp Saturday afternoon in Osaka, former Chiefs flyhalf Bryn Gatland starred for Kobe, creating two of his side's four tries in the 35-20 quarter-final victory. This included the game's defining score in the 73rd minute when a perfectly placed cross-kick found winger Inoke Burua, who steamrolled over luckless Shizuoka fullback Futo Yamaguchi, who is 26kg lighter than the Kobe man, to push the Steelers ahead 29-20. Two late penalty goals from the Kobe flyhalf completed the victory, allowing the New Zealander to finish the afternoon with 13 points. Former Dolphins centre Valynce Te Whare had earlier scored the opening try for the Blue Revs off a cleverly worked midfield move, but the ex-NRL cult figure's eighth try of the season was followed nine minutes later by his concession of a penalty try. The 24-year-old also received a yellow card from the high-tackle incident after mistiming an attempt to prevent Kobe winger Kazuma Ueda from scoring in the corner. Kobe face defending champions Brave Lupus Tokyo in Saturday's opening semi-final. Rennie is one of two ex-Australian coaches who will feature in the second round of the playoffs, with the Robbie Deans-coached Saitama Wild Knights to meet Bernard Foley's Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay on Sunday, after the latter beat Tokyo Sungoliath 20-15 in a nervous finish. Former All Black skipper Sam Cane and Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe both scored tries for Sungoliath on Sunday, but they were unable to overcome a high error rate alongside the concession of a 14-9 penalty count. The accuracy of Foley off the goalkicking tee also proved pivotal, with the Wallaby successful with all three of his attempts, while Kolbe missed three out of five for Sungoliath. The Kobe Steelers, coached by former Wallabies mentor Dave Rennie, are through to the semi-finals in Japan Rugby League One after upsetting Aussie Sam Greene's in-form Shizuoka Blue Revs. On a damp Saturday afternoon in Osaka, former Chiefs flyhalf Bryn Gatland starred for Kobe, creating two of his side's four tries in the 35-20 quarter-final victory. This included the game's defining score in the 73rd minute when a perfectly placed cross-kick found winger Inoke Burua, who steamrolled over luckless Shizuoka fullback Futo Yamaguchi, who is 26kg lighter than the Kobe man, to push the Steelers ahead 29-20. Two late penalty goals from the Kobe flyhalf completed the victory, allowing the New Zealander to finish the afternoon with 13 points. Former Dolphins centre Valynce Te Whare had earlier scored the opening try for the Blue Revs off a cleverly worked midfield move, but the ex-NRL cult figure's eighth try of the season was followed nine minutes later by his concession of a penalty try. The 24-year-old also received a yellow card from the high-tackle incident after mistiming an attempt to prevent Kobe winger Kazuma Ueda from scoring in the corner. Kobe face defending champions Brave Lupus Tokyo in Saturday's opening semi-final. Rennie is one of two ex-Australian coaches who will feature in the second round of the playoffs, with the Robbie Deans-coached Saitama Wild Knights to meet Bernard Foley's Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay on Sunday, after the latter beat Tokyo Sungoliath 20-15 in a nervous finish. Former All Black skipper Sam Cane and Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe both scored tries for Sungoliath on Sunday, but they were unable to overcome a high error rate alongside the concession of a 14-9 penalty count. The accuracy of Foley off the goalkicking tee also proved pivotal, with the Wallaby successful with all three of his attempts, while Kolbe missed three out of five for Sungoliath.