Ioane a finalist
The All Blacks’ find of the year looks odds-on to scoop a major global award to go with his newfound status as the premier wing in New Zealand rugby. Auckland sensation Rieko Ioane has been nominated as one of three finalists for World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year award, alongside Argentina’s Emiliano Boffelli and France’s Damian Penaud. Ioane’s body of work already in 2017 must make him a short-priced favourite to land the gong when it is dished out at the annual gala evening in Monte Carlo on November 26. Ioane will seek to become the second Kiwi winner of the breakthrough award since it was introduced in 2015. New Zealand’s leading women’s squash player Joelle King has been beaten in straight sets in the the final of the US$50,000 Carol Weymuller Open in New York. Waikato professional King was overpowered yesterday by world No 1 and tournament top seed Nour El Sherbini, of Egypt, 11-7 11-5 11-3 in 33 minutes. El Sherbini dominated all facets of the game to take the title. Despite losing the final, the results this season stack up extremely well for King. Ex-All Blacks Victor Vito and Jason Eaton have been named in the European Champions Cup team of the round. The former Hurricanes forwards joined exCrusaders and Hawke’s Bay wing Telusa Veainu in the all-star selection. Vito and Eaton helped their French club, La Rochelle, to an impressive 41-17 home win over Munster on Monday. You can’t put a price on love. Wallabies fullback Israel Folau has rejected a short-term contract, understood to be worth A$500,000 (NZ$560,000), to play in Japan. Instead, he has opted to spend some time with his fiancee, Silver Ferns star Maria Tutaia. Folau, who earns more than A$1 million (NZ$1.1m) annually on his ARU contract, was set to join the Panasonic Wild Knights team under former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans as part of a clause in his deal, according to the Daily Telegraph. ‘‘We’re both just having time off, we haven’t figured out a wedding date yet, but it’s pretty hard at the moment because of our seasons," Folau told the Daily Telegraph. ‘‘We’re not in a rush to get things done, we’re just really trying to enjoy our time together because we don’t get a lot of that together.’’ Newcastle Jets striker Ronald Vargas has undergone surgery in Brisbane on the horror injury he suffered in Sunday’s A-League win over the Roar. The Venezuelan striker tussled with Brisbane’s Matt McKay in the 58th minute and suffered a badly broken and dislocated left ankle that left players and coaches shaken. The Jets have pledged their full support for the 30-yearold as he begins a long recovery that will almost certainly rule him out for the entire A-League campaign. ‘‘The report from the surgeon has been positive at this stage, but with such a significant injury there are a lot of unknowns,’’ Jets coach Ernie Merrick said. West Indies are in control of the first cricket test against Zimbabwe after reaching 369-8 in their second innings for a lead of
429 runs at stumps on day three. Opener Kraigg Brathwaite made
86 and Roston Chase was 91 not out, putting West Indies in position to take the lead in the two-match series. Zimbabwe bowled the West Indians out for
219 in the first innings on a spinfriendly pitch at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The hosts then capitulated in their reply, also struggling on the turning surface to be all out for 159. The West Indies batsmen adjusted better in their second innings, with Brathwaite leading from the front and Chase in sight of a fourth test century. Chase just needs the last two West Indies batsmen to stick around long enough for him to reach three figures after Devendra Bishoo’s dismissal for a handy 44 down the order.