Games for NZ Maori Nadal again No 1 as French Open looms yet to be signed off
AUCKLAND: New Zealand Rugby has not yet signed any agreements for the Maori All Blacks to play matches in South America this year.
South American media had reported the New Zealand side would be travelling to the continent to play matches against Brazil and Chile in November.
However, The Zealand Herald can confirm the team’s end of year fixtures are still to be signed off.
The Maori All Blacks are scheduled to play against the United States at Chicago’s Soldier Field on November 3, and go on to face Canada later on in the trip.
However, with the Canadian side being part of a fourteam Rugby World Cup qualification playoff in November, New Zealand Rugby is looking into other options for end of year fixtures.
Among those options are matches against Brazil and Chile, but these are yet to be finalised.
South America Rugby president Sebastian Pineyrua seemed to confirm the fixtures. However, New Zealand Rugby insists this confirmation is premature.
The only confirmed fixture on the team’s schedule so far this year is the clash against the Eagles, which would be part of a tripleheader that would also include the Black Ferns.
The NFL ground will also host the two New Zealand sides against the men’s and women’s teams from the United States, as well as a test between Ireland and Italy.
This will be the fourth time the American ground has hosted international rugby fixtures. In 2014, it was the site of the All Blacks’ 746 win over the Eagles. A year later, the Eagles played Australia there, before it hosted Ireland’s first win over the All Blacks in 2016.
Last year, the Maori All Blacks played three matches. They fell to a 3210 loss against the British and Irish Lions in June,then toppled Canada 519 in Vancouver and fell to the French Barbarians 1915 in Bordeaux in an endofyear tour. — NZME ROME: Rafa Nadal returned to the top of the world rankings yesterday after winning his eighth Italian Open title yesterday to confirm once more his status as the king of the clay court.
His 61, 16, 63 victory over German Alexander Zverev on the Rome dirt ensured the 31yearold would leapfrog Roger Federer and become world No 1 for a sixth time ahead of the French Open.
If the rankings were based solely on claycourt play, however, the Spaniard would rarely have left the pinnacle in the 13 years since he won the first of his 10 Roland Garros crowns.
With Federer skipping the claycourt season and top seeding long assured, Nadal will head to Paris next week a strong favourite to get his hands on the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a recordextending 11th time.
‘‘Everything will be different in Paris,’’ Nadal said somewhat disingenuously after his victory at the Foro Italico.
‘‘Of course a win like this helps but in Paris the conditions will be different in every respect. Today is the time to enjoy this victory, not for thinking about Roland Garros.’’
Despite losing his first service game, Nadal removed any doubts over his fitness and form in the opening set.
‘‘I played one of the best sets that I played on clay this year. First set was fantastic, in my opinion, in terms of everything,’’ he added.
‘‘Feeling, good shots, tactically — everything was, in my opinion great in the first set, no. Returning great. All the things that I wanted to do happened. So, it was a great set.’’
Zverev, who had won backtoback claycourt titles over the previous two weeks in Munich and Madrid, hit back to win the second set but a rain delay disrupted his rhythm and Nadal reeled off the last five games to seal his 78th career title.
The 21yearold German will be second seed at Roland Garros.
‘‘I was not far away from beating Rafa on a clay court in a Masters final, so I guess I can take that to Paris.’’ — Reuters