Zinzan’s son in England system

Zinzan Brooke’s eldest son Lucas has signed a two-year deal with London Irish and any hopes of international play appear to lie with England. Brooke has lived in England since ending his incredible All Blacks career in 1997 and his six children have been raised there. Lucas, 18, will be part of the London Irish academy, signing with several team-mates from the successful first XV at Wellington College in Berkshire. ‘‘Lucas was born here in England and doesn’t know New Zealand at all,’’ Brooke told Rugby Pass as the deal with the English Premiership club was confirmed. ‘‘My grand-parents were English and my wife’s parents are English and a lot of people have asked me what would I do? This is home and if the kids get the opportunity to play for England that is their choice.

Team New Zealand are eager to get their America’s Cup boat back on the water after Te Aihe finally returned to their Auckland base yesterday. The 75-foot foiling monohull has been on an ill-fated return trip to Europe after the America’s Cup world series regattas in Italy and England were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Team New Zealand have been using their small-scaled test boat to continue their development work but Te Aihe has unexplored secrets on it. Several developments were done to the first generation build that had been intended to be trialled in Sardinia. That will now unfold on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour as quickly as possible.