Black Ferns, Silver Ferns, Breakers and ABs on the boil
Chris Rattue ranks the top sporting events to watch over the next few days
6 Black Ferns v Wallaroos Today, 4.35pm (Sky/Sky Open)
Another chapter in the ritual slaughter, and a chance to watch the world rugby champs put their drills into practice.
We are in times where the reality of keeping women’s sport in the forefront struggles to match the noble aims.
A lopsided prospect like this involving players who haven’t had the chance to become household names is a case in point.
You can already sense the drop-off in interest after a reasonably successful World Cup in this country. With little wonder.
There’s been the usual blah, blah, blah about Australia learning a lot from their opening 50-0 defeat, and how they are training really hard.
Yawn.
5 Breakers v Taipans Today, 8.30pm (Sky)
The Breakers basketballers are back after their heroics last season, which saw them turn a dud of a club into grand finalists.
As for this year: Who would know?
The star imports have all departed, owner Matt Walsh has gone back to the States, and even the naming rights sponsor has changed.
Helping the team identity, the redoubtable Finn “Diesel” Delany is back from Germany.
And in coach Mody Maor we must trust again.
There’s hype around someone named Zylan Cheatham, an American who couldn’t quite crack the NBA and who is reportedly an energetic excitement machine.
We shall see, but fair to say Maor knows what he’s doing when it comes to imports, judging by his first season in charge.
4 Silver Ferns v England Today, 7pm (Sky/Sky Open)
There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
The Taini Jamison Trophy netball series has gone from an alleged nonevent to a decent news item thanks to the Silver Ferns’ first-test capitulation against a supposedly weak England team.
To some degree, New Zealand often underperformed at the international level, playing a distant second fiddle to Australia for a long time when netball was a two-horse race.
But that doesn’t quite explain how the recent world champions have turned into such chumps.
They crushed England in the second game but another comprehensive victory in this third and final encounter won’t heal all the wounds.
3 NRL grand final, Penrith v Brisbane Tomorrow, 9.30pm (Sky)
A little hollow, with the great Warriors run coming to an abrupt end last week.
Penrith and Brisbane are — by some margin — the best sides in the NRL this year. It would have been an injustice for either to miss out on the Sydney showpiece.
Unusually for an NRL team these days, the Broncos have no Kiwi test players, although Jordan Riki will soon change that.
Kiwi props Moses Leota and James Fisher-Harris lead the charge for the Panthers, who are chasing a three-peat.
Penrith are making a fourth consecutive grand final appearance, a fantastic feat on its own in the salary cap era.
2 All Blacks v Italy Today, 8am (Sky)
A dud weekend at the World Cup, not helped by Vaea Fifita’s suspension taking him out of Tonga’s match against the Springboks on Monday morning (8am).
The All Blacks will be too good for Italy this morning in Lyon from 8 o’clock. Way too good. And there may even be a bonus point or two.
Enough said.
1 Ryder Cup From yesterday 6.30pm (Sky)
The three-day golf brawl provides some of the best sporting action on the planet these days.
Europe were smashed in America two years ago but they have not lost at home for 30 years.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland will head the European effort in Rome but the team may struggle without key veterans such as Sergio Garcia from the LIV tour.
They will face a high-quality American dozen that includes world No 1 Scottie Scheffler.
The US of A deserve to be slight favourites, unless their team bonding comes unglued by including divisive Brooks Koepka from the rich-rebel LIV tour.
Koepka, one of captain Zach Johnson’s picks, is too good and has too many major victories to leave out.
Koepka will be the only one of 15 Ryder Cup players on the LIV tour to figure in this year’s contest.
The Marco Simone course was specifically remodelled for the Ryder Cup and this includes an emphasis on the stadium experience.
Up to 50,000 spectators are expected each day, and at the Ryder Cup, the contest can unleash fans’ inner mongrel.
But wait, there’s more.
We’ll not only see gripping golf action but may also get a glimpse of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
As backdrops go, that’s up there.