May 29 - South Africa staged a superb comeback to beat Australia 36-35 and win the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens at Murrayfield.

finished second overall on the HSBC Sevens World series standings with 140 points, 16 behind champions New

soil, they could only manage six in the final round of the season.A 26-12 Cup quarter-final loss to New

Zealand knocked them out of the competition and then they were then beaten 34-19 in the Plate semi-final

The New Zealanders dominated the series, finishing on 166 points, 26 clear of second-placed South Africa

By Mike RowbottomMay 29 - Britain dominated proceedings at the opening Samsung World Cup rowing event in Munich, with five crews, including the late-notice pairing of Katherine Grainger and Mel Wilson (pictured) in the women's double sculls, winning gold.

Hodge's win in the men's pairs was widely expected given the absence of the World Championship winning New

Zealand pairing of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray."

It's good to win but we would have raced and prepared differently if New Zealand had been here," said

We have a new crew with a new dynamic, that is refreshing," said Gregory."

Britain has an outstanding sporting distinction looming on the horizon – that of hosting the Commonwealth Games immediately after an Olympics.And all those involved in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are proceeding in the expectation that it will benefit from the huge surge of energy and interest the London 2012 Games engenders.It is not quite a unique opportunity - one other nation experienced this particular sporting double when Canada staged the 1978 Commonwealths - the first to bear the current name of "Commonwealth Games"- in Edmonton two years after the Montreal Olympics.

with care to ensure there that the African nations which had boycotted the 1976 Olympics because of a New

Zealand rugby tour to apartheid South Africa were not provoked once again.Glasgow 2014, thankfully,

By Tom Degun in ManchesterMay 28-  Britain's double Paralympic gold medallist Ellie Simmonds (pictured) delighted a packed crowd at the Manchester Aquatics Centre as she stormed to victory in the SM6 200 metres individual medley just outside her own world record as the swimming event bought the BT Paralympic World Cup to a close.

busy afternoon as they then took on a strong field in the SB9 100m breaststroke.The race was won by New

of the only 50m swimming pool in the whole of Christchurch in the recent devastating earthquake in New

Zealand and she has had to prepare for this meet in a 25m pool.Henshaw and Johnson took the top two

By Tom Degun in ManchesterMay 27 - South African Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was unsurprisingly the main attraction with a devastating double gold medal winning performance as athletics finally took centre stage at the BT Paralympic World Cup here at a windy Manchester Regional Arena.

perform in front of a home crowd with family and friends, especially as they could not all be there in New

Zealand in January when I won the World Championship."

My aim is to break new records and this is a great stepping stone."

May 27 - Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) has appointed Jason Healy (pictured) as its new performance analyst

Through his role at NZASNI (New Zealand Academy of Sport North Institute), Jason has been working as

Malcolm Humm, the PNZ performance director backed Healy to make a difference to the chances of New Zealand's

By Tom DegunMay 26 - Commonwealth Games Associations from Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and

Jake Wilkins, New Zealand's team services drector said: "I was hugely impressed with Glasgow 2014's desire

By David GoldMay 23 - The 2011 Rugby World Cup has reached the figure of one million "likes on its official facebook page, which makes it the largest sports community in Australasia.

Through social media, we have been able to connect with a new audience for the tournament, an audience

the largest single nationality group.Another 11 per cent are from France and another 11 per cent from New

Zealand, with 55 per cent under the age of 25.Shane Harmon, general manager of marketing and communications

at Rugby New Zealand 2011, said: "One of the features of Rugby World Cup is the good natured banter

May 22 - South Africa beat Fiji 24-14 in the final of the Emirates Airlines London Sevens today as New

Zealand celebrated winning a ninth International Rugby Board (IRB) HSBC Sevens World Series title before

came from 14-0 down to see off Fiji to win the London trophy for the first time since 2005.Earlier New

third in the standings with 116 points, behind England on 121 and ahead of Samoa on 112 and Fiji 110.New

Zealand may have an unbeatable lead there will now be a four-way battle to finish series runners-up

behind early on, they ran in four tries, two of them scored by Bernardo Botha.Fiji had earlier thrashed New

Zealand 42-12 in the last four.New Zealand though had done enough by then to secure the title, Tomasi

executive of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) following the debacle surrounding the appointment of a new

role so that it did not include any role with the senior England team preparing for the World Cup in New

Zealand later this year only to then change the specifications again, causing confusion as to what the

England manager Martin Johnson reporting directly to the performance director after the World Cup in New

Zealand later this year."

Zealand coach] Graham Henry, the people England need," said Cotton.Contact the writer of this story

Fresh from their success earlier this year at the IPC World Championships in New Zealand, where 38 medals

set up for what we all hope and expect will be a truly memorable Games next year, and the start of a new

Fresh from their success earlier this year at the IPC World Championships in New Zealand, where 38 medals

set up for what we all hope and expect will be a truly memorable Games next year, and the start of a new

3 - MediaWorks Radio has been awarded broadcast rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, being held in New

Zealand from September 9 to October 23.

more than four billion.Mediaworks is the leading private sector broadcast and online media outlet in New

Zealand with a number of specialist divisions across TV and radio.It owns a number of networks, including

Wall to wall coverage across New Zealand will give fans an unprecedented opportunity to engage with a

greatest prize in sport - now available for rugby sevens players, the sport is starting to reach a new

of rugby, when I was just 10-years-old.The match took place on December 8, 1997, and saw England and New

Zealand draw 26-26.It was a superb game but my fondest memory was seeing giant All Black star Jonah

session drew to an end, head coach Ryan appeared to think we hadn't been humiliated enough as he made two new

By David GoldMay 13 - Tickets for the Rugby World Cup, being held in New Zealand this September, will

Zealand and around the world.""

Martin Snedden, chief executive for Rugby New Zealand 2011 (RNZ 2011), added: "This is an exciting moment

This is the biggest ticket sales campaign ever undertaken in New Zealand so it's great to finally get

venues, which will begin next week.Before the refunds were implemented, Rugby New Zealand 2011 had sold

As was the case in Australia in 2003 and France in 2007 we fully expect that to be the case in New Zealand