By Martin Gillingham - 20 May 2009     Just half of the Lions squad have played a Test match in South Africa while only two of them know what it feels like to have won one. Of Ian McGeechan’s original 34-man selection, three have already fallen by the wayside – two to injury and the other suspended. And there’s still another weekend of domestic stuff with the finals of the Heineken and Challenge Cups coming up when a couple more key figures could be lost.  

Africa ’s rugby players returned to the international stage with a Test match against the old enemy New

Zealand in Johannesburg .

’s rugby players returned to the international stage with a Test match against the old enemy New

Zealand in Johannesburg .

Basketball has appointed Tom Maher (pictured), who steered Australia to two Olympic medals, as their new

At the Athens Games in 2004 he helped New Zealand to finish eighth, their highest ever finish, before

    By Adrian Hill - 14 May 2009 As I travelled around the beautiful country of New Zealand

New Zealand teams are Rugby League world champions, Commonwealth gold and world silver medallists in

Vili says: “New Zealand sport is dominated by rugby and rugby players, but when I won the Commonwealth

New Zealand Olympic team manager Dave Currie believes his charges (with Vili or not) could achieve great

“We have no targets, our only concern is to make sure the New Zealand Olympic team is competitive.”

Before 2012, New Zealand is gearing up to host its own “Olympics” – the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

  By Adrian Hill - 14 May 2009 As I travelled around the beautiful country of New Zealand recently

New Zealand teams are Rugby League world champions, Commonwealth gold and world silver medallists in

  Vili says: “New Zealand sport is dominated by rugby and rugby players, but when I won the

”   Currie, who now also carries out a similar role for New Zealand Cricket, was Chef de

”   Before 2012, New Zealand is gearing up to host its own “Olympics” &ndash

May 11 - The 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be used by British Swimming and all the Home Countriesas

Commonwealth Games England (CGE), the representatives of British Swimming gave their backing to the new

English governing body for swimming, diving and synchronised swimming], said: “We welcome the new

Sparkes said: "We want to be challenging Australia, Canada and New Zealand for the medals in the pool

By Adrian Hill in Auckland   May 6 - New Zealand’s Olympic shot put champion Valerie Vili (pictured

Vili said: “More could be done for elite athletes in New Zealand.  

competed for another country things might be different, but I love the country and love competing for New

Zealand.  

The 24-year-old is due to compete at the World Championships in Berlin in August - in a black New Zealand

She said: “I do most of my training in New Zealand and I’ve been doing that for 10 years, with no winter

April 28 - Three new assistant coaches have been named to help Brett Brown (pictured) pilot Australia's

Brown, who was named as the new Boomers coach last month, will be joined by Andrej Lemanis, Shane Heal

themselves sidelined.Basketball Australia Chief Executive Larry Sengstock said: "We have entered a new

inspirational leader; Andrej has an outstanding knowledge of the game and has done very good things with the New

Zealand Breakers; and Billy has been one of the top coaches in Australia for the past 25 years."

    By John Bicourt - 28 April 2009   Clearly, Ethiopians, Kenyans (and perhaps Kalenjin tribe in particular because they predominate) have a natural propensity towards running. But whether this can be attributed solely to a specific genetic advantage, is questionable.    

and financed by top athletes and their agents with support from running shoe companies  to attract new

Wroclawsky 29 April 2009 at 18:19pm Up until 1967, the superior runners, especially down under in New

Zealand and wherever the quality of coaching was excellent, the African running community was virtually

When Arthur Lydiard brought his marathon training methods to East Africa from New Zealand, all of that

In the mid-90s, there was Silva, Vera, Espinosa, and even Barrios, but since the new millenium, I haven't

financed by top athletes and their agents with support from running shoe companies  to attract new

Sol Wroclawsky 29 April 2009 at 18:19pmUp until 1967, the superior runners, especially down under in New

Zealand and wherever the quality of coaching was excellent, the African running community was virtually

When Arthur Lydiard brought his marathon training methods to East Africa from New Zealand, all of that

  In the mid-90s, there was Silva, Vera, Espinosa, and even Barrios, but since the new millenium

April 17 - Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (pictured) has decided the Government will support a bid from the country to host the 2018 Commonwealt Games as well as the football World Cup, it has been announced.

its intention to bid for 2018 while candidates are also expected to emerge from Durban, Nairobi and New

Zealand.  

April 16 - Queensland's Premier Anna Bligh (pictured) claimed today that Australia should bid for both the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 World Cup.

its intention to bid for 2018 while candidates are also expected to emerge from Durban, Nairobi and New

Zealand.  

April 8 - Rupert Murdoch's Sky Network Television, New Zealand's largest pay-TV provider, will broadcast

Sky beat out free-to-air rivals Television New Zealand and TV3 to host all matches, offering each game

Zealand.  

"Sky New Zealand is a proven world leader in rugby broadcasting.  

"The appointment is wonderful news for rugby fans in New Zealand who will be able to see every RWC 2011

Sky currently reaches around 45 per cent of households in New Zealand, and will likely boost this number

April 7 - The Gold Coast is refusing to give up its hopes of bidding for the 2018 Commonwealth Games despite the Australian Government saying that they will not support it.

now the Mayor of the Gold Coast, former world six miles record holder Ron Clarke, has claimed that a new

its intention to bid for 2018 while candidates are also expected to emerge from Durban, Nairobi and New

Zealand.  

    By Don Porter - 1 April 2009   Everyone on the International Softball Federation team was truly delighted by the interest shown by convention delegates and the international media covering an event that helps shape the agenda for world sport.  

many thousands of miles to the west and the Oceania National Olympic Committees’ General Assembly in New

Zealand.

The fact that BackSoftball’s team in New Zealand was an all-female affair reflects our structure and

The presence of Danielle Stewart in New Zealand also underscored the global nature of softball.