Winners & Losers: The All Black who gave a timely reminder in return to line-up – Christopher Reive
Christopher Reive runs through the best and worst of the sporting weekend.
Winner: Slotting straight back in
Scott Barrett is back like he never spent 10 months out of the game.
It was surprising to see the All Blacks thrust their former captain straight back into a starting role for the first Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park on Saturday night. The 32-year-old came into All Blacks camp with about 90 minutes of game time under his belt across two appearances for Taranaki in the NPC.
But it was a wise move from the All Blacks, with Barrett throwing himself into the contest with good carries and cleanout work, and maintaining a high work rate. He even looked set to go 80 minutes before being forced off late with a head injury assessment, which he failed. On Monday, Beauden Barrett said Scott was presenting well after it and the fact he was cleared to travel with the team to Sydney suggests he could be available for selection again this weekend.
His showing at Eden Park was a timely reminder of the skill set – and engine – Barrett can bring to the test arena in a position that appears to be among the most competitive in the squad.
There were a lot of areas of interest in the All Blacks squad for the test and the players named in those roles all stood up. The loose trio was strong – Tupou Vaa’i returning on the blindside while Peter Lakai and Wallace Sititi got first crack at the vacant No 7 and 8 jerseys – Damian McKenzie impressed at first five-eighths, Beauden Barrett was reliable at fullback and it was a much better performance under the high ball.
With the Bledisloe locked away, it’ll be interesting to see if Rennie and co change things up in Sydney.
Winner: The best of the rest
The Liam Lawson bandwagon isn’t slowing down.
A double-points weekend in Singapore has amplified calls for Lawson to be re-signed by Racing Bulls for 2027 as he has led the team to new heights this year.
After Lawson’s results in Singapore, fifth in the sprint and seventh in the grand prix, the Kiwi took his personal points tally to 75 – 34 more than the next-best driver. Lawson now has more points than Alpine (68), and more than Haas, Audi, Aston Martin and Cadillac combined (72).
His haul in Singapore, four in the sprint and six in the grand prix, also meant Racing Bulls surpassed the 92 they earned across all of last season and hit 100 for the first time since 2021, with the then-AlphaTauri duo of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda putting 142 points on the board.
Surely that contract extension isn’t too far away.
Loser: Knucklehead of the week
McLaren’s Lando Norris gave us one of the most befuddling moments of the Formula One season on Saturday night in what was possibly the dumbest thing you’ll see on the circuit this year.
The reigning constructors’ champions are battling to stay in touch with Mercedes this year and need every point they can get, so things were shaping up well in the Singapore sprint race when they had both cars running in the points.
They had survived the early carnage – eight cars had been ruled out of the race – and began the final lap with Norris in P6 and teammate Oscar Piastri in P5. There are fewer points on offer in a sprint race, but with Mercedes’ George Russell crashing out, it was set up for a valuable double-points finish for the Papaya Pals.
Then Norris decided to race his teammate for what would have been a single extra point to his season tally.
Instead, Norris shot for a gap on turn five that quickly closed, clipping Piastri’s rear right tyre. It sent the McLarens into a dual spin and Piastri ended up in the wall – ending his race with Norris ultimately finishing eighth to earn one single point.
I do kind of admire that Norris isn’t even playing into the illusion that Formula One is treated as a team sport but taking that risk when there was so little for him to gain from it doesn’t even make sense from an individual standpoint.
Loser: Pain on Mount Panorama
Keeping with miscalculations in motorsport, the 2026 Bathurst 1000 will now likely serve as nightmare fuel for Anton De Pasquale and members of Team 18.
On track for a maiden Bathurst title, De Pasquale ran out of fuel on the final lap of the race and was left helpless as rivals flew past him. Speaking after the race, De Pasquale said he knew too late that there wasn’t enough fuel.
“Once I knew how much fuel short we were, I knew we were cooked,” he said.
“Hopefully our car’s as good as that [next year] and we’ll have another go.”
De Pasquale and co-driver Lee Holdsworth ultimately had to retire from the race, while Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood went on to win their second Bathurst in three years.
Winner: Canterbury finally get the job done
Fourth time’s the charm.
After losing the last three Farah Palmer Cup finals, Canterbury completed an unbeaten season with a 50-24 win over the Auckland Storm in Christchurch. While they were slow to get going, conceding the first points of the game and trailing 14-7 after 22 minutes, Canterbury led 19-17 at halftime before hitting their stride after halftime, running in five second-half tries to blow the Storm away.
Losers: Broken Breakers
Injuries have not been kind to the New Zealand Breakers early in the NBL season – and the importance of Parker Jackson-Cartwright to the team was made even more evident in their 100-84 loss away to Perth as he was ruled out with a lower leg injury.
Jackson-Cartwright has been the cornerstone in the Breakers’ attack since joining the club in 2023, with the dynamic point guard’s ability to find his own shots as well as create for teammates a huge asset.
Sam Mennenga did everything he could to fill the void – with 40 points, 18 rebounds and five assists – while Carlin Davison showed his playmaking ability to pick up 11 assists. However, despite the Breakers fighting hard, they couldn’t keep pace with a Perth team who shot with a nearly 50% hit rate.
With another two games on the road in the coming week – and Jackson-Cartwright expected to miss both of them, along with Josiah Jordan James (hamstring injury) and Preston Le Gassick (neck and shoulder) – they will need to find a way forward with the third-placed Sydney Kings and league-leading Tasmania Jack Jumpers next on the schedule. Mennenga won’t put up 40 every night.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.