The All Sport Breakfast

The NZ Junior Girls Rugby Festival is taking over Wellington this weekend.  Organised by Global Games, the event sees 62 teams from across the country travel down to Lower Hutt’s Fraser Park for a three-day competition.   D’Arcy was joined by the tournament’s founder, Tyrone Campbell, to preview the event.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today an epic event hits the Taupo Great Lake Trail.  The Taupo Ultramarathon is a sold-out event that takes competitors all around the great lake trail, runners covering anything from 24km all the way up to 100km.   Aaron Carter is the organiser of the event, and he caught up with D'Arcy to talk about it.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They had to work for it, but the White Ferns managed to secure their first victory of the Women’s ODI World Cup overnight, beating Bangladesh by 100 runs.  Sophie Devine, the hot hand with the bat who picked up another score of 50+ in the match caught up with D'Arcy straight after the game to discuss their victory.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Breakers finally broke the duck on Wednesday night, picking up their first win of the season over the Illawarra Hawks at home.   They'll want to keep the momentum rolling, with another home match set for Sunday afternoon against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.  Izaiah Brockington is a shooting guard for the Breakers, and he joined D'Arcy to reflect on the win and look ahead to Sunday afternoon.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 5th round of the New Zealand Rally Championships is going down this weekend in the Bay of Plenty.  It’s a new route this year in an area that hasn’t been raced in for over two years – visiting some iconic stages in the Matahina forest that were made famous in the 90’s and early 2000’s.   Competing in the Championship is Dean Buist, who joined D’Arcy Waldegrave to preview the event.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The greatest spectacle in racing? Nope, that’s the Indy 500. The race that stops a nation? Nah, that’s the Melbourne Cup. The great race? Yeah, that’s it – the Bathurst 1000.    The magnificence of the mountain is back. The 1000km Supercar squirt around Mt Panorama just outside the NSW town of Bathurst gets its rev counter red-lining tomorrow afternoon just before 2. Six hours of man and machine savaging the circuit, originally built as a sedate mountain drive for tourists.    This will sound a bit a bit geeky, so be it.  A constant source of fascination for me is the astonishing propinquity of the lap times across the field.  Consider this. Qualifying yesterday threw up this: over one lap, 6.213 kilometres, the first six cars were separated by one tenth of a second. Brodie Kostecki’s provisional pole position time was 0.0064 of a second quicker than the number 2 placed driver Broc Feeney.   Six and four-tenths of a thousandth of a second. Over 6.2 kilometres.    Different cars. Different teams. Different set ups. Different lines. Different drivers. Separated by essentially a click of the fingers.    Get on your phone and try to start and stop your stopwatch to the same nth. I’d hazard a guess you can’t.   It’s insane. It amplifies the how the teams wring every last millisecond of performance out of the equipment, the track, the driver, and they can’t really be split.   Then they do it for over six hours through rain and shine, tyre wear, equipment failure, and the odd errant marsupial.   Mental.    It’s all the fun of the circus, or a leisurely drive in the country, which was what the road was built for.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last Auckland NPC team standing, Counties Manukau is faced with a huge task.  They’re travelling down south to take on the number one seed Canterbury in the fourth quarter final this Sunday afternoon.  They started rough, losing their first five games but turned it around, winning five on the bounce and scoring at least 48 points in each of the last four games – including a massive win against Tasman last night to lock themselves into the playoffs.  Dalton Papali'i is playing number 8 on Sunday afternoon for the Steelers, and he spoke with D'Arcy to preview the match.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MAXX North Harbour International is a prestigious Badminton event, showcasing elite talent from three continents – including top ranked international athletes and the best players in New Zealand, with competitors from 15 countries taking part.  The event is going down at the Badminton North Harbour centre, having begun on the 1st of October and running through till tomorrow.  D'Arcy spoke with the Chief Executive of North Harbour Badminton Glenn Cox to find out more about the event.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Farah Palmer Cup has reached its final week, with the Premiership final going down this afternoon between Waikato and Canterbury.   Waikato bounced back after a round 1 loss to Auckland to beat them in the semifinal rematch, while Canterbury defeated a valiant Manawatu side.   D'Arcy spoke with the captain of the Waikato side Mia Anderson to talk about the team and preview the huge clash going down this afternoon.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last weekend the NSW Warriors ended their campaign in dominant fashion, defeating the NSW Dragons 30 - 12 and claiming the NSW Cup.   That victory earned them one more week, as they’re set to take on the champions of the Queensland competition, the Burleigh Bears, to kick off rugby league's grand final Sunday at Accor Stadium.  Kalani Going is the starting lock for the NSW Warriors, and he spoke with D'Arcy to preview the massive game they have coming up on Sunday.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can’t blame New Zealand Cricket for the weather. Last night the Australian men’s T20I team retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy when the 2nd of 3 matches was called off due to the aaaaah atmospheric conditions. Yeah, it rained. The 3rd game, a dead rubber if you will, is likely to follow the same path and the series will be won by Mother Nature 2-1. Can’t blame NZC for the weather. You can blame them for the scheduling though. It’s almost as insane as giving McLean Park in Napier a fixture. A drought breaker if you will, a temptation for the weather gods that won’t be ignored. The spring of cricket has hardly bounced into action. If anything, the opening salvo has recoiled. The tantalising prospect of a rare visit from the best team in the world has been dampened. Or in the case of game one, frozen out of the picture, with the players, umpires, ground staff, commentary teams, and crowd left asking themselves hard questions. For the crowd, the primary question would have been: why did we bother? NZC has backed themselves into this corner, desperate to provide the national side with time in the middle before next year's World Cup (yup, another one) whilst juggling the demands of franchise T20 cricket and essentially ignoring the concept of a summer of cricket, the traditional season in which we celebrate and immerse ourselves in the game. To be fair, NZC is a cork in the cricketing waters, and they do a reasonable job of making some acceptable purses from the pig's ear they've been given. But when the cream of the touring matches are set down for spring and the Proteus tour and the only real inbound summer action is confined to 5 ODIs, one wonders where the home fans sit in the pecking order. Evidentially, over the last few summers, based on scheduling, not as high up the chain as we’d like. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Breakers were unable to break the duck last week, leaving them sitting 0-3 in the NBL season.  It doesn't get any easier for the side as they travel to Sydney, set to take on the Sydney Kings later tonight.  D'Arcy caught up with Taylor Britt, a point guard for the Breakers, to reflect on how the seasons been going and preview tonight's clash.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand’s premier domestic football competition kicked off last week.  Ten clubs from across the country are taking part in the National League Football competition, with Western Springs qualifying through their win in the Northern League.  They kicked off their campaign with a 3-0 win over Western Suburbs last week, and are facing a tough challenge this week as they take on Chatham Cup winners Wellington Olympic away from home.  D'Arcy caught up with Western Springs captain Reid Drake to preview the matchup.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve reached the final round of the Rugby Championship and everything is still up for grabs in the most competitive tournament in quite some time.   The All Blacks are set to take on the Wallabies in Perth late tonight and although the Bledisloe is locked away for another year, the All Blacks will be desperate to show some consistency and win two in a row for the first time this tournament.  D'Arcy spoke with Quinn Tupaea, the starting All Blacks centre tonight, to preview the game.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Breakers have had a rough start to the year, two defeats starting off the 2025/26 NBL season.  They’re aiming to get back on track tonight and claim their first victory in their clash with the Perth Wildcats.  Breakers shooting guard Reuben Te Rangi joined D’Arcy Waldegrave for a chat about how the team’s faring in camp, and preview tonight’s game.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wallabies look like a different team in 2025, currently leading the Rugby Championship following split results against the Springboks and Argentina.  They’ll be looking to put on a dominant showing against the All Blacks and breach the Fortress, ending a 31-year unbeaten run in the process.  Stephen Larkin, a former Wallabies Five, was part of the last Australian side to claim the Bledisloe Cup back in 2002.  He joined D’Arcy to give an Australian perspective ahead of tonight’s clash at Eden Park, offering some insights into what they may do to try defeat the All Blacks.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Warriors may have been taken out of the NRL playoff picture, but their NSW Cup side has made the final after a dominant season.  They take on the Dragons in the Grand Final – the team they lost their Major Semi Final clash to just two weeks ago.   The team is littered with talent, with several of the named players having spent time in the first grade side this year.   One of those players is Sam Healey, and he joined D’Arcy to preview the final clash.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Silver Ferns have put on two good performances in the Taini Jamison series so far, beating South Africa 77-51 in Auckland and 70-58 in Napier.   However, there is still one match to go, and the team will be looking to cap off the series with another strong win in Invercargill as the Constellation Cup looms.   D'Arcy caught up with Silver Ferns defender Kelly Jackson to touch on the series and discuss how the team is looking heading into the third game.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s test day – the All Blacks are set to take on the Wallabies in the first Bledisloe Cup test tonight at Eden Park.   Our Eden Park record is on the line yet again and with the Rugby Championship open for the taking, this is a crucial test for the All Blacks as they look to get back on track.   D'Arcy was joined by All Blacks replacement halfback Cortez Ratima to preview the game and get a feel for what went down in the All Blacks camp off the back of the devastating Springboks loss two weeks ago.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Few people would revel in All Black defeat this evening – New Zealanders that is.    Joe Schmidt, Mike Cron, and Tom Donnelly are three Kiwis that would.    Two of those three are as good as the best in their trade.    Two of those guys should really have their colours tied to All Black masts.   Two of those fine men are living proof of the cumbersome nature of the NZR.   The last few years has seen the most powerful brought to their knees, the collapse of an empire if you will, not unlike the implosion of the American dream under the iron —albeit tiny— fist of Trump.    The clumsy approach of the union, particularly the maladroit power transition in the coach's box, has seen the best talent they’ve had access to flip the bird and set up shop in Australia.   Schmidt, a reluctant international coach and great friend of Ian Foster, would rather reanimate the Wallabies than lend his talent to the Robertson-lead All Blacks. Mike Cron, the scrum coach guru, has shot the gap too, his ‘exit’ interview with me on ZB was telling, his frustration over handling of the Foster/Robertson turmoil was palpable. He even swore on-air. Sheesh.   With their trophy cabinet ransacked, their CEO exiting stage left and a mercurial AB side, a loss at the last bastion of All Black dominance would further erode the mystique of the jersey – if it hasn’t dissipated already.    Not freaked out by now, how you like these apples.    In the Rugby Championship to date, the All Blacks lead the missed tackle count, lost the most turnovers, have scored the fewest points, the fewest clean breaks, meters made, and defenders beaten.   I take no joy from these words, I’ve been a huge fan of Razor and quite possibly he may well be redeemed as the season unfolds, possibly a world cup in a couple of years, but it’s difficult to watch what's unfolding and not feel the cold hand of creeping death choking the positivity out of you.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.