Talofa, Ma’lele’i, Bula and welcome to Season 05 Episode 42 of Breakfast Bites, the FIJI & PACIFIC SPORTS NEWS PODCAST, by TeivovoSports.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news on another cloudy, warm and bright Monday morning 15 May 2023.
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Talofa, Ma’lele’i, Bula and welcome to Season 05 Episode 42 of Breakfast Bites, the FIJI & PACIFIC SPORTS NEWS PODCAST, by TeivovoSports.com – a wrap of Pasifika a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news on another cloudy, warm and bright Monday morning 15 May 2023.
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
In rugby union
The HSBC Toulouse 7s results overnight in the Women’s comp: The Black Ferns were simply too good again, winning 19-14 against USA to claim another Cup title.
Team Fijiana lost to Ireland 10-5 and after beating Great Britain earlier in Pool play, they lost out in their 7th place playoff 17-22.
Australian Women beat France 7-33 for Bronze and Japan upset Ireland 0-14 for 5th.
The All Blacks 7s beat Argentina 19-24 to win the Toulouse 7s Men’s title, making it another Kiwi double! Fiji Men beat Spain 15-26 for 9th place and France beat Canada 12-28 for Bronze.
Earlier Spain beat Samoa 5-28, Fiji 31-15 uruguay, Australia 21-19 South Africa and in the Cup semis Argentina 33-5 Canada and New Zealand 19-14 France.
In Super Rugby Pacific
The Brumbies 48-32 Highlanders.
Last night: The Crusaders and the Blues smashed each other to smithereens in Christchurch last night in a right royal battle for . . . All Blacks spots, with Beauden, Richie Rich and Leicester Fai’inga’anuku looking good, Scott Barrett and Dalton Papali’i outstanding, but Ioane bros – Reiko and Akira, plus Hoskings Sotutu not so good.
In rugby league
Cronulla Sharks bounced back from their Magic Round humiliation by the Dolphins, holding off a fast-finishing Manly Sea Eagles to win 20-14 at Brookvale Oval yesterday.
Kalyn Ponga steered the Knights to a 46-26 win over the Gold Coast Titans at McDonald Jones Stadium yesterday, scoring a try plus two try assists, four tackle busts and 116M run, in what was clearly his best game since returning from time off to deal with his concussion issues.
Gold Coast Titans star, David Fifita was excellent in a losing side, continuing his stellar season, the Tongan enforcer’s length of the field try in the second half was one of the game’s highlights.
Just a reminder everybody, the Rabbitohs are on top of the NRL ladder!
In football
Ilkay Gundogan scored two brilliant goals and teed up Erling Haaland for another for Man City 3-0 at Everton as they moved four points clear atop the Premier League table with an 11th consecutive victory.
With three games remaining, Pep G’s treble-chasing side has 85 points and a game in hand on Arsenal, who suffered a 3-0 home drubbing to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Guardiola crossed the Goodison Park pitch to the raucous City fans and held up two fingers to denote the number of wins he thinks is all they need to clinch the title.
In the NBA
NBA insiders are speculating that Doc Rivers’ role as Head Coach could be in jeopardy if the Philadelphia 76s fail to secure a win in Game 7 of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics in Boston today.
This, after the 76ers took a 3-2 series lead and then failed to close the Celtics out at home in Game 6 last Thursday, losing 86-95.
And so, Game 7 in Boston is a must-win game for Philly, to not only advance to a first Conference Finals since 2001, but for Rivers to er hopefully keep his job.
His history of failing to close out multiple playoff series doesn’t help his case: Rivers holds a 6-9 record in Game 7s — carrying the unenviable distinction of having the most Game 7 losses of any Coach in NBA history.
And finally, Rivers has never won a Game 7 on the road.
Best of luck Doc.
In boxing
Having failed in his previous two world title shots, Aussie boxer Jason Moloney won the WBO Bantamweight World title in a 114-114, 115-113, 116-112 majority decision victory over Philippine Vincent Astrolabio at Stockton Arena, California USA yesterday, despite suffering a broken hand in the third or fourth round.
In SportsBiz
Five years ago, the US Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 — the federal law prohibiting sports betting.
Since then, 34 states plus Washington DC, have legalized sports betting in some form, with four more States joining with pending legislation.
It’s led to a US$220Billion explosion in legal sports bets placed since 2018 — generating over US$3B in tax revenue for these States.
With each new quarter, the sports betting industry raises the bar — Q4 2022 set a new quarterly record of $US93B.
But that’ll be nothing compared to the windfall that comes from the inevitable legalization of sports betting in California, Texas, and Florida, three of the biggest dominoes in the country that aren’t even playing ball yet.
Those three states account for three of the four largest GDPs in the world, let alone in the US, with California at US$3.6Trillion GDP, Texas at US$2.4T and Florida US$1.4T.
When New York with US$2.1T GDP legalised online sports betting in January 2022, US sports betting revenue rocketed 61% year-over-year from US$4.3Billion to US$7.5B.
Halleluiah, Amen and God Bless America!
Background Buzz
Okay sports fans, today I am adding an additional segment called “Background Buzz”, where I take a closer look at a sports story.
Today it’s the Super Rugby Pacific standings after the last game of Round 11 yesterday, to see specifically how the Fijian Drua can make the eight.
So the Top 4 are the usual suspects – the Chiefs, Brumbies the Hurricanes and the Crusaders.
The Blues look safe in 5th spot on 34 points, followed by the New South Wales Waratahs in 6th on 26 points, the Reds 7th on 23 points and the Force in 8th on 18 points after beating the Fijian Drua last Friday in Perth.
With three more rounds to go, the Fijian Drua are 9th on 17 points.
A key point for the Force and the Fijian Drua will be their points differential which right now is -133 and -97 respectively, so in summary, the Drua trail the Force by one point on the table and 36 points on the field.
Key games to watch out for in the next three rounds starting this weekend Round 12 from 19 May are:
The Reds hosting the Blues
The Force hosting the Brumbies
The Fijian Drua versus the NSW Waratahs in Sydney
In Round 13 on 26 May:
The Highlanders host the Reds
The Rebels host the Force
The Fijian Drua host Moana Pasifika in Lautoka
In the last Round of Pool play from 02 June:
The Fijian Drua host the Reds in Suva
The Force host the Chiefs
Both the Force and the Fijian Drua host two home games in the last three rounds and both have tough away games.
On form, the Fijian Drua can win two of their last three games, especially their home games, while the Force will be hard pressed to win one.
If they do and the Fijian Drua does win two games, the Force will end up on 22 points and the Fijian Drua on 25 points.
If however, games don’t go according to form, or bonus points come into play, things could get sticky at the end, and if it comes down to points differential, the Fijian Drua will need to score 36 more net points than the Force on the field in their next three games.
Whatever, hold on to your hats folks, because its gonna be close!
For TEIVOVOsports.com I’m Culden Kamea – Mahalo, vinaka and thank you. Please hit the subscribe button below if you would like to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.
Mahalo, vina’a and tank you all too mass for all your love and support.
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