Breakfast Bites - the FIJI & PACIFIC SPORTS NEWS Podcast - a TEIVOVO Digital Podcast TEIVOVO Sports & Rugby

Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 59 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Wednesday morning 05 June 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.
 
In rugby league: The NRL’s 18th team in Papua New Guinea appears to be little more than a formality at this point but there is growing push-back in Australia, after Sydney radio 2GB’s Ben Fordham revealed a PNG team is expected to be funded by Australia at A$600Million over the next 10 years.

Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese has been trumpeting a Papua New Guinea team since August 2023 to join the NRL as its 18th team, pledging to put money into making the move viable.

But NRL BIG boss man, Peter V’landys told News Corp yesterday: “It is certainly premature. It hasn’t gone to cabinet to start with and our board hasn’t signed off on it, so there’s no agreement.

“There’s nothing concrete at this stage.

“I was surprised as to how this speculation started, because it certainly didn’t come from the NRL.”
So place your bets on ORIGIN 01 ladies & gentlemen – NOT on PNG being the 18th NRL team.
In Football: Kylian Mbappe has signed a five-year deal to move to Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain on Monday and hailed the move as a “dream come true”.

According to the BBC, he will earn US$16.5Million, plus a US$163M signing bonus paid over the five years.

Mbappe’s last contract with PSG, signed in 2022, was a two-year deal worth US$79.2Million with loyalty bonus of a similar amount and a signing-on fee of US$163M.

And in SportsBiz: Since 2020, major Michael Jordan memorabilia items have smashed sports memorabilia sales records.
 
This MJ surge was boosted by “The Last Dance”, which averaged 5.6 million viewers per episode, making it ESPN’s most-watched documentary of all time.
 
In January 2023, his jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for US$10.1Million, becoming the most valuable Jordan item ever sold at auction and setting a record for game-worn sports memorabilia.

In February 2024, a set of six individual shoes, one from each of Jordan’s title-clinching games, sold for US$8M in another auction.

I wonder if they smell?
 
And that’s a wrap!
 
Please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.
 
Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mass for all your love and support.
 
#TEIVOVORugby  #TEIVOVODigital #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #FRU #Fiji #womensrugby #rugbygirls #wrugby #ladiesrugby #womeninsport  #woman #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #fitness #weightlifting #training #team #rugbytraining #sports  #rakavi  #DevelopmentFiji

Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 58 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Tuesday morning 04 June 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.
 
In Rugby: France men and Australian women won the HSBC SVNS 2024 Championship in Madrid.
 
France beat Argentina 5-19 in the men’s final, with Fiji winning bronze over New Zealand.

Australia prevented a French double, overcoming France 7-26 thanks to a Maddison Levi treble, to claim women’s gold, while New Zealand won bronze beating Canada.

USA, Kenya, Uruguay and Spain secured men’s HSBC SVNS 2025 status with Play Off qualifications.

While China, Spain, Japan and Brazil earn places on the women’s HSBC SVNS 2025 series.
France’s Antoine Dupont and Canada’s Carissa Norsten win SVNS 2024 ‘Rookie of the Year’ awards, while Ireland’s Terry Kennedy and Australia’s Maddison Levi are top try scorers
Rugby sevens kicks off the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in Stade de France on 24 July.

However, everyone will be weary of a resurgent Fiji Men’s 7s team, who beat New Zealand twice over the weekend, with the Olympics on the horizon. 

Australian women were outstanding all weekend in Madrid, seeing off New Zealand 19-21 in a thrilling semi-final comeback.

The newly introduced promotion and relegation Play Off competition featured teams ranked ninth to twelfth in SVNS 2024 competing with the top four teams from the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024.

Samoa and Canada lost their places on the HSBC SVNS series as the USA and Spain retained their spots. Kenya and Uruguay will join them after wins over Germany and Chile respectively.
In rugby league: We’re about to find out just how good new NSW Blues Coach Michael Maguire is at the elite level of rugby league. Madge is a great fella blessed with an old school work ethic, a no nonsense mindset and an intense personality.

On the other side of the equation we know what we’re going to get from Billy Slater and the Queensland Maroons – a relentless 80-minute performance from an extremely well-presented team.

So place your bets on ORIGIN 01 ladies & gentlemen.

In the NBA: Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavs to Miriam Adelson and her family in December 2023, in a deal that valued the franchise at US$3.5Billion.

Now, not six months later, the team is on the cusp of its second NBA title ever. 

Their opponents in the finals, the Boston Celtics, just happen to own home court advantage and are the betting favorites to hoist the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

It would be the first title for Boston since 2008, and the second under the current owners, who bought the franchise for US$360Million in 2002.

This season, the Celtics boast a US$183.6M payroll - fourth highest in the NBA, while the Mavericks have the 16th-ranked payroll @ US$163.6M.

In Football: The Matildas farewelled Australia before heading to the Paris Olympics with a 2-0 win over China in front of more than 76,000 fans at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Monday night.
 
In her 104th and most likely final game for the Matildas, veteran goalkeeper Lydia Williams was then given a hero’s farewell in the 43rd minute.

And in SportsBiz: World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, announced in April it would distribute Olympic prize money for the first time.
 
A notable shift away from amateurism in the Olympics, which the International Olympic Committee did not support.
 
Fast-forward to last week, when another sport’s governing body - one already feuding with the IOC - made a similar pledge.
 
The International Boxing Association announced it...

Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 57 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Monday morning 03 June 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.
 
In Rugby: At the HSBC SVNS Madrid 7s overnight, the Fiji Men’s 7s team lost their semifinal 14-21 France and Argentina beat New Zealand by exactly the same score.
 
Fiji Men then beat the All Blacks 7s 10-14 for 3rd place bronze, so the Paris Olympics Men’s rugby 7s is gonna be close.
 
Team Fijiana 7s lost to Ireland 26-19 and lost again to USA 31-0 but they bounced back to trounce Great Britain 7-42 for 7th place.
 
Bad news for Samoa - out of the next HSBC 7s series after losing 19-40 to USA in their Challenger play-off.
 
Meanwhile Fijiana XV has qualified directly for the RWC2025 Women in England after beating Manusina 13-27 while Tonga 39-5 Papua New Guinea in the Oceania Women’s Championship in Brisbane yesterday.
 
In rugby league: Rank outsiders, the North Queensland Cowboys held their nerve to win their third straight game, pulling off an 18-16 upset win over the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium yesterday, despite missing Tom Dearden, Reuben Cotter, Jeremiah Nanai, Val Holmes, Reece Robson and Murray Taulagi all on ORIGIN duties.

The Roosters were also without five of their stars as well, including James Tedesco, who was rubbed out late after being called up to the NSW Blues.

In boxing: Deontay Wilder’s career is over after a stunning loss yesterday.

The “Bronze Bomber” was knocked out by Zhilei Zhang during their mega-fight in Saudi Arabia. It was Wilder’s fourth defeat from his last five fights and any hope of a climb back towards a title shot appears to be dead.

Zhang, who had a crazy 30kg weight advantage, ended the fight in the fifth round with a crushing right hand shot that dropped Wilder to the canvass.

Incredibly, Wilder was able to get back to his feet, but was struggling to stand on wobbly legs before the referee stopped the fight.

Meanwhile in UFC, Russian champ Islam Makhachev submitted US veteran, Dustin Poirier in the fifth round of UFC302 main event yesterday, extending his UFC winning streak to 14 fights, joining Anderson Silva and Kamaru Usman as the only fighters in UFC history to achieve that feat.

Speaking after the fight, Makhachev confirmed he wanted to shoot for double-champ status and fight in the UFC Welterweight division.

“It’s my dream. I want to fight for the second belt. When you defend your belt it’s not the same. I need a new one,” he said.

The American may as well retire now.

In Football: Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund, to win the UEFA Champions League in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London yesterday 2-0 with two second half goals, and now play Europa Cup winners, Atalanta in the European Super Cup final.
 
And in SportsBiz: The LA Clippers Head Coach, Ty Lue has just signed a five-year contract extension at US$14Million, according to multiple reports.
 
That puts Lue, 47, among the highest-earning coaches in the NBA, with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said to be making US$17.5M annually, the San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich close behind at US$16M.

And Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra comes in at US$15M per year and Detroit Pistons coach Monty Williams at US$14M like Lue.

And that’s a wrap!
 
Please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.
 
Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mass for all your love and support.
 
#TEIVOVORugby  #TEIVOVODigital #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital...

Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 56 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Sunday morning 02 June 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.
 
In Rugby: Go Fiji Go.
 
The Fijian Drua surged in the second half to beat the Force 19-40 in Lautoka yesterday and now play the Blues on Saturday, 5.05pm at Eden Park, Auckland in their Super Rugby Pacific quarterfinal.

Meanwhile in the HSBC SVNS 7s Madrid overnight, the Fiji Men’s 7s team won against Ireland 21-26 and they trashed South Africa 7-26 early this morning.
 
Team Fijiana lost to Australia 31-12 and lost again to Ireland 26-19.
 
Meanwhile Samoa lost to Kenya 19-12, Chile 21-19 Samoa and lost for a third time to Spain 31-0 so are pretty much out of the next HSBC 7s series.
 
In rugby league: NSW Blues fullback Dylan Edwards has reportedly pulled up with quad tightness that could rule him out of ORIGIN I, prompting Coach Michael Maguire to call the Roosters and ask James Tedesco to be on standby.

Edwards is confident he will be fit to play, but a decision will be made today at 9am.

In boxing: Ryan Garcia has quickly offered to step up from welterweight to junior middleweight to replace injured Australian fighter, Tim Tszyu against undefeated American star, Vergil Ortiz Junior on 03 August at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
 
However, Garcia is still facing a possible suspension by the New York Boxing Commission, for testing positive for the banned substance Ostarine from his last fight in April.
 
In Football: Looking at the UEFA Champions League final this morning in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London; this will be the 15th meeting between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid in European competition, all of which have been in the UEFA Champions League.
 
Real Madrid are the team Borussia Dortmund have faced most often in the competition, and the Germans have only won three of their 14 clashes against the Spanish giants.
 
In SportsBiz: More on the UEFA Champions League final between Real and Dortmund.
 
The finalists have already locked in huge paydays just getting here, with today’s winner pocketing US$21.5Million, while the loser will take home US$16.1M.

The winner will also seal the second available spot in the UEFA Super Cup, between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League – won this year by Italian club Atalanta.

Advancing to the Super Cup guarantees a US$4.3M bonus, with an additional $1.1M to the winner.

And that’s a wrap!
 
Please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.
 
Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mass for all your love and support.
 
#TEIVOVORugby  #TEIVOVODigital #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #FRU #Fiji #womensrugby #rugbygirls #wrugby #ladiesrugby #womeninsport  #woman #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #fitness #weightlifting #training #team #rugbytraining #sports  #rakavi  #DevelopmentFiji

Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 55 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Saturday morning 01 June 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.
 
In Rugby: Go Fiji Go.
 
The Fiji Men’s 7s team upset the All Blacks 7s in Madrid overnight, thanks to Jerry Tuwai, who whenever he was on the ball, caused the men in black to hesitate and hang off him in D, just enough for other strike players to break through and score out wide.
 
Not to mention the cool as a cucumber Teba conversion from the sideline, after the final hooter to win the game!
 
Key HSBC SVNS Madrid Mens results overnight: Fiji 28-26 New Zealand and Samoa 12-29 Kenya. Samoa also lot to Chile later and they’re in trouble.
 
Tonight: Ireland vs Fiji at 11.06pm and Fiji vs South Africa at 1.49am on Sunday morning.
 
Results for key HSBC SVNS Madrid Women’s games last night - Fijiana 7-36 France and tonight Australia vs Fijiana at 10.22pm and on Sunday at 1.05am Fijiana vs Ireland.
 
In rugby league: Two sin-bins and a Josh Addo-Carr injury weren’t enough to de-stabilise the Bulldogs, who recorded a gutsy 32-2 win over a lacklustre Newcastle Knights in cold and wet conditions at McDonald Jones Stadium.
 
The Foxx scored two scintillating tries before he left the field clutching his hamstring.
 
In boxing: Tim Tszyu has been sensationally ruled out of his world title clash with unbeaten American prodigy Vergil Ortiz Jnr in a WBA Super Welterweight showdown in Los Angeles in August, with doctors declaring the Australian boxing poster boy unfit to fight.
 
Tszyu still needs more time to heal after suffering a deep head laceration in his recent world title loss against American Sebastian Fundora.

In SportsBiz: American golf sensation, Nelly Korda has won US$2.91Million in her last seven tournaments, which includes six victories and a tie for seventh. She is chasing her second Major of the year at the Women’s US Open at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania, with a total purse of US$12Million—the highest in women’s golf.
 
Unfortunately, Korda shot an 80 in her opening round after a disastrous 10 on one hole, putting three balls in the water!
 
And that’s a wrap!
 
Please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.
 
Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mass for all your love and support.
 
#TEIVOVORugby  #TEIVOVODigital #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #FRU #Fiji #womensrugby #rugbygirls #wrugby #ladiesrugby #womeninsport  #woman #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #fitness #weightlifting #training #team #rugbytraining #sports  #rakavi  #DevelopmentFiji

Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 54 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Friday morning 31 May 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.

Happy Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day in Fiji.
 
In Rugby: The HSBC SVNS Grand Final pools see Men’s 2024 SVNS League Winners Argentina in Pool A together with Australia, France and Great Britain.
 
Ireland is in Pool B alongside 2023 Series winners New Zealand, double Olympic Champions Fiji and South Africa.
 
On Saturday morning: Fiji vs New Zealand at 12.14am, Samoa vs Kenya at 3.25am and Samoa vs Chile at 6.54am.
 
Later on Saturday night: Ireland vs Fiji at 11.06pm and Fiji vs South Africa at 1.49am, followed by Spain vs Samoa at 5.42am on Sunday morning.
 
Meanwhile in the HSBC SVNS Women’s Grand Final reigning Olympic and Series champions New Zealand are in Pool A with the USA, Canada and Great Britain, while Australia, France, Fiji and Ireland are in Pool B.

Fijiana vs France at 11.26pm tonight. On Saturday Australia vs Fijiana at 10.22pm and on Sunday Fijiana vs Ireland at 1.05am.
 
In rugby league: Eels star Mitch Moses has made quite the return from a long sideline stint as Parramatta halted a five-game losing streak with a 34-22 win over the Sharks at CommBank Stadium last night.
 
Moses hasn’t played since Round 3 due to a broken foot, but the halfback didn’t miss a beat, with three try assists, plus his kicking game that the Eels have sorely missed.

The beast, Maika Sivo helped himself to two barnstorming tries, running over would-be tacklers!
In football: German football giant Bayern Munich have named Vincent Kompany as Manager in a shock move.
 
The 38-year-old Belgian, a surprise choice with his Burnley side relegated from the Premier League this season, has penned a three-year deal at the Allianz Arena.

Normally in contention for the biggest names in the business, Bayern have been knocked back by several candidates after their first trophy-less season for 12 years.

Burnley will reportedly receive £10Million in compensation for allowing their Manager to leave.
 
In boxing: Deontay Wilder wants to stand over Zhilei Zhang like “Ali did Liston in ‘65” in their clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this weekend.
 
Wilder was referring to the famous fight between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston in 1965, which ended with Ali famously pictured standing over Liston’s prone body, victorious.
 
In SportsBiz: So far, six different TV networks have broadcast the most-watched WNBA games ever on their channels. Not surprisingly, four of those record-breaking viewership games feature Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever:

· ESPN2: Indiana Fever vs Sun @ 2.1 million
· ABC: Indiana Fever vs Liberty @ 1.71 million
· ESPN: Sun vs Indiana Fever @ 1.56 million
· Ion: Indiana Fever vs Sparks @ 724,000
· CBS: Liberty vs Lynx @ 704,000
· NBA TV: Indiana Fever vs Aces @ 333,000

Go Caitlin Go!

Finally, only in America: Major League Baseball has made a dramatic move to expand how the history of the sport is told—one that will reframe who the greats of both yesterday and today are, and one that expands its overall recognition of the contribution of the Negro Leagues. 

The MLB formally incorporated on Wednesday the records of former Negro Leagues players into its official statistics, allowing players who were banned from MLB due to segregation to be considered in the same way as white players. 

The result of more than three years of work by a MLB-commissioned research group, the inclusion of the Negro Leagues statistics created some immediate and dramatic shifts in MLB’s all-time leaderboards.br...