For The Kids: June 20th, 2016
Once again the All Blacks led the way for kiwi sport over the weekend as they wrapped up a series win against Wales. The second Test was in Wellington and Wales started the game strong but as we saw last week, the All Blacks have too much power coming off their bench and blew Wales way in the second half to win 36-22.
Aaron Cruden injured his neck early in this game which meant that Beauden Barrett came on much earlier than he usually does. This didn't phase Barrett though as he was impressive and sparked much of the All Blacks' attack. Israel Dagg was also impressive, starting at fullback in his return to the All Blacks and Waisake Naholo continues to be a beast on the wing.
The best player for the All Blacks could have been their captain Kieran Read. He was simply involved in everything and now that he's the captain, he's taking the extra responsibility on his shoulders and leads by example. Read carried the ball strongly, broke tackles and dominated the Welsh everywhere on the field.
There were plenty of tries in the All Blacks' win over Wales, which was very different to the Warriors win over the Roosters in Auckland on Sunday night. The Warriors won 12-10 and with Thomas Leuluai injured in the early stages, the Warriors had to shuffle their backline which saw hooker Nathaniel Roache have to play on the wing.
The Warriors struggled in attack but showed an effort and desire to win that fans want to see. Issac Luke was a menace in the middle of the field and he is starting to run the football like he did with the Rabbitohs, as well as kicking a few times to pin the Roosters down their end.
2 points, that's all the Warriors care about from this game and they sit nicely in the top-eight.
Lydia Ko was in action at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan, USA over the weekend. Ko finished tied for 4th on -14 while Korea's Sei Young Kim finished 1st on -17.
The Black Sticks women's hockey team are playing in the Champions Trophy tournament in London where the six best women's hockey teams are competing ahead of the Olympics. Unfortunately for the kiwi ladies, they lost their first game to Netherlands 6-2 and then lost to Australia 3-1 last night.
Currently in last (6th), they'll need to win all of their last three games against Great Britain, Argentina and USA. We'll catch up with them next week to see how they go.