Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 09 Episode 36 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a sunny and bright Sunday morning 12 May 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent.
                                                                                         
In rugby union: The Fijian Drua 2024 season came crashing down in Perth last night.
 
The Western Force came out firing, scoring in the first minute of play and never let up, scoring five more tries with all six converted, plus two penalties and scoring the last try, for a handy haul of 23 points on the night for Ben Donaldson.  
 
The Fijian Drua could only manage a penalty and one converted second half try to Ravutaumada in their 10-48 humiliation.
 
In other games: The Brumbies 29-21 NSW Waratahs, the Highlanders 32-29 Crusaders with Sevu Reece scoring a double and the Blues too good for the Hurricanes 27-31 at Eden Park.
 
In rugby league: Cronulla sure know how to spoil a contract-extension party - ending the Storm’s 14-game winning streak at AAMI Park after a thrilling 25-18 win to take a stronghold of top spot on the NRL ladder.

Even with Latrell Mitchell at Fullback for the Rabbitohs, St George Illawarra continued South Sydney’s season from hell with a 28-14 win at Kogarah Oval last night.

And Newcastle secured their third win on the trot without skipper Kalyn Ponga, toppling the Tigers 14-20 in sunny Tamworth.

In Super Netball: The scores were locked at 71 points apiece, but the Sunshine Coast Lightning were initially awarded a one point win as players shook hands and the Lightning packed their bags and left shortly after the umpires.

The Giants stayed warm at courtside prepared to play on, insisting that the scores were level, and the game should go into extra-time.
 
After a recount and some 50 minutes after the game initially finished, the umpires and the Lightning returned and extra time play resumed.

And the Giants’ Matisse Letherbarrow was the hero of the hour, sinking three supershots, for a controversial 86-80 victory.

Meanwhile, an old-fashioned spray from Melbourne Mavericks’ Coach Tracey Neville wasn’t enough to save her side from the equal lowest score recorded in Super Netball history, with the Adelaide Thunderbirds taking out the game 59-37.

In Football: “I will play my last game at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.”

And with that, Kylian Mbappe confirmed the worst kept secret in football - that he will leave French Champions Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, bringing an end to his association with his hometown team, which began when he signed from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros.
 
In the WNBA: Caitlin Clark played her first home game for the Indiana Fever 83-80 Atlanta Dream in their second and final preseason game before the WNBA season begins next week.
 
The former Iowa superstar scored 12 points during her 32 minutes on the court in front of 13,000 fans - nearly double the best Fever gate last season in which Indiana averaged a tick over 4,000 fans per game.
 
In SportsBiz: The starting price for the auction of the restaurant napkin that first committed Lionel Messi to play for Barcelona when he was 13 years old is US$370,000.
 
While out to dinner with Messi and his father, Barcelona sporting director Carles Rexach asked the waiter for a piece of paper but was instead handed a napkin, on which he formally agreed to sign the rising soccer talent.

British auction house Bonhams is selling the napkin, which currently has a bid of US$275,000.
Open for another week, Bonhams expects bids to reach over US$600,000.

In combat sports: US promoter Lou Di Bella sums it up best: “All that bullshit doesn’t matter. Everyone is jockeying. It’s all just chess.”

“The only thing that really matters is when they clear the ring, somebody rings that bell and there’s only two mothers in there with the ref.”

Get ready for Lomachenko versus Kambosos later today.

Finally, only in America: The Mavericks’ All-NBA star Luka Doncic froze when his press conference was interrupted by sex noises after Game 2 of the Mavericks-Thunder second-round playoff series.
 
He stopped talking and became wide-eyed during the unexpected moment which sounded like a high-pitched female voice moaning in ecstasy.

Doncic, 25, then hung his head and covered his face with his hand while laughing.

And that’s a wrap!
 
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Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mass for all your love and support.
 
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