Talofa, Ma’lelei, bula and Welcome to Season 05 Episode 47 of Breakfast Bites by TeivovoSports.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news on a cloudy but warm Saturday morning 20 May 2023.

Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In rugby: The Crusaders and the Blues won in Super Rugby Pacific last night.

In the big Test today, Fiji Women take on the Wallaroos in Sydney at 7pm while the Fijian Drua play the New South Wales Waratahs at 9.35pm.

And in England, Twickenham hosts the HSBC London 7s Tonight where the key games to watch from 8.39pm Australia vs Spain, 9.01pm France vs Samoa, 9.23pm Ireland vs Fiji, 11.13pm Uruguay vs Tonga and 11.47pm Australia vs Samoa.

Fiji vs Argentina 12.53am, Tonga vs Kenya 1.59am, Samoa vs Spain 3.08am, and if you’re still awake France vs Australia 3.30am , Fiji vs Japan 4.07am and New Zealand vs South Africa at 5.33am.

More on rugby in my new background buzz segment at the end of this podcast.

In rugby league: “Oh my goodness, who writes this script? Rugby league — you beautiful thing,” FOX League’s Andrew Voss said in commentary as the Dragons responded to Anthony Griffin’s midweek sacking with a 24-22 win over the Roosters in the final 20 seconds of their game.

“Look at the Dragons fans now, their prayers have been answered,” Voss added.

Meanwhile, the Eels upset South Sydney 16-36 to break a six game hoodoo against the Rabbitohs with Mitchell Moses starring in his return at Allianz Stadium.

Moses controlled the game with his kicking and his halves partner Dylan Brown was even better in a Man-of-the-Match display.

In football: Major League Soccer officially unveiled its 30th team on Thursday in San Diego.

“We scouted the globe for the right opportunity with soccer, and San Diego ticked all the boxes,” said team chairman Mohamed Mansour.

His investment firm, Man Capital — an early investor in Facebook, Uber, AirBnB, and owner of one of the world’s largest logistic companies, also owns a Danish Superliga Club.

Mansour will co-own the team with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, currently playing out a US$350Million contract, will also own a part of the team.

The Club will pay a US$500M expansion fee, shattering the US$325M MLS record set by Charlotte in 2019.

In the NBA: The Los Angeles Lakers blew a big opportunity to take a game on the road against the Denver Nuggets in their Western Conference Finals series yesterday, narrowly going down 108-103.

The loss sees the Lakers fall into a 2-0 hole as the series moves back to Los Angeles.

Miami meanwhile, beat the Celtics in Game 1 of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

In SportsBiz: Roger Federer’s On Holding sneaker company saw substantial growth with net sales soaring 78% year-on-year in the first quarter to US$469Million and gross profit doubled to US$273M, but greedy investors wanted more - its share price slumped 9% after the results were released.

Finally in boxing: Kiwi-Samoan Joseph Parker is ready to push back towards world heavyweight contention next Wednesday night in Australia, all thanks to his close mate, The Gypsy King “100 per cent” at ringside for Parker’s showdown with Faiga ‘Django’ Opelu in Melbourne.

Okay sports fans, on “Background Buzz” today, I take a closer look at two key rugby events involving Australia – their Men’s team at the HSBC London 7s and their Women’s XVs team, the Wallaroos against Fijiana.

Twickenham hosts the final tournament of the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series 2023 where New Zealand will be crowned Series Champions.

Of big interest to Australian fans is the one final Paris 2024 Olympic spot to be decided, with defending champions from 2022, Australia holding a nine-point cushion over Samoa and South Africa.

In another key match-up, Canada, Kenya, Tonga and Uruguay are all also playing in the London 7s, fighting for the 12th and final core team spot in the World Rugby 7s Series 2024.

The action kicks off tonight at 9:39pm with Australia taking on Spain and New Zealand facing South Africa in the final match of the day.

Meanwhile, closer to home in Sydney tonight, the 5th ranked Women’s Test team in the world – Australia on 78.00 points, take on Fiji ranked 17th on 58.33 points.

While the Wallaroos cannot improve their 5th place ranking with a victory, due to the 19.67 points difference between the teams, a draw would be enough for Fiji to move above Hong Kong China into 16th place.

Australia would still hang on to fifth spot over Wales.

A new high awaits Fiji if they can beat Australia for the first time.

They will climb two places to 15th with a win – with a further place possible if the winning margin is more than 15 points, as this would also lift them above Russia.

So Go Girls Go.

And that’s a wrap!

For TeivovoSports.com I’m Culden Kamea – please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want 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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