2022 in Review: August

By Aiden McLaughlin

The Commonwealth Games continue in Birmingham. New Zealand finish fifth on the medals table with 20 golds out of a total of 50 medals. Cycling leads the way with 17 medals in total, 10 of which were gold. Aaron Gate became the first ever New Zealander to win four golds at a single games with Ellesse Andrews close behind with three golds. Swimming is the next most successful sport with nine medals including five golds, two of which went to Lewis Clareburt. Squash had three golds including Paul Coll in the men’s singles. Coll teamed up with Joelle King to win the mixed doubles and King combined with Amanda Landers-Murphy to win the women’s doubles. Aaron Gate is chosen to be the flagbearer at the closing ceremony.

The Rugby Championship begins as the All Blacks travel to South Africa to play back-to-back away matches. New Zealand’s bad run of results continues in Mbombela as they are beaten 26-10. They travel to Ellis Park in Johannesburg a week later, with another defeat widely predicted and with it, the likely sacking of Ian Foster. The All Blacks defy expectations to win 35-23. New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson fronts a media conference the following morning from South Africa, which only proceeds to prompt more questions than answers about the future of Foster. Foster’s keeps his job, with another press conference in New Zealand later that week confirming as much, but 10 days later, the All Blacks lose at home to Argentina for the first time, going down 25-18 in Christchurch.

The Black Ferns win both tests in the Laurie O’Reilly Cup, beating Australia 52-5 in Christchurch and 22-14 in Adelaide a week later.

The Bunnings NPC season gets underway with Canterbury travelling to Palmerston North to thrash Manawatu 62-15.

After 15 rounds, the National Basketball League reached its conclusion with the top six teams playing a finals series over four nights in Auckland. The top two teams in the regular season, the Taranaki Airs and Nelson Giants were both defeated in the semi-finals, to the Auckland Tuatara and Otago Nuggets respectively, with the Nuggets emerging victorious in the final, 81-73.

The Tokomanawa Queens defeat Northern Kāhu 71-62 in the final of the first season of Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa in Nelson.

Cameron Smith is announced as LIV Golf’s next high-profile recruit, in a deal reportedly over US$100 million dollars.

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