Winners & Losers: New Zealand Rugby signs Tony Brown, Liam Lawson impressive in Monaco

MacDonald left his post after just five tests. Holland later announced his decision to leave his post after the 2025 campaign. David Hill (kicking), Corey Flynn (throwing) and Bryn Evans (lineout) were also involved in Robertson’s coaching team over the past two years.

That group, who had been hired to lead the All Blacks to the 2027 World Cup, was then replaced this year following a review. New head coach Dave Rennie took the reins, with Ryan (forwards), Faʻalogo Tana Umaga (defence), Neil Barnes (senior assistant) and Mike Blair (attack) as his assistants and Phil Healey as head of performance. Former Scotland international Blair is the first non-national to join an All Blacks coaching staff.

Now, they are planning for a future with Tony Brown in it – signing the current Springboks assistant on a contract beginning in 2028.

The All Blacks do not currently have a head coach beyond 2027, and signing Brown – who is on contract with South Africa through to the end of the 2027 World Cup – was led by incoming New Zealand Rugby (NZR) high performance director Don Tricker, who does not start in the role fulltime until November this year.

But this is a smart and proactive move from NZR to ensure it doesn’t miss its chance to bring Brown home. Widely regarded as one of the best and most creative attacking coaches going around, offering him a deal now gives peace of mind that he will be involved in the future.

That could still be under Rennie’s charge, with NZR confirming the head coach will know whether or not he will continue beyond the 2027 World Cup prior to the tournament.

With the new expanded Fifa World Cup format this year and several teams who finish third in their group moving on, there is plenty of optimism that the All Whites could move into the knockout stages for the first time, despite being the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.

Their recent performances have, however, lacked in one vital area that suggests disappointment may be on the horizon for Kiwi fans.

The All Whites have played four matches this year and scored just four goals – all of which came in their 4-1 win over Chile in March. They were held scoreless against Finland (2-0), England (1-0) and Haiti (4-0). The latter are the second-lowest-ranked team to qualify for the World Cup.

Since securing World Cup qualification with a 3-0 win over New Caledonia last March, the All Whites have played 12 matches for two wins, a draw and nine losses. In that stretch, they have scored nine goals and conceded 20.

It’s cause for concern when the All Whites share a group with Egypt (ranked 29), Iran (21) and Belgium (9).

A week that began with him putting his car into the wall in Monaco ended in an equal career-best finish for the Kiwi Formula One driver.

Lawson would have backed himself to return to the points in Monaco, barring any mechanical or electrical issues after putting his VCARB 03 10th on the grid in qualifying. While a staple on the schedule, the street circuit is not usually one that offers a lot of entertainment value, with no real opportunities for overtakes, which makes a good performance in qualifying crucial.

But in a race that saw drivers forced to retire with engine issues, others hit the wall and several hit with time penalties for speeding in the pit lane, Lawson was assured in his drive and avoided all of the carnage to make Monaco another memorable result. It was a dream finish to a day that started with something out of a nightmare for Lawson, as mechanical issues threatened to keep him from even making it to the starting line.

The 24-year-old had a tumultuous rookie year on the grid in 2025, but this year he has quietly gone about his business and is putting together a strong season.

With a 10-point haul in this year’s surprisingly entertaining Monaco Grand Prix, Lawson is now ninth in the Driver’s Championship standings with 26 points. That puts him as the top-ranked driver outside of the big four – Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull – and he has doubled the points haul of rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.

Now six races into the season, Lawson has finished in the points in four of those. It took Lawson until the eighth grand prix of 2025 to feature in the points – an eighth place in Monaco.

The ACT Brumbies’ resistance against the Hurricanes wasn’t the only grim sight in Friday night’s Super Rugby Pacific qualifying final in wet and windy Wellington.

As the Hurricanes had arguably their most complete performance of the season, scoring nine tries with first five-eighths Ruben Love kicking a perfect 10/10 from the tee and running up their highest total of the campaign in a 66-12 thrashing, the number of empty yellow seats was hard to ignore.

Even Hurricanes captain Jordie Barrett made a comment about the empty seats in his post-game interview with Sky Sport.

“It’s pleasing to be in Wellington. There were a lot of great fans who turned out tonight. It wasn’t the nicest day of weather. We’re just very grateful that we get to come back here next week and play in front of our home fans. It would be great to see as many people here possible and hopefully not too many yellow seats.”

Yes, the weather was horrible and yes, the Hurricanes were expected to win well. I’m not saying I expected a sellout, but in an elimination game, with the team arguably the best they have been in the last decade, I expected to see less yellow space in the stands.

The Hurricanes will be expected to win well against the Blues – who have lost four games in a row but make the penultimate week of the competition as the lucky losers. The forecast is looking much better though and it is a Kiwi derby, so hopefully the fans come out in numbers.

There were also empty seats in Hamilton where, in equally bad conditions and in a game the hosts were expected to win, the Chiefs’ qualifying final against the Queensland Reds drew a modest crowd of 11,787. Surely a home semi-final against the Crusaders will draw more punters out on Friday.

Auckland and Christchurch rugby fans will also have rugby on their doorsteps with Super Rugby Aupiki kicking off, with games at Eden Park (2.05pm Saturday) and One New Zealand Stadium (4.05pm Saturday).

It was very easy to get excited at the prospect of a cricket test between the Black Caps and England at Lord’s.

It was very easy to be disappointed by the actual test.

A total of 617 runs were scored across the four innings, the Black Caps not even reaching the 150 mark in either of theirs. It was all over in four days – thanks in large part to rain on day three – with the bowling attacks demolishing both sides.

Black Caps quicks Kyle Jamieson and Nathan Smith took five-wicket bags in the first and second innings respectively, as did England’s Ollie Robinson and Gus Atkinson.

The 150th test at the famed ground, the Guardian reports it was also its first since 1888 to feature fewer than 1000 legal deliveries.

Marylebone Cricket Club boss Rob Lawson, to his credit, admitted the pitch that had been prepared for the match fell short of expectations.

“We recognise that the pitch for this test has shown more variable bounce than we would have wanted. We hold ourselves to the highest standards and are naturally frustrated when a surface falls short of those expectations.

“The unusually hot and dry weather during May, followed by wetter conditions in the lead-up to the match, presented a number of challenges in preparing the pitch.

“However, we fully recognise the need to act quickly [to fix it].”

Hopefully we get more of a proper test in the second instalment of the series at The Oval next week.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.