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Important SN update for SouthlandMonday Musings: Fudge Yeah Foxy, Blues or Bust, Fantastique French finale
Alex Chapman • June 9th, 2025 1:30 pm
Ryan Fox | Photo: Photosport
Ok, welfare check, how are we all feeling? Still coming down from the nerves and subsequent exhilaration?
Yep, same.
Four weeks after his first PGA Tour win, Ryan Fox has added a second, along with a ticket to this week’s US Open, following victory at the Canadian Open.
And all it took was four playoff holes.
Nothing cunning about it, just clutch.
It’s the first time since Sir Bob Charles in 1963 that a New Zealander has won two PGA Tour events in the same season.
He also joins Charles and Lydia Ko, as Kiwis who have claimed the Canadian Open.
That approach for birdie on 18 in regulation, and then on the fourth playoff hole which set him up for victory was, as the locals would say, good eh? As for the commentators positively pondering “How clutch is the kiwi?” Well, very.
But he won’t have too much time to drink celebratory “maple syrup” out of the trophy or spend time lying on the couch watching the Stanley Cup playoffs with a Tim Horton’s. Get your skates on (shouldn’t be a shortage of those in Canada) and get to Pennsylvania.
Side note, is Ryan Fox-Chris Wood the Kiwi crossover we didn’t know we all needed, but are grateful we now have?
Jeff Wilson raises eyebrows with his All Blacks wing selections | The Bunnings Trade Rugby Run
Bellicose Blues
So, who picked that? A few people by the sounds of it, but how many genuinely believed it?
Were those more predictions of faith or fearlessness? Of zagging while so many were zigging?
The Blues showed the resolution they’ve struggled to replicate since last season.
The time they spent camped in their own half in Hamilton, refuting and rebutting the Chiefs attack, was the sort of defiance that perhaps hasn’t been seen since last year’s title campaign.
The Chiefs had 18.8% of the match action in the Blues' 22m, more than in any other part of the field, while the defending champions had just 12.5% of the game’s entire possession in their hosts’ half.
The 15 turnovers conceded, almost half of which the Chiefs won, will be of note. After all, you can’t win the game if you don’t have the ball.
Sam Nock | Photo: Photosport
Both teams had moments of Sir Peter Leitch impressions with the butchering of a couple of tries, though while they may have gone into the sheds down, the Blues would’ve felt like they’d walked away with the better cut.
And they definitely did for the match.
Is it enough to chastise the Chiefs?
Perhaps. But coach Clayton McMillan denied complacency in his post-match press conference, though being lucky loser does afford the safety net of still being at home, and more-importantly, in the competition.
The Blues now face a task that very few, other than the locals, actually enjoy - being in Christchurch on a cold June night, with rabid fans screaming their team to conquest in what they call “paradise”.
Never mind heading down State Highway One, that was the easy part, they must now fly to the Garden City to face a team with a 30-0 finals record.
The market suggests the Chiefs are still favourites, and given their 35-19 drubbing of the red and blacks in Christchurch less than a month ago, perhaps the bookies have it correct.
But they’ll be ruing giving up home advantage for the final, should they manage to send the Brumbies to the paddock on Saturday.
Classic Crusaders
If you were to look at the various shared stats out of the game, you’d be forgiven for being confused how the scoreboard could be so one-sided.
The 14-time champions' existential state once again exhibited with their methodical, clinical, and at times surgical approach.
With scalpel, forceps and clamps, they dissected the Reds inch by inch without totally tearing them open. The only bloody part of it all was the final score.
As for the Cane train, well, that’s been brought to a halt a stop - maybe two - too early.
Those critics of the playoff system have gone quiet all of a sudden.
Kevin Schuler on the Barrett vs McKenzie debate | The Bunnings Trade Rugby Run
Wahs go fishing, and catch plenty
Never mind Warriors, they were more fishermen in their savaging at 'The Shire', turning the Sharks into what barely resembled Burley.
The performance of the season? Without a doubt.
No Mitch Barnett, the late scratching of Wayde Egan - it seems little rocks the Warriors right now.
Their youngsters are finding their groove and confidence, while the experienced heads are exactly that – calm, reassuring, steady.
The win, their 10th of the season, effectively a four-point victory, with the bye next week guaranteeing the Mt Smart club of being in the top three when they run out at home against the Panthers on June 21.
Don’t say those three words too loud, Wahs fans, but now past the halfway point, they’re sitting pretty.
French Open
Yes, there’s the recency bias, but it’s hard to argue that the men's final wasn’t one of the greatest matches ever on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Remember the concern and questions of “who’s next?” when the big three/four leave? Well, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have eased those.
Again.
As Alcaraz said after his victory; “The match is not finished until he wins the last point."
To come back and win after being down two sets, you can’t argue with that determination.
In a match that mirrored that great Wimbledon decider in 2008 between Federer and Nadal, Alcaraz and Sinner traded blows like heavyweight boxers that just wouldn’t give up.
And like 17 years ago in London, this time in Paris, it was the Spaniard who prevailed.
On the note of the Spanish synergies, for Alcaraz, at 22 years, one month and three days, he has his fifth grand slam – the exact same age Rafa had his.
In sport, we need rivalries, and these two are building one that we could have for a long time, with their strengths on different courts, styles of play and popularity with the public.
Also, Alcaraz celebrating with the ball kids is the wholesome content to make your Monday better.
All Black Stu Wilson in action against the Springboks during the South Africa tour of New Zealand 1981 | Photo: Photosport
Vale Stu Wilson
At a time when rugby struggled for personality, Stu Wilson was the biggest star.
One of the greatest All Blacks wings, with 50 tries in 85 appearances in the black jersey, his 19 test tries were for a time a record.
Provincially, he enjoyed two NPC titles with Wellington and helped them win the Ranfurly Shield before retiring in 1984.
Imagine an All Black nowadays hanging up their boots because they went against the governing body? It just wouldn’t happen.
But that was Stu Wilson. Extroverted, outspoken, gregarious, a raconteur, a character.
Catch Alex Chapman on Sport Nation Mornings, every Thursday & Friday from 9am-12pm.
