Kia ora, Talofa, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 10 Episode 46 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on Friday morning 16 August 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the blue continent, where it is mostly cloudy and 21 degrees Celsius at 5am this morning.
 
In Rugby League: It was billed as the game of the season and it delivered a roller coaster clash that saw Melbourne clinch a pulsating 24-22 win at Bluebet Stadium in Penrith, after Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary departed injured in the 67th minute, in a wild top-of-the-table clash last night.

In Sportsbiz: The WNBA season resumes today after a month-long break.

The big challenge for WNBA executives is to continue the momentum from the first half of their game-changing season, where the WNBA had 16 games with at least one million viewers, including the All-Star Game - 14 of them featured Caitlin Clark, and the top two most-watched games between the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky.

Compared to - not a single WNBA game breaching the one-million-viewer mark last year, including the Finals.

In Rugby Union: Powerful Wing Marika Koroibete makes his Wallabies return for Saturday night’s Rugby Championship clash against South Africa at Perth’s Optus Stadium, replacing the injured Filipo Daugunu, who broke his leg in Australia’s 7-33 loss to the Springboks last Saturday in Brisbane.

Experienced halfback Nic White has also been recalled, while Max Jorgensen and Seru Uru are poised to make their Test debuts off the bench.

Meanwhile, powerhouse Wing Caleb Clarke makes his return to the All Blacks starting XV, replacing Sevu Reece for their Rugby Championship clash against Los Pumas at a sold out ABs Fortress Eden Park tomorrow.
 
What’s the bet Argentina plays a tight forwards 11-man kicking game.
 
In Football: With less than 22 months until the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off in North America, the US Men’s National Soccer team appears to have finally landed its big fish.

Former Chelsea Manager Mauricio Pochettino is in line to become the next US head coach, with an official announcement expected next week.

This comes after they failed to hire former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.

In UFC: Dricus Du Plessis is doing something rare for a champion. He is defending his UFC Middleweight title halfway around the world from his native South Africa, in Perth, Australia.
While the challenger, Israel Adesanya, lives in nearby New Zealand.

Adesanya was offended when du Plessis said he wanted to be the first African UFC Champion in history.

Du Plessis is a white fighter from South Africa, while Adesanya, born in Nigeria before moving to New Zealand as a child, is one of three black African UFC Champions - Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou already claimed UFC gold, but du Plessis doesn’t consider them true African UFC Champions, because they no longer live on the continent.

This Saturday, the two men will settle their differences.

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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