Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - A blow for the Warriors ahead of Sunday's sold out homecoming match in Auckland.

Star young fullback Reece Walsh was set to miss the match against the Wests Tigers after testing positive for Covid-19.

The 19-year-old was isolating in line with NRL protocols and wouldn't return to training with the team until after the reassembled at their Australian base after their bye next weekend.

Sunday's match would be the Warriors first in Aotearoa since August, 2019, with almost 27,000 fans set to be in attendance at Mt Smart Stadium.

The match was the second-fastest selling match in club history, behind only their maiden season in 1995.

It was also only the fourth time Mt Smart Stadium would be at capacity for a regular season fixture.

All Blacks loosie staying put

All Blacks No 8 Hoskins Sotutu is staying put until at least the end of 2024.

The Blues loosie has signed a two-year contract extension with the Super Rugby side and New Zealand Rugby.

Sotutu, who made his debut in 2019, has racked up 37 caps for the Blues and made his All Blacks debut against Australia in Wellington in 2020.

The 23-year-old, whose father Waisake played for Auckland, the Blues and 12 times for Fiji, found the game while at Sacred Heart College in Auckland after playing baseball, basketball and football.

The highly-skilled Sotutu made his debut for the Blues against the Crusaders late in the 2019 season and has been a regular at No 8 ever since.

"Hoskins has all the skills and attributes to become one of the game's best No 8s. He has size, speed and supreme skills," said Blues head coach Leon MacDonald.

"Hoskins continues to amaze us with his skillset. He is a good young man and a dedicated athlete. The rugby world could be at his feet if he can realise all of his talents."

Fox's rich form continues

Ryan Fox's good run of form on the World Tour is continuing with the Auckland golfer holding a one shot lead after the opening round of the Irish Open.

Fox fired an eight under par 64 which included six birdies on his second nine.

He's one shot ahead of a group of four players.

Fox is scheduled to play the Scottish Open next week before playing the Open Championship at St Andrews.

The 35 year old has had six top ten finishes in his last nine World Tour events.

Aussie netball series confirmed

Netball New Zealand has confirmed the Silver Ferns will go up against the Australian Diamonds on both sides of the Tasman in October.

The Silver Ferns will defend their Constellation Cup title when they meet the Diamonds in four Tests.

The rivalry resumes on this side of the Tasman at Spark Arena in Auckland on 12 October and Trustpower Baypark Arena Tauranga on 16 October.

The Silver Ferns then head off on their first trip to Australia since late 2019, with matches on Wednesday 19 October and Sunday 23 October (venues still TBC).

Silver Ferns head coach Dame Noeline Taurua said there was plenty of world class netball to look forward to after such a disrupted international calendar over the past few years.

"It's exciting to be able to confirm the Cadbury Netball Series with the opportunity to defend the Constellation Cup against our toughest rivals and we can't wait for the rivalry to resume," she said.

The Silver Ferns ended a nine-year drought in 2021, securing the Constellation Cup after winning the series 3-1 in Christchurch.

Venus beaten at Wimbledon

New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus and his German parter Tim Puetz have been beaten in the first round of men's doubles at Wimbledon.

The fifth seeds were beaten by Venus' former partner Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Marcelo Melo of Brazil in five sets.

Meanwhile Erin Routliffe and her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska have won their opening women's doubles match.

The 11th seeds beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine in straight sets.

Venus and Routliffe are both also scheduled to play mixed doubles.

Big win for Tall Blacks

The Tall Blacks have beaten the Philippines 106-60 in Auckland in their World Cup Asian qualifing game.

The game was the New ZEalanders first at home since 2018 and extends their winning streak to four games - and 8 wins in their last 9.

Dion Prewster led New Zealand with 15 points, with Finn Delany registering 15 points & 7 rebounds and Jordan Ngatai, Ethan Rusbatch, Shea Ili and Corey Webster each scoring in double figures.

New Zealand led 47-21 at half time.

The Tall Blacks had already qualified for the second round of Asian qualifying with their next game in Auckland in August.

Police start searches ahead of Tour de France

Danish police have carried out a search at the hotel of cycling team Bahrain Victorious at the request of French authorities on the eve of the Tour de France Grand Depart.

Authorities searched all team vehicles and the rooms of staff and riders at 5:30 a.m. local time in Brondby. The homes of riders and staff were also searched by police earlier this week before their departure for the Tour.

French prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into doping allegations against Bahrain Victorious after police searched the team's hotel late in last year's race.

The team said in a statement that it fully cooperated with the authorities and the search was completed within two hours.

"No items were seized from the team," it added.

Bahrain Victorious won three stages in last year's Tour. Their accommodation was raided after the 17th stage.

At the time, the prosecutor's office in Marseille said the investigation was into "acquisition, transport, possession, import of a prohibited substance or prohibited method for use by an athlete without medical justification".

-Reuters

Indian captain out of test

India captain Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the rescheduled fifth test against England beginning tonight and seamer Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side instead.

Rohit was doubtful for the clash since he tested positive for COVID-19 during a warm-up match in Leicester last week.

He had a Rapid Antigen Test today and returned a positive result, which snuffed out his chances of playing in the match at Edgbaston.

India faced a leadership crisis with vice-captain KL Rahul also missing the match to have surgery for a sports hernia in Germany.

India are 2-1 up in the series which could not be completed last year because of COVID-19 cases in the India camp ahead of the final match at Old Trafford.

Veteran seamer James Anderson will replace Jamie Overton in the England team.

Anderson, England's record wicket-taker in test cricket, missed the third test against New Zealand with an ankle injury.

-Reuters

Aussies on top

Australia's Cameron Green struck a masterly 77 on a treacherous track and forged half-century partnerships with Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey to put the tourists in charge of the opening test against Sri Lanka in Galle.

Green added 57 runs with Usman Khawaja and 84 with Alex Carey to help Australia eclipse Sri Lanka's below-par total of 212 and reach 313-8, a handy lead of 101, at the Galle International Stadium.

Captain Pat Cummins was batting on after an entertaining 26 off 16 balls with Nathan Lyon on eight at the other end when bad light stopped the second day's play.

Earlier, after rain and strong wind wiped out the entire morning session's play, Australia resumed on 98-3 and lost Travis Head in the second over of the day.

-Reuters

Folau named in Tongan team

Israel Folau will return to test rugby for the first since he was sacked by Rugby Australia three years ago when Tonga take on Fiji in the Pacific Nations Cup on Saturday.

The 33-year-old, who scored 37 tries for Australia in 73 internationals between 2013 and 2019, was listed as "Isileli Folau" and named on the right wing for the match in Suva.

Folau, an evangelical Christian, had his Australia contract torn up in 2019 after he posted a meme on social media which said "hell" awaits homosexuals and other groups.

World Rugby's decision last year to allow players to switch their international allegiance paved the way for Folau to represent Tonga, coached by former Wallaby Toutai Kefu.

Former All Blacks Malakai Fekitoa and Salesi "Charles" Piutau were also included in the Tonga side at inside centre and fullback respectively. Having become a pariah in Australian sport after his social media posts, Folau returned to rugby league in France in 2020.

He tried to revive his career in the sport in Australia but was blocked by local officials before switching back to rugby union last year, taking a contract with Japan's Shining Arcs.

Fiji head coach Vern Cotter named five new caps in his side for the test, with former All Blacks centre Seta Tamanivalu looking to return to international rugby after a gap of five years from the bench.

Samoa and an Australia 'A' team will also compete in the July 2-16 Pacific Nations Cup.

-Reuters

African Cup of Nations starts

World Cup places will be up for grabs at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off in Morocco this weekend, with the top four finishers guaranteed a spot at the 2023 finals in Australia and New Zealand.

Africa previously had three places at the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, but with the field for the 2023 tournament expanded to 32 teams, there are now four automatic berths for the continent and the chance of two more places via a proposed 10-team playoff tournament.

The four semi-finalists at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations will qualify for the World Cup and there will be playoff matches to determine places five and six, with those two teams taking part in the World Cup qualifying playoff tournament.

The African championship, being hosted in Casablanca and Rabat, and which runs through to July 23, is itself expanded to 12 teams, with Nigeria's dominant position in the women's game on the continent under threat.

They have won 11 of the previous 13 African women's titles and been to all eight previous World Cups, but they will face a stiff challenge from the likes of Cameroon, South Africa and Zambia this year.

-Reuters