All Blacks

A Canberra man has pleaded guilty to selling drugs to the former Kiwis captain Jesse Bromwich and his New Zealand teammate, Kevin Proctor.The ABC reports Adrian Mark Crowther was caught by Police after CCTV footage captured him preparing a white powder on his phone before handing it to the two league players.

The pair then consumed the substance through rolled up bank notes, just hours after they represented New Zealand in the annual ANZAC league Test against Australia.

Today Crowther plead guilty to supplying the drugs.

NZR chief executive Steve Tew and Prime Minister Bill English confirmed the fixture in Tokyo.

RNZ reports the All Blacks will play the Brave Blossoms in November 2018 ahead of their annual end of year European Tour.

Tew said the test met several objectives.

"Interest in rugby in Japan is on a high and will only build as we get closer to Rugby World Cup 2019. The test will not only provide a great opportunity to prepare for the 2018 end of year tour, it also gives the team first-hand experience of playing in Japan less than a year out from the tournament.

Dagg travelled with the team to Suva but will only take part in promotional activities.

The 28-year-old outside back had a knee operation in mid-March but played 40 minutes of club rugby last weekend and declared himself ready to resume playing for the Crusaders.

Coach Scott Robertson disagreed and left him out of the match in Suva, where the Crusaders will be looking to retain their perfect record this season with a 12th consecutive win.

A major announcement is expected from The New Zealand and Japanese Rugby Unions.

New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew is currently in Japan as part of a trade delegation headed by the Prime Minister Bill English, who says he's keen to get the world champion All Blacks to play in Japan before the 2019 World Cup.

The All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said at last week's World Cup draw that a match against Japan "wouldn't be a bad idea".

RNZI reports the All Blacks could play Japan in the World Cup quarter-finals in 2019.

South Africa's slump to seventh in the world means the 1995 and 2007 champions will face the All Blacks in the pool stage for the first time in a blockbuster clash.

The All Blacks will have to beat the Springboks to top their pool, as they bid for a hat-trick of titles.

The All Blacks and England, currently the top two teams in the world, would meet in a tantalising semi-final if they both win their pools and got through their quarter-finals.

New Zealand will likely play Scotland, Ireland or Japan in the quarter-finals.

Read has had surgery on a broken thumb and is expected to be out for six weeks which could have him back in time for the Lions match against the Crusaders on June 10th, two weeks before the first test in Auckland.

Kaino is due back a week later.

The squad for the first test against the British and Irish Lions will be named on Thursday, June 8th.

It's highly unlikely Read or Kaino will have been back on the field by that stage but they'll no doubt be named in the squad subject to fitness.

Ma'a Nonu was at his vintage best as he helped Toulon to a thrilling and important win in the French Top 14.

The former All Blacks midfielder scored the last of Toulon's three tries with a brilliant solo 30m effort in their 33-23 win on Monday (NZ time).

Tries haven't been easy to come by for Nonu since he moved to France following the 2015 World Cup triumph.

But he showed his mix of power and pace with this effort, side-stepping against the run of play and slicing through the Toulouse defenders to make his way to the line.

12 Capital Rugby Union clubs including four invitational sides will participate in the three days tournament from December 9-11.

Teams invited include AROB Black Orchids, Lae Hammerheads, Madang Madgauns and Kimbe Rebels that make up the 16 men's teams with eight women's teams registered to participate.

The tournament will be officially launched at 12pm before kick off by widow of the former All Blacks, Nadene Lomu.

The tournament commemorates the first anniversary of Jonah’s passing.

The legendary McCaw became a commercial helicopter pilot after ending his illustrious rugby career following the All Blacks' World Cup triumph last year.

McCaw has been ferrying rescue teams Kaikoura, close to the epicentre of a quake which struck early on Tuesday morning, where people have been stranded due to landslides.

He told the New Zealand Herald: "We took the Fire Service just north and south of Kaikoura to check out all the slips and make sure everyone was accounted for."

"History in Chicago. The long wait is over." That is how the Irish Independent reported the win, splashing the result large on its website.

"Ireland's class of 2016 stamped their names into the history books as Joe Schmidt's side dispatched New Zealand 40-29 in Chicago," wrote the Irish Times just after the win.

The ABs themselves were gracious in defeat.

And the mood back in Ireland itself was clearly riotous.

Irish fans at a Wellington pub were in an understandably celebratory mood after the match.