Winners & Losers: The question raised by All Blacks hopeful’s harsh injury

Christopher Reive runs through the best and worst from the sporting weekend.

Loser: Winger’s worst-case scenario

Caleb Tangitau must be thinking there’s some force in the universe that doesn’t want him to be an All Black.

In 2025, the young winger’s Super Rugby Pacific season with the Highlanders was limited to just eight games after he sustained a groin injury in April. He made a strong return and ended the year continuing to trend in the right direction with the All Blacks XV.

This year, he has been the popular choice for potential All Blacks rookies among fans and pundits, showing his quality as a strike weapon in the Highlanders’ attack.

But 81 minutes into their penultimate game of the regular season, Tangitau’s season ended.

There are a couple of things you never want to see as a sports fan:

1.) A player going down injured without as much as a touch from their opposition.

2.) The replay of said moment showing, in slow motion, the ripple of the calf muscle in the moments before the player goes down. In the many, many hours of my life I have spent watching sport, I’ve determined that often indicates an Achilles or an anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL). (See Carlos Ulberg’s ACL tear in his UFC light heavyweight title win for another example.)

The Highlanders confirmed Tangitau had suffered the former, with a ruptured Achilles set to keep the 23-year-old sidelined for up to nine months.

The injury raises questions about playing on after the hooter sounds. Had the Highlanders – who were trailing by more than a converted try and could not secure a bonus point even with a try, simply kicked the ball out to end the game – perhaps the injury would have been avoided.

Of course, teams are going to want to play on to have the last say on the scoreboard if they can, but it does leave the door open for this sort of thing to happen in moments that are otherwise inconsequential.

Losers: Okay, time for Plan B

After re-signing in-form halfback Tanah Boyd to a multi-year deal and indicating he’s going to be the man to lead the club forward, the New Zealand Warriors were forced to pivot when Boyd went down injured early in their win over the Brisbane Broncos.

A suspected ACL injury, it’s a rough way for things to come to a halt for Boyd, who had been playing great footy consistently this season and was a big part in the team holding a 7-2 record through their first nine games.

With Boyd out, Te Maire Martin played most of the game and performed well. However, the question now looms over what the Warriors do moving forward.

The injury came at the back end of a week in which fellow half Luke Metcalf got permission from the club to talk to other teams and subsequently signed a deal to play for the St George Illawarra Dragons from 2027 onwards.

Metcalf, like Boyd, had made a great start to life in the No 7 jersey for the Warriors last season before an ACL injury in round 17 ended his season. It seems like an obvious choice to bring him back into that role, with Boyd expected to face a long time on the sidelines, though Martin’s play against the Broncos certainly keeps him in the discussion.

The Warriors play the winless Dragons next, before what shapes up as a table-topping clash against the Penrith Panthers.

Winners: An unexpected treat

Auckland FC’s late-season form was nothing to write home about. Ending the regular season on a run of two losses and three draws in their past five games, they not only dropped out of the running for the Premiers Plate, but lost out on home advantage for the semi-finals – should they have made it – by falling to third on the ladder.

But the good teams are able to find a way to get the job done when it matters. Their 3-0 win away against Adelaide United, sealing a 4-1 win in the two-legged semi-final, proved as much.

It did feel like they would have to go through Newcastle if they were going to hoist the trophy, though. After starting the season with five losses in their first seven games, the Jets only lost three of their remaining 19 – winning 13 and drawing three – as they topped the table.

Sydney FC, however, had something to say about that – the competition’s fifth seeds eliminating the premiers in a penalty shootout, to hand Auckland hosting rights for the main event.

Last season, when Steve Corica’s side lifted the Premiers Plate, if felt like they would make their way to the grand final and there was discussion about whether Go Media Stadium or Eden Park would host it. This year, it’s been more of a welcome surprise and no doubt the Auckland faithful will roll up to Penrose in full voice.

There’s a fun little element of history here too. Corica led Sydney FC to three straight grand finals in 2019, 2020 and 2021, with two wins. In the latter two of those – a win and a draw – Corica coached against Patrick Kisnorbo, who is now in his first season at the helm for Sydney.

Winners: State of Origin (Kiwis edition)

The change in State of Origin eligibility has immediately come to the fore in rugby league’s biggest showcase.

Previously, players who met State of Origin requirements – being either born in New South Wales or Queensland, residing in the state before their 13th birthday or their father played – also had to elect to represent Australia or a tier-two nation on the international stage.

Essentially, if you had played for New Zealand or England, you could not play Origin. Now they’ve scrapped that last part.

That’s seen Kiwis duo Casey McLean and Briton Nikora called up for the Blues and Maroons respectively, with former Kiwis now Tonga prop Addin Fonua-Blake also joining the Blues squad.

It’s a win for the game both at State of Origin and international levels. In State of Origin, it allows for more of the game’s best players to feature in the biggest series in the sport because, while it could see international squads strengthened as players no longer have to commit to Australia (if ineligible for a tier-two team) in order to be considered.

With the World Cup coming up later in the year, the move comes at a great time.

Losers: Those with a flair for the dramatic

How disappointing to get to the final weekends of the English Premier League to find what was once shaping up to be a tense last-minute battle at both ends of the table to be a situation where those of us without a horse in the race are on the side of chaos.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be thrilled to see Arsenal finally lift the Premier League title again and at the time of writing this, they are two points clear of Manchester City after both have played 36 games.

Finishing with Burnley (19th) and Crystal Palace (15th), you’d expect them to be able to keep that gap over City, who play Bournemouth (sixth) and Aston Villa (fourth). Yes, the door for a high-stakes final round opens again if Arsenal somehow lose to Burnley, but that’s a big if.

It’s the same at the other end of the table as Tottenham Hotspur are two points ahead of London rivals West Ham United and have a game in hand as they battle to avoid relegation. Spurs visit some more local rivals, Chelsea, on Wednesday, where a point will likely be enough to ensure their survival – though you can imagine the joy Chelsea would take in preventing that for at least another game.

West Ham finish at home to Leeds (14th) while Spurs play their last game at home to Everton (12th). West Ham’s goal difference is 13 worse than that of Tottenham. Their only hope is to beat Leeds and have Spurs lose their two remaining games.

Certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

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