The week has flown by in a flash, and I think that for myself, and many others around the country, it may feel the same because of the sheer amount of sport we have been able to indulge in.
Once again, we are going to review all the action that has taken place and highlight a couple of the top moments in our opinion. With that said, we are taking a quick trip to Perth as we dive into the action-packed game one of the Steelers.
Travis Head Steers Australia Home
This Ashes series had plenty of hype going into it, as the expectations were set for it to be one of the best of all time. The high powered Australian cricket side were set to take on Brendon McCullum’s “Baz Ball” iteration of England test cricket.
In classic Baz style, England won the toss and batted first, which started the run of three poor innings in a row between the sides. As the seam bowlers for both nations picked up 30 wickets in about a day and two sessions, Australia were set the tough task of chasing a 200 run score that had not come close to being eclipsed in this one.
With a fired up England bowling attack and Australia set to be without their lead opening batsman, there were some worries about their chances. This led to Travis Head being given an opportunity to open, and the normal middle order batter certainly made the most of his chance at the top.
Head absorbed plenty of pressure alongside rookie Jake Weatherald, and they got off to a hot start against the England attack. Then, with Weatherald departing the crease, Travis Head took the game over and began to launch into the England attack in what has been described by his teammates as one of the best innings they have seen. With his usual aggressive nature, Head flew his way to a maiden test opening hundred and did so while putting any of England’s hopes of going up one nil to rest single handedly.
Verstappen Shines In Sin City
This F1 season looked to be put to rest early on because of the dominance McLaren were showing, not only in results but in their performance levels across the board. Each race weekend it seemed there was no question about which team would come away with the win. The only question was which driver in orange would be standing on the top of the podium spraying champagne.
Through the mid season and after the summer break, some bizarre cracks started to show in McLaren’s armour, and a familiar foe began to turn up the heat on them. That competitor is, of course, Max Verstappen, who may not be in the best car on the circuit anymore, but no doubt remains the most aggressive and talented driver on the grid.
This weekend in Las Vegas, as the city dealt with flash flooding, it seemed there could be some strange outcomes on the famous strip. That sentiment came to fruition with a frantic start that saw Lando Norris make a huge mistake, which allowed Verstappen through to the lead early. The defending champion did not let that opportunity slip as he eventually won the race and was then given even better news, as the McLarens were disqualified for failing the post race examination.
This sent a shock wave through the F1 circuit and quickly made people realise that no points for McLaren, combined with Max Verstappen’s win, means he is now right on the coattails of both championship leaders in a year where it had seemed like a two horse race.
Fabian Holland Wins Breakthrough Player Of The Year
The All Blacks season was no doubt up and down, with some very good results and then a sprinkle of a few historically bad ones, which makes me feel indifferent about the campaign as a whole.
I wanted to really look into what might have been the biggest positive of the whole season for the men in the black jersey, and that was the level of play from their rookie lock from wire to wire. The rookie was Fabian Holland, who after a breakout Super Rugby season for the Highlanders became a trusted member of the All Blacks when he was given a start in his debut.
From there, Holland was consistently one of the top forwards on the park for the All Blacks, as he made plenty of tackles each time out and arguably became the best lineout threat in the world. However, it wasn’t just in the tight and set piece where Holland contributed. He also showed great ability with his ball skills, putting others into space with pop passes and offloads that made him far harder for opposition sides to deal with.
This level of play has shored up the New Zealand pipeline of locks and, as an individual, deservingly won him the World Rugby Breakout Player of the Year award, which was announced after the Wales game.
