All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick has made a promising return from his dislocated shoulder in the 71-9 World Cup win over Namibia in Tokyo

In his first game in almost three months, Retallick got through half an hour before Patrick Tuipulotu replaced him.



Waikato have broken a four-game losing streak in the Mitre 10 Cup, beating Taranaki 38-19 in Hamilton and maintaining their hopes of a Premiership semi-final spot.

Tasman have extended their lead atop the table with a 52-6 defeat of Northland in Nelson.



Cooper Cronk has farewelled league with another NRL premiership but it came amid controversy.

The Sydney Roosters halfback was sin-binned for a professional foul during the final for tackling Canberra's Josh Papalii without the ball.

The Roosters beat the Raiders 14-8 to become the first team in 26 years to defend their title.



The Black Ferns sevens are into the semi-finals of the season-opening tournament in Glendale, California.

New Zealand's beaten Ireland 36-10 in the quarters and will now face the USA - France and Australia to square off in the other semi.



Israel Adesanya has dethroned UFC middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker with a knock-out win in their UFC 243 bout in Melbourne.

An Adesanya left hook in the second round proved decisive.



Champions Manchester City have lost more ground on English Premier League leaders Liverpool after getting beaten 2-nil at home by Wolverhampton.

The result leaves City second on 16 points, eight behind Liverpool going into the international break.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle were the other winners.



Marc Marquez has claimed his sixth MotoGP world title after winning in Thailand.



Dominic Thiem and Naomi Osaka have won their respective finals at tennis' China Open in Beijing.



India's beaten South Africa by 203 runs in their opening cricket test at Visakhapatnam .

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami starred with five wickets for 35 runs to help dismiss the Proteas for 191 in their second innings.



From our "little tweets can go a long way" desk...

The Houston Rockets' Chinese sponsor and a Chinese sportswear maker have suspended work with the basketball team after their general manager sent a tweet in support of Hong Kong protests at the weekend.

The controversial morsel was deleted, but not before sportswear brand Li-Ning and sponsor Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Credit Card Center had spied it.