Coco Talanoa — Sports / Page 39

Terron Beckham (well known fitness & sports industry personality - he's also NFL star Odell Beckham Jrs cousin) travels to Samoa to see what it takes for Samoans to chase their weightlifting dreams and lift the small Pacific island to be among the best in the world.

40 Samoan teams from Australia, Samoa and New Zealand compete in the Auckland Samoan Basketball Competition!

Ratu Kadavulevu Schools under 18 side have created history by becoming the first Fijian school to win the Sanix World Youth Rugby Tournament in Japan!

RKS defeated New Zealand's champion high school, Hastings Boys High School 35 - 5 in the final and beat out Framesby High School from South Africa in the quarter finals and Australia's St Augustine's College in the semis.

Awesome for development for the game in the Pacific! 

Watch the 1st half of the game in the video above and the 2nd half in the video below 

Photo credit: Facebook/Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament

We were Keepin it Fresh down at the World School Sevens competition where teams from all over the world came to compete and see who would be crowned the World High School champions.

.

Credits:

DIrector - Shimpal Lelisi 

Editor - Shimpal & James Leonard 

Camera Operator - Darryl Laumua 

Sound Operator - Will Voigt 

Basketball teams from Samoa, Australia and New Zealand came together for the 3 Day Samoa Cup Basketball Tournament in Auckland last week (3rd - 5th Jan 18).  It's an annual tournament open to all Samoans to participate and for the first time since the tournament started 4 years ago, invitational teams representing the Cook Islands and Tonga (NZ based) participated.

Divisions included Under 16s, Under 19s and Open teams for both Men and Women held at Pulman Arena in South Auckland with the purpose of uniting Samoan players to compete against each other for spots in teams which will be selected in upcoming FIBA events and even to represent Samoa at the Commonwealth games should they qualify.

When the tournament first started 4 years ago there were only 7 teams competing, last year there were 20 and this year it more than doubled with over 40 teams entered boosted by overseas team entries - 5 teams came over from Samoa as well as teams from Samoa Basketball Australia - Victoria, NSW and Queensland.…more

UFC Fighters Tyson Pedro & Tai Tuivasa host their own podcast - the 'Halfcast Podcast' and have a special guest with them on their 3rd episode.

They talk to Mate Ma'a Tonga Prop Andrew Fifita about his decision to play for Tonga, his younger days growing up in West Sydney, gold teeth, KFC & that infamous disallowed try! 

The boys had another interview with him again more recently where they discussed their fights, Andrews first couple games this season with Cronulla, annoying media harassment and his decision to stick with Tonga for the remainder of his playing career!  Check it out in the video below .....

For more of the Halfcast Podcast interviews click here 

* PG recommended - coarse language 

By Johnny Se'evae Kosokoso 

With the semi finals done and dusted, the last hope for fans of a pacific team making the final for the very first time, went up in smoke when Mate Ma’a Tonga came tantalisingly close in the dying moments of semi final 2 against England. In what would have been the greatest come back in Rugby League World Cup history, the Tongan team had scored 3 tries in the last 7 mins of regular time, and had there been an extra minute on the clock, Tonga would have won the game, and the betting agencies would have been put out of business.

Yes it did end in controversial fashion, the match referee ruling a knock on by Andrew Fifita, instead of a one on one strip, that Fifita looked to have gone on and scored. The big question...........…more

And so it comes to this. Kiwi supporters trying to dissect the results of the past two weeks. In this we can tell a couple of things. Firstly, they didn’t expect Tonga to win. Secondly, they didn’t expect Fiji to win either.

But the Bula boys with the most flamboyant afro’s in the competition showed the Kiwi’s that the Fee was in the Gee (Fiji), and unlike David Kidwell’s post match interviews, there was a coherency around this Fiji performance that will have the small islands partying into the wee hours of the morning.

As games go, this one was much tighter than the Kiwi/Tonga bash fest. This was an 80 minute mystery. The type of game that has sports betting agencies on edge. But more importantly, it was a game that proves the island teams are on the rise, and that the Kiwi fan base is in shreds.

Last week the Tongan fans packed the Hamilton stadium, outnumbering the kiwi supporters at least 20:1. This week it looked like I could count the Kiwi supporters on both my feet.…more

Watch as Tai "BAM BAM" Tuivasa starts off his journey embarking on his UFC debut 3 years ago.

The foboriginal (Samoan/Aboriginal) kid from the area will fight tomorrow morning on the UFC 254 prelims at UFC Fight Island. 

.

Episode 2: 

.

Episode 3: 

.

Episode 4: 

.

Episode 5: