Terry Tonga
Terry Tonga is a veteran Southland sports scribe who lives for high-stakes drama, from screaming V8s to physical netball clashes in the Steel fortress and basketball battles in the Sharks tank. He covers southern grit with pure, trackside passion
The SBS Bank Southland Stags have added two young Australian forwards to their 2026 NPC squad, signing NSW Waratahs players Clem Halaholo and Jack Barrett ahead of the upcoming season. Halaholo joins as a versatile forward capable of playing lock or loose forward, arriving off the back of a breakout
The Southland Sharks beat the Canterbury Rams 103-98 on Saturday, a result that came down to which side could string together the bigger quarters — and it was Southland who answered that question twice. Neither team was at full strength. The Sharks were without Sam Timmins, an MVP candidate, while the
Two Japanese players from the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights will join the Southland Stags for the 2026 NPC season, extending a sister-city relationship between Invercargill and Kumagaya City that has been running since 1993. Hayata Taniyama and Takaya Saito, both from the Wild Knights, are heading south — adding experience and
Brendon Leitch came back from nowhere — twice — to claim back-to-back Pro-Am podiums at Spa-Francorchamps in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe series. The Invercargill driver and American co-driver Don Yount were running the #70 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 for Leipert Motorsport in blistering heat. Qualifying was messy — Leitch narrowly missed
The brutal rollercoaster of world championship motorcycle racing continues for Cormac Buchanan. A tough spell of results has forced the Southland teen to call on every ounce of resilience, including a crash at the latest round of the Moto3 World Championship at Assen in the Netherlands. "I know what
The GoSweetSpot Mystics are the most successful team in ANZ Premiership history, and it is not particularly close anymore. They beat the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel 56-46 in the Grand Final in Auckland on Saturday, claiming a record fourth title — one more than any other side in the competition&
The Southern Steel are heading to the ANZ Premiership Grand Final, and head coach Wendy Frew is finally allowed to smile about it. All season the Invercargill-based side has run on a game-by-game mantra, refusing to look further ahead than the next match. That discipline paid off Sunday when they
The SBS Bank Southland Stags have bolstered their squad ahead of the 2026 NPC season, signing three players including a third-generation Southland rugby family member. Gregor Rutledge joins as a product of the Rugby Southland pathway system, completing a remarkable family hat-trick. His grandfather Leicester Rutledge made 113 appearances for