Kia ora, Talofa lava, Ma’lelei, Bula, Aloha and Welcome to Season 11 Episode 14 of Breakfast Bites, by TEIVOVOdigital.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on Thursday morning 17 October 2024.
 
Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian, in the middle of the Blue continent, where it is 22 degrees Celsius at 5am this morning and sunrise at 5.35am.
 
In Rugby Union: The All Blacks have made three injury-enforced changes to the squad for their Test against Japan and the Northern Tour.
 
Ethan Blackadder (calf), Luke Jacobson (fractured thumb) and Dalton Papali'i (upper hamstring) will not be available to travel with the squad today due to injury.  

So 21 year old Hurricanes loose forward Peter Lakai and 23 year old Chiefs lock, Josh Lord join the squad.

In Rugby League: The Tongan rugby league team to take on the Australian Kangaroos on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane in the Pacific Championship includes an incredible backline featuring: Penrith grand final hero Paul Alamoti, Daniel Tupou, Sione Katoa and Moses Suli. 
 
Manly young gun Lehi Hopoate gets the nod at fullback, while Dolphins star Isaiya Katoa will wear the No.7 and Rabbitohs utility Siliva Havili starts at Hooker. 
 
Eli Katoa and Haumole Olakau’atu have won the back row race, with enforcer, Felise Kaufusi starting alongside Addin Fonua-Blake, who will also Captain the Tongans.
 
In Football: Thomas Tuchel is England’s new Manager, with the German set to start in the role from January 2025.
 
The 51-year-old, former Coach of Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich succeeds Gareth Southgate and becomes the third foreign Manager of the Three Lions after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

In Boxing: Tim Tszyu has questioned if Russia’s towering undefeated IBF World Super Welterweight Champion Bakhram Murtazaliev is struggling to make weight for Sunday’s blockbuster in Orlando, Florida, revealing he has seen the champ running at night in a hoodie.
 
Murtazaliev, who stands 183cm - nine centimetres taller than Tszyu - has said that he could move up in weight after defeating the Australian challenger, to chase the WBA Middleweight title.

In the NFL: The NFL is riding the Taylor Swift wave.

While their fan base has always been heavily female: 2021 stats showed women comprised about 46% of NFL fans, two years before Travis and Taylor linked up.

But after Swift’s first appearance, the NFL quickly noticed that every game she attended, the broadcasts panned several times to show the singer and her friends.

Embracing Swift’s presence immediately reflected in a spike in viewership.

The second game Taylor Swift attended saw a 53% jump in teenage girls watching, compared to the first three weeks of Sunday Night Football.

The figures reflected a 24% jump in women viewers ages 18 to 24, and a 34% increase for women ages 35 and older.

In total, upward of two million more women tuned in than in previous weeks, NBC reported. And at the end of the regular season, the NFL measured its highest female viewership since it began tracking the metric in 2000, up 9% from the year before.

Go Taylor Go Swiftees Go!

And that’s a wrap peeps!

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Mahalo and Ka kite; for TEIVOVOdigital.com, I’m Culden Kamea tanking you all too mas for all your love and support.
 
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