Jane Dent News Today

CHASE BOTTORF / THE EXPRESS Holy Spirit Parish is gearing up for its annual Holly Mart. From left, parish members, Boyd Young, Jane Dent, Patty Selfe, Father

An effort to shield the under-fire All Blacks coach from a media mauling last weekend fired up commentators already cranky about the high-handedness of rugby bosses. But given the intensity of some media calls for heads to roll, Mediawatch asks a veteran sportswriter if the move made sense.

Tourism New Zealand and marketing agencies spent months coming up with the concept. The aim was to find a way to reach potential future visitors at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic had closed the borders to them. Rod Stewart gives us a sneak peek at the version of Sailing which has been released for the Americas Cup singalong. “We came up with this idea of using Sir Rod Stewart for a moment of unity in which we commiserate that [foreign tourists] are not here – and get people to dream of...

Leslie Egnot at the 1995 Americas Cup. Photo: Supplied But in 1995, against all odds Egnot led an-all womens team which came excruciatingly close to beating Conners Stars and Stripes for the right to defend the Americas Cup against Team New Zealand. When the Americas Cup cycle rolls around memories of that campaign start flooding back to Egnot. Team New Zealand of course made history in 95 when they won the Americas Cup for the first time but there was another major story line in San Diego, an...