Bula, Ma’lelei, Talofa and Welcome to Season 06 Episode 23 of Breakfast Bites by TeivovoSports.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news on a bright and sunny Sunday morning 23 July 2023.

Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In the FIFA World Cup Group Games yesterday: USA 3-0 Vietnam at Eden Park, Japan 5-0 Zambia in Hamilton, England 1-0 Haiti in Brisbane and Denmark 1-0 China in Perth.

Today Sweden vs South Africa 5PM in Wellington, Netherlands vs Portugal AT 7.30PM in Dunedin and France vs Jamaica at 8PM in Sydney.

In Rugby: The Fiji Water Flying Fijians prevailed over Tonga 20-36 in a tough Test yesterday with the Fiji backs too flash and their forwards too strong - grinding the Tongan forwards into the turf with a late scrum pushover try, which Caleb Muntz converted to cap off a great game.

In Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido in the land of the rising sun, 12th World Rugby ranked Samoa beat 10th ranked Japan 22-24.

In rugby league: The Cowboys will finish the weekend in the Top 8 after trampling the Eels 16-24 to claim their sixth straight victory as Jake Granville celebrated his 200th game, but it came at a massive cost, as Valentine Holmes faces suspension after a sin bin for a shot on Mitchell Moses.

The Newcastle Knights delivered a gutsy 26-18 victory to keep their season alive, but the Melbourne Storm Coach, Craig Bellamy was left fuming in his post-match press conference, unleashing a rare public spray on his players, questioning their work ethic and will to win.

In other NRL Results from super Saturday: the Sydney Roosters 36-18 Gold Coast Titans.

In combat Sports: The highly anticipated showdown between WBC and WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Stephen ‘Cool Boy’ Fulton 21-0 and three-weight World Champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue 24-0 with 21 KOs turned nasty after the 29-year-old American’s coach accused the local hero of cheating in some of his previous bouts.

In sports Biz: Disney’s search for potential equity partners in ESPN has reportedly involved three of the biggest entities in all of sports.

A CNBC report says that Disney officials, including ESPN CEO and ESPN Chairman, have already held talks with the NFL, NBA, and MLB to bring them in as minority partners.

Disney is open to selling part of ESPN to a strategic partner or three, as it deals head-on with some of its biggest challenges. Key among them is, the ongoing black hole that ESPN’s linear reach has fallen into; from more than 100 million homes in 2011 to the present 72.5 million.

Such a move would bring ESPN even closer to three of its most important pro sports properties. In 2021, thenetwork extended its NFL rights through 2033 in a deal worth about US$2.7Billion per year.

The NBA, meanwhile, has been on ESPN continuously since 2002, and the network’s current rights expire in 2025. ESPN similarly extended its MLB deal in 2021 through to 2028.

In the Tour de France: Jonas Vingegaard is just 24 hours away now from defending his Tour de France title having maintained his comfortable overall lead of 7 minutes and 29 seconds over Tadej Pogacar after Stage 20, with Britain's Adam Yates third and looking good for the podium in Paris tomorrow.

And that’s a wrap!

For TeivovoSports.com I’m Culden Kamea – please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.

Mahalo, Kakite and tank you all too mas for all your love and support.

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