Sports news this week Australia: NASCAR, Bledisloe Cup II and NFL

On this sports news this week Australia, we kick off with NFL’s Thursday Night Football on what has been another West Coast derby this time 49ers v LA Rams.

Then we had Bledisloe Cup Game II (Rugby) where the Wallabies welcomed the All Blacks in Perth before we finish off with NASCAR where the Top 12 Playoff drivers will go into the semis of 8 on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Cup Series on the Roval at Charlotte 

From tire management to pit strategy on top of a fast race car that is Championship 4 quality on road courses, what a road course NASCAR year it has been for SVG (short for Shane Van Gisbergen) on the Roval at Charlotte.

Bit more difficult than the other road layouts but still a badass racer with his Supercars Championship powers/genes.

Can’t wait for the Bathurst 1000 this weekend at Mount Panorama where there’s going to be drivers who have taken part in NASCAR earlier this year.

You’ve got Cam Waters with the one-off Trucks ride for ThorSport a few months ago at Lime Rock Park and so does Will Brown with the two-off West Coast stints both Cup and Xfinity — in spite of his poor luck there in contrast to his decorated Supercars career with SVG’s former team which is Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Not forgetting Jack Perkins who spent a bit more time in the US than anticipated both Xfinity (two races than the originally planned one) & Trans-Am (just for him to familiarise the road layout in Portland).

Then there’s also no need for an intro when any three RFK Ford Mustangs always finished well with No.17’s Chris Buescher in 4th & No.60’s Ryan Preece in 6th. Not only they’re just fast in Top 10 speed, they also played his cards right as long as it’s worth the overall result.

Maybe like SVG & Trackhouse, Chris and RFK should be right up there if the Championship 4 was open but for ones that is nothing to do with the top teams.

Because they’re both contenders for either of them to win the best non-Playoffs driver contest this year when SVG and Buescher has been forming a great rivalry and time again — mainly on road courses.

Would it be super cool when that SVG v Chris Buescher rivalry began once upon a time back in September last year at Watkins Glen? Chris won that race over SVG but then SVG struck back since then from June 2025 (Mexico City) to date.

Maybe NASCAR should consider that extra tournament for non-Playoff drivers; although it depends on the existing Playoffs structure like 1-2 years from now.

And fellow road ringer Michael McDowell finished 5th for Spire off the back of a good start from 6th along with a road course tailored strategy and some excellent long-run stability in the end.

He’s had a good Top 15 run over the past few weeks even though he would’ve love to be in that victory line ballpark just like SVG since Michael also has a decorated road course background. All Michael needs to do now to to keep that stability like he did today and past 1-2 weeks — with Las Vegas next week followed by the big track Talladega, then short track Martinsville & hometown finale to bring it home in Phoenix, Arizona.

Plus, best mid-run Toyota goes to Tyler Reddick in 10th for 23XI Racing who also got away with the fastest lap and that pole award from yesterday on the Roval. 

First of all, it’s never been easy trying to get out of a must-win position when it was extremely tough to defend SVG in NASCAR’s road course recent history. 

What he can walk away though is that he was still out there through the end no matter the result – despite their Stage 3 difficulties following an unforgettable Playoffs run to Phoenix nearly 12 months ago. Nothing can take away from this as all eyes now on his boss Denny Hamlin to try and hopefully win his first championship as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing starting soon.

Bledisloe Cup Game 2: Wallabies v All Blacks

Well deserved performance to finish off the Rugby Championship on a high from The Men in Black by 28-14 in Perth.

Here comes their own Lightning McQueen, Quinn Tuapea with his two-TRY haul in the first half while Will Jordan kept that tempo deep and brave in play from the back (15).

Glad to see New Zealand making good use of the ball there despite having less possession earlier on. Even though it wasn’t easy to handle these difficult conditions like this under rain, at least the All Blacks found a way to both kick and win contestable kicks just like in the NFL.

That way, ABs can keep on winning penalties on top of regaining/recovering ball off the hands of the Wallabies.

If they want to keep on winning more and more though in order to be the best again, New Zealand’s gotta need to keep on dominating these contestable battles all day long – the ball retention is there, so does the tries and ultimately the wins.

It’s just the executions and defensive discipline the ABs will need to work on this upcoming UK/Ireland Grand Slam tour.

Meanwhile, Wallabies were gutted with those silly mistakes that led to lost opportunities where things could’ve been any worthy of a win.

Such a creative shift though by Tane Edmed at 10 who gave us a live look on what’s to come with the ACT Brumbies next year alongside our front-row veteran in James Slipper & yes, thank you Slips.

They weren’t far off the winners circle on what has been a physical game of two halves with less on scoring and more of win and maintain ball control. Wallabies had it coming when the ABs had lost it off the back of New Zealand’s own mistakes a few times. Although Australia had their fair share of early penalty goals and crucial tries, they just weren’t brave or consistent enough to get the job done unfortunately.

That’s one key area that the Wallabies failed to exploit where All Blacks succeeded and with our Green and Gold being a much tougher side now than it was 5-10 years ago, sure they can kill it again like it was last year away from home in Europe. 

On that note, there’s still a bit more Rugby ahead to finish off 2025. 

Then February 2026, Super Rugby will be back followed by the new-look Nations Championship and a bumper All Blacks v Springboks contest.

Nine and Stan will also continue covering Rugby Union for another few years where Super Rugby games should still be available on free-to-air, just don’t expect to always tune in on Saturday nights.

And all Wallabies home games including ones against the All Blacks in NZ will not be going anywhere on Nine with more Club Rugby coverage across QLD and NSW.

NFL: 49ers v LA Rams at SoFi Stadium: Round 5

Such a thrilling finish on overtime from a brilliant 1st half to TRY-saving tackles towards despite a few injury niggles, 49ers came out on top at SoFi Stadium.

QB Mac Jones never backed down despite his calf complaints in the 3rd quarter.

Yet he was able to keep it up when he came back on for the 49ers in time where not only he helped retain ball retention, his team was also able to stop the LA Rams from winning this contest on what has been a scrambled defensive effort.

Love how the 49ers tackle defensive end specialist Maliek Collins knocked the ball off 2 x TRY-scorer running back for the Rams in Kyren Williams and boy, he deserves a wow!! Almost a moment that could’ve ended a bit early if the Rams didn’t punt that tie over the posts but better still, it’s just the win they wanted.

He would also be perfect as if Maliek went over to Rugby on the front row props position when it comes to these kind of tackles and winning turnovers/penalties.

Anyways, the throws were there for the San Francisco with completed catches & good yard gains including Running Back Christian McCafrey as it’s all about making the most of the 49ers good start.

This is something Rams struggled to unpack while they’ve let the 49ers run off the leach throughout the 1st half.

LA Rams thought they’ve got it following a lightning turnaround with the last two quarters having been left behind with a lot of catch up to do earlier on & they did with unanswered points to stay in this fight.

It took them a while for their own QB Matthew Stafford and co. to unlock some much needed momentum where Puka Nacua was able to catch it a few times on the wide receiving end before Kyren Williams & Nacua steered the ship with Williams scoring two & Nacua on one.

Could’ve been a hat-trick and even the comeback win though if it wasn’t for that last-gasp knock-on against Collins as you can see how disappointed he’s been if it wasn’t for the fumble being a touch isolated with no push from his own men & a touch away from the end zone there.

Unfortunately, it’s just that tiny bits of handling errors, poor decisions and also mis-timed punts away from the sticks have been so frustrating right there for the Rams to settle with the three-point loss by 26-23.

Imagine if the Rams did things differently to get past such a tight 49ers brick wall?

Certainly no worse than the Cincinnati Bengals who couldn’t build on their early 3-0 lead that led to a decimating 28-3 loss v the Broncos in Denver last week. 

But again, Rams should’ve won the game that makes this set of West Coast contests so great, while watching the 49ers on mark themselves as safe back to San Francisco with the Round 5 of 18 win.

Sports news this week Australia: Here’s a bit more Broncos for you

Looking at Broncos, what a phenomenal two weeks of Grand Final triumph for Brisbane sports teams from AFL via the Lions with the win over Geelong to now NRL last night over the Melbourne Storm.

Also not forgetting the Broncos women’s NRL team as well yesterday afternoon who won against the Sydney Roosters. 

It’s just incredible stuff from the men’s side, despite their poor start along with discipline and lost players to injury, Broncos were simply unstoppable and unbeatable to hold off such a big moment right there with the NRL Premiership Trophy. Sure it’s also top news to NASCAR on NBC’s own Leigh Diffey who is forever proud to be from the mighty Queensland even though he’s naturalised of USA.