Night racing (even delayed due to weather) and also Main Event Rugby League and Rugby Union on prime-time witnessed redemption & also heartache amongst competing teams following a big sports weekend.
Ryan Blaney’s still the one & only Ford winner after he helped the Blue Oval Mustangs return to victory lane since the Phoenix March race.
Meanwhile, back-to-back blockbuster sports events took Centre Stage at “The Cauldron” hosting both rugby codes: League and Union.
Unfortunately, QLD conceded the best of three series v NSW in front of their home crowd while the Wallabies also slipped away despite a handy HT lead against France.
Sports Benches is the place to be for your weekly sports news throughout the NASCAR Cup Series season.
Also, check out our Saturday GH posts where almost everyone’s finally safe and sound while another home could be the beginning of the end for Willow Tait.
NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta II: Quaker State 400
It’s been a much better Ford Mustang performance led by Ryan Blaney from Team Penske who is still the only Blue Oval winning driver so far in 2026.
He’s excellent with stability while reacted well under pressure from a big lightning delay to several 2nd half yellow flags being thrown into the wall.
Don’t forget he also earned these extras too: the first two stage wins followed by a clean sweep & won pole in qualifying.
So close from Christopher Bell after he gradually moved up through the field before he came out alive with a fast Toyota Camry for Gibbs. Although timing wasn’t on his side but at least he’s got a coherent strategy that makes such a big difference.
Looks like Carson Hocevar knows the nitty and gritty of conquering 1.5 mile and up ovals really well inside his No.77 Chevy Camaro for Spire Motorsports.
He also had a great start and then pulled off something similar from SVG’s road course playbook where Hocevar eventually found his sweet spot — just couldn’t quite catch Blaney on time though in 3rd.
Nations Championship: Wallabies v France
Same full house crowd, same home loss unfortunately by the Wallabies this time against France.
They started well but then their handbrake fell off which allowed Les Blues to stack up pennies before signing off with a French away win by 42-26 down from Wallabies 21, France 12 at half-time.
That French 9 & 10s partnership of Maxime Lucu & Romain Ntamack has been smashing quite a few home runs, particularly 2nd half.
They created chances well for others to capitalise towards points: from recoveries to kicking games out of trouble & most of all, a settled 2nd half counter-attack flair that barely gone amiss.
Also, credit to the guy born in Canberra but decided to play for France these days by Tom Staniforth; he provided good second row depth whether if it’s at breakdowns, line-outs or scrums off the bench.
Let’s head north to recognised Reds open 7 Fraser McReight but for the Green & Gold following his all-round performances who got away with scoring tries while he turned away at others defensively.
Again, Wallabies threw themselves in the towel whilst leading that reflects their poor man-management following back-to-back losses.
State of Origin III
Also days earlier at “The Cauldron”, this year’s State of Origin series came down to a Game 3 decider between Queensland Maroons & New South Wales Blues.
Unfortunately, not so good for the Maroons whose back foot/safety-first approach allowed an early lead for NSW.
Not even QLD’s performance after half-time was nowhere near satisfactory while the Blues stretched their lead, which was quite damming they’d walk into a decider like this after an inspiring Game 2 last month at the MCG but Maroons are now left empty handed — at least the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, NSW deserves that spotlight once again having went all-out attack after they lost their bragging rights last year to QLD. They didn’t have to carry the pain long enough but Blues simply wanted to play their best Footy & it turns out this performance reminds them of who they are.
Especially with enormous credit to Super coach Laurie Daley & also their go-to playmaker Nathan Cleary where if you look at Cleary’s CV, he’s won a whole lot of everything mainly NRL Premiership titles with the Penrith Panthers plus individual ones every year.
Final score was QLD Maroons 12, NSW Blues 30.
