Aaron Judge remains rooted on 60 home runs for the season after he was kept homerless for the fourth straight game in the New York Yankees' 7-5 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
Judge had one walk but ended up none-for-three with two strikeouts and a fly out to medium center as the wait draws on to pull level with Roger Maris' franchise and American League (AL) record of 61 home runs in a single season.
The Yankees outfielder was left frustrated when he tried to hold his swing on a wide 2-2 fastball but umpire Chris Conroy signaled a third strike.
"Even for a guy that hit 60 home runs, he still doesn't hit them every day," Yankees coach Aaron Boone said. "A lot of things got to line up to go deep, even for the best of the best. So as long as he continues to take good at-bats and make good swing decisions, it'll happen sooner rather than later."
Judge's showing meant his batting average dropped to .314, with Boston's Xander Bogaerts going two-for-four to move ahead of him at .315, denting the Yankee's triple crown hopes.
Anthony Rizzo's seventh-inning two-run blast earned the Yankees the win in front of a sell-out crowd after scores were locked at 5-5.
Manoah helps Blue Jays claim key win
Alex Manoah led the way as the Toronto Blue Jays regained the top AL Wild Card spot with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Manoah sent down seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts – including his 300th career K - allowing only four hits with two walks.
Whit Merrifield hit a seventh-inning three-run blast to open up a three-run lead, capping a strong week after two homers against the Rays on Thursday.
The win means the Blue Jays (85-67) lead the Rays (84-68) by one game for the first AL Wild Card spot. The Seattle Mariners (83-68) are next.
Padres make ground in NL Wild Card hunt
Yu Darvish claimed his 16th win of the season as the San Diego Padres defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-3 to climb into second spot in the National League (NL) Wild Card race.
Darvish finished with eight strikeouts across six innings, allowing only five hits and two runs, but the Padres pulled clear with a six-run seventh inning.
Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim both had two-run singles amid the seventh inning where they turned a tight game into a rout. The Padres move to 84-68, ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies (83-68) in the NL Wild Card race.
The Chicago White Sox have confirmed that manager Tony La Russa will not return to the dugout this season.
La Russa, 78, has been out since late August due to a heart ailment, which had initially forced him to step away from his role indefinitely.
The White Sox manager has been advised by doctors not to manage again this year, after undergoing additional testing and medical procedures over the past week. It remains to be seen if he returns in 2023.
Bench coach Miguel Cairo will continue as acting manager for the White Sox, who have under-achieved this season with a 76-75 record to be second in the American League Central.
La Russa had returned to lead the White Sox in 2021, his second stint in charge after leading the side from 1979 to 1986, before lengthy stints with the Oakland Athletics (1986-1995) and the St Louis Cardinals (1996-2011).
He is a three-time World Series champion, triumphing in 1989, 2006 and 2011, and is a four-time Manager of the Year winner.
Local hope Brandon Nakashima will take on Marcos Giron in the San Diego Open final after the latter shocked top seed Daniel Evans in Saturday's semi-finals.
World number 58 Giron upset Evans 6-3 7-5 in one hour and 46 minutes, qualifying for his maiden ATP Tour final.
San Diego native Nakashima progressed into the decider after getting past Australian Christopher O'Connell 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Nakashima's triumph means he is into his first tour-level final of the season and it has come in familiar territory.
The fifth seed needed one hour and 50 minutes to beat O'Connell, who had the edge in the key statistics, including 8-7 aces, 34-31 winners and 13-16 unforced errors.
But Nakashima came up big when it mattered, managing the only break of the match in the first set, before triumphing in a tiebreak.
Giron produced the surprise result against world number 25 Evans, who was chasing his first-ever ATP Tour title.
The American sent down 11 aces, while he also hit 40-25 winners. Evans was unable to convert any of the three break points he generated throughout the match.
The Internationals have charged back into contention ahead of the final day of the Presidents Cup but still trail 11-7 at Quail Hollow in North Carolina.
USA had led 8-2 heading into Saturday's action that included four morning foursome matchups followed by four fourball contests, with Australia’s Cam Davis and South Korean Kim Joo-hyung starring for the under-dog International team.
The Internationals won two of the morning's foursome matchups and three of the fourball contests to make up major ground but will need win 8.5 points from the 12 on offer on the final day with singles to determine the winner.
If the International team win, it would be the greatest last day comeback in Presidents Cup history and their first victory since 1998 in Melbourne, the team's sole triumph.
"I'm almost in tears," Internationals captain Trevor Immelman said. "I'm so proud of these guys. We've fought so hard. We've had to be so patient."
"We’ve got a very long way to go. We know how tough the Americans are in singles. But today was a great day for us. This team has been through a lot."
Debutant Kim Joo-hyung had one of the moments of the day, sinking a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to clinch a 1up victory with Kim Si-woo against the previously unbeaten Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
The South Korean emotionally reveled in victory after the putt, having holed a 54-foot eagle putt on the 11th hole. In a seesawing fourball contest, Schauffele also putted in from 37 feet on the 15th.
Davis, paired with compatriot Adam Scott, was crucial with late putts in their 1up fourball victory over Sam Burns and Billy Horschel.
On the par-five 16th, Davis sunk an 11-foot eagle putt to win the hole, before making a 14-foot birdie putt to claim the 17th. Davis backed that up with a nine-foot birdie putt to tie 18 and secure the win.
The unbeaten Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas defeated Hideki Matsuyama and Taylor Pendrith 4 and 3 for USA's only fourballs win, while Im Sung-jae and Sebastian Munoz never trailed as they got past Tony Finau and Kevin Kisner 3 and 2.
In the morning's foursomes, Lee Kyoung-hoon and Kim Joo-hyung defeated Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 2 and 1 and Adam Scott teamed up with Hideki Matsuyama to knock off Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa 3 and 2.
USA got victories as Spieth and Thomas won against Im and Corey Conners 4 and 3 and Finau and Max Homa beating Kim Si-woo and Davis 4 and 3. Spieth and Thomas are the third duo in Presidents Cup history to go undefeated in the first four rounds.
"We're in a good spot," USA captain Davis Love said. "We have a lot of guys hitting it good. They just made more putts than we did.
"We always feel like we're at an advantage in the singles. We've had some great singles days in the past."
Tyson Fury has warned Anthony Joshua he will "move on" if the contract for a fight in December is not signed by Monday.
A 'Battle of Britain' bout has risen to the top of the agenda following Fury presenting an offer to AJ after it became clear a unification bout against Oleksandr Usyk would not occur this year.
Joshua accepted terms for the bout but official confirmation has not yet arrived, with an apparent delay in the 2012 Olympian putting pen to paper on a deal.
That has led Fury to concede he is not optimistic about the fight taking place and made it clear he is happy to move on to fight someone else.
"They've had the opportunity to agree to this fight for about a month I'd say," he said ringside at Joseph Parker's fight against Joe Joyce in Manchester.
"They've had the contract for over a week, still not signed, still a few more excuses they're gonna come back with.
"We'll know more on Monday I think, the two broadcasters are gonna meet on Monday and then we'll know from there. If it's not done by Monday then I'm moving on.
"I'm not waiting around for some guy who's lost three of his last five fights, he's lucky that I'm giving him a world title shot.
"I'm sick of setting deadlines. They either want this poxy fight or they don't. I was just saying to somebody else before I don't mind inviting these people to my party but they're not gonna come to my party, my banquet, and try and dictate to me.
"They either wanna do it or they don't. And if they wanna do it, sign the contract, and if they don't, do one.
"This is the fight that I've been trying to make since 2017, and I've been unsuccessful every single time. I was optimistic three or four weeks ago that the fight might happen. Today, I'm not very optimistic.
"I'm definitely fighting on December 3, whoever it may be I don't really care."
Novak Djokovic played a vital role in Team Europe opening up a four-point lead in the Laver Cup as he won in singles and doubles upon his return to the ATP Tour after a three-month absence.
Djokovic had not played since taking his grand slam count to 21 with the Wimbledon title in July, but he looked as if he had hardly been away as the Serbian beat Frances Tiafoe and then teamed up with Matteo Berrettini in the doubles.
Tiafoe beat Rafael Nadal at the US Open earlier this month and combined with Jack Sock on Friday to defeat the Spaniard again in what was Roger Federer's last ever match, but the American could not get to grips with Djokovic in Saturday's final singles contest.
Djokovic's 6-1 6-3 win secured two points for Team Europe to put them out in front, and he was involved again in the last of the day's action as the team's advantage doubled to four points.
Berrettini and Djokovic tussled with Sock and Alex de Minaur and ultimately had too much, winning 7-5 6-2 in less than an hour and a half.
Earlier, Taylor Fritz's three-set triumph over Cameron Norrie put Team World briefly back on level terms.
Fritz made a brutal start but ended up being forced to a match tie-break, eventually coming through with a 6-1 4-6 10-8 victory.
That wiped out the two-point lead Berrettini had given Europe in the first match of the day, with the Italian edging Saturday's most gruelling tussle.
He saw off Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (13-11) 4-6 10-7, and despite finding himself on court for over two hours, Berrettini was still sharp enough to emerge victorious alongside Djokovic.
South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber accepts his team have plenty of room for improvement with just under a year to go until their Rugby World Cup defence gets under way.
The Springboks could only beat Argentina 38-21 in the final match of the Rugby Championship on Saturday, and that meant New Zealand took the trophy.
South Africa required a try-scoring bonus point plus a winning margin of at least 39 points at Kings Park in Durban, but the Pumas would not be rolled over in such a manner.
The daunting title target for the Boks had been set when the All Blacks posted a crushing 40-14 victory against Australia earlier in the day.
Before their 2019 World Cup win, the Boks won a three-match Rugby Championship. The 2020 championship was cancelled due to the pandemic, but the All Blacks have now carried off the title in 2021 and 2022, this time around serving to ease some of the pressure on coach Ian Foster.
It was tight this year, with New Zealand and South Africa both winning four of six games, but the All Blacks managed one more bonus point and a superior points difference.
Nienaber is already looking forward to November away games against Ireland, France, Italy and England, as South Africa look to gather themselves for a big push into next year. The World Cup begins in September 2023 in France.
"We are not there yet, we need to find consistency," Nienaber said. "In that regard, we will get a good idea where we are on the end-of-year tour.
"We play the number one [Ireland] and number two [France] in the world in the first two games of the tour. So it will be a challenging tour for us."
South Africa had not scored 39 points in a match, let alone won by that margin, since a 40-9 defeat of Georgia in July 2021.
They last beat Argentina by such a hefty points margin in 2013, when posting a 73-13 landslide win, but the Pumas are far more competitive nowadays, as wins over Australia and New Zealand in this championship showed.
Nienaber said his players still felt they could pull off the improbable against Argentina when they took to the field.
"We saw it as a realistic target, we took on the task full on," Nienaber said, quoted by Supersport. "We needed to get a 39-point winning margin to win the trophy, and we all bought into it.
"In the end we came up short, but you can never take a win in the Springbok jersey for granted, victory is always special. We are glad we came out on the right side of today's result, even if we didn't get what we needed to win the championship."
The New Orleans Pelicans and star guard CJ McCollum have agreed to a two-year, $64million contract extension, according to reports.
The deal, as reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, keeps McCollum signed through the 2025-26 season, tying him to fellow stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, who are signed through at least the next three seasons.
McCollum – who was acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers in February – was a scoring machine down the stretch for the Pelicans and helped lift New Orleans into the play-in tournament and, eventually, a compelling six-game series against the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.
The 31-year-old guard averaged 24.3 points in 26 games with the Pelicans last season, shooting 49.3 per cent from the field and 39.4 per cent from three-point range.
With one offseason priority completed, the Pelicans can now turn their focus towards getting Williamson back on the court after he missed the entire 2021-22 season with a broken right foot.
New Orleans fans spent much of last season waiting for Williamson's return, which never came.
Williamson averaged 27 points over 61 games in 2020-21.
With their stars now fully healthy, the Pelicans carry elevated expectations into this season, despite playing in a loaded Western Conference.
New Orleans' high-scoring trio of stars is accompanied by veterans like Jonas Valanciunas, Larry Nance Jr. and Devonte' Graham, while second-year defensive ace Herbert Jones is expected to take a step forward.
So much of the Pelicans' potential success, however, relies on health.
Williamson has played 85 career games since being drafted No. 1 overall in 2019. McCollum has missed a total of 45 games over the past two seasons, and Ingram has never played more than 62 games in a season as a starter.
New Zealand retained the Rugby Championship title after South Africa could only beat Argentina 38-21 in the final match of the tournament on Saturday.
The All Blacks' dominant 40-14 defeat of Australia had set the Springboks the sizeable task of securing a bonus-point win by at least 39 points to be crowned champions in Durban.
And Ian Foster's side could ultimately watch on with some degree of comfort early on Sunday morning back home, as the world champions could not prevent them from claiming a fifth title in six championships and had to settle for second place.
An 11th-minute Springboks try was ruled out as Eben Etzebeth had stripped the ball from team-mate Siya Kolisi in an offside position, although their pressure soon told with a yellow card for Marcos Kremer.
South Africa made the most of their numerical advantage when Jasper Wiese scored the first and surely easiest try of his international career, walking the ball over at the back of a scrum.
No sooner had Kremer returned than Juan Martin Gonzalez headed for the sin bin, and it was captain Kolisi's turn to capitalise as he powered through for the second, before Frans Steyn dispatched a long-range penalty.
But Gonzalo Bertranou lunged for the line on the stroke of half-time to silence the Kings Park crown, then Gonzalez raced down the left for the first try of the second period.
Argentina had designs on winning the match, yet they conceded pivotal penalty tries either side of Matias Moroni's score in a half that saw two yellow cards for each side, with the Springboks forced to scrap for their victory as Etzebeth and Faf de Klerk were off the field at the same time.
Kurt-Lee Arendse's last-gasp try at least allowed South Africa to finish with a flourish, with the Pumas consigned to finishing bottom of the table.
First-half frustrations again
If South Africa were to hold any hope of stealing the championship from New Zealand, they needed a strong start. However, three of their previous six home Tests against Argentina – despite all ending in victory – had seen the Springboks fail to take a lead into half-time.
They had to stay patient again in this encounter, frustrated in front of the posts against 15 men, but two tries with men in the sin bin looked to have kept South Africa just about on course until Bertranou dealt the home crowd a blow shortly before the interval.
Seven-try repeat a step too far
South Africa had not scored 39 points, let alone won by that margin, since a 40-9 defeat of Georgia in July 2021.
The last victory the Springboks celebrated that would have been enough to take the title in these circumstances was a 66-7 success against Canada at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, while the last against Argentina was a 73-13 win in 2013.
There were seven second-half South Africa tries in that thrashing of the Pumas, but a repeat never appeared likely this time.
Two-time Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
The 39-year-old Norwegian, who retired in 2019, on Saturday revealed his prognosis looks "very good" after he was given an early diagnosis and underwent surgery.
He posted on social media: "The last few weeks have been different. But I'm able to say weeks and not months because of great medical help, a little luck and a good decision.
"Very grateful for the public healthcare system in Norway. Thank you! But it's that good first decision that I want to talk about now.
"I felt a change in my body. I wasn't sure what it was, or if it was anything at all. But I decided to have it checked out. I went to see a doctor, and was quickly transferred to the hospital where they confirmed what the doctor suspected. Testicle cancer.
"Tests, scans and surgery all happened very quickly. And already after the first week I knew the prognoses looked very good. All thanks to that first decision to go see a doctor as soon as I suspected something was off."
Svindal won super-G gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and claimed the downhill title in Pyeongchang four years ago.
He also won nine World Championship medals, two overall World Cup titles and nine World Cup discipline titles in a stellar career.
Buffalo Bills safety Micah Hyde is to be placed on the injured reserve list and will miss the remainder of the 2022 season, his agent has confirmed
Hyde suffered a neck injury during the Week 2 victory over the Tennessee Titans and was ruled out of contention for Sunday's AFC East divisional showdown with the Miami Dolphins.
Reports had stated Hyde was set to get a second opinion on his neck injury, but the verdict was not a positive one.
Hyde's agent Jack Bechta took to social media to confirm his client's absence for the remainder of the season, writing: "Unfortunately client Micah Hyde will be put on IR today due to his recent neck injury.
"Fortunately, we expect a healthy return for #23 in 2023."
Reserve safety Jaquan Johnson is expected to step up in the absence of the 2013 fifth-round draft pick, who joined the Bills after three seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
Stan Wawrinka abandoned his first ATP semi-final for over two years as the veteran Swiss bowed out of the Moselle Open on Saturday.
The 37-year-old was taking on Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik and trailed 2-1 in the opening set when he decided he would be unable to complete the match.
Bublik had broken serve and led 40-30 in the fourth game when Wawrinka approached the net and told the umpire he had to stop.
Wawrinka has been battling a thigh injury that appeared to be the cause of his withdrawal, meaning the three-time grand slam champion, now ranked a lowly 284th, could not push on with his quest for a first ATP Tour title in five years. His most recent semi-final appearance, prior to this run in Metz, had come in Doha at the start of 2020.
Italy's Lorenzo Sonego awaits Bublik in Sunday's final after he sank the hopes of Polish second seed Hubert Hurkacz in the first semi-final.
Unseeded Sonego took the win 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 and will be chasing a third ATP title, after previous triumphs in Antalya in 2019 and Cagliari last year.
Bublik, the seventh seed this week, has just one previous singles title, earning that success in February of this year in Montpellier.
Roger Federer "made the whole world dream" through his tennis, French football great Zinedine Zidane said on Saturday.
The Swiss superstar contested his final match on Friday night in London, as he bowed out at the age of 41, accepting knee trouble in recent years would not allow him to carry on.
Zidane's last match as a player famously ended in a headbutt, a red card and crushing disappointment in the 2006 World Cup final, as France lost out to Italy on penalties in Berlin.
That was a far cry from the celebratory scenes at the O2 where 20-time grand slam winner Federer exited in a hail of adulation and high emotion, as the man from Basle broke down in a flood of tears on court.
The poignancy came after Federer lost alongside Rafael Nadal in a Laver Cup doubles clash with Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe, a low-stakes occasion compared to Zidane's swan song.
Both Zidane and Federer played their sport with maverick and artistic tendencies that set them apart from many of their peers, while also winning a stack of trophies.
Zidane had two spells as Real Madrid boss after hanging up his boots following a playing spell at the Santiago Bernabeu, and he hopes there are great opportunities awaiting Federer too.
"Today you are stepping into another world. I wish you a second part of life as rich as the first," Zidane wrote on Instagram.
"Thank you Roger, you made the whole world dream! And you remained profoundly the same. Thank you Roger, the great class."
Iga Swiatek could reach double figures for grand slam titles but Wimbledon may be a stumbling block, according to Marion Bartoli.
Speaking to Stats Perform, Bartoli said she did not expect any player on the WTA Tour to match the "greatness" of Serena or Venus Williams.
The Frenchwoman, who won the 2013 Wimbledon women's singles title, also claimed the level of competition is currently not as strong as it was for the previous generation.
She is sold on Swiatek, though, who added to her 2020 and 2022 French Open titles by winning the US Open earlier in September.
The 21-year-old Polish player has emerged as the clear world number one since Ash Barty retired in March, stringing together 37 consecutive wins at one point until Alize Cornet beat her in round three at Wimbledon.
A lull in her performances followed that exit on the grass, but Swiatek fought her way through the field to triumph in New York.
"I was very impressed by how Iga this time with the US Open came with absolutely zero confidence and still found a way to win, and that is really a champion's mind," Bartoli said.
""She played really not great tennis in Toronto, not good tennis in Cincinnati, didn't play that well before the US Open. Whatever she worked on with her coach, she went on and plugged in for seven matches and to win the title, which is very impressive.
"So I think the level it's not at the highest, but I think the way she has been able to handle the pressure and go for it and win was absolutely very, very impressive.
"And she will win more. For sure she will win more on clay, she will win more on normal, slower hardcourts. Maybe not grass, but slow hard court is really a good surface for her as well. So easily between five and 10 for Iga, easily."
With Serena Williams saying a fond farewell to competitive tennis at the US Open, the women's tour has lost a 23-slam giant. In Bartoli's mind, there may be nobody of the great American's prowess to emerge for many years to come.
She said: "I think it's unfair to ask any of the current women's players to be as dominating as Serena was, or you know Venus as well.
"You just can't ask them to be at that level of greatness. You get that one out of a century or even two centuries. So I think we will have to wait a while before we get the next Serena Williams.
"And even Coco [Gauff] has talked about it, [saying] 'I'm not Serena, I will probably not get 23 grand slams like Serena you know, so stop putting pressure on me'.
"I think they're just trying their hardest, they're just trying their best, but obviously as Maria Sharapova said and I agree with her, the level of competition we used to have when all of us were playing was I think higher than what it is now."
Bartoli pointed to the example of Emma Raducanu, as a near-unknown, winning the US Open last year. She said that triumph for the British teenager was "out of any rational thoughts".
"This year she lost first round [to Cornet] and she dropped to 80 in the world," Bartoli added.
"You know that someone at 80 and someone at five, there is not so much of a difference in terms of level. And that's why you see those sort of upsets and constant change."
Roger Federer has thanked fans and fellow players for providing him with a "magical" send-off at the end of his glittering professional career on Friday.
The 20-time grand slam champion brought the curtain down on his incredible career in a doubles match alongside Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup in London, facing off against American duo Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
Although Federer and Nadal fell to a 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 11-9 loss, the Swiss maestro was given a hero's reception at the O2 Arena, and old rival Nadal joined him in shedding a tear after the match.
Immediately afterwards, Federer joked he was simply glad to have avoided injury and described his career as a "perfect journey".
Federer then expressed his appreciation for everyone involved on Saturday, writing on Twitter: "It was a magical evening yesterday.
"Thank you again to all the players and fans who were here to share this moment with me. It means the world."
Speaking at a news conference after his send-off, Federer described it as "all happiness".
"The match, yes, in itself, sure, is special," he said. "But it's really everything that happened after, because I wasn't aware who was going to come to sing, what was going to happen, where I should go, what was expected of me, or how long it was going to go.
"Then I guess looking around and seeing how everybody got emotional, obviously it's even better, or even worse, I'm not sure what to say.
"The last two days have been tough to say the least. Thankfully, in moments, I totally forgot about it, slept great, everything was wonderful, I could enjoy it.
"Because of that, I think I will be able to have a better recollection of how it went, because if it's all just stress throughout and I want it to be only perfect, I know I will remember half of it.
"I didn't have fireworks in my head where I see my career flashing by, all the things I'm going to miss. It was hard for me making phone calls, letting people know that this decision is happening. There I felt pain, but now, tonight was all happiness."
Meanwhile, Federer has refused to rule out taking part in exhibition matches in the future, stating his desire to allow more of his fans to see him in action one last time.
"The message from me was just making sure I relay my passion for the sport to the fans, and I let them know that hopefully we'll see each other again on a different type of tennis court," he added.
"I have no plans whatsoever, where, how, when. All I know [is] I would love to go and play places I have never played before or go say thank you for years to come to all the people that have been so supportive of me.
"Because the hard part about the Laver Cup was that tickets were already sold out. The people who maybe would have also loved to be here couldn't make it.
"Maybe there is another way down the stretch we can party all together."
Rasmus Hojgaard suffered a nightmare when leading the Open de France on Saturday, finding the water three times on the second hole on his way to a quintuple-bogey eight.
Armed with a six-stroke cushion over the field when he reached the tee at 15 under par early in his third round, Dane Hojgaard saw two balls slip away off the green and into a lake, before sending his third attempt straight into the water.
His fourth strike from the tee box was a good one, and Hojgaard holed the 10-foot putt he was left with, but his lead over France's Paul Barjon shrank to one shot.
Astonishingly, Hojgaard went into the water on the par-five third hole too, and a bogey meant the lead he had built after dazzling rounds of 62 and 65 on the opening two days had evaporated in just three holes of his penultimate round.
Hojgaard, at the age of 21, has already won three tournaments on the DP World Tour, most recently capturing the European Masters title in August last year.
Ian Foster says he has "forgotten about the rollercoaster" after New Zealand hammered Australia 40-14 to stand on the brink of retaining the Rugby Championship title.
The All Blacks put their trans-Tasman rivals to the sword in front of a capacity crowd at Eden Park, scoring five tries with Richie Mo'unga booting 13 points.
A resounding victory ensured South Africa need to a bonus-point win over Argentina by at least 39 points to claim the title later on Saturday.
It is not long since Foster was in danger of losing his job, with New Zealand suffering a home series defeat to Ireland before losing to the Springboks and Argentina in the Rugby Championship.
All Blacks head coach Foster said: "I've forgotten about the rollercoaster. I'm just happy in the moment.
"We've come into a championship, we've had, in our mind, the hardest draw by having both tests against South Africa in South Africa, got one out of two in that space, we've let ourselves down in Christchurch [in a defeat to Argentina], but our response to that has been really positive.
"We look at the last half of the championship and we're really pleased with what went in. All we can do is deal with what's in front of us right now.
"I know we've got a buffer [over South Africa] – whether it's enough I don't know. But we've given ourselves a chance and that's all we want."
Foster knows New Zealand remain a work in progress, but he has been impressed with the way they have knuckled down in challenging times.
He added: "All you can do, in the circumstances you get dealt, is try and find a way out of it and I think we've owned very clearly that we put ourselves in a situation. But I back the group we've got to get through an issue.
"I said at the time we're going through stuff that none of us had really gone through in an All Blacks jersey and it was hard. We just had to own it and we had to be the people who came up with the solutions.
"We've done some good problem-solving. We've worked hard, and it's given this team a little bit of steel and it's given us some harsh lessons we kind of wish we didn't have to deal with, but we did.
"In those situations you either fold and walk away because it's too hard, or you buckle up and get stuck into work.
"The work of the players has been phenomenal, and we're growing belief. But we've still got some steps to go."
Australia were again left "gutted" after being beaten by New Zealand for the second week running, with captain James Slipper accepting their performance "just wasn't good enough".
The Wallabies had lost 39-37 at home last week in dramatic fashion, but there was a far wider margin on Saturday.
The All Blacks were 17-0 ahead at half-time of the Rugby Championship clash after a pair of early Australia yellow cards and never looked likely to cede that comfortable advantage as they ran out 40-14 winners at Eden Park.
"That's a very disappointing outcome for us," Slipper told Sky.
"We wanted to come here and perform; we were really gutted with the result last week, and we had a lot of confidence coming in, but the ABs were too good, clearly."
He added: "I'm just gutted the way we performed. It just wasn't good enough."
Coach Dave Rennie bemoaned "way too soft penalties" on top of the early trips to the sin bin for both Jed Holloway and Dave Porecki.
Analysing the match, he said: "We got shaded everywhere, didn't we?
"I thought the All Blacks' defence was excellent; we had enough ball at times to find a way through and didn't.
"We didn't defend well enough, and you can't give a side like the All Blacks that much time and space. They're good enough to hurt us."
Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Laver Cup after being paired with Roger Federer for the final match of the Swiss star's career on Friday.
Federer had announced he would be retiring following the tournament and was then only fit to feature in one doubles match.
But that gave the Swiss great the opportunity to team up with Nadal, with the duo falling to a narrow and entertaining 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 11-9 loss to Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe at the O2 Arena.
That defeat marked the end of Federer's involvement in the Laver Cup, and Nadal's participation is over for this year, too.
Nadal has been dealing with an abdominal injury in the second half of this season, with the issue notably seeing him miss a Wimbledon semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.
However, the Laver Cup, announcing the Spaniard's absence from the weekend's play on Saturday, made no reference to any ailment, saying he had pulled out "for personal reasons".
Cameron Norrie took Nadal's place in the tournament and was set to face Taylor Fritz.
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