Auckland

James Wakefield, manager of No. 1 Queen Street Café in Britomart, was pulling the café sign down at about 8am this morning when something unusual happened. 

"I noticed a flash out of the corner of my eye, looked around and saw a fish on the ground," he told Newshub.

Mr Wakefield says his first reaction was to Snapchat the incident, "as you do".

He assumes the fish was a "seagull's breakfast" that had been dropped as it was flown over downtown Auckland. 

Some might say he's gone out of the frying pan and into the fire, but former All Black Alama Ieremia has been tasked with turning round the fortunes of the problem Auckland provincial side.

Ieremia's appointment as head coach for the next three seasons was announced on Monday by the Auckland Rugby Union. The 47-year-old former Hurricanes assistant and most recently in charge of the Manu Samoa setup takes over from Nick White who stepped aside at the end of a horror 2017 campaign that saw the Auks go 3-7 and narrowly avoid relegation from the Mitre 10 Cup's Premiership division.

The outbreak has followed the All Blacks on their end of year tour with four All Blacks, one by one, taken down in as many weeks.

Jack Goodhue, Rieko Ioane and Ardie Savea all contracted the infectious viral disease, and now lock Luke Romano.

“Luke Romano's in semi-quarantine, because he's got them as well, so I think that might be four cases,” says Coach Steve Hansen. “And all of them have been vaccinated.”

It follows a huge spike in mumps cases in Auckland this year - now nearing 900 - numbers not seen in decades.

Solomon Islands edged New Caledonia 3-2 on Thursday morning, in a top of the table clash, before thrashing Samoa 8-0 to make it four straight wins.

Baby Kurukuru coach Stanley Puairana was excited to secure another six points but has already turned his focus on his team's last day of matches.

"So far we have 12 points and we're getting excited about maybe going to the Olympics but we're still taking it one game at a time, step-by-step," he said.

"Two games in one day is really hard but I know our players will continue to try their best".

First the Toulon-bound midfielder lost his place in the All Blacks squad, and now he has been demoted to the bench in what is proving to be a decidedly indifferent final lap of the track with Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup.

Fekitoa has been far from a lone ranger, but he has struggled for anything resembling his best form as Auckland have stumbled to just one win from their first five matches to sit just a point above Counties Manukau at the foot of the Premiership standings.

The family of 10, including a one-month-old baby, live in the three-bedroom state house in Manurewa.

But the woman's eldest daughter, Miria Esera, said Housing New Zealand has told them they have to find somewhere else to live, because the tenancy agreement was with Ms Esera's mother and it could not be transferred.

She said she feared they would end up on the streets if they could not stay in the house, or did not find somewhere else to live.

Ms Esera said she was a 28-year-old solo mother to two young girls.

Tighthead Sinckler, 24, was returned to his upmarket hotel in a police car hours early on Sunday after police attended an incident involving "minor disorder" in central Auckland.

"A male was placed under arrest but was not charged after further inquiries established that the incident did not warrant prosecution," police said.

It is understood the incident took place on Galway St in central Auckland about 3am.

Hours earlier the 122kg Sinckler had come on in the third test at Eden Park, with the 15-15 draw earning the British and Irish Lions a share of the series.

In 2016, a hugely successful U-17 women’s tournament was hosted in Cook Islands featuring nine nations of which Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu, made their debuts at this age-group. For Fiji it was an historic outing after they finished third, narrowly beating New Caledonia in the match for third place.

This year will mark the debut of American Samoa, who have never participated in this competition, and the return to this level for Solomon Islands whose last outing was in 2010 when they finished a very respectable second.

Documents released under the Official Information Act show health authorities scrambling to keep the public updated after a breakdown in communication when news broke that 10 people, including three children, had been hospitalised with typhoid fever.

The outbreak was revealed publicly late afternoon on Friday, March 31. Authorities had identified an outbreak more than a week earlier and the fact that a woman had died from the disease was not made public until Tuesday, April 4.

Celebrity chef and author Robert Oliver, whose brainchild the restaurant is, plans to deliver a complete Pacific experience. Mr Oliver, who grew up in Fiji and Samoa is passionate about everything Pacific. He has authored two award winning books on Pacific cuisine and has anchored numerous television shows and been a judge on the popular ‘My Kitchen Rules’ TV series. He has been associated with setting up top end restaurants in several countries including the United States, the Caribbean and Australia.