It all began in the 34th America's Cup of 2013 as the Louis Vuitton Cup champions Team New Zealand (Sponsored by Emirates Airlines and 'Deano' Barker being the skipper) challenged the defenders (Won in 2010 by beating Alinghi 2 - 0), Oracle Team USA (The skipper is Australian Jimmy Spithill but Oracle had to start their America's Cup defence campaign after they were found cheating during the warmup event last year because they had 2 points taken off, recieving a $250,000 fine and banning all 3 team members meaning that Oracle Team USA would have to win 11 races to defend the Auld Mug compared to ETNZ's 9).
On the 1st day of the 2013 America's Cup, ETNZ had taken both victories against Oracle, bringing them up 2 - 0.
Then the following day saw ETNZ notched up another in race 3 but in the 4th (The score is 3 - 0), Oracle were dominant but since their 1st victory, they never have been awarded points due to the penalty being imposed by a jury.
2 days later, ETNZ did however fight back by claiming victory in race 5 (They are now, 4 - 0) before Oracle Team USA forced to use a postponement card meaning that another race scheduled has been cancelled until day four opened when Oracle announced that UK sailor Ben Ainslie has called up to replace American John Kostecki (The guy who has raced on San Fransisco Bay for decades has been omitted) according to their change of plan (Like plan B) but the plan did not resolve as both victories being recorded by Team New Zealand by closing the day in a dominant fashion of 6 - 0, 2 3rds of a chance to claim the Cup.
But it did not go well for ETNZ in day 5 as they were on ther brink of disaster (They were leading from the start until this had happened) as they almost got capsized because of the hydraulic power beginning to fade as Oracle Team USA hand over the victory thus ending the penalty imposed by the International Jury but in the next race, all things did not go well, again as Team New Zealand were leading from the start, but the race committee announced that it was going to be abandoned due to the wind exceeding the allowable maximum.
Oracle Team USA showed no mercy by winning the start, extending the lead at every mark, including for the 1st time ever, a notable gain against the Kiwi boat on the upwind leg & now, Recording back to back victories for the 1st time, allowed Oracle to finally get on the board with the score at 6 - 1 (That was Oracle's 1st full point of the America's cup defence campaign), before Oracle's hopes of another victory in race 10 did not equally match as ETNZ gain revenge over the Americans by 16 seconds (They were close at the start & during the race as Team New Zealand took the lead by 3, & increased it to 11 at mark 2. Oracle once again showed that they are competitive during the upwind beat, and the lead changed about 3 times), but it was widely regarded as the most entertaining America's Cup races of all time but ETNZ skipper Dean Barker had to say at a press conference as he said “If you did not enjoy today’s racing you should probably watch another sport like rugby or stuff”.
But on day 7, High winds have postponed racing when both teams eager to race by heading out to the start line but the start time for race 11 was pushed back several times due to the wind limit, and with the wind continuing to increase, the Race Committee made it is going to be official.
It was day 8 as Team New Zealand led all the way to win race number 11 by 15 seconds on their way of claiming 1 more shot to get the Auld Mug, to New Zealand, but during the pre start, Deano moved past in front of James Spithill and then delayed both boats crossing the start line until well after the gun had gone, but Oracle powered up on the upwind beat, but Team New Zealand covered well, and both the boats rounded opposite marks 17 seconds apart, but at the last mark, Barker kept Aotearoa between Oracle and the mark, and the rounding was well below the usual speed. Team New Zealand were managed to outperform Oracle almost dead in the water to sprint through the finish line, taking the score now to 8 - 1 (Which is only 1 victory away from lifting the America's Cup once, and for all), The second race of the day suffered a 15 minute wind delay postponement according to the committee, right as both boats head their way to the the start. Barker had nailed a time on the distance sprint to the line to jump out to a lead on the way to the reach the 1st mark until race control immediately told both boats by calling off race 12 due to the higher risk amount of wind ruining Dean Barker and his ETNZ crew of lifting the trophy until tomorrow morning hopefully (New Zealand time).
+ The news I have missed when my grandparents went across the USA & Canada:
Wanganui Heartland Rugby Championship team suffer 1st loss of the season, going down 17 - 16 by King Country (Yeah, it was a shocker as King Country gained momentum as well as scoring an upset victory to last season's runner up).
British & Irish Lions rugby side make history (It was 2 months ago), beating the Wallabies in the final test (The 2nd test in Melbourne went to the Wallabies favour) over in Sydney, Australia to end a 16 year drought and claim the Tom Richards Trophy (The last time the Lions won a test series was in 1997 against South Africa), so it is hail to Warren Gatland, baby.
The Super Rugby season between went down to the wire as the Chiefs have gone back 2 back, defeating the Brumbies in the final from last month at a sell-out crowd in the 'Tron' just like last year (With the Southern hospitality boy Robbie Robinson providing the balls of steel moment by getting a try (Before Cruden converted as well as the Chiefs had been awarded the penalty in which they kicked to give them a five-point advantage before the Chiefs yet again, won the Super Rugby title just like last year as when they 1st won and) after co-Captain Liam Messam also scored a brilliant try from the scrum before being awarded his player of the game honours).
And also, I went along with Corinna Condon to the Wanganui Premier club rugby final between Ruapehu & Pirates the day after Jansen's 10th birthday, but before the match started, I really do not know that which team I was backing so I decided that Ruapehu will win that game since I was born in the Ruapehu region but in the end, the mighty Rua won the match by 3 points (The score was 16 - 13) by going back 2 back like the Chiefs Super Rugby team but the Balls of Steel moment went to Zyon Hekenui taking a penalty shot at goal from long range when the score is tied at 13 all before Hekenui managed to land that long range penalty shot to spare and take the lead (Well, this is more like a Stephen Donald esque penalty when he did that for his beloved All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup 2011 final) before winning that game and successfully defend the Wanganui premier club rugby championship.
And finally in this Report, the All Blacks kickstarted their Rugby Championship campaign with a victory against the Wallabies at ANZ Stadium (Well that was for the Bledisloe but the score was 47 - 29 + The balls of steel moment went to Ben Smith getting a hat-trick as well as Aaron Cruden getting a try by charging down a kick before captain Richie McCaw (World Rugby cult figure and the victim of New Zealand born Wallaby Quade Cooper since the people of NZ (AKA Kiwis) strongly dislike him since 2011) returned to the international test rugby arena, with a try), before both teams headed to Wellington (There was an earthquake there at the capital when it happened) when the AB's proved too strong by absolutely roadkilling them again (The final score was 27 - 16) at Westpac Stadium (Although it wasn't damaged during the earthquake) in order to retain the Bledisloe (+ The debut of new All Black Tom Taylor, son of 1987 RWC winning player Warwick following the 1st five-eighth injury curse that had been happened (With Daniel Carter, Cruden & Beauden Barrett, are all injured) and of course, Tony Woodcock being the 4th AB to reach 100 test caps) as well as playing Argentina in Hamilton (AKA the 'Tron') with a victory (+ Francis Saili's test debut as an All Black and the end result: 28 - 13, but bad news for McCaw as his knee got injured meaning that he is out of rugby from 4 to 6 weeks) and then a week later, The All Blacks 100% record at the Rugby Championship was on the line when they took on South Africa (Who had 3 out of 3 wins beating teams such as Argentina twice & the Wallabies) at Eden Park (The hallowed rugby ground where the AB's have never lost since '94 as well as The Kapa o Pango haka was performed (The guy who reacted the haka was Jannie du Plessis and Jannie was like ''The Haka? THE HAKA?! Oh my this is gonna be fun'') after both country's respective national anthems have been played) when SA hooker Bismarck du Plessis (Jannie's brother) ran into Dan Carter in a big tackle, injuring his ACL, ruling him out of action for 6 weeks but referee Romain Poite blew the whistle before making a decision whether there was any suspected foul play but replays show the tackle was legitimate and after that, the ref thinks he is wrong that the tackle was illegal so a yellow card was shown to Du Plessis as he was off to the bin for 10 when the All Blacks were leading then but in the 2nd half, Bismarck du Plessis (The guy who got the try after spending 10 minutes in the sin bin) yet again committed a foul by copping the elbow to the throat on Messam so Poite had no choice but to send Du Plessis off with another yellow and a red card keeping him out of the match when South Africa reduced to 14 men but they lost (The 1st player to be sent off at Eden Park since Sam Warburton of Wales against France during the RWC 2011 semifinal but the judicial officer found that the red-card was later overturned by the IRB because the red card had been revoked from Du Plessis' record although Poite admitted he made an error in carding Du Plessis and when the IRB later admitted that Poite made an decision that looked stupid) as the All Blacks win the game (29 - 15) by making it 4 victories from 4 in the 2013 Rugby Championship (8 from 8 overall) while Bismarck Du Plessis, was cleared of any foul play for his challenge on Carter, as a result.
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