Free Bird/Say It Ain't So: The year in review part 6 AKA #TheGrandFinale (The best of 2016/MMXVI)

Well, it has all come down to this because it is New Years Eve so I will be doing my so called last blog of 2016 (Which is the year in review: part 6 because this is #TheGrandFinale before New Years Day 2017 tomorrow (Although tomorrow is next year so imagine that because it is not only a holy diver & I so wanted to end a year on a high because I did 40 blogs this year but not only breaking the record of 14 blogs that I did in 2012 (I did 8 in both 2013 & 2015 & of course last but not least, 10 in 2014).

So here is some bits that have happened over the course of the last 2 months starting with Everyday Is Exactly The Same/Just Like You Imagined/The Hand That Feeds: The Chicago blues disappointment (+ a brand new POTUS) which is about the All Blacks shock loss against Ireland & Donald Trump being elected President of the United States:

Well, we are in mourning as Ireland (Led by hooker Rory Best (Who took over the reins from Paul O'Connell (Although Jamie Heaslip took over the captaincy for the quarterfinal match against Argentina (Who had qualified for the quarterfinals after finishing 2nd behind the All Blacks (Who had gone on to retain the William Webb Ellis cup after beating traditional Trans Tasman rivals the Wallabies 34 - 17 in the final, no question about it) in Pool C) because O'Connell was injured in their victory against France (Who had lost to New Zealand in the quarterfinal) in the final pool game to top Pool D during the Rugby World Cup last year & ruled out for the tournament) after their disappointing Rugby World Cup 2015 quarterfinal exit against Argentina (Who progressed to the Semifinals against Australia (Who had fought against Scotland after topping the pool of death (With all 4 victories against Fiji in the opener, Uruguay, hosts England who have been knocked out on their own home turf & Wales (Who had lost to the Springboks in the quarterfinal because South Africa topped Pool B by virtue of 3 wins & a famous upset loss against the might of Japan led by Kiwi born Chiefs player Michael Leitch with fellow Kiwi born replacement winger Karne Hesketh going in for the match winning try to shock the rugby world by completing the biggest boilover in Rugby World Cup history (Compared to France who had just beaten the favourites, the AB's at Twickenham during the semifinal of the 1999 Rugby World Cup which shocked the rugby world in it's entirety) but the Japanese failed to make it through to the quarterfinals on points difference after losing to Scotland) & won under controversial circumstances in the quarterfinal & lost the Rugby World Cup final to the All Blacks) & lost before losing to the Boks (Who had just lost to New Zealand in the semifinal) to decide who will claim 3rd place in the bronze final) & coached by New Zealander Joe Schmidt just like Australian Eddie Jones coaching England led by Rotorua born Dylan Hartley as they pick up a test series victory down under against the Michael Cheika coached Wallabies led by Stephen Moore 5 months ago 3 - 0 (The same month that the AB's defeated Wales to win a test series 3 - 0 & South Africa won the test series against the Irish 2 - 1 after losing the 1st test then winning the last 2 tests after coming from behind) shocked the rugby world by taking a monumental upset victory against the Rugby Championship winners & reigning world champions the All Blacks (I was like oh my god, why...but that wasn't just the case as our 1st ever test loss against them because Ireland joined the tier 1 nations club along with Australia, the Springboks, Six Nations champions England, France & Wales by deservedly crushing the AB's but only Argentina, Italy & Scotland are the other tier 1 nations to have never beaten the All Blacks, oh well, just tell me the truth WILL YA! Tell me the truth, what on earth is going on, good lord (Sarcasm) because we finally tasted our Irish curse at last because the streak...is over at 18 & 1 (It's 10 & 1 this year because it is now 11 & 1 since we beat Italy) which created rugby history (The final score was 40 - 29 to the Irish because Ireland thwarted our comeback plans not once but twice, slowly but surely & of course the All Blacks had a locking crisis as 2 of the world's best locks Brodie Retallick & Sam Whitelock both gone due to injuries as well as Luke Romano withdrawn from the squad due to family bereavement (Although Romano's family are in mourning right here, right now) so Patrick Tuipulotu ended up being our sole specialist lock for the All Blacks (Although one of Beauden & Jordie Barrett's brothers Scott Barrett was called up into the squad as injury replacement to Whitelock) with Jerome Kaino wearing the number 4 jersey but they proved to be a failure just like Leon MacDonald wore the number 13 jersey against the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup semifinal way back in 2003 (Although the selectors preferred MacDonald at centre ahead of the fit again Tana Umaga because Umaga's 2003 World Cup campaign was over because of an injury picked up in the opener against Italy coached by World Cup winning All Black in 1987, John Kirwan (Who was one of the players along with Beauden Barrett to score a try in both the semifinal & final of the Rugby World Cup in 1987 against Wales in the semis & France in the final (John Kirwan) & 2015 against South Africa in the semis & Australia in the final (And of course Beauden Barrett) as Irish lock Devin Toner totally dominated the lineout for Ireland as tall as Metcalfe) as the All Blacks winning streak is over with 18 straight victories before the luck of the Irish ended the so called #Blackout of 2016 (Ireland just avoided becoming a latest victim right there so this means that Wales & the Wallabies on 3 occasions & literally, of course, Argentina & the Springboks twice) by humiliating, pummeled & smashed them into pieces (Although our All Black defence got penetrated so we are not gettin good but still to improve on the next game we'll see if it works)...so we might get a 2nd chance of redemption in Dublin (At last we will reveal ourselves to the Irish, at last we will have revenge) but 1st we have got to face Italy to avenge the demons here in Chicago which is on celebration mode as their beloved team in Major League Baseball, the Chicago Cubs won MLB's World Series after 108 long years (Well their last win in the World Series was in 1908 & their last appearance was 1945 (The same year that the 2nd World War ended in fashion since it began in 1939) against the Cleveland Indians who tried desperately hard to add a MLB/NBA double following their NBA finals dominance with the Cavaliers (Which features the likes of superstar LeBron James (Although he is the greatest NBA player of all time along with Kobe Bryant (Who played for the Los Angeles Lakers during his career although the Lakers have never won an NBA title since 2010) & Michael Jordan (Who also during his career played for his beloved Chicago Bulls side which last won an NBA title in 1998), Kevin Love, J.R. Smith & Kyrie Irving) by getting some payback or should I say revenge over the Golden State Warriors since the Cavaliers lost last year which includes Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant (Who had moved from Oklahoma City Thunder which features Russell Westbrook & New Zealander Steven Adams) & Klay Thompson.

And finally in this blog, America has found a new leader with 70 year old billionaire mogul & Republican Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States of America (Well the last Republican (Although I did not know that world famous Austrian American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Republican when he became Governor of California AKA the Governator from 2003 until 2011) to be elected president was former Governor of the lone star state of Texas, George W Bush because Bush defeated former Vice President Al Gore by so many votes & 4 years later got re-elected by defeating Democratic candidate John Kerry) but most Americans hated the new leader becoming president so they decided to move to Canada (But Canadian immigration officers are left fuming so they refuse to let those Americans to move across the border) & New Zealand (Although 1 American family said that they decided to move here because those kids decided to go to a New Zealand school because they felt that they did not want to go to an American school under the leadership of Donald Trump). And Trump had a great speech about former 1st Lady & Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton (Wife of former president Bill Clinton (He defeated George W Bush's father George Bush Sr in the 1992 general election because Bush Sr took over the presidency from the late Ronald Reagan) until Bush took over as president before Barack Hussein Obama 8 years ago when he got elected ahead of Arizona senator John McCain to become the 1st African American or black president (He was born in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii (Aloha) not Kenya because his family came from Kenya) & re-elected 4 years ago ahead of Mitt Romney) because she just missed out on that top job to become America's 1st female president & what do I think about Trump, because he is just one of those billionaire bozos that just got elected I mean & most Americans are livid about that especially Diana Kent, just simply plain rubbish so watch your backs which are rightfully mine, & so too are the All Blacks because the AB's are getting sick about Trump being elected president at the moment after winning so many votes & Hanne told me today at the New World supermarket that she dislikes Trump at the moment compared to our Prime Minister John Key (And hey, the election is coming our way next year so I hope that we have a new leader like Andrew Little of the Labour party just like Trump at the moment) so move over Obamacare because it now been renamed to Trumpcare so I can care less about what I do.

From Broken/Fine Again/Remedy: The Italy Vs All Blacks report (RIP Nana Minnie Ngapo)

It was on Saturday that we went on a road trip to Auckland (Although we stopped at Taumarunui where I had mince & cheese & butter chicken pies for lunch & I even saw my old hometown of Raetihi where Jansen & I spent most of my childhood there) to go on the ferry to Waiheke Island to attend the funeral of Nana Minnie Ngapo who was passed away aged 95 because she was born in 1921 & went to see the family there including Kathryn, Ken, my 2nd cousins Gemma (Although I had a selfie with her which felt good) & Huia (Ex fashion model to be), Gemma's daughter Rosalie (Although I did not know that Rosalie is my 2nd cousin) & one of the late uncle Andrew's daughters & we had dinner at Wilma Road where Kathy lives before we stayed at Tawa Lodge for the night before heading off to Piratahi marae where I saw my 2nd cousin Ben (Although I also had a selfie with him & I gave him a gift which is a list of my favourite bands that i listen to when I wrote it down although Gemma listens to Mai FM) & we had a feed there like lunch & dinner at the marae (Although I saw during the funeral was Uncle Wal although I said Kia Ora to him & his house is clean because he had moved previously) then we stayed the night before the funeral was held then (I had breakfast there) & after that we had lunch x dinner before I said goodbye to Kathryn as well as Gemma, Ben & Huia (Although I finally had a selfie with her so no hard feelings eh?) before going on the ferry to Half Moon Bay in which I enjoyed the ferry ride & I watched the news report about the earthquakes in Kaikoura & after that we went on a motorway (Although I would like to go back to Auckland or Waiheke Island again, that is disgraceful because of the heavy traffic) but we spent the night in the Kiwiana capital Otorohanga because Dad was feeling sick & tired along with Poppa & Jansen & it was 2 days ago that we departed Otorohanga to go back home to Wanganui where we stopped at Taumarunui again to have morning tea where I had a chocolate & caramel slice & mocchachino & linch where I only had a butter chicken pie & Raetihi where Dad went to the loo before we headed back home.

And finally in this blog that the All Blacks led by Sam Cane for Kieran Read took on Italy led by 120 cap veteran Sergio Parisse at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome (Host of the summer Olympics in 1960) after our Chicago blues disappointment against Ireland (Although they beat Canada in the next game because they were on a high in which they shocked the rugby world) at Soldier Field by making so many changes including both Liam Coltman & Rieko Ioane making their test debuts on the bench respectively so here's a news report about it (Although I missed the game live because I was in Waiheke Island but I saw the replay the same day as we went back home to Wanganui):

New Zealand put Italy to the sword as they ran in 10 tries at Rome's Stadio Olympico in a 68-10 victory.

Malakai Fekitoa (2), Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Israel Dagg, Wyatt Crockett, Steven Luatua, Elliot Dixon, Rieko Ioane and Waisake Naholo scored for the All Blacks, with first five eighth Aaron Cruden kicking 7 conversions and Lima Sopoaga 2.

Italy's points came from the boot of Carlo Canna, with Tommaso Boni scoring their solitary try in the 2nd half with Tommaso Allan adding the conversion

New Zealand scored 5 tries in the 1st half, with Fekitoa dotting it down in the 4th minute and Cruden converting, only for Canna to cut the deficit shortly after with a penalty to make it 7-3.

Faumuina extended the lead in the 15th minute and Tuipulotu crossed the line 5 minutes later, with Dagg and Crockett also touching down before the break as Cruden did not miss from the tee.

Luatua continued the scoring 4 minutes into the 2nd half before Fekitoa claimed his brace and Dixon got his 1st ever test try. Ioane and Naholo also crossed and Sopoaga took over kicking duties from Cruden with 2 successful conversions.

And finally in other rugby news, the Wallabies coached by Michael Cheika have taken victory against Scotland by a single point in their 1st meeting since the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal (Although referee Craig Joubert got the decision wrong of awarding the penalty to Australia instead of a scrum which cost Scotland a place in the semifinal against Argentina) as well as England coached by Eddie Jones defeated South Africa after 10 long years that has been & Wales beating Argentina by 4 points.

And from Go With The Flow/Make It Wit Chu/No One Knows: All Blacks Revenge of the Irish:

Well, what a way to exact revenge for the All Blacks since that loss in Chicago a fortnight ago but the next game is the final test match of the year which is against France at the Stade de France (Hosted the Euro 2016 final between eventual winners Portugal & hosts France) in Saint Denis & how did Rugby World Cup winning player from last year, Beauden Barrett (One of her favourite All Blacks players according to one of Uncle Andrew's daughters) get his World Rugby player of the year award because he was the best first five-eighth this year because Dan Carter (Who won the player of the year honours last year because he now plays for French Top 14 champions Racing 92 but how did he get cleared for a positive drug test? Because he claims that he took drugs or should I say steroids in order to win the Top 14 title against Ma'a Nonu's Toulon in the final (Although Nonu did not play due to concussion) along with his teammates Joe Rokocoko (Used to be my favourite All Black player because he kept scoring tries a lot along with the late Jonah Lomu, Richie McCaw & Kieran Read because my favourite All Black player at the moment is Anton Lienert-Brown) & Argentinian Juan Imhoff) no longer played for New Zealand since our World Cup success last year in England & he overtook Aaron Cruden as the AB's premier first five eighth since their Super Rugby triumph this year with the Hurricanes & the All Blacks getting team of the year as well as the super coach of Steve Hansen picking up coach of the year after missing out to Wallabies coach Michael Cheika last year.

And finally in other rugby news such as Australia beating France by 2 points as well as the Springboks getting beaten by 2 points against Italy because the Italians exactly created rugby history for their 1st ever win against South Africa + Scotland mowed down Argentina by 3 points with a match winning penalty by Scottish halfback Greig Laidlaw & England getting the benefit against Fiji to remain unbeaten in 2016 & of course finally that Wales almost succumbed to Japan by tearing them apart with a match winning drop goal by Sam Davies.

And from All Over You/I Alone/Selling The Drama: Spoiling the French revolution in Paris (The last rugby report of MMXVI):

Well, the All Blacks (Coached by Steve Hansen (Former Canterbury & Wales coach & All Blacks assistant coach to Ted, Sir Graham Henry) & captained by Crusader & Cantabrian Kieran Read (Although he was born in Papakura which is located in Auckland & took over the reins from the legendary Richie McCaw) ended our year with a win against the Guy Noves (Who took over as coach from former player Philippe Saint-Andre after France were completely annihilated by New Zealand in Cardiff last year during the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals) coached & Guilhem Guirado (Who plays for former All Black Ma'a Nonu's glamorous French club Toulon (Who has formed a foreign legion of players) which features the likes of Nonu himself, Georgia's finest of Mamuka Gorgodze & Levan Chilachava, Argentinian Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, American Samu Manoa, South Africans Duane Vermeulen, Juan Smith (Who is the captain for Toulon), Marcel van der Merwe, Juandre Kruger & Bryan Habana, Aussies Liam Gill, James O'Connor (Who is exactly, once known as the Justin Bieber (Although Aunty Tania is in Justin Bieber land so she's coming here to New Zealand next month for Christmas, New Year & the 1 year anniversary of Nan's passing on the 6th of January) of rugby (AKA James O'Bieber) because he looks like him a lot), Drew Mitchell & Matt Giteau, Japanese rock star of rugby all the way from the far east: Ayumu Goromaru, Welsh playboy Leigh Halfpenny, current & former French internationals Xavier Chiocci, Charles Ollivon, Sebastien Tillous-Borde, Francois Trinh-Duc, the big & impressive Mathieu Bastareaud, Maxime Mermoz & Vincent Clerc & of course the flying Fijians of prop Manasa Saulo & gold medal winner at Rio in sevens rugby, winger Josua Tuisova) led France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France & I managed to wake up at 8am (Although I already set the alarm clock at 8am because I always get up there) 30 minutes till the start of the broadcast so I managed to have breakfast just like I watched the Irish game when I had breakfast because I had a cereal with yoghurt as well as having a croissant (Which is a French food that I had) before I had sausages with bacon, tomato & eggs so Pops managed to watch the game just because I had Sky along with my Dad who only watched the 1st half in my flat here but we didn't have smoothie (Well I had a smoothie for dessert on Thursday & Saturday when I saw the lights at 15A Kells Avenue right there) because we were full then but so here's the full match commentary of the game so far to end 2016 on a high for the All Blacks despite the defeat against Ireland which shocked the rugby world in Chicago by putting their train off our rails:

But 1st of all, here's the starting lineup for the All Blacks to play against France:

1 (Loose head prop): Joe Moody (Canterbury/Crusaders)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Owen Franks (Canterbury/Crusaders)
4 (Lock): Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay/Chiefs)
5 (Lock): Sam Whitelock (Canterbury/Crusaders)
6 (Blindside Flanker): Jerome Kaino (Auckland/Blues)
7 (Openside Flanker): Matt Todd (Canterbury/Crusaders)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
9 (Half-back): TJ Perenara (Wellington/Hurricanes)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
11 (Left Wing): Julian Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
12 (Second five eighth): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
13 (Centre): Anton Lienert-Brown (Waikato/Chiefs)
14 (Right Wing): Waisake Naholo (Taranaki/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay/Crusaders)

And in the reserves are Codie Taylor, Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Scott Barrett, Ardie Savea, Aaron Smith, Aaron Cruden & Rieko Ioane.

And finally in other rugby news such as the Joe Schmidt coached & Rory Best led Ireland (One of the All Blacks main challengers along with England for possibly the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan) who had to win against the Wallabies (Who will try to end England's hopes of a perfect year just like the Irish who almost ended the All Blacks unbeaten run in 2013) coached & captained by Michael Cheika & Stephen Moore respectively at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin ending Australia's hopes of a Grand Slam & the Springboks (Coached by Alister Coetzee & led by Adriaan Strauss for the last time before retiring for good) are in turmoil after being brassed off & embarrassed by Wales (Coached by Rob Howley who is filling in for Warren Gatland who is coaching the British & Irish Lions & captained by Gethin Jenkins who is also filling in for the injured Sam Warburton) at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff as well as England (Coached by an Aussie Eddie Jones & captained by a Kiwi born in Rotorua who is now officially an Englishman, Dylan Hartley) who defeated the Daniel Hourcade coached & Agustin Creevy led Argentina side to remain unbeaten in 2016 after an ill disciplined match (A player from each team got sent off for that aerial challenge which landed on it's head (Which is winger Elliot Daly who will miss the crucial clash against the Wallabies due to suspension because he did that to Argentinian Number 8 Leonardo Senatore just like Malakai Fekitoa did against Ireland for the head high tackle or should I say a high shot on Irish winger Simon Zebo (Although the Irish aren't happy with that because they were livid about it well that is disgraceful) because New Zealand were playing dirty to seek utu after the Chicago blues disappointment & how did Sam Cane (Who missed the final AB's game of the year against France due to injury along with Ben Smith) got away from it after being cited?) & stomping on the face of the opponent (Which is prop Enrique Pieretto who did that to English prop Joe Marler (Who got sin binned for a probable retaliation) in the England 10 metre line) in the ruck) at Twickenham in London + Scotland pipped Georgia (Who entertained last year at the Rugby World Cup by securing automatic qualification for the next Rugby World Cup in 2019 which is going to be held in Japan with both victories against Namibia & Tonga in Pool C) in Kilmarnock & Tonga getting their 1st win against Italy in Padua since the Rugby World Cup pool match in 1999.

And from Freaks/The Dolphin's Cry: The year in review part 1 (The best of 2016/MMXVI):

Well, Pops took me to watch the Wanganui Christmas parade & it was sensational because my favourite part of the parade was seeing Santa Claus (AKA Father Christmas) before Poppa took me back home to end an incredible day it was (Well I had a chocolate bar & a drink of water to keep us hydrated) because I am now doing a blog which is the best of 2016, the year in review.

And from Loco/Scooby Snacks: The year in review part 2 (The best of 2016/MMXVI):

P.S. My 2nd cousin Gemma (Rosalie's mum because Rosalie is my 2nd cousin) has sent me an email because I never emailed her before so here's her message in it's entirety (And that's the 1st time I emailed her as a result):

Hi Whetu

Thanks for your nice long email. It was very pleasant to read. I'm good, thank you. I hope you are well too.

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, Poppa and Jansen being ill after the funeral. We were exhausted after the funeral, there was a lot of cleaning to do and it ended up being me, cousin Waimaria and my mum, Kathryn, cleaning with Maikara (she was the maori lady with the large bone carving and the moko on her chin and the guitar and beautiful singing voice) and my Dad and our family friend Bill. But we got it all done by about 7:30pm and then we went home and had some leftovers too and fell asleep quite soon after that.

I'm not a workaholic but I am kept quite busy being Rosalie's mum and looking after Nana Minnie's house and garden and dog. I love to do it though. I'm missing Nana Minnie quite a lot since she passed away, but I find it comforting in her house, surrounded by all her things.

In answer to your questions, Kathryn, Huia and Ben are all good. Kathryn is starting a yoga class today to improve her fitness. She isn't sure what she is going to do now. I think she will start to look for a job. Huia and Ben are back in Auckland. I haven't seen much of them. Ben wanted to go and work on Raoul Island again - it's up in the Kermadecs - but he didn't get it so I'm not sure what his plans are now. Huia is working at her new job at Fashion Tv and she spends a lot of time with her new boyfriend.

I better go, I've got a job interview to get ready for.

Take Care

Gemma

And from Take A Picture: The year in review part 4 (The best of 2016/MMXVI):

It was today that a Fijian woman named Silo took me to Pops place for lunch & dessert that we had & it was fantastic I have got to say (Although me & Pops did some work on the fence so it was not that easy though) but John & Lim arrived to see Nan's memorial garden once more before we had a smoothie while I was reading 2 Richie McCaw books but I have another favourite part of the Richie McCaw book The Open Side that it was a referee at a World Cup final in 2011 saying to the players when trying to turn the ball over in a ruck, the referee said ''Hands off, get out of there'' so that was my most interesting part of the book there along with ''Hands off, it's a ruck'' & I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS. So I had to say goodbye to John & Lim because they were leaving so I had to leave by finishing my smoothie & reading The Open Side book so I had to go home to end an incredible day it was (And it was on Thursday that I was with Poppa because he was running late so we headed to 15A Kells Avenue for some garden work before we headed to Nan's grave then to Caroline's to have afternoon tea so I had a carrot cake with mocchachino there & went to New World to get some stuff there).

P.S. Boxer Joseph Parker has beaten the 'Mexican Destroyer' Andy Ruiz Jr last night on Saturday to end a boxing year on a high (I don't know what his next fight & title defense his because defending a boxing title is incredibly but relatively difficult) & become the 1st Kiwi to win the WBO World Heavyweight Boxing Championship with a unanimous decision victory at the Vector Arena held in Auckland but how good must that boy be feeling because he is so proud to be a New Zealander like that not only because he is of Samoan descent so both the Samoan & Kiwi people are so proud of him not only because he is 24 years old & the best part was the 1st judge revealed their scorecards because it was a draw & the other 2 judges were in favour of Joe meaning that Parker had a unanimous decision win to become the new WBO champion of the world but I told Dad that he lost so Dad told me that Parker won instead so it was touch & go from the self proclaimed Samoan New Zealander so his trainer Kevin Barry & his family were so proud because the championship belt was Joseph Parker's early christmas present meaning that he had to win comfortably to get the big prize early for christmas because he had wins this year against Jason 'Iron Man' Bergman in Samoa (His family's homeland), a world title eliminator against Carlos Takam (In which he won the 1st of his 2 unanimous decision victories), Kiwi born Aussie Solomon Haumono & Russian or Ukranian boxer Alexander Dimitrenko (In which he won with a clear & obvious body shot KO because it was not even an illegal low blow below the belt) before Ruiz Jr because his record now is an astonishing 22 - 0 record.

And on Tuesday that Pops took me to 15A Kells Avenue to stay for 7 days so I was the nightwatchman for the light up your home Christmas competition (For dinner on Tuesday night was salmon with pasta & salad & Pops pays me 15 bucks each night that I was the nightwatchman but nobody pays me & all I wanted for Christmas is money & there was about 60 people on Tuesday, 55 on Wednesday & 59 or 60 last night & we did arrange those lollies for the kids when they visit Nan's Memorial Garden during the dark) & Wednesday we went to remembrance where I saw Dad which is about the people including my Nan who lost their lives this year (We had a BLT (Bacon, lettuce & tomato) sandwich for lunch & dinner was turkey stir fry) & Yesterday that we went to a Japanese restaurant called Japanese Kitchen Wa where I had sushi for starters & a chicken teriyaki bento box for the main course where we had a big meal because we had a cold meat sandwich for dinner (Although today for lunch we had a salad because we drank a 0.5% low alcoholic Clausthaler beer & for dessert was hokey pokey ice cream with weet-bix bites, canned apricots & coconut cream & for dinner tonight that we are having is pasta (Well it has always been my favourite food for like 16 years since 2000 (Well I 1st tried pasta & it felt so good), superb) after we went to the prize giving at the church were head boy Jansen picked up his awards (And I was doing the lights yesterday & today because we brought these at The Warehouse) & I'm always reading the Rules Of The Game book as well as the 2 Richie McCaw books Richie McCaw: The Openside & Richie McCaw 148 & the book that I have got at the moment for my birthday which is Sir Graham Henry celebrates The World Cups! 1987 to 2015 so lets see how it unfolds on the Richie McCaw: The Openside which is about Richie McCaw in the events to the 2011 Rugby World Cup after the agony of 2007 against hosts France with my 3 favourite parts of the book (And today I was watching on YouTube about the 2016 New Zealand rugby awards sponsored by ASB which is about World Rugby player of the year & the All Blacks 1st choice first-five eighth Beauden Barrett winning both Super Rugby (Last year went to Lima Sopoaga) & the Kelvin Tremain memorial player of the year (Last year's honours went to Ma'a Nonu because I thought Dan Carter was going to win) because he not only managed to complete the rare double award just like his younger brother who is a utility back, Jordie Barrett who got both age grade (Akira Ioane won the award last year) & Mitre 10 Cup player of the year (George Moala also won the award last year) as well as the All Blacks winning team of the year (Last year went to the All Blacks too) & Steve Hansen winning coach of the year (Also last year went to Steve Hansen too) & finally hooker Dane Coles of the Ngati Porou tribe winning the Tom French memorial Maori player of the year (Because last year went to Nehe Milner-Skudder):

Broken

''The Ball's just sitting there with no one over it, so I pick it up just before Dickinson says 'Hands off, it's a ruck'. I drop the ball and look at him, still basically on my own, as he raises his arm for a penalty. I'm bewildered.''

Semi tough

''On the way to the ground on the bus, I looked out on the Great North Road part of the Fan Trail and saw a sign on one of the car yards.
I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE. RICHIE IS.
I wondered whether Cooper had seen it when the Aussie bus went by.''

And The right picture

''Trench warfare. France has gone 16 phases. We're still hanging in there. The penalty is the danger. Andy's trying to referee us, I hear him screaming at us - Hands off! Get out of there!
JK has a dab at the next ruck, is blown away, too late, we think, appealing. Joubert holds his hands wide again - play on.''

And finally from 1979/Bullet With Butterfly Wings/Jeremy/Semi Charmed Life: The year in review part 5 (The best of 2016/MMXVI):

So, it is Christmas tomorrow because I will be looking forward to it so I will be doing a blog about part 5 of my year in review & I have been staying at 15A Kells Avenue for like 12 days so yesterday Aunty Tania Manu Ngapo had just arrived here along with her French Canadian partner Rejean/Giuseppe Pedersen to spend Christmas, New Year & the 1 year anniversary of Nan's passing so we saw them yesterday at the airport because I missed Aunty Tania so much because I have not seen her for like 10 months so the last time I saw her was in February this year & I have been doing well working as a nightwatchman for the light up your home competition until tonight because we had about 164 people last night so I worked so hard for that (Well I had a sandwich for lunch yesterday but dinner was chicken with fried potatoes, carrots & red onions & peas).

P.S. The world is a vampire
set to drain
secret destroyers
hold you up to the flames
and what do I get
for my pain
betrayed desires
and a piece of the game

And my cousin Paige Williams has finally sent me an email wishing me a merry Christmas (Did you know it's Christmas today so finally) just because I have never emailed Paige for like 4 months so here's her message in it's entirety:

Hi Whetu,

So lovely to hear from you. Merry Christmas!

Have you got a lovely day planned for tomorrow?

Jarrod and I are meant to be going up North in January so we will definitely be in touch and come and see you.

Yes we definitely felt the earthquake it was pretty scary, did you feel it at your house?

Tell your dad and Henry I say Merry Christmas also.

Lots of love,

Paige xx

And I have found a new favourite part of the Richie McCaw: The Openside book which is DC's wrecked along with Hands off, it's a ruck, I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS & Hands off! Get out of there! So here's the full rundown of my new favourite part of the book:

''It's only when I'm wandering back towards the changing rooms that I notice he's no longer out there. One of the management team is standing outside the changing room, ashen faced.
'DC's wrecked,' he says.
When I get inside Dan's with Deb, in agony. Ted's hovering, stricken. I can see he's having in one of those This can't be happening moments.''

And finally I have been having a great Christmas because I had to stick my tradition of opening the presents & my favourite Christmas present was the money (Although I had to spend $200 at The Warehouse when I bought a cricket game which is Don Bradman Cricket 17 (Although I decided not to play that game now because I don't want that game) & a PS4 controller which I can use a a back-up or spare but Pops & Dad bought the TV for the PS4 & I wrote down the objectives & rules of playing Don Bradman Cricket 17 & today we are seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars story today but the movie includes stars such as Felicity Jones (Who plays Jyn Erso & appeared in the Jimmy Fallon show by demoing her Star Wars fight moves by giving him a fight sequence or should I say masterclass that she learned from her Kung Fu training background as well as also appearing in the movie Inferno with Tom Hanks who appeared in great movies such as Forrest Gump & The Green Mile with the late Michael Clarke Duncan), Chinese martial arts movie superstar Donnie Yen as well as the guy who played the evil Le Chiffre in Casino Royale which is Denmark's finest, Mads Mikkelsen (As Jyn Erso's father Galen), Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Jiang Wen & Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma & I even saw it yesterday because I was mindblown (Although Pops was waiting for Rejean so he could leave the Cemetery Circuit as far as they can) but my favourite part of the movie was the ending such as Darth Vader mowing down the troops of the Rebel Alliance as well as Princess Leia Organa appearing in a cameo role which is CGI enhanced because the original actor Carrie Fisher (Although she passed away due to a heart attack on the flight from London to Los Angeles, California along with her mother Debbie Reynolds due to a stroke & George Michael due to heart problems where he died peacefully) might have been too old to play that instant classic character) as well as the mat saying loyal All Black supporters live here as well as the rugby calendar & the cricket photo album but we had a great traditional Christmas lunch there then I listened 16 rock songs on Youtube this Christmas, went to Nan's grave for the festive season, having a leftover chicken sandwich for dinner & spending time with Aunty Tania in the closing moments of Christmas on that occasion (And I won't tell you the drunken post Christmas incident last night straight away).

And finally what have I been doing here, well on Thursday I went to Palmerston North to visit the Rugby Museum there (Although the museum is about the sport of rugby because my favourite part was seeing the decades of our history of the sport & although we went through towns such as Kaitoke, Whangaehu, Turakina, Bulls (I always listen to the Rage Against The Machine song Bulls On Parade in my head when I'm at that town), Sanson, Awahuri and Newbury before reaching Palmy although we went to Tangimoana) & I did enjoy that experience especially when Pops took a photo of me with both the William Webb Ellis Cup (I was doing my best not to touch the trophy because my medication that I took helps although one of the people touched the trophy but someone said ''You can't do that'') & the Bledisloe Cup trophy (Although we were allowed back in because the trophy was covered in glass) & after that we had lunch at cafe Cuba where I had a burger & fries with a smoothie there & then we left Palmerston North to end a beautiful day it was & yesterday we went to 28 Koromiko Road for afternoon tea because we saw Jansen opening his presents because he went to Hawke's Bay to spend time with the family for Christmas & we went to Caroline's were I had breads & dip for starters & a Tex Mex steak with fries & salad for the main course (I had a 2.0% alcoholic citrus lemon beer drink twice & I saw the cops patrolling the area for a few minutes to see how is everything going) before we went home to watch the Bruce Willis (Who played John McClane in the Die Hard series) movie the Fifth Element (Although Milla Jovovich (The girl who played Alice in the Resident Evil movies) appeared as well as Gary Oldman (AKA Ivan Korshunov/Commissioner James Gordon/Sirius Black), Chris Tucker (Mr Detective James Carter himself) & Ian Holm (As Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) & during the movie we had dessert there & after the movie we went to bed (Although I am listening 87 songs on New Years Eve right now & 2 on New Years Day because that's a total of 88 because I wrote them down last night which is sorta like a playlist) but the next movie I am going to possibly see is The Avengers (Well I've seen that movie before because I 1st watched it back in 2012 at Embassy 3 Cinema because the movie was released that year and my probable favourite part was Captain America saying to Hulk ''Smash'' as well as Thor's brother Loki getting destroyed by Hulk in the process which is kinda funny although Hulk called Loki ''Puny god'') which is on TVNZ 2 at 8:30pm on New Year's Day 2017.

So that is it, we will be looking forward to seeing you tomorrow in 2017 (MMXVII) so that is my 40th (XLth) blog of the year 2016 (MMXVI) & my 80th overall (20 more blogs until I hit the century mark which is 100 because that is my main objective for next year) but I would like to say thanks to my whole friends & family such as Dad, Raewyn, Jansen, Poppa, Aunty Tania, Rejean (Giuseppe Pedersen), Uncle Bryan, Aunty Viv, Ashley, Charlotte, Leon Benbaruk (The King), Hanne (The Danish Terminator), Sophia Ong (The Malaysian Princess), John Coburn, Lim Chin Keong, Murray Gray, Viluz, Cathey Middelplaats (The Scorceress), Cathey's husband John Mitchell, my cousins Paige Williams (The Female Revenant), Nico & Luca Mitchell, Kathryn (Poppa's sister AKA Princess Kathryn Organa), Ken Branch (Kenshi, the Englishman from between Bristol & Portsmouth), Nufemmia (Uncle Wal's daughter), Kathryn's children Gemma (Gemma-Wan Kenobi), Huia (Master Huia Skywalker, the honorary Jedi) & Ben Blain (Ben 3PO because he used to be with Vrndra Torckler (Vrndra D2) but then, they broke up because they are no longer together) & Gemma's daughter Rosalie (Although she is my 2nd cousin once removed at the moment by the way) as well as Diana Kent for all my support, thank you as we sign off 2016 in style.

P.S. Cathey Middelplaats has sent me an email wishing me a merry Christmas so here's her message in it's entirety:

Dear Whetu

Merry Christmas too you too!!

Arohanui

Cathey

And finally here's the list of my favourite rock bands that I listen to during the course of the year 2016 not only because I still listen to alternative rock & heavy metal music which is part of my gimmick (I always listen to rock music when I'm blogging as well):

Linkin Park (Sophie's favourite band)
Limp Bizkit
The Offspring
Breaking Point
Filter
Soundgarden
Stone Sour
The Smashing Pumpkins
Breaking Benjamin
Guns N'Roses
Faith No More
Airbourne
The Mooney Suzuki
Shihad (Formerly Pacifier)
Dire Straits
Audioslave
Garbage
Halestorm
Queens Of The Stone Age
Red Hot Chili Peppers (My favourite band)
3 Doors Down
Green Day
Pearl Jam
Ugly Kid Joe
Counting Crows
The Wallflowers
Godsmack
Korn
A Perfect Circle
Nine Inch Nails
Seether
Live
Fun Lovin Criminals
Fuel
Third Eye Blind
Weezer
& last but not least, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Rejean's favourite band).

1979/Bullet With Butterfly Wings/Jeremy/Semi Charmed Life: The year in review part 5 (The best of 2016/MMXVI)

So, it is Christmas tomorrow because I will be looking forward to it so I will be doing a blog about part 5 of my year in review & I have been staying at 15A Kells Avenue for like 12 days so yesterday Aunty Tania Manu Ngapo had just arrived here along with her French Canadian partner Rejean/Giuseppe Pedersen to spend Christmas, New Year & the 1 year anniversary of Nan's passing so we saw them yesterday at the airport because I missed Aunty Tania so much because I have not seen her for like 10 months so the last time I saw her was in February this year & I have been doing well working as a nightwatchman for the light up your home competition until tonight because we had about 164 people last night so I worked so hard for that (Well I had a sandwich for lunch yesterday but dinner was chicken with fried potatoes, carrots & red onions & peas).

And now onto the year in review so here is some best bits in the month of September & October 2016 so let's see how it unfolds.

From Dark Necessities/Where Do We Go From Here/In The Dark: The 2016 Rugby Championship Round 2 report (+ 2016 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship Round 1 report):

And after the game Pops took me home before we had a pre-match dinner there & after we had dinner we tuned in for round 2 of the Rugby Championship between the All Blacks & Wallabies in the 2nd Bledisloe Cup test at Westpac Stadium in Wellington so here's a recap of the match that also went down to the wire for the full 80 minutes:

Welcome to Westpac Stadium in Wellington for the 2nd Bledisloe Cup match of 2016 between New Zealand and Australia

New Zealand enter this test match as raging favourites after completely outclassing Australia in most areas of the game last week in Sydney.

The starting XV for New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown (Test debut), 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.

A surprise during the week with the Wallabies welcoming back Quade Cooper in the number 10 jersey.  The starting line up for Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Dane Haylett-Petty, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.

And from Kryptonite/Loser/Still Alive/When I'm Gone: Chasing Great review:

And after the match against Argentina (The day after Japan knocked over the Springboks in the biggest boil over in Rugby World Cup history (And man, South Africa are having their worst nightmares after their loss against the Japanese by 2 points in one of the greatest upsets & famous victories of all time in the history of the World Cup as the headline will probably say: JAPANESE TRIUMPH, NIGHTMARE FOR THE BOKS) as well as hosts England failed to advance on their home ground advantage after losing to both opponents the Wallabies & Wales (And the headline will also probably say: ENGLAND ARE GONERS ON THEIR HOME TURF), the All Blacks notched up wins against their pool opponents such as Namibia, Georgia & Tonga before advancing to the quarterfinals but can you believe it! We are taking on France again in a rematch of the ill fated 2007 Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal showdown in Cardiff (And was it a forward pass by Damian Traille on Frederic Michalak which led to the try being scored by Yannick Jauzion? I would say yes my friend/oui mon ami because the referee from England, Wayne Barnes missed it that cost us a place in the semifinal against England who had just beaten Australia)

And so, onto the Rugby World Cup final of 2015 where 2 traditional Trans Tasman rivals the All Blacks took on the Wallabies in the battle of Twickenham to decide who will lift the William Webb Ellis trophy:

New Zealand withstood a rousing Australian fightback to secure a 34-17 victory in the Rugby World Cup final and claim a historic third Webb Ellis Cup.

A magical individual try from second five-eighth Ma’a Nonu and the composed boot of veteran first five-eighth Dan Carter helped steer the All Blacks to their 2nd successive title.

Nonu scored one of the finest individual tries of RWC 2015 with a weaving run from 40 metres out at the start of the 2nd half, as New Zealand ran in 3 tries in the most entertaining final in the 28-year history of the tournament.

Just as the Wallabies were threatening to complete an astonishing comeback in the second half after battling back from 21-3 behind to 21-17 with two quick tries in succession, Carter put over a crucial drop goal from 40 metres. The first five-eighth then slotted over a huge penalty kick from the half-way line as the All Blacks became the first team to defend the Webb Ellis Cup successfully.

Both players were playing their last game for New Zealand, as was Richie McCaw, who became the first All Blacks captain to lift the World Cup on foreign soil after their victories at home in 1987 and 2011.

Carter, who missed out of New Zealand's 2011 final triumph because of a serious groin injury, kicked a total of 19 points while winger Nehe Milner-Skudder and replacement Beauden Barrett added the other tries for the All Blacks.

And from Bang Bang/Love Bites (So Do I)/Mind Your Manners: Rugby Championship round 3 review:

It was yesterday as Pops took me to Nan's grave on her birthday on the 10th of September (Well she would have been 70 if she remained alive) and after that he took me to 15A Kells Avenue to clean up the mess before we went to Caroline's for lunch where I had a burger while Pops had that steak and I was so full so we went to the Heartland Rugby Championship game at Cooks Gardens for the top of the table clash between Wanganui & South Canterbury in a rematch of the final last year with a news report according to Stuff News:

Defending Heartland champions Wanganui edged out South Canterbury 32-30 in a close encounter in Whanganui on Saturday.

In what was a replay of last year's Meads Cup final, South Canterbury showed plenty of spirit against the championship favourites, leading 14-8 at the break.

Irish first five Steve Crosbie ran things well for Wanganui, while second five Kameli Kuruyabaki and fullback Ace Malo also impressed.

For South Canterbury, big prop Viliame Logavatu was outstanding around the paddock with a magnificent 50m run and a try-saving tackle.

Loose forwards John Dyer and Nick Strachan also had strong games, in a pack that had a slight edge.

The win leaves Wanganui as the only unbeaten side after three rounds of the Mitre 10 Heartland Championship, with the maximum 15 points.

Despite the loss South Canterbury remain second on 12 but have four other sides breathing down their neck, within two competition points.

Wanganui 32 (Malakai Volau 2, Samu Kubunavanua, Gavin Thornbury tries; Steve Crosbie 3 con, pen) South Canterbury 30 (Nick Strachan, Nick Annear, Tiaone Ratu, Conor McCormack tries; Zac Southen 3 con, pen). HT: 8-14

And after that we went back to 15A Kells Avenue to do some jobs at Nan's Memorial Garden by putting out the screws for the plastic pots and after that we had to cook a light dinner which is omelette because we had lunch & I did enjoy it because I always have a low alcohol beer with it & so, we went to my flat to tune in to watch the All Blacks play Argentina (Well I have worn Lionel Messi's (I almost forgot that Messi must have come out of retirement to help his country qualify in Russia 2018) jersey so Pops thinks that i'm a traitor, we will see about that) in round 3 of the Rugby Championship (Which took a 1 week break) sponsored by Investec at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton that went down to the line of fire for the full 80 minutes by claiming another...big scalp:

After a week off, the Rugby Championship resumes at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton where New Zealand play host to Argentina.

The All Blacks were as close to unbeatable as possible against the Wallabies and will provide a stern test for the Pumas this evening:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.

Argentina were outstanding in their last match and their victory over South Africa will give them plenty of confidence coming up against the best team in world rugby:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.

And from Cat's In The Cradle/Mr Jones/One Headlight: Rugby Championship round 4 review:

Well, the All Blacks have done it meaning that they have clinched the 2016 Rugby Championship in style with only 2 rounds remaining beating Allister Coetzee & Adriaan Strauss's Springboks (Our old foe & rivals) 41 - 13 (And hey guess what, it is the same scoreline as New Zealand beat the Wallabies at Eden Park in Auckland last year way back in 2015 (The same year that the AB's for the 1st time won back to back Rugby World Cups as well as becoming the 1st team to win 3 Rugby World Cups because they have never done that before & ensured it that they finally achieved it or should I say deserved it by earning our right) at AMI Stadium (In Addington since the one at Lancaster Park was badly damaged by the earthquake on February 22nd, 2011 (The same year that the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup after 24 years of agony & pain or should I say get rich & die tryin'), but however it has since been closed for good) in Christchurch so here's the full match commentary that went down in the full 80 minutes:

This weekend sees more Rugby Championship action. It all starts in New Zealand at AMI Stadium in Christchurch with the match between the All Blacks and the Springboks (The last meeting between the 2 sides was indeed a Rugby World Cup semifinal last year in which New Zealand won a whisker against South Africa by 2 points).

The Kiwi hosts have seemed unbeatable to date and the team from South Africa has not performed at its best in the Championship so far, but each game is a contest in itself and the Boks will be looking to cause an upset.

Conditions look perfect with a clear night and just a light breeze at the stadium.

Teams are making their way onto the field lead by the captains Kieran Read and Adriaan Strauss - lining up for the national anthems of each nation ahead of the kickoff.

That's the haka done to a great reception by the crowd - kickoff next!

Angus Gardner is the referee for tonight's match.

And from Around The World/Breaking The Girl: The lunch with John & Lim & Wanganui rugby report:

It was on Thursday that Pops took me to 15A Kells Avenue to do the garden job & after that, we went to mint & guess who I saw, Craig Cleveland the funeral director said hi to me to tell how is everything going then we had lunch because I had Nachos while Pops had Caesar salad and for dessert I had a pineapple lump cheesecake & a moccachino but I can't remember now that Pops had a dessert & then headed straight home & played that brand new F1 2016 game moments before having Pizza for dinner to end that incredible day it was.

And today which is 2 days later (Dad told me last night that I'm going with Poppa to have lunch with John & Lim today), Pops took me to New World to get the white vinegar, red onion, tomatoes & milk & then all of a sudden, it was closed due to the owner having to attend the funeral but we went to countdown instead but there was a power cut last night so we were unable to but the milk but we did get the white vinegar, red onion & tomatoes only before heading of to 15A Kells Avenue but Pops told me that we are having a salad so i cut 52 lettuce leaves & we were making it by chopping the red onions & tomatoes as well as making the vinegarette, getting both cold meats out & chopping them & cooking the croutons before John & Lim arrived so we showed them Nan's Memorial Garden because that was the 1st time that they've been there before we start the formalities of having lunch which is a salad with crutons (And yeah, Pops was sticking to Plan B because we were originally going to have a soup then because the soup was filling so we had ended up having a salad only) & I did enjoy it (Well I had a low alcohol beer with that one because it is my favourite drink now) & after having that meal, I felt like I was going to have another one but I didn't then I changed my mind by having another one and then I was so full & after that, John & Lim took me to show Nan's grave (Well I had a chat with John about they last time I saw him was the morning after the 2nd test between the All Blacks Vs Wales before we saw Cathey & Paige & I also chatted to Lim that what was New Zealand like when he 1st came here by 1st meeting John at Marton back in 2001 (The same year that I 1st met Lim) as well as he had been to a funeral before in both Malaysia & here before we went back home to 28 Koromiko Road (Well the interesting part was talking to John about the Olympics that we had our successful Olympic campaign in Rio with 4 gold medals, 9 silvers & 5 bronzes & even though that Lim is so proud that his country Malaysia only got both the silver & bronze medals but no golds) to show my flat that I have been living for 2 & a half years then I had said goodbyes to John & Lim as well as my Dad & Raewyn because Pops & I headed straight off to the rugby at Cooks Gardens so I had to get my Wanganui rugby flag that I forgot as well as taking the yellow & red cards with me so here's the full news report about Steelform Wanganui took on the Swamp Foxes of Thames Valley (And I saw 2 Olympians such as Bronze medalist in London & Silver medalist in Rio, Rebecca Scown & Christopher Harris (Not the cricketer) featuring assistant coach & dual international who played for Samoa & of course, the All Blacks, Frank Bunce (His son Chance was playing):

Wanganui remained on top of the table after thumping Thames Valley 60-14 at Cooks Gardens.

The Swamp Foxes showed much better mettle in the second half but had leaked 52 points before the break as the defending champions ran rampant.

Wanganui remain unbeaten in 2016 and are the favourites to secure their fifth Meads Cup title.

Fullback Te Rangatira Waitokia added his 10th try of the season to remain on top of the individual Heartland try-scoring list.

Wanganui 60 (Jamie Hughes 2, Kameli Kuruyabaki 2, Te Rangatira Waitokia, Tremaine Gilbert, Gavin Thornbury, Michael Nabuliwaqe tries; Dane Whale 5 con; Te Tau Kemp con) Thames Valley 14 (Hayden Wishnewski, Haere Renata tries; Beau Hamilton con). HT: 52-8.

Well I had a moccachino & 2 sausage dogs dipped in tomato & barbecue sauce and after the last try scored and successful conversion, the referee had no choice but to end the game early with only 3 minutes left on the clock but this is more like the All Blacks clash with our traditional Trans-Tasman rivals the Wallabies 20 years ago at Athletic Park in Wellington.

And after the game, Pops took me home to end an incredible day it was so I played a bit of F1 2016 (Not only because I had just bought the game itself on Monday & I quite liked it compared to F1 2015 because the game had a better reception than the previous one so the next game that I am buying is Dirt Rally for Christmas now) then I had spaghetti bolognese (Or spag bol for short because I had Italian week meaning that I had an Italian meal for a week compared to pasta week that I had 4 years ago) for dinner because Pops told me that I must have a light meal for dinner & right now I am now doing my 65th blog overall (25th of the year MMXVI) as well as listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (One of Irish born rugby players playing for Wanganui Gavin Thornbury who is a self proclaimed fan of the band) on YouTube because I am still into alternative rock & heavy metal music but I will update to you tomorrow about the clash between Argentina & New Zealand in the 2nd to last or should I say the penultimate round of the Rugby Championship in Buenos Aires.

And from Californication/Give It Away: Rugby Championship Round 5 report:

Well, it was today that I was up & ready to watch the game between Argentina & the All Blacks so Pops came here along with Dad & Jansen to my flat to watch the rugby & during the game, I was having Pizza for lunch (Well I had a Clausthaler low alcohol beer with it).

But 1st, it was the Springboks who have home ground advantage against the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria (The site of the All Blacks capturing their 1st test series win in South Africa 20 years ago) so here's the full news report:

South Africa returned to the victory trail when they secured a deserved 18-10 triumph over Australia in their Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria in Round 5.

An accomplished kicking display from Morne Steyn, who scored all his team's points, guided the home side to victory although the Wallabies scored the game's only try early in the first half when Scott Sio went over the whitewash.

The result means the Boks ended a 3-match losing streak and they move above the Wallabies into second place in the standings.

Despite their win, there are still question marks about the Boks though as the Wallabies dominated the territorial stakes and spent large parts of the game in the home side's half.

Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee's decision to go with a 6/2, forwards/backs split backfired on him as the Boks lost the services of Jesse Kriel in the first half as well as Bryan Habana and Rudy Paige early in the second half.

This meant that the Boks were forced to play with Jaco Kriel on the left wing during the game's final quarter. But to their credit, the Boks showed great character and a solid defensive effort in the second half secured them this result.

The home side's captain Adriaan Strauss deserves special praise as he led from the front in what was by far his best Test of the season. He was named the official man of the match.

The Boks made a bright start and after taking the ball through several phases with their forwards, Steyn opened the scoring with a well-taken drop goal in the fifth minute.

The Wallabies were soon level, however, when Bernard Foley landed a penalty after Eben Etzebeth was penalised for taking Sean McMahon out off the ball midway between the halfway line and South Africa's 22.

Five minutes later, Habana failed to find touch and Israel Folau launched a counter-attack from inside his 22. The ball went through several pairs of hands and the Wallabies were soon close to the home side's try-line.

Will Genia then threw a long pass to Sekope Kepu who did well to offload to his front row partner Sio,who went over under the posts for his first Test try.

Australia had a chance to increase their lead in the 23rd minute, when Vincent Koch was blown up for a scrum infringement midway between the halfway line and the visitors' 22, but Reece Hodge's monster effort landed just short of the cross-bar.

3 minutes later, Steyn narrowed the gap to four points with a penalty, after several Wallabies went off their feet at a ruck. South Africa were then handed a lifeline in the 35th minute when Folau was yellow carded for taking Habana out off the ball after  the Bok flyer had chipped ahead, close to the Wallabies' 22.

Steyn made no mistake with the subsequent place-kick which meant the game was evenly poised with score at 10-9 to the visitors. South Africa upped the ante on attack but couldn't round off their attacking chances but they regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Steyn added his third penalty after Australia strayed offside on defence.

There wasn't much to report during the early exchanges in the second half although the Wallabies had two golden opportunities to take lead but Hodge missed two shots at goal in quick succession.

Steyn also had an opportunity to extend his side's lead on the hour mark but his penalty attempt, from 55 metres out, was also off target.

The rest of the half was a war of attrition as both sides tried to gain the ascendancy but although the Wallabies spent large parts of the half camped inside the Boks' half, they committed a plethora of handling handling errors which proved costly in the end.

Steyn scored the first points of the half in the 76th minute when he landed a penalty from close quarters after the Wallabies were penalised for a ruck infringement and the pivot sealed the result when he slotted his second drop goal in the game's closing stages.

And from American Idiot/Hitchin' A Ride/Longview/Welcome To Paradise: 2016 Rugby Championship round 6 review:

Well, it's over, triumph for the All Blacks as they demolished the Springboks 57 - 15 (And well in all of a sudden, that was New Zealand's biggest winning margin over South Africa at home, surpassing the previous 36 point-margin set in 2003 & of course, last but not least, the 57 points scored were the most conceded by South Africa ever.) in a rousing 2nd half performance (Well I only watched the 1st half but I did not watch the 2nd half because I might fear that they are gonna lose that game but Dad told me that we have won the game because we're not livid at all) at Growthpoint Kings Park (Home of the Sharks Super Rugby & Currie Cup sides) in Durban during the final round of the 2016 Rugby Championship because the Rugby Championship is over for another year as the AB's for the 1st time in 2013, 6 out of 6 victories so far (Well I labelled the current New Zealand side in 1 word: dominating because they are closing in for most straight wins by a tier 1 nation & they have claimed another big scalp as South Africa had fallen victim again in the so called #Blackout of 2016 along with Argentina, Australia (Let's hope that the Wallabies join the Welsh 3 times just like they did) & Wales because the All Blacks were on fire during the 2016 Rugby Championship campaign since we regained our honours from Australia because they won it last year) but hey...we are just friends for so here's the full match commentary straight outta Durban (Not Compton in Los Angeles, California)

And from 1000hp/Break Stuff/Falling Away From Me/Nookie: The Thursday round-up:

Today was Thursday so Pops was here whilst I was in the shower so I was ready to get dressed to go to Mitre 10 but 1st I had to finish the moccachino then brush my teeth so I could be with Poppa & we went & after that, we went to New World to get the meal deal as well as some stuff to take but we went to Bark & Boulders Landscape Supplies in Wanganui to get the ponga was well as the bark before we went to 15A Kells Avenue & guess who was there, it was Diana Kent (Who lives in Palatine which is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois) & I did meet her (And I also haven't seen her since last year but I told her that when Nan died from cancer, she was on a holiday so she went back home & got a email to inform that Nan passed away) but before that we had to do some garden jobs but I cannot vaguely remember now that we did some work on the garden (Although Pops & I showed Diana Nan's Memorial Garden which I labelled as The Shire which is taken from the movie, The Lord Of The Rings (Which featured the likes of Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Sir Ian McKellen (As Gandalf who played the villainous Magneto in X-Men), Viggo Mortensen (As Aragorn who is armed with a sword who appears in films such as Hidalgo & the 2006 flick, A History Of Violence), Orlando Bloom (As Legolas who is also armed with a bow), Sean Bean (Ned Stark from Game of Thrones who plays Boromir), John Rhys-Davies (As the axe-wielding Gimli who is with Lisa Manning), the late Christopher Lee (As Saruman who portrayed Dracula as well as Count Dooku & Willy Wonka's father Wilbur), Liv Tyler (As Arwen Undolmiel who is the daughter of Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler), Cate Blanchett (As Galadriel), Sean Astin (Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee), Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc ''Merry'' Brandybuck), Billy Boyd (Peregrin ''Pippin'' Took), Andy Serkis (As Gollum who always says: MY PRECIOUS!!!), Hugo Weaving (As Elrond who also played Agent Smith from The Matrix that I have mentioned before in my Euro 2016 final blog) & Ian Holm (As Frodo's dad, Bilbo Baggins who appeared in the 1997 movie starring Bruce Willis (AKA John McLane from Die Hard), Milla Jovovich (That's Alice from the Resident Evil movies), Gary Oldman (Ivan Korshunov/Commissioner James Gordon/Sirius Black) & Chris Tucker (And also, Rush Hour's Detective James Carter) directed by Frenchman Luc Besson (Who was with Milla Jovovich before she is now with the director of Mortal Kombat & the Resident Evil film series, Paul W. S. Anderson), The Fifth Element, portraying the role of Father Vito Cornelius) & after that, I had a chat to Diana to tell everything what is going on such as Donald Trump because I thought Trump was ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the poll for the US election but now that Clinton is ahead of Trump & Diana said that it was a really good question because she was impressed about it although she told me that she's going to Soldier Field (Home of the Chicago Bears) to watch the All Blacks play again to take on Ireland because she has been to that ground before when the All Blacks took on the USA Eagles (The AB's won 74 - 6 convincingly) 2 years ago but I told her about she does not have children like me, John Coburn & Aunty Tania & I thought she was coming with her niece Emily Shrout but she did not come, opting to stay in Chicago because she has nephews such as Alex & Casey (I told her that she has sons but she doesn't because Alex & Casey are her nephews but I did not know that Emily has 2 brothers) & she has cousins as well as telling her that I don't have a cousin (Because Aunty Tania doesn't have any children) but I do now because I have 3 cousins such as Paige Williams (Who I know is the daughter of Cathey Middelplaats because I once told Diana that Nan had a baby named Cathey because Nan doesn't know how to take care of her but the Middelplaats family adopted her instead), Luca & Nico Mitchell (I almost forgot to tell that Cathey had 2 sons with her current partner John Mitchell but family matters anyway) & I also told her about going to the South Island in January 2017 (Which is next year) so me & my whole family are going in a once in a life-time trip because Aunty Tania's French Canadian partner Raejean had never ever been to the South Island & after having a relatively good chat, we went to Caroline's for a lunch which is my dinner by the way because I was always having a rare steak with blue cheese sauce, fries & salad which felt great as well as having a carrot cake (Which is my favourite cake of all time) & mocchachino & I also chatted to Diana lots about she had been to New York City, New York as well as Los Angeles, California & Houston, Texas as well as her favourite food which is cheese (Although mines gotta be pasta by the way for 16 years (Well I've tried it at an italian restaurant in Petone & I quite liked it ever since) since 2000 (The same year that Sydney hosted the Olympic games as well as the Russell Crowe movie Gladiator came out, France beating Italy with a golden goal to win Euro 2000 & Michael Schumacher winning his 3rd of his 7 illustrious Formula 1 World Championship titles) because I had pasta last night (Well I do like pizza, stir fries & sushi at the moment but pasta is always my option) & her greatest moment of her life was having a retirement party because now she is officially retired from school teaching (My greatest moment of my life was the All Blacks winning the Rugby World Cups of 2011 & 2015 because we mastered the art of rugby) as well as that I'm officially friends with her so she gave me a card about her name & email address (She is 56 now because she was born in 1960 & she 1st came to New Zealand in 1988 (She was 28 at the time & that same year that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal in the 100m at Seoul in South Korea due to steroid use after being tested positive to stanozolol, handing the gold to American Carl Lewis & I told her that we had a successful campaign in Rio with 4 gold medals, 9 silvers & 5 bronzes but didn't Diana's country of birth do well at the Olympics as the USA (Which stands for United States of America) topped the medal table ahead of Great Britain with 46 golds, 37 silvers & 38 bronze medals but Pops told Diana that Fiji won it's very 1st ever gold medal at the games by winning rugby sevens (And who did they take on in the gold medal match? It was Great Britain) but I do not believe my eyes that their country, is now officially a rugby sevens mad nation) whenever I want to & after that, we went back to 15A Kells Avenue but I told Diana a question (I told Poppa at Caroline's that I talked about All Black Anton Lienert-Brown (Who is a self proclaimed fan of British reggae band UB40) because his name Anton is Russian for Anthony because he's an All Black with a Russian name (Although there's another Anton who played in the All Blacks was Anton Oliver, who is the son of Frank Oliver) just like Leon Benbaruk told me that Pawel is Polish for Paul & Pierre is French for Peter but that is according to him who is my friend & mentor along with Hanne & Sophie because Diana had never met Leon who was born in Morocco because he was raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to do some university work there because he was graduated way back then because he was a Rhodes scholar & he lived here in New Zealand 36 years ago compared to Hanne who has been living here for 43 years) about she has seen the Liam Neeson movie Taken or not because she said no & I did a famous line of the movie which is ''I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want but what I do have is a very particular set of skills'' but Pops told me that Arnold Schwarzenegger was my favourite actor but I was blown away when I said ''Hasta la vista, baby'' & ''I'll be back'' which is kinda hard case or should I say hilarious. And after we got back to 15A Kells Avenue, Pops & I went back to work to focus on the stuff & after that, I read all of the Richie McCaw books such as Richie McCaw - The Open Side (Which is about his autobiography leading up the events to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in which he became the 1st All Black captain since David Kirk in 1987 to lift the William Webb Ellis Trophy (Although Kirk became the 1st & last All Black captain to lift the World Cup trophy, I had absolutely no idea that Richie McCaw was the next All Black captain to do that (Some tried & failed such as Gary Whetton, Sean Fitzpatrick, Taine Randell & Reuben Thorne) & Richie McCaw 148 (Which is about his 148 test caps for the All Blacks including his debut against Ireland featuring Brian O'Driscoll in 2001 & 2 Rugby World Cup triumphs in 2011 & last year) but guess Poppa saw? It was Anne (Who gave me a sample of ginger slice) who was with her daughter Lauren who showed Nan's memorial garden as well as having afternoon tea (I drank sparkling water (Well I changed my mind after I turned down the offer to drink) & ate some slice) & having a chat to them (Well I told Diana that Caroline's does not hold 30,000 people because I saw on youtube about the Red Hot Chili Peppers told Moe Szylak that they told their agent that Moe's Tavern holds more than 30,000 people on an episode on The Simpsons & I ended up saying that famous line that Homer Simpson always says: D'OH!!! which is sure as hell as funny although Anne told us that somebody got the right answer on a gameshow called The Chase about a trip to Canada which is Ha ha, ho ho or he he because one of the contestants is a fan of Family Guy not The Simpsons because I used to tune in to The Simpsons because the last time I watched the show was last year in 2015 during our trip in the Coromandel with the late Nan & Pops) & before they go, Pops had an amazing concert singing one of their amazing songs before it was Lauren's turn to have a performance because she was an opera singer because her singing voice was like one of the best in the world because she sang like hell like a primadonna because I'm so impressed on her performance (Well, I smiled about it because it was a miracle but Lauren told us that she would be heading to Chicago on her university work) & guess who was here?! It was Leslee who arrived late because she was coming to have afternoon tea when Anne & Lauren left. But a few minutes later, I was going with Lesley to take her home because I said goodbye to both Diana & Pops & during out drive home, I told her that she would be going to the South Island for 3 weeks & when I arrived back after saying thanks for the ride & goodbye to Leslee, Dad was here (After spending several days in Te Wananga in Otaki) so I put the meal deal & groceries away as possible & I told Dad that Duke Nukem 3D came out 20 years ago (It was in 1996, the same year that England hosted Euro 96 which was won by Germany as well as Atlanta hosted the summer Olympics, Bill Clinton re-elected as President of the United States, a Mad Cow Disease that rocked across the UK which resulted export of British Beef being banned as a result, Sri Lanka winning the Cricket World Cup (New Zealand was out of it after losing to Australia (Who lost to Sri Lanka in the final) which featured the likes of Mark Waugh who scored 110 not out for his 3rd century of the World Cup in the quarterfinal (Although Chris Harris had a century of 130 runs) by 7 wickets with a Aravinda da Silva century of 107 not out, John Howard elected Prime Minister of Australia, Will Smith's movie Independence Day came out along with Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor, rapper Tupac Shakur getting shot mutiple times in a drive-by shooting & killed 6 days later, Damon Hill winning his 1st & only Formula 1 World Championship by 19 points, horror classic Scream starring Neve Campbell & Courtney Cox of Friends, also came out along with the Jerry Maguire movie starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr & Renee Zellweger & the All Blacks (Featuring the likes of coach John Hart, captain Sean ''Fitzy'' Fitzpatrick, Craig Dowd, Olo Brown, Ian ''Kamo'' Jones, the Brooke brothers of Robin & Zinzan (AKA Zinny), Michael ''Iceman'' Jones, Josh ''Crusher'' Kronfeld, Justin ''Marshie'' Marshall, Simon Culhane, Glen ''Oz'' Osborne, Walter Little (Father of North Harbour player Michael), Frank Bunce (Current Thames Valley Swamp Foxes assistant coach), Jeff ''Goldie'' Wilson (Who is married to Silver Fern Adine), Christian ''The Paekakariki Express'' Cullen & Jon ''JP'' Preston) finally winning a test series against South Africa for the 1st time after many years of failed attempts) & the Tom Cruise flick Mission Impossible came out) so I said to him ''Hail to the King baby'' anything as possible but Dad heard that line because I did not know that one of my Dad's friends who lives on Otaki, Clayton Cook played Duke Nukem 3D before because it was a relatively good game because Dad loved Duke Nukem 3D so much but I prefer Doom which is such another very excellent game & after that kerfuffle, I had sausage rolls for dinner after having that big lunch today & so here I am, doing a blog about today but I have a gimmick which is listening to alternative rock & heavy metal music (With bands such as 3 Doors Down, Green Day, Godsmack, Halestorm, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Live, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Which is one of my favourite rock bands (Although one of the Wanganui rugby players named Gavin Thornbury is a self proclaimed fan of the band that I have mentioned before in my blog about the lunch with John & Lim & Wanganui rugby report & well, I've got a Red Hot Chili Peppers T-Shirt that I've got) along with Foo Fighters & Incubus), Soundgarden & Ugly Kid Joe) on YouTube while I am writing a blog for today.

And from Mudshovel/So Far Away: Laying the Smackdown on the Aussies at Eden Park:

And what do I think about the game from the All Black perspective point of view? It was so great, absolutely amazing that the record is broken with 18 straight wins on the trot but shame for the Aussies (Even though highly controversial coach Michael Cheika is a clown meaning that they have copped some criticism about it meaning that he's a bit upset, a bit upset at the moment unlike Richetty Grub & Stuart Fraud by the Aussie media department, that is selfish but how foolish by the way, it's an outrage...A SCANDAL!!! (Not a car crash that killed Harry Potter's parents, James & Lily Potter) because they were livid about the try scored by Fijian born Henry Speight being rubbed out by the TMO (It looked like 'DHP' of Dane Haylett-Petty took out 'The Bus' of Julian Savea in a clear & obvious obstruction or should I say shepherding, well it certainly was) but that's all according to former Wallaby who works for Fox Sports, Rod Kafer said that Welsh referee Nigel Owens should never referee a test match again, that is disgraceful just like Craig Joubert about his poor decision (Just like Alain Rolland did by sending Sam Warburton off the field instead of going to the sin bin for a dangerous spear/tip tackle on Vincent Clerc during the Rugby World Cup semifinal in 2011 at Eden Park (The night before the All Blacks finally beating the Wallabies in the other semifinal after 2 consecutive World Cup losses against them in 1991 (Including David Campese scoring a try & setting up another for Tim Horan) & 2003 (Also including Stirling Mortlock's intercept try ending New Zealand's hopes of reaching the final as well as Wallaby halfback George Gregan yelling at Byron Kelleher's ear ''4 more years boys, 4 more years'') including Israel Dagg's show & go move which set up the opening try scored by Ma'a Nonu (He also scored a brilliant try from a signature/trademark Sonny Bill Williams offload during the World Cup final last year) & Cory Jane's man of the match efforts for bomb defusing by securing high balls) between Wales & France & one of the commentators for ITV Nick Mullins said the sending off of Sam Warburton (Well he's been one of the cleanest players of the tournament so far) was one of the most controversial decisions in the history of the World Cup) of awarding the penalty instead of a scrum to Australia against Scotland during the Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal last year (Well that game should've & could've been gone to the Scottish, they were livid), but hey we are just friends for but the All Blacks winning streak continues in a world record fashion of 18 & 0 since the pre Rugby World Cup test where the winning streak began last year but next we take on the luck of the Irish (Well the last meeting between the 2 sides was 3 years ago when Ireland came so close of achieving their 1st win against the All Blacks but the AB's proved them too strong because they were on the comeback trail to end 2013, undefeated) at Soldier Field (Home of the NFL franchise, the Chicago Bears & my American colleague Diana Kent is going to that game because she's got tickets but she told me last year that she went to a game to see the All Blacks play the USA way back 2 years ago) in Chicago, Illnois, United States of America then Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome then Ireland again at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin before ending 2016 in style against France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France in a rematch of the 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal in which they thrashed them 62 to 13 & then, the All Blacks begin 2017 in 3 test matches (Including twice at Eden Park & once at Westpac Stadium) against the British & Irish Lions side who has come here to conquer & invade our country as well as chewing bubblegums...and they are all out of gums because they would be swallowing our souls, so come get some...BRING IT! In a dish best served cold. But now my friends, this is WAR! But finding this task was an impossible mission that's all according to movie star Tom Cruise whose impersonator who appeared in a Sara Lee cheesecake ad/commercial (Containing movie stars, pop stars, comedians, presidents & of course rock stars) along with fellow celebrities who are claiming to be impersonators such as Taylor Swift, Ricky Gervais, Victoria 'Posh Spice' Beckham (David Beckham's wife is now ex-wife because the relationship seems to be far from over as we all know it), the President of the United States of America Barack Obama (Although he says that not for him, it's a White House) & Bono from U2 (He tells them that they must try one of these new Sara Lee cheesecakes but the President said it's yummy but Ricky Gervais says that Bono forgot to put his sunglasses on but he managed to put them on instead so that people may have impressed him so much).

And finally from 3 Libras/Judith/The Outsider: Wanganui Meads Cup victory title report:

It was on Sunday, the day after the Wanganui-Wairarapa Bush semifinal of the Meads Cup as well as the All Blacks-Wallabies test match at Eden Park that I went to Pops for dinner so we made the fruit salad for dessert by chopping up the fruit for the fruit salad as well as cutting the lettuce for the salad & chopping up the vegetables such as the carrots (Although Pops chopped the tomatoes up & made the vinegarette & put the chicken in the microwave before putting in the oven along with the potatoes) before I read all pages of both the Richie McCaw books such as The Open Side (My favourite part of the book was Richie McCaw (Who was a cult figure in world rugby because he shares the same role as a movie star (Just like rugby coaches share the same role of a rock star according to my blog 4 years ago) by the Robin Thicke of it) saw a sign out in one of the car park yards at a fan trail which is: I HOPE YOU ARE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS (Although McCaw had a feud with Wallaby Quade Cooper because Cooper kneed McCaw to the head during the test in Brisbane 5 years ago but why does the people of New Zealand dislike him so much? Because they boo him a lot whenever he picks up with the ball when he plays rugby here in New Zealand) & the referee Stu Dickinson saying at McCaw: ''Hands off, it's a ruck'' but the referee awarded a penalty because McCaw used his hands in the ruck) & Richie McCaw 148 but Bryan & Viv arrived so Poppa showed both of them Nan's Memorial Garden before we had our starter which is murukku, cheese, salami & red pepper then the main course was chicken, roast potatoes & salad with lettuce, tomatoes & carrots with vinegarette to serve & I did enjoy it but I told Bryan & Viv about my cousin Paige & her mother Cathey & Cathey's husband John who hyad been together for 10 years & my 2 little cousins Nico & Luca as well as Poppa's sister Kathryn & her children such as Ben, Gemma & Huia & partner from between Bristol & Portsmouth, Ken & after then it was dessert which is fruit salad with hokey pokey ice-cream then it was time to go home with Bryan & Viv after they went to see the memorial garden again this time it was during the dark & I talked about during my ride back home that both Bryan & Viv have been together for 42 years since 1974 (Although they 1st met at Spriggens Park but Bryan was 18 when he went to Australia on an under 19's rugby trip 50 years ago because this was way back in 1966 & he was probably working at Placemakers 20 years ago way back in 1996) & only have 1 children which is Ashley who is 35 years old & works for Total automotive & has been doing lots of running as part of their excercise & training & taking part in triathlons although I 1st met Ashley's partner Charlotte 12 years ago & they still together at the moment.

And it was on Thursday that Pops took me to his home at 15A Kells Avenue after we went to Mitre 10 as well as New World for the meal deal to do some stuff like building the houses for the gnomes & had a great lunch at the Red Lion near the city bridge where I had a burger & fries before going back to Poppa's to focus on some more work like building the houses for the gnomes & then we had fruit salad with hokey pokey ice-cream for dessert then finished the Richie McCaw books that I read before I went back home to end a wonderful day it was.

And today was a bit of a cliffhanger as Pops arrived to pick me up to go to the rugby & I did not know that Kathryn's partner Ken (AKA Kenshi) was with Poppa & I did not know that Ken has a son named Will (AKA Takeda) but Will is from Auckland because he has tattoos (And he has been to a rugby game before because he used to play rugby as a kid) & here we are at Cooks Gardens but I will tell you an incredible story about the Meads Cup final between Wanganui & Buller with several news reports coming in.

So that's it, see you next time because that is my 39th (XXXIXth) blog of the year 2016 (MMXVI) & my 79th overall so have a good Christmas (Remember, the real thing is tomorrow so don't you forget it so relax, do not do it because it must be simply the best, better than all the rest) & a safe new year...& remember, we are Code 4 here, repeat after me, CODE 4 PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE! And of course I will be doing my final part of my year in review blog for 2016 on New Year's Eve which is about thanking my family & friends for my support & the rock bands that I listen over the course of the year.

P.S. The world is a vampire
set to drain
secret destroyers
hold you up to the flames
and what do I get
for my pain
betrayed desires
and a piece of the game

And my cousin Paige Williams has finally sent me an email wishing me a merry Christmas (Did you know it's Christmas today so finally) just because I have never emailed Paige for like 4 months so here's her message in it's entirety:

Hi Whetu,

So lovely to hear from you. Merry Christmas!

Have you got a lovely day planned for tomorrow?

Jarrod and I are meant to be going up North in January so we will definitely be in touch and come and see you.

Yes we definitely felt the earthquake it was pretty scary, did you feel it at your house?

Tell your dad and Henry I say Merry Christmas also.

Lots of love,

Paige xx

And I have found a new favourite part of the Richie McCaw: The Openside book which is DC's wrecked along with Hands off, it's a ruck, I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS & Hand's off! Get out of there! So here's the full rundown of my new favourite part of the book:

''It's only when I'm wandering back towards the changing rooms that I notice he's no longer out there. One of the management team is standing outside the changing room, ashen faced.
'DC's wrecked,' he says.
When I get inside Dan's with Deb, in agony. Ted's hovering, stricken. I can see he's having in one of those This can't be happening moments.''

And finally I have been having a great Christmas because I had to stick my tradition of opening the presents & my favourite Christmas present was the money (Although I had to spend $200 at The Warehouse when I bought a cricket game which is Don Bradman Cricket 17 (Although I decided not to play that game now because I don't want that game) & a PS4 controller which I can use a a back-up or spare but Pops & Dad bought the TV for the PS4 & I wrote down the objectives & rules of playing Don Bradman Cricket 17 & today we are seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars story today but the movie includes stars such as Felicity Jones (Who plays Jyn Erso & appeared in the Jimmy Fallon show by demoing her Star Wars fight moves by giving him a fight sequence or should I say masterclass that she learned from her Kung Fu training background as well as also appearing in the movie Inferno with Tom Hanks who appeared in great movies such as Forrest Gump & The Green Mile with the late Michael Clarke Duncan), Chinese martial arts movie superstar Donnie Yen as well as the guy who played the evil Le Chiffre in Casino Royale which is Denmark's finest, Mads Mikkelsen (As Jyn Erso's father Galen), Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Jiang Wen & Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma & I even saw it yesterday because I was mindblown (Although Pops was waiting for Rejean so he could leave the Cemetery Circuit as far as they can) but my favourite part of the movie was the ending such as Darth Vader mowing down the troops of the Rebel Alliance as well as Princess Leia Organa (The Star Wars galaxy's favourite princess) appearing in a cameo role which is CGI enhanced because the original actor Carrie Fisher (Although she passed away due to a heart attack on the long haul flight from London to Los Angeles, California along with her mother Debbie Reynolds due to a stroke & George Michael due to heart problems where he died peacefully as well as a few celebrated icons who passed away in 2016 are pop singer David Bowie (AKA Major Tom), actor Gene 'Willy Wonka' Wilder, world famous boxer Muhammad Ali (Born as Cassius Clay), Lemmy Klimster from Motorhead, another actor Alan Rickman (AKA Hans Gruber from Die Hard & Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter movies) & of course, the Purple Rain man himself, Prince) might have been too old to play that instant classic character) as well as the mat saying loyal All Black supporters live here as well as the rugby calendar & the cricket photo album but we had a great traditional Christmas lunch there then I listened 16 rock songs on Youtube this Christmas, went to Nan's grave for the festive season, having a leftover chicken sandwich for dinner & spending time with Aunty Tania in the closing moments of Christmas on that occasion (And I won't tell you the drunken post Christmas incident last night straight away).

Take A Picture: The year in review part 4 (The best of 2016/MMXVI)

It was today that a Fijian woman named Silo took me to Poppa's for lunch & dessert that we had & it was fantastic I have got to say (Although me & Pops did some work on the fence so it was not that easy though) but John & Lim arrived to see Nan's memorial garden once more before we had a smoothie while I was reading 2 Richie McCaw books but I have another favourite part of the Richie McCaw book The Open Side that it was a referee at a World Cup final in 2011 saying to the players when trying to turn the ball over in a ruck, the referee said ''Hands off, get out of there'' so that was my most interesting part of the book there along with ''Hands off, it's a ruck'' & I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE, RICHIE IS. So I had to say goodbye to John & Lim because they were leaving so I had to leave by finishing my smoothie & reading The Open Side book so I had to go home to end an incredible day it was (And it was on Thursday that I was with Poppa because he was running late so we headed to 15A Kells Avenue for some garden work before we headed to Nan's grave then to Caroline's to have afternoon tea so I had a carrot cake with mocchachino there & went to New World to get some stuff there).

Well, this is part 4 of my year in review which is about the best of 2016 so I wrote a blog about the round up of Euro 2016 which is about that morning of the Euros in Lyon during the Semifinal stages when the Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal (Well, Portugal has been to a final before so it was 2004 (The same year that Athens hosted the Summer Olympics) that the last time Portugal (Who had hosted a tournament which featured the likes of the great Luis Figo) had played in the final and lost against Greece which is a miracle for the Greeks because they were doing the Leicester City way back then) beat his Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale's Wales (Who made their successful tournament debut by topping Group B ahead of England and Slovakia before beating Kyle Lafferty's Northern Ireland in the round of 16 & Belgium featuring Kevin de Bruyne in the Quarterfinals) to go through to the final of UEFA Euro 2016 after winning the match by 2 goals to nil (Ronaldo scored the 1st goal while he created the 2nd goal for his former team-mate of Manchester United, Nani) but who will take on Portugal whether it's the world champions Germany (Led by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer permanently for Bastian Schweinsteiger) or the hosts France (Led by Spurs goalie Hugo Lloris) at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

It has been a rocky road start for Thomas Muller's Germany as they beat Ukraine in the opener before settling for the draw against the Robert Lewandowski (Who plays for German champions Bayern Munich) led Poland (Who beat Xherdan Shaqiri's Switzerland in the Round of 16 and lost to Portugal in the quarterfinals on penalties) then beating Northern Ireland (Who lost to Wales in the round of 16 match) to top Group C and qualified by taking on the Marek Hamsik's Slovakia in which they won in a convincing fashion then they had to take on Daniele de Rossi's Italy (Who knocked out holders Spain which featured Manchester City's David Silva in the Round of 16 after losing to Robbie Keane's Republic of Ireland in the final game of Group E) in the Quarterfinals but during the match, Arsenal's Mesut Ozil scored the 1st goal of the game before the Italians awarded a penalty through a Jerome Boateng (Who is Robert Lewandowski's team-mate) handball as defender Leonardo Bonucci equalized and after 90 minutes, the game went into extra time and both teams didn't get their 2nd goals so they went into penalties but in the end, Germany proved too strong against Italy to progress through to the semifinals taking on Paul Pogba's France which began their campaign with wins against Romania in the opener and Albania before drawing with Switzerland (Who lost to Poland on penalties in the Round of 16 & during the match against the hosts, the ball did however burst during a challenge between Griezmann and Valon Behrami) to top Group A to take on Republic of Ireland in the Round of 16 as they beat them by 2 goals scored by Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann to 1 before facing debutants Iceland who caused the big upset in the Round of 16 dismantling the Wayne Rooney (Who plays for Manchester United) led England 2-1 in the Quarterfinals and they thrashed them 5-2 with goals scored by Ozil's team-mate of Arsenal, Olivier Giroud who netted in twice, Paul Pogba of Juventus, Dimitri Payet and Griezmann for the hosts to advance through to the Semifinal stages of Euro 2016 as well as Kolbeinn Sigporsson and Birkir Bjarnsson for Iceland who are out of the competition.

And it's been 12 days since my cousin Paige sent me an email so she wrote about that she is great to hear from me and she is actually watching test match rugby at the moment so fingers crossed that they will win and she also wrote that she is a faculty administrator at open polytechnic and she is loving it which is good and she also wrote that she will read my blog when she gets the chance but she also wrote that she must bring her boyfriend Jarrod up to meet me in a couple of months and see my Dad and also the All Blacks 3rd and final test match against Wales under the roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium as Wales slumped to their heaviest defeat to New Zealand in 13 years as Beauden Barrett inspired the All Blacks to a 46-6 victory in the 3rd Test in Dunedin. First five eighth Barrett scored 26 points, including two 2nd-half tries, as the world champions swept aside the tired tourists to secure a 3-0 series whitewash. Dan Biggar kicked two penalties to give Wales an early lead at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, but it was all New Zealand thereafter as they blitzed the visitors with six tries. Ben Smith and George Moala scored in the first half before Dane Coles, Barrett twice and Israel Dagg in stoppage time completed the rout. The All Blacks showed 5 changes, including a debut for Highlanders blindside flanker Elliot Dixon at his home stadium. Biggar twice kicked Wales ahead in the opening quarter with penalties, the first inside three minutes and the second just seconds after Barrett briefly levelled. Barrett controlled the hosts' play but Ben Smith proved the danger. The pair combined for a counter-attack but Smith was held up by Rhys Patchell. Kieran Read attacked from the resulting scrum before halfback Aaron Smith, winning his 50th cap, switched direction to Ben Smith on the right wing. He rode the tackle of Hallam Amos to touch down for the opening try on 23 minutes. Barrett missed the conversion but swiftly kicked a penalty for an 11-6 lead. Wales' kicking game continued to hand the All Blacks plenty of possession and new centre Moala went close to a second. Dagg and Ben Smith burst clear but Moala was ruled to have lost the ball under the challenge of Liam Williams, who was injured in the process. Wales thought they had cleared the danger only for Dagg to mount another swift attack as he brushed past opposite number Patchell with ease. Brodie Retallick, Julian Savea and Aaron Smith kept the move going and Moala picked up and drove over from close range for the second try on 33 minutes. Barrett converted for an 18-6 lead that they held until half-time despite a strong Wales surge just before the break. Luke Charteris, Sam Warburton and Jamie Roberts all went close but, unlike in the final stages in Wellington last week, Wales could not find the scoring pass. New Zealand began the 2nd half at the same blistering pace, while Welsh errors meant they struggled to clear the danger. A forward pass by Jonathan Davies behind his own try line handed New Zealand an attacking scrum and Barrett crashed through for a try that he converted himself. Wales were given a glimmer of light when New Zealand were reduced to 14 men after Sam Cane was shown a yellow card early in the 2nd half. But Wales could not capitalise and the All Blacks struck next just moments after Cane returned. Barrett, now playing at fullback, raced onto Lima Sopoaga's long pass to beat Amos and Biggar to his second try. Hooker Coles burst through for the All Blacks' 5th try on 62 minutes but Sopoaga saw his effort ruled out for failing to ground the ball after Welsh replacement Ellis Jenkins spilled a lose-ball. Wales kept searching for a try but were caught in the third minute of stoppage time when Dagg raced upfield to complete a big win.

And in other international rugby news such as 6 Nations Grand Chelem champions England getting a clean sweep against the Rugby Championship champions the Wallabies at Allianz Stadium in Sydney as well as the Springboks in all of a sudden won the test series 2 - 1 against Ireland over in Port Elizabeth but the Super Rugby season is back in full swing (The matches were held in 6 different countries including Argentina, Australia, Fiji, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa) as the Chiefs moved top of the Super Rugby standings on Friday after they beat the Crusaders 23 - 13 in Suva (Ni sa Bula Vinaka eh? Which means greetings in Fijian) in a gripping New Zealand derby. 3 points adrift of their rivals before kick-off and with a worse points differential, the outfit from Waikato knew they had to deprive their opponents of any points if they could not claim the try bonus. And the former is what they managed thanks to a late penalty goal. James Lowe and Brad Weber scored the Chiefs' tries while Damian McKenzie kicked 13 points. Jone Macilai crossed for the Crusaders. The weather was atrocious in Suva for expansive rugby but such is the quality of the sides that the skill sets were outstanding, as the Fijian crowd enjoyed its first taste of Super Rugby. ANZ National Stadium was packed in what is hopefully their first of many matches. It was all the Crusaders for the opening 15 minutes but credit to the Chiefs who held firm on their own line before eventually an offence was spotted by referee Andrew Lees. Richie Mo'unga sent over the simple penalty on 19 minutes and the Crusaders deservedly led. Such is the class of this Chiefs outfit though that they only need a sniff and that was all it took when centre Seta Tamanivalu's lovely grubber through saw Lowe ground in the rain. McKenzie judged the wind perfectly to knock over the extras as suddenly the it was 7-3. The lead became 7 on the half-hour mark when Crusaders hooker Codie Taylor was penalised at the ruck and McKenzie did the rest. High class rugby kept coming until the break and it was the Chiefs who would increase their lead when a moment of magic from McKenzie saw him break and offload to Weber, who showed pace to score. At 17 - 3 this result would be enough to take them above the Crusaders. But credit to the pre-game Super Rugby leaders as they were not to be outdone late in the half, when a move started by Nemani Nadolo went out to the right where Jordan Taufua put the ball inside to Macilai for the finish. That made it a 17-10 deficit to cap an excellent half. The Chiefs thought they had their third try of the game in the 46th minute when Anton Lienert-Brown crossed after a breakout that involved replacement Sam McNicol and McKenzie. However the latter's foot was in touch so it was chalked off. In truth it deserved five points. Both sides continued to try their hand and refused to go into their shell as the contest reached a key period coming up to the hour, with only three points from the boot of McKenzie troubling the scorers. That meant it was 20-10, this after Aaron Cruden had been introduced. So with time ticking on the Chiefs knew their objective was to keep the Crusaders outside the seven-point zone. It looked they hadn't managed it when Mo'unga made it 20-13 from 25 metres out with six minutes remaining but when McKenzie responded with the last kick of the game, the result and top spot was secured with just two rounds to play.

The Brumbies made a winning return to Super Rugby after securing a deserved 43-24 victory over the Reds in Canberra (G'day eh?) & The Waratahs kept their play-off hopes alive when they cruised to a convincing 57-12 victory over the Sunwolves in Tokyo (Konnichi wa eh?).

The Hurricanes fought back from a seven-point half-time deficit to claim a 37-27 victory over the Blues in Wellington (Kia Ora eh?). In yet another superb advert for New Zealand rugby, both sides stayed true to their attacking roots, running the ball from all areas of the field and the result means the Hurricanes moved into second place in the New Zealand Conference standings, above the Crusaders who lost against the Chiefs in Suva on Friday. The Blues, meanwhile, are still at the bottom on the New Zealand Conference and look set for another season without play-off rugby. The opening half was a thrilling affair with both sides attacking at every opportunity and after Beauden Barrett and Piers Francis traded early penalties, it was the Blues who drew first blood via a Kara Pryor try in the 12th minute. This after Male Sa'u set him up with a strong run in the build-up, in which he showed great strength in shrugging off the attentions of Vaea Fifita before getting a pass out to the on-rushing Kara Pryor, who outpaced the cover defence before diving over. The Hurricanes didn't take long to reply, and five minutes later Reg Goodes burrowed his way over the whitewash from close quarters for his side's opening try. The home side replied with the first of two tries from Jerome Kaino. The All Blacks enforcer displaying great determination as he powered his way through a Barrett tackle close to the Hurricanes' try-line. 2 minutes later, an Ihaia West fumble inside his 22 was pounced on by Dane Coles, who kicked the ball ahead before diving on it and Barrett's conversion meant the sides were level at 17-17 by the 20th minute. Kaino then showed great pace as he burst through a ruck and set off on a 25 metre run before crossing for a deserved try. Piers Francis slotted the conversion which meant the visitors led 24-17 at half-time. Francis extended his side's lead with a three-pointer from the kicking tee, three minutes after the restart, but Barrett narrowed the gap with two penalties of his own which meant the deficit was reduced to four points by the 50 minute mark. Shortly afterwards, the hosts regained the lead when Vaea Fifita got over after Coles, Victor Vito and Vince Aso were prominent in the build-up. The next 15 minutes saw both sides giving their all in a bid to secure the result. It was the Hurricanes who managed to do that however when Fifita breached the visitors' defence in the 70th minute with a strong run, before going over for his second try which secured a crucial victory for his side.

The Stormers recorded a bonus point win as they beat the Rebels 57-31 in Melbourne as the visitors dominated the set pieces while the Cheetahs won 30-29 against the Force in Bloemfontein (Hallo daar eh?) after fighting off a courageous comeback from the Perth side and the Jaguares picked up only their third victory of the Super Rugby season on Saturday as they beat the Bulls 29-11 in Buenos Aires (Hola eh?).

The Highlanders kept in touch with New Zealand's high-flying teams with a 48-18 win over the Kings at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. It wasn't pretty but the visitors got the job done with the try bonus point also secured thanks to a late onslaught that saw them cross at will. Earlier Matt Faddes had gone over for two tries while Dan Pryor and Jack Wilson also crossed before Patrick Osborne went over and Faddes added his third, with Aki Seiuli scoring at the death to add the gloss. Wandile Mjekevu and Steven Sykes replied for the Kings, who were spirited in defeat as the scoreline did not reflect how the game played out. It was an error-strewn first half in Port Elizabeth as only two tries were claimed, despite numerous chances especially for the visitors. Jamie Joseph had opted to name a largely second-string side for the fixture but he was forced to bring Lima Sopoaga into his starting XV after Marty Banks was injured in the week. They were still however without the likes of stars Aaron Smith, Waisake Naholo and Ben Smith. The Kings could have been in front in the seventh minute when Highlanders second-row Mark Reddish, making his 50th Super Rugby appearance, took out halfback Ntando Kebe at the base of a ruck. But Elgar Watts missed with his attempt as it remained 0-0 after a scrappy opening. Sopoaga made no such mistake in the 14th minute after Kings hooker Edgar Marutlulle was penalised for making a high tackle and then came a contentious moment as centre Shane Gates was yellow carded for dropping Tom Franklin on his shoulder at a ruck. It could have been a red. The Highlanders though made the most of their man advantage as sustained pressure led to Faddes going over from a standing start for 10-0. However, the Kings then had something to cling to in the closing stages of the half when Watts landed three points before Mjekevu crossed from a flat pass from Kebe. Unfortunately for the hosts, Watts could not add the conversion that would have levelled matters at the break. The Highlanders were forced into a change at half-time as Shane Christie suffered an injury with Dan Pryor replacing the skipper on the flank. And he was a tireless worker in the second period, but not before Faddes had claimed his brace on the left, making it 15-8 after 46 minutes. The aforementioned Dan Pryor was next to cross on 54 minutes from the back of a maul as suddenly the Highlanders were hunting the bonus point. But those hopes of a maximum looked to have been quashed when the Kings went over through Sykes, capping a lovely move that made it 20-18. Such is the quality of the defending champions though that they regrouped and launched a late onslaught, with tries from wing duo Wilson and Osborne wrapping up not only the victory but also the bonus point before Faddes raced over for a treble and Seiuli made it 48-18.

And of course the Lions (Which includes 2 danger men including captain Warren Whiteley as well as Springbok winger Ruan Combrinck) secured top spot in Africa 2 on Saturday after they beat the Sharks 37-10 in a one-sided clash at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

And I also went to the unveiling on Saturday which is about both Nan's grave and garden but 2 days ago it was Poppa's birthday and we had dinner there as well as dessert then we had a chat to him but today Me & Pops went to the garden centre to pick up some stuff for the garden splash centre to go on a warm pool then a cold pool before I went on a rowing machine and after that we went to 15A kells avenue to do our jobs before we went to Caroline's for lunch because I had a steak there with chips and salad and after that we went back to 15a Kells Avenue to do our jobs for Nan's garden for several minutes before we had our last card challenge which I always win and then after that, we had a dessert there before we went to New World to get the meal deal which is pasta as well as the cold meat and Clausthaler's and guess who I saw, I saw Leon Benbaruk my good old mentor and we had a short chat to him about the Euros as well as Sophie (That Malaysian chick straight outta Penang) coming here next week because I will be seeing him and Hanne (That good old Danish Terminator) next week when we have dinner x lunch before heading back home to do my blog which I am writing right now & well, I have been doing a blog about the history of the Euros because I have covered every European Football Championship ever since 2000 so it all comes down to this as 2 teams battle it out for glory in the UEFA Euro 2016 final between Portugal (Led by Cristiano Ronaldo of European champions Real Madrid and co) and hosts France (Featuring Paul Pogba of Italian champions Juventus who beat Germany (Also featuring Thomas Muller of German champions Bayern Munich) 2 - 0 in the semifinal).

It was in 2000 (Well I have been covering the Euros since then) that the last time that France (Who had won the FIFA World Cup 2 years earlier and featuring the likes of current Real Madrid coach/manager Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram, Laurent Blanc, David Trezeguet & current France manager Didier Deschamps) had last won the title as well as appearing in the final because it was against Italy (Which also featured the likes of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti & former Italy & now Chelsea manager Antonio Conte) as France became the first team to win the UEFA European Championship as Champion Du Monde as David Trezeguet came off the bench to score a golden goal because it left Italy crestfallen having been seconds from winning the contest in normal time, leading through Marco Delvecchio's second-half strike before Sylvain Wiltord's last-gasp effort forced extra time. Trezeguet did the rest as well as the final had got off to a similarly frenetic start. France almost took the lead when Thierry Henry's hooked shot came back off the post and Youri Djorkaeff had headed just wide from a corner before Italy came to life, Demetrio Albertini curling a free-kick narrowly over the bar. The game was still only 15 minutes old as Both sides settled and les Bleus came desperately close to breaking through six minutes before the interval. The livewire Henry weaved into the penalty area and drove the ball goalwards, Djorkaeff seized possession and turned to fire in a low shot but Toldo made a fine point-blank stop within seconds of Alessandro Del Piero's second-half introduction Italy came close themselves, as Laurent Blanc was forced to head desperately behind from a dangerous Paolo Maldini cross and finally, on 55 minutes, the deadlock was broken. Francesco Totti's back-heel released Gianluca Pessotto down the right and his cross eluded Marcel Desailly, allowing Delvecchio to volley in from point-blank range. Italy should have doubled that advantage six minutes later when Totti sent Del Piero clear, but the Juventus forward pulled his shot across goal and at the other end France were struggling to find a way past the brilliant Toldo, who denied Wiltord and Henry as Zidane began to weave his creative magic. Yet despite the introduction of a third striker – Trezeguet – Roger Lemerre's side seemed destined for defeat, until Wiltord broke free on the left of the penalty area in injury time to send a low drive squirming past Toldo but France, buoyed by their late reprieve, began extra time on the offensive, Zidane having a shot deflected wide from a Robert Pirès cross. And the Arsenal FC-bound winger was the source for the winner, tricking his way down the left before pulling the ball back for Trezeguet to crash a first-time shot into the roof of the net. With the French fans exultant, Didier Deschamps lifted the Henri Delaunay Cup.

And onto 2004 that Portugal (Which featured the likes of young Ronaldo way back then as well as the great Luis Figo, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Pauleta, Rui Costa, Maniche, Brazilian born Deco & Nuno Gomes) were hosting the tournament, had last been to a final by taking on the underdogs Greece (Which also featured the likes of  Angelos Basinas, Theodoros Zagorakis, Angelos Charisteas, Giorgios Karagounis (Who didn't play due to suspension) & Kostas Katsouranis) who beat them in the opening match of the tournament as Greece, who began the tournament as 80-1 outsiders, pulled off arguably the biggest shock at a major football tournament as Angelos Charisteas' goal earned a 1-0 victory over Portugal in the final of UEFA Euro 2004 while Portugal thus became the first host nation to lose a UEFA European Championship showpiece and they will have to wait at least another two years to claim their first senior title. For the likes of Luís Figo and Rui Costa it was an agonising end to glittering international careers, but they can look back with pride on the past three weeks as Luiz Felipe Scolari's side in Lisbon were unchanged from the team that beat the Netherlands in the semi-finals, with goal-scorer Pauleta preferred to the in-form Nuno Gomes in attack. Greece made just one change, Stelios Giannakopoulos replacing the suspended Georgios Karagounis in midfield but perhaps contrary to some expectations, the game was an attractive spectacle from the start, with both sides playing fluently. Portugal playmaker Deco was involved twice early on, combining with Pauleta and then Cristiano Ronaldo, but first Greece captain Theo Zagorakis and then Traianos Dellas – man of the match in the semi-final win against the Czech Republic – made timely interceptions but Pauleta was just beaten to a long through ball by Greek goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis before Greece showed their class with a sweeping move down the right involving Konstantinos Katsouranis and Zagorakis that was only halted with a crude foul by Costinha on Giourkas Seitaridis, for which the Portuguese midfield anchorman was booked as Portugal hit back and Miguel, on his home ground, sent a powerful low drive fizzing across the face of goal; Nikopolidis had to tip the ball away in spectacular fashion. At the other end Ricardo was forced to race from the Portuguese line to deny Charisteas, who had been played in by Katsouranis but a speculative Pauleta effort was saved comfortably enough by Nikopolidis but only a fine tackle from Dellas prevented Ronaldo causing havoc with his dancing feet. The hosts were getting on top and Maniche shot wide from a corner as the crowd held its breath, hoping for a repeat of his stunning goal against the Dutch as Mihalis Kapsis, doubtful for the game owing to a knee injury, then broke up another promising Deco-Ronaldo attack on the edge of the area. At this point the Greece fans, heavily outnumbered, took the initiative on behalf of their team and created a deafening wall of sound at the end Portugal were attacking: an invisible barrier the hosts could find no way past for the remainder of the 1st half but the 2nd half opened with a Pauleta effort that was blocked when he might have done better, a microcosm of his frustrating tournament, and then the unthinkable happened – Greece took the lead. A surging right-wing run from Seitaridis won them a corner which Angelos Basinas swung over and there was Charisteas climbing above Costinha to head in from close range but Costinha was immediately withdrawn in favour of Rui Costa and the veteran midfielder nearly made an instant impact, tricking his way into the area before delivering a wayward final pass. Seitaridis was then cautioned and Figo shot straight at Nikopolidis as nerves on and off the pitch began to fray as Ricardo Carvalho had to be alert to prevent Zisis Vryzas doubling the lead just past the hour mark, and the home fans now did their best to rally their team. For a time Greece had their backs to the wall as Rui Costa, Deco and Figo probed for an opening, but the defensive discipline that has stood Rehhagel's team in such good stead throughout the tournament once again came to their rescue as Portuguese attacks broke down time after time while Scolari swapped Pauleta for Nuno Gomes with 17 minutes of normal time remaining and soon after that Ronaldo almost latched on to a long pass by Rui Costa but, off-balance, his shot was high and wide. Rui Costa himself went closer but his deflected shot was palmed away by Nikopolidis, while Figo also saw an effort rebound behind as Greece held on for a famous win.

And then to 2008 that Spain (Who had never won since 1964 and featured the likes of Carles Puyol (Who missed Spain's 2012 triumph due to injury), Andres Iniesta, David Villa (Who also missed Spain's 2012 triumph due to injury along with Puyol), Xavi, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla, Xabi Alonso & Sergio Ramos) took on Germany (Who was trying to add their successes of 1972, 80 & 96 European Championship titles and also featuring the likes of Michael Ballack (Who would be his last major football/soccer tournament before in 2010 when Thomas Muller took over the reins after Ballack got injured by Jerome Boateng's brother from Ghana, Kevin-Prince Boateng in the FA Cup final between Chelsea & Portsmouth), Per Mertesacker, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose & Mario Gomez) as Spain became European champions for the second time after Fernando Torres's first-half goal in Vienna proved enough to defeat Germany in the final of UEFA EURO 2008 but Spain had won their only previous piece of silverware in this competition in 1964 and had not been beyond the quarter-finals of any tournament in 24 years, yet Luis Aragonés's men chose to use that history as an inspiration rather than a burden. After a strong start from Germany, seeking a fourth title themselves, Spain were the more dangerous side throughout an entertaining final at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion although it took just one goal – in the 33rd minute, courtesy of Torres's pace, perseverance and unerring finish – to end their long wait while Germany received a significant boost before kick-off with captain Michael Ballack included despite a much-publicised calf problem, and, perhaps buoyed by that news, Joachim Löw's team settled quickly. Much had been made of the contrast in style between the sides yet in the opening exchanges it was Germany whose passing looked crisper, Miroslav Klose and Thomas Hitzlsperger failing to make the most of glimpses of goal. Meanwhile Spain, shorn of four-goal leading scorer David Villa due to a thigh injury, struggled to find their feet in a new 4-5-1 formation in which Cesc Fàbregas was rewarded for a fine semi-final display with a starting place as an indicator of the pattern of the match, however, Germany's bright beginning proved misleading. Spain soon worked their way into the contest, with Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann – becoming, at 38, the oldest player to appear in a UEFA European Championship final – forced into action for the first time in the 14th minute. Although his instinctive save came when his own defender, Christoph Metzelder, inadvertently deflected Andrés Iniesta's cross towards his own goal, Xavi Hernández's fine through pass had unpicked the Germany defence and showed the Spanish were finding their feet as right-back Sergio Ramos was then allowed to cut inside and deliver a deep cross, Torres peeling away from Per Mertesacker to create space for the header only for the right-hand post to come to Lehmann's rescue. The warning signs were there for Germany, yet they failed to heed them and duly fell behind three minutes past the half-hour. Again Xavi was the architect, playing a pass in behind the Germany back line towards Torres, who outmuscled a hesitant Philipp Lahm and clipped the ball over the diving Lehmann and just inside the far post. David Silva then volleyed over Iniesta's cross when given time and space inside the area as Spain threatened to increase their lead but Spain had more openings in the early stages of the second half, Lehmann getting the merest of touches to Xavi's low shot before Ramos nearly guided in Silva's drive from the resulting corner. Yet a hint of the threat Germany still posed arrived on the hour, substitute Marcell Jansen and Bastian Schweinsteiger combining for Ballack to shoot centimetres wide. Klose then deflected a Schweinsteiger effort past the post and, in response to Germany's renewed menace, Spain coach Aragonés promptly introduced Xabi Alonso and Santi Cazorla in place of Fàbregas and Silva. The switches reinvigorated Spain instantly, Lehmann making smart stops from Ramos and Iniesta while Torsten Frings blocked another Iniesta effort on the line as the final moved into the last 20 minutes, Spain had had seven shots on goal to Germany's one, but with the Mannschaft having turned virtually one in two of their attempts on target into goals en route to the final, that would have been scant consolation to Aragonés and his side. In the event, however, it was Spain who continued to carve out chances as the match reached its conclusion, Marcos Senna narrowly failing to apply the finishing touch to an unselfish header from substitute Daniel Güiza – but the celebrations would not be delayed much longer.

And finally in 2012 that the World Champions Spain (The returning players from the Euro 2008 squad are captain Iker Casillas, Raul Albiol, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Alvaro Arbeloa, Santi Cazorla, David Silva & Pepe Reina) are attempting to successfully defend the European Championship crown by taking on Italy (Which featured the likes of  Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chellini, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio, Riccardo Montolivo, Daniele de Rossi, the emerging Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, Antonio Di Natale and of course Thiago Motta) in the final after drawing against them in the opening match of the tournament as Spain saved their best until last at UEFA Euro 2012, a final-record 4-0 victory in Kyiv completing an unprecedented hat-trick of major tournament wins and against a flagging Italy side whose thrilling knockout campaign looked to have caught up with them, Spain were in control from the moment David Silva broke the deadlock with a rare header on 14 minutes. A barnstorming second with half-time approaching from the indefatigable Jordi Alba, his first international goal, left the Azzurri with a mountain to climb. The sight of Thiago Motta, their third substitute, being carried off on a stretcher ended all hope, causing Italy to play out the last 28 minutes with ten men – and Spain replacements Fernando Torres and Juan Mata fully capitalised but this was billed as a meeting of great creative minds, of conductors in their prime, of Xavi Hernández against Andrea Pirlo; but for much of the opening phase it was a one-man show. Spain's No8 picked up the baton from the off, in harmony with Andrés Iniesta, dictating La Roja's now familiar staccato movement as Italy were forced deeper and deeper. The olés had already begun among the sizeable Spanish contingent in the 63,170 crowd when, just before the quarter-hour, the pair combined to devastating effect as Xavi, who had fired narrowly over moments earlier, fed Iniesta and his finely weighted pass allowed Cesc Fàbregas to easily outstrip Giorgio Chiellini on the inside-right channel. There was still plenty to do but how simple Spain made it look as Fàbregas pulled a sharp ball back for Silva, all 170cm of him, to glance his header in. It proved a disappointed Chiellini's last real action as he soon succumbed to the thigh problem that has hampered him throughout his time in Poland and Ukraine but a heavy-legged Italy could ill afford the double blow, but impressively they fought their way back into the contest. Pirlo, inevitably, was their driving force, the beating drum that pulled the strings at the back and sounded the horn to attack. Not that there was much of that. In fact, Pirlo's most telling contribution of the first half was a superb last-ditch block on Iniesta. Yet try as he might – and he did try – the 33-year-old could not be everywhere but Spain's second was a little too easy, though. Standing on the touchline near halfway, Fàbregas nodded Iker Casillas's clearance to Alba who turned the ball into Xavi before haring forward. The Azzurri back line did not seem to notice but the erudite Xavi did, advancing forward before slotting his new FC Barcelona club-mate in. The composed left-footed finish that followed would have pleased even the injured David Villa, watching in the stands with Carles Puyol & if it appeared that nothing could now deny Spain a first competitive victory against the Azzurri in 92 years – at least over 90 minutes – but Italy were not done yet. Antonio Di Natale, scorer in the 1-1 group stage draw between these sides three weeks ago, came on for Antonio Cassano and within six minutes he might have scored twice. His first chance, a header, was far from straightforward, but the striker could have done better when Riccardo Montolivo's pass found him in space. He snatched at the opportunity and the advancing Casillas blocked & of course yet Italy's slender hopes of mounting a comeback disappeared when Motta departed forlornly down the tunnel. It was left to Xavi to resume his conducting, slowing things down until, with six minutes remaining, he upped the tempo for a rousing crescendo. First he robbed Pirlo in midfield and set up Torres for a goal to add to his strike in the UEFA EURO 2008 final – a 'double' no one had managed before – then he combined with Torres to release Mata, just on, to seal an emphatic win. It has been an emphatic four years.

And who's gonna win that final of UEFA Euro 2016, Portugal or France, but all will be revealed after the final (Well my money is on France at the moment because I have the French flag right here, allons y (Let's go) and if the French win, it's Vive La France (Long live France) baby (They could be celebrating Bastille Day on the 14th of July (4 days after the final) in style) because it is the Postmodern Jukebox of the French Revolution because they don't want to lose against Portugal just like Napoleon Bonaparte lost the battle during the battle of Waterloo way back 201 years ago on the 18th of June, 1815).

And don't forget the curse behind the All Blacks Rugby World Cup campaigns way back in both 1999 & 2003 are ruined by a 1997 movie Anaconda (A movie which is about a film crew (Which includes a Latina and a Black man who are protagonists of the film) is taken hostage by an totally insane hunter (Known as the Demon all the way from Hell), who takes them along on his quest to capture the world's largest & deadliest snake (Which is a deadly animal, mercy me) starring artist/musician Jennifer 'JLo' Lopez (Filmmaker Terri Flores, a Latina like no other who shares the same role with Alice from Alice in Wonderland), rapper O'Shea 'Ice Cube' Jackson (Cameraman Danny Rich, a Black man with no intentions who also shares a similar role with Wolfenstein protagonist BJ Blazkowicz) as well as Angelina Jolie's father John Voight (Totally insane hunter Paul Sarone, who acts like a Demon from Hell by sharing a role with the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day) being shown on Sky Movies at the same time (Or should I say, the wrong place at the wrong time) as the All Blacks were pounced by the French in 1999 (Even though the All Blacks were torn sky blast apart by the French who enjoyed an insane amount of rugby during the 2nd half) and again when the All Blacks got dismantled by the Wallabies in 2003 (Well something went wrong for the All Blacks during the semifinals as Stirling Mortlock's intercept try for the Wallabies ended New Zealand's hopes of reaching the World Cup final) when the movie was shown this time on TV3 at the same time (And again at the wrong place at the wrong time because they were getting isolated about it).

Some blame Keith Quinn, others say it's Foxy's (Grant Fox) inverted sideburns or Helen Clark's (Was the Prime Minister of New Zealand before John Key took over 8 years ago) childlessness, whatever the cause, there's no doubt that a makutu (Which is Maori for sorcery or witchcraft) is keeping us from winning the World Cup, But we can now reveal a startling new theory as to why we weren't there, in 1999, while New Zealand were being beaten by the French, Sky TV was showing the movie Anaconda, 4 years on, and the curse of the snake struck again, this time the movie was on TV3, at exactly the same time as the All Blacks were being squeezed by the Wallabies...And I quote, I didn't watch the movie but I did watch the game because it was really difficult situation to watch either the movie or the game because I was in Raetihi (My birthplace & my old hometown for 16 years before I moved here to Wanganui so I have been living here for like 9 years) way back in 2003 (BY CRIKEY! STREWTH!) and in 1999 (OH SACRE BLEU!), Aunty Tania said to either the late Nan or Pops on the phone that she was shocked that her beloved All Blacks team lost so the French rugby fans went crazy because she was living in Clermont-Ferrand way back then (She had lived there for 4 years before moving to Canada in 2004 and after Australia where she lived for also 4 years) and well, watching the Anaconda movie is a bit like taking on 2 Barons of Hell at Phobos Anomaly (Episode 1 (Knee-Deep in the Dead) Mission 8) in the 1993 video game Doom (And remember, use your rocket launcher to destroy both Barons of Hell but be careful about this weapon as it may cause splash damage from it) but this is more like BJ Blazkowicz trying to take on Hans Grosse in the 1992 game Wolfenstein 3D.

And I also wrote a blog about the review of the Euro 2016 final between eventual champions Portugal led by Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo & hosts France featuring former Juventus player now playing for Manchester United alongside England captain Wayne Rooney & recently retired Swedish international  Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Well Manchester United's so called 3 amigos/muskeeters is similar to FC Barcelona featuring the dynamic trio of Argentina's Lionel Messi, Brazil's olympic gold medalist & hero Neymar & Uruguay's Luis Suarez), Paul Pogba as well as the entire list of the famous Canadians in history but I won't tell you about it because it is a secret & it was on Sunday, the 10th of July (The day before the final of the Euros) as I went to McDonald's with Poppa for breakfast but before that, we went into Countdown to get the shampoo because I have run out of shampoo then we finally heading over to McDonald's by having a breakfast hunger buster there (Well I had the bacon and egg McMuffin as well as the massive McMuffin & of course the hash brown) as well as having hot cakes and both drinks like the orange juice and hot chocolate but I really enjoyed that experience so Pops told me to have the massive McMuffin & hash brown for lunch because he did not eat all of it so I went back home because the Super Rugby game between the Jaguares and the Highlanders (The Highlanders won that match) was on so I ate all of the massive McMuffin as well as another hash brown that Pops didn't have.

And well, it's all over till another 4 years, the #Euro2016 final ended in fashion as the Cristiano Ronaldo (Well, he got injured in the process during the opening minutes because he was sad about it & he looks a bit like world famous All Black rugby star player, Dan Carter as Dad told me about it) led Portugal (Coached by former Greece manager Fernando Santos (Who took over from former player Paulo Bento after the 2014 FIFA World Cup) who is still undefeated in competitive level & featuring the likes of Ronaldo himself of course, goalkeeper Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho (The veteran & ex-Chelsea player), Joao Moutinho, Eder, Joao Mario, William Carvalho, Andre Gomes, the young Renato Sanches (Who is heading off to play for German club Bayern Munich after the tournament), former Manchester United player Nani & Ricardo Quaresma) win the UEFA European Championship for the 1st time (And the 10th different nation after the Soviet Union/Russia (1960 only), Spain (3 times in 1964, 2008 & 2012), Italy (1968 only), West Germany/Germany (3 Times in 1972, 80 & 96), Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic (Once in 1976), France (Twice in 1984 & 2000), the Netherlands (Once in 1988), Denmark (Once in 1992) & Greece (Once in 2004) and of course, finally achieved immortality after their failure in 2004 against Greece in which they hosted that tournament) beating the hosts France (Who won't be celebrating Bastille Day today because they lost just like the Battle of Waterloo 201 years ago) featuring Paul Pogba (Who still plays for Juventus) 1-0 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis with that match winner scored by Portuguese substitute Eder at extra time (And that was the 1st time that he had scored a goal in a competitive match) but Pepe (Cristiano Ronaldo's teammate at Real Madrid) has been awarded man of the match after missing the semi-final victory against Gareth Bale's Wales (One of both Ronaldo & Pepe's teammates at Real Madrid) due to injury.

And so here is the full report of the Euro 2016 final held in Saint-Denis, France:

Portugal are UEFA EURO 2016 champions. The team that drew all three of their group games, that won only once inside 90 minutes all tournament, beat hosts France after extra time at Saint-Denis to get their hands on their first major trophy.
They did it without the talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo too, their captain forced off early in the 1st half through injury. Fernando Santos's side clung on at times but, with Ronaldo orchestrating things from the technical area as much as their coach by the end, they eventually provided the one moment of magic required. Éder's fizzing 20-metre strike in the second half of extra time was just too good.
uch a scenario looked impossible after eight minutes, Ronaldo initially continuing after a heavy collision with Dimitri Payet before eventually being replaced. There were tears and a standing ovation from all corners as he was taken off. All the talk, all the analysis, all the predictions – out the window. Off went 61 international goals.
One man chasing only his second was Moussa Sissoko. The France midfielder was rampant and threatened to break the deadlock soon after Ronaldo's departure yet his shot was saved.
Rui Patrício had earlier thwarted Antoine Griezmann, athletically tipping away the in-form forward's looping header. Portugal offered little in those opening exchanges, three passes straight out of play encouraging the hosts.
Kingsley Coman came on for Payet inside the hour and soon teed up Griezmann for surely the chance of the game – Les Bleus' No7 was unmarked but headed over. Though Olivier Giroud briefly got in on the act with a low effort, Rui Patrício was again up to the task. He had to be sharper still to keep out Sissoko's thumping strike later in the half.
Only once, well into added time, was the Portugal keeper beaten. Substitute André-Pierre Gignac turned in the box and scuffed a shot into the ground which bobbled towards the net only to bounce agonisingly back off a post.
Hugo Lloris had been far less employed in regulation time, only really called into action to claw away Nani's miscued cross and then hold Ricardo Quaresma's acrobatic attempt from the rebound. Though he subsequently dealt with Éder's header, the French captain was rescued by the crossbar when Raphael Guerreiro fired in a free-kick and, with 109 minutes on the clock, could do nothing to keep out the sensational winner.
Pepe missed the semi-final with a thigh injury but returned in style, keeping adidas Golden Boot winner Griezmann as quiet as could have been hoped. "We've written a brilliant page in the story of Portuguese football," said the centre-back.
The man Portugal's hopes apparently rested on was out of action after less than ten minutes. To watch him battle on for a quarter of an hour was both desperately sad and hugely admirable. It was indicative of his relentless drive to have an impact – a desire that is heightened on the big occasion. For him then to cajole his players before extra time and gesticulate desperately throughout the additional 30 minutes was testimony to his team spirit. He was, if only briefly, a coach as well as a star player.
This was not exactly thrill-a-minute stuff. Clear-cut opportunities were at a premium and some of the biggest names on the field were either not at their best or not on the pitch at all. However, it quickly became evident that one moment would decide this. That knowledge that someone was only a split-second from becoming a hero made for a gloriously nervy night. The tension was palpable throughout the stadium.

And what do I think of the final, well I did enjoy that game except Portugal won of course with Cristiano Ronaldo got injured (He played on but he came off the field on a stretcher in the process following a heavy collision with France's Dimitri Payet so Ricardo Quaresma came on as his replacement in the 25th minute but the Portuguese put the hosts France beyond doubt so that they can score a goal during extra time and they did, thanks to that match winning goal scored by Eder during the 109th minute of the 2nd period of extra-time (Both Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann & Andre-Pierre Gignac (Who plays for a Mexican club) almost scored to put France into the lead).

And so, FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi was a failure for his country (Although he was successful only in club level because he is now retired from the international fold), Argentina in the Copa America Centenario final against Chile (Who had won on penalties) but no wonder that Cristiano Ronaldo had succeeded by winning both his club (For Real Madrid in the Champions League) & country (And finally he did get some redemption following his failure in 2004 (Although former Chelsea, Real Madrid & newly appointed Manchester United coach/manager Jose Mourinho would be very proud following his efforts of his country of birth) in the same year, so that's what you call a double, imagine that but a little fancy, as Portugal say Obrigado (Thanks in Portuguese) & Adeus (Goodbye) to France as they return home from their triumph because the Henri Delaunay Cup is heading west across the border (In the Iberian peninsula) from Spain to of course, Portugal now.

And finally I did several blogs such as the history of New Zealand in the Olympics (And did a bit of Asian pop culture stuff featuring the 3 famous Malaysians), & did a record breaking blog about rugby becoming a professional sport in 1995 & the history of both the 1987 & 2011 Rugby World Cups won by the All Blacks because it took so many years to fufill their rugby destiny by achieving immortality so here are some bits from the 3 blogs that I did.

From Chinese Democracy/Get Out/Runnin' Wild/When The Lights Go Down: 2016 Rio Summer Olympics preview (+ New Zealand's history at the Summer Olympics & a bit of Asian pop culture stuff):

In 1980, New Zealand did not compete in Moscow, Soviet Union as the government of that time supported the American-led boycott but however, only 4 New Zealand athletes competed as independents under the banner of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association but in 1984 (Although the Soviet Union & Eastern Bloc countries withdrew after they also boycotted the games), New Zealand had its best Olympic Campaign in Los Angeles, California with a record 8 gold medals won along with only a single silver medal & 2 bronzes on that occasion but the gold medalists are:

Ian Ferguson in Canoeing, Men's K1 500m Kayak Singles
Alan Thompson in Canoeing, Men's K1 1,000m Kayak Singles
Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald in Canoeing, Men's K2 500m Kayak Pairs (My Dad's favourite Olympic moment)
Ian Ferguson, Alan Thompson, Grant Bramwell and Paul MacDonald in Canoeing, Men's K4 1000m Kayak Fours
Mark Todd in Equestrian, Three-Day Event Individual Competition
Rex Sellers and Chris Timms in Sailing, Men's Tornado Team Competition
Shane O'Brien, Les O'Connell, Conrad Robertson, and Keith Trask in Rowing, Men's Coxless Fours
& Russell Coutts (Future America's Cup winner with Team New Zealand, Alinghi & Oracle Team USA) in Sailing, Men's Finn Individual Competition

And of course Kevin Barry won silver in Boxing, Men's Light Heavyweight & Bruce Kendall won bronze in Sailing, Men's Windglider Individual Competition & the Men's Coxed Fours in Rowing (Consisting of Brett Hollister, Kevin Lawton, Barrie Mabbott, Don Symon & Ross Tong)

And from Alive & Amplified/All Along The Watchtower/Cornflake Girl/Dreams: 3 weeks that shook the rugby world in 1995 (21 years ago):

For months in the lead up to the 95 World Cup there was a phony war, WRC man Ross Turnbull has secretly begun talking to the world's top rugby players who were keen, but coincidentally the Blazer Brigade, the men from the rugby unions in New Zealand, Australia & South Africa, had also secretly begun their moves to protect their players, things began to move with surprising speed. Admist great secrecy of their own, the southern hemisphere rugby unions under the banner of SANZAR, came up with the new Tri Nations competition (Which is now the Rugby Championship when Argentina joined the competition since 2012 as well as the southern hemisphere's equivalent to the 6 Nations), which they could sell to a broadcaster, and then pay real money to their star players, the All Blacks, & Wallabies, & Springboks. It was Ian Frykberg a Kiwi connection who made it happen, he introduced the unions, to the real money, Frykberg then put the southern unions together with another ex pat Kiwi, Sam Chisholm, Rupert Murdoch's right hand man. The southern hemisphere unions elected South Africa's Louis Luyt to do a deal with the volatile Chisholm, Doctor Louis Luyt is the hugely wealthy and influential businessman & rugby administrator, who also just happens to own the cathedral of South African rugby, Ellis Park, venue for much of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. At the World Cup, Jonah Lomu exploded onto the world stage. On June the 18th in a semi-final against England, the single try convinced Rupert Murdoch and his money men, their were huge obtainment dollars to be made out of rugby union, but they had to have Jonah Lomu, and everything went with him, the All Blacks, the Springboks, and the Wallabies. Sam Chisholm immediately summons Louis Luyt to London for a secret meeting, in which hundreds of millions of dollars, would be on the table.

The All Blacks played a blinder that day, they were back on a high after the disappointment of the World Cup final (Oh well, disaster struck as New Zealand (Which featured rugby's 1st global superstar, Jonah Lomu) failed to regain the crown (With several players fell victim to food poisoning with the exception of captain Sean Fitzpatrick and the Brooke brothers of Robin & Zinzan), losing to debutants and hosts South Africa in the final in which united the host country as well as their leader Nelson Mandela). But at full time something happened which turned the rugby world on it's head, something that told every rugby supporter on both sides of the Tasman, that the union controlled game they knew it, was dead.

Normally after a Bledisloe Cup match, the All Blacks would shower, change and head off to the after match function, here at the ground, but that night in 1995, instead they came down here, boarded a bus and took off. All Blacks spend hours on bus journeys, but the short trip from the Sydney Football Stadium (Now Allianz Stadium present day) to the upmarket inner city suburb of Vaucluse, must be the most remarkable. Here we have the entire squad of more than 20 players, the 2 coaches Laurie Mains & Earl Kirton, & manager Colin Meads being driven, not to the home of Geoff Levy, but to the plush mansion of Brian Powers, Kerry Packer's top man in Australia. The last minute change of address was to provide the final proof to the All Blacks, that Packer was committed to making the WRC, an absolute reality.

So how has it turned out? Well the century long All Black tradition survived, Murdoch's SANZAR deal has produced the very successful Tri Nations and Super 12 (Then Super 14 when both the Cheetahs & the Western Force joined the competition and now Super Rugby (Used to be Super 15 when the Melbourne Rebels joined which is now Super 18 (The Southern Kings rejoined the competition along with 2 newcomers the Jaguares/Jaguars of Argentina & the Sunwolves from Japan) competitions, rugby is the winner, as indeed are the players now earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the 2 All Blacks who were 1st to sell out the WRC dream, Kronfeld & Wilson, have gone on to enjoy spectacular success, but it hasn't been without it's odd moments of tension with senior players.

And from Bullitproof/The General Electric/Wait & See/You Again: Sir Graham Henry celebrates The World Cups 1987 to 2015:

The semifinals were contrasting affairs. The All Blacks blitzed their traditional rival Wales 49-6 at Ballymore in Brisbane, scoring 8 tries to 1, while the epic France-Australia game (Watched by a paltry 17,768 spectators at Concord Stadium in Sydney) went to the wire.
Not only did the Brisbane contest produce Wales' heaviest defeat in 107 years of international rugby but its lock, Huw Richards, had the dubious distinction of being the 1st player sent off in a World Cup contest.
Richards learnt of his penalty in bizarre circumstances. After losing his cool and weighing into Gary Whetton, he in turn was knocked to the ground by All Black No 8 Buck Shelford.
It took some time to revive Richards, after which referee Kerry Fitzgerald told him he was sent off! These days, video replays would have seen Shelford shown a red card too.

The 1st semifinal was virtually decided by referee Alain Rolland in the 17th minute when he red-carded Welsh captain Sam Warburton for a tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc.
Yes, it was a dangerous tackle and, yes it certainly deserved a yellow card (Francois Pienaar, the 1995 Rugby World Cup winning captain for the Springboks said that at best the yellow card, never a red card in the final he also said that Warburton had been one of the cleanest players in the tournament just because Rolland killed the game so Pienaar was livid because he was absolutely livid that it's wrong, it is wrong because he may have calmed them down a bit). But in so diligently applying the law relevant to dangerous tip tackles, Rolland effectively destroyed a World Cup showpiece, an occasion for which the Welsh had spent 4 years planning.
Against 14 men for the final 63 minutes, France, even without scoring a try, held on to win 9-8. The plucky Welsh almost salvaged an amazing victory through a late try by halfback Mike Phillips, but Stephen Jones, on for the hapless James Hook, who'd had a wretched night as a goalkicker, struck the upright with his conversion.
24 hours later, the All Blacks eliminated the Wallabies, thanks to an explosive opening, which produced the game's solitary try in the 5th minute by Ma'a Nonu.
The contest was effectively over by halftime, although the Wallabies fought bravely throughout the 2nd half & deserved a greater reward than 1 penalty goal & 1 dropped goal.

And from Money For Nothing: The Life & Times Of Scottish Rally Driver Colin McRae

By the '93 season, Subaru were ready to give the young superstar a shot on the world stage.

Despite huge investment, the team were yet to win a single rally in the World Championship.

But the car he won 2 British titles in, Colin was totally at ease.

As the results came in, the final outcome was impossible to call.

But Colin had done it.

By 1995, Subaru's fortunes were changing, they had a powerful new car, the Impreza. And had signed up double world champion Carlos Sainz to lead the team.

With 2 rallies to go, McRae was just ahead of Sainz in the race for the driver's prize.

But Subaru were worried that the fight might end in a crash.

In the penultimate rally of the season, the pair were way ahead of the pack, when they ordered to stop racing each other.

But when the order came, Colin was in 2nd place.

In Spain, Colin recorded a faster time than Carlos, but his disobedience had jeopardized his chances of winning anything.

Colin was forced to give the victory to Sainz, meaning that they went to the final rally of the season on equal points.

Determined to become Britain's 1st ever world champion, Colin McRae drove like never before in front of his home crowd.

Quite simply, he was unbeatable.

And from Comfort Me/Home Again/La La Land/My Mind's Sedate: The 2016 Super Rugby Final review & short Rio 2016 Olympic Games report:

Wellington’s Hurricanes beat the Lions 20-3 at Westpac Stadium to become the 2016 Super Rugby Champions.
The Hurricanes also hosted the Super Rugby final last year but they were beaten 14-21 by the Highlanders.
The Hurricanes were the only New Zealand team who had not won a Super Rugby title but now all five New Zealand teams have won a title.
The victory makes New Zealand the first nation to have all of it’s teams win a title as only the Bulls have won a title for South Africa while the Brumbies, Waratahs and Reds have won Super Rugby titles for Australia.
The Hurricanes outscored the Lions by two tries to none which means that Hurricanes did not concede a try throughout the play offs and went through almost 300 minutes without conceding a try.

And from Coming Down/Run: The Saturday Dinner Report:

And then 2 days later, Pops picked me up here to go to 15A Kells Avenue to prepare for lunch x dinner because Leon, Hanne & that Malaysian princess of Sophie were about to arrive & they did because I greeted Leon & Hanne 1st before I had to embrace my Malaysian friend Sophie because I have never seen her for like 9 long years! (That is a long time ago not in a galaxy far far away). So anyway, Pops has told the visitors to look at Nan's memorial garden before we start having our lunch or dinner so we had chicken casserole before having dessert and then afternoon tea but we did chat & I once told Sophie that she liked my glasses as well as my signature/trademark long locks or should I say rock star hair (That's just why because I'm into the alternative rock/heavy metal environment) because my Dad once looked like a rastafarian because he once had dreadlocks back in the day (Well I showed a photo of them) as well as she likes both her sister Amelia & brother Jason & of course that her greatest moment of her life was meeting me (Although she is heading back home on the 29th of August but I told her when will I see her next, she would come back to Wanganui once she gets a job in Auckland but the greatest moment of my life has to be the All Black's Rugby World Cup victories of 2011 & 2015 because we mastered the art of the sport 3 times in 1987 & the 2 that I've mentioned before) & I also told her that I thought Sophie was my only Asian friend but I have just found out that I have 2 Asian friends, 1 is Sophie & the other is John Coburn's partner Lim Chin Keong because Lim comes from KL in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia's capital) because I know where Sophie comes from because she hails all the way from Penang.

And finally from Cochise/I Think I'm Paranoid/I Miss The Misery/Little Sister: The 2016 Rugby Championship Round 1 report (+ the end of the Olympics)

Well, the Rugby Championship is now officially under way as the All Blacks took on the Wallabies in Sydney (Host of the summer Olympics 16 years ago for those who are watching in Rio because we almost ended our successful Olympic campaign with 18 medals including 4 gold (Hamish Bond & Eric Murray, Mahe Drysdale, Lisa Carrington & of course Peter Burling & Blair Tuke), 9 silver (Natalie Rooney, the New Zealand women's rugby sevens team, Luuka Jones, the men's team sprint of Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell & Sam Webster, Valerie Adams, Genevieve Behrent & Rebecca Scown, Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie, Alex Maloney & Molly Meech & of course Lydia Ko) & 5 bronze (Sam Meech, Carrington, Tom Walsh, Eliza McCartney & of course Nick Willis) so here's a recap of the match that went down to the wire for the full 80 minutes:

The Rugby Championship 2016 kicks off with the Bledisloe Cup clash between the Wallabies and All Blacks in Sydney.

The away side have an unfamiliar look to their backline. Beauden Barrett wears the #10 jersey after leading the Hurricanes to Super Rugby glory.

Ben McCalman plays at flanker for the Wallabies, while Kane Douglas also gets a start in the pack. Will Genia and Bernard Foley partner in the halves. Several players (Such as David Pocock, Matt Toomua, Matt Giteau & Will Genia as well as Argentina half back Tomas Cubelli) amongst the Wallabies line-up have shaved their heads in support of teammate Christian Lealiifano, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

The national anthems will precede the haka...

So that's it, see you next time because that is my 38th (XXXVIIIth) blog of the year 2016 (MMXVI) & my 78th overall.

P.S. Boxer Joseph Parker has beaten the 'Mexican Destroyer' Andy Ruiz Jr last night on Saturday to end a boxing year on a high (I don't know what his next fight & title defense his because defending a boxing title is incredibly but relatively difficult) & become the 1st Kiwi to win the WBO World Heavyweight Boxing Championship with a unanimous decision victory at the Vector Arena held in Auckland but how good must that boy be feeling because he is so proud to be a New Zealander like that not only because he is of Samoan descent so both the Samoan & Kiwi people are so proud of him not only because he is 24 years old & the best part was the 1st judge revealed their scorecards because it was a draw & the other 2 judges were in favour of Joe meaning that Parker had a unanimous decision win to become the new WBO champion of the world but I told Dad that he lost so Dad told me that Parker won instead so it was touch & go from the self proclaimed Samoan New Zealander so his trainer Kevin Barry & his family were so proud because the championship belt was Joseph Parker's early christmas present meaning that he had to win comfortably to get the big prize early for christmas because he had wins this year against Jason 'Iron Man' Bergman in Samoa (His family's homeland), a world title eliminator against Carlos Takam (In which he won the 3rd of his 4 unanimous decision victories), Kiwi born Aussie Solomon Haumono & Russian or Ukranian boxer Alexander Dimitrenko (In which he won with a clear & obvious body shot KO because it was not even an illegal low blow below the belt) before Ruiz Jr because his record now is an astonishing 22 - 0 record.

And on Tuesday that Pops took me to 15A Kells Avenue to stay for 7 days so I was the nightwatchman for the light up your home Christmas competition (For dinner on Tuesday night was salmon with pasta & salad & Pops pays me 15 bucks each night that I was the nightwatchman but nobody pays me & all I wanted for Christmas is money & there was about 60 people on Tuesday, 55 on Wednesday & 59 or 60 last night & we did arrange those lollies for the kids when they visit Nan's Memorial Garden during the dark) & Wednesday we went to remembrance where I saw Dad which is about the people including my Nan who lost their lives this year (We had a BLT (Bacon, lettuce & tomato) sandwich for lunch & dinner was turkey stir fry) & Yesterday that we went to a Japanese restaurant called Japanese Kitchen Wa where I had sushi for starters & a chicken teriyaki bento box for the main course where we had a big meal because we had a cold meat sandwich for dinner (Although today for lunch we had a salad because we drank a 0.5% low alcoholic Clausthaler beer & for dessert was hokey pokey ice cream with weet-bix bites, canned apricots & coconut cream & for dinner tonight that we are having is pasta (Well it has always been my favourite food for like 16 years since 2000 (Well I 1st tried pasta & it felt so good), superb) after we went to the prize giving at the church were head boy Jansen picked up his awards (And I was doing the lights yesterday & today because we brought these at The Warehouse) & I'm always reading the Rules Of The Game book as well as the 2 Richie McCaw books Richie McCaw: The Openside & Richie McCaw 148 & the book that I have got at the moment for my birthday which is Sir Graham Henry celebrates The World Cups! 1987 to 2015 so lets see how it unfolds on the Richie McCaw: The Openside which is about Richie McCaw in the events leading up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup (Held & won by New Zealand after 24 years of get rich & die trying) after the agony of 2007 against hosts France in Cardiff (Which is in Wales at the moment) with my 3 favourite parts of the book (And today I was watching on YouTube about the 2016 New Zealand rugby awards sponsored by ASB which is about World Rugby player of the year & the All Blacks 1st choice first-five eighth Beauden Barrett winning both Super Rugby (Last year went to Lima Sopoaga) & the Kelvin Tremain memorial player of the year (Last year's honours went to Ma'a Nonu because I thought Dan Carter was going to win) because he not only managed to complete the rare double award just like his younger brother who is a utility back, Jordie Barrett who got both age grade (Akira Ioane won the award last year) & Mitre 10 Cup player of the year (George Moala also won the award last year) as well as the All Blacks winning team of the year (Last year went to the All Blacks too) & Steve Hansen winning coach of the year (Also last year went to Steve Hansen too) & finally hooker Dane Coles of the Ngati Porou tribe winning the Tom French memorial Maori player of the year (Because last year went to Nehe Milner-Skudder):

Broken

''The ball's just sitting there with no one over it, so I pick it up just before Dickinson says 'Hands off, it's a ruck'. I drop the ball and look at him, still basically on my own, as he raises his arm for a penalty. I'm bewildered.''

Semi tough

''On the way to the ground on the bus, I looked out on the Great North Road part of the Fan Trail and saw a sign on one of the car yards.
I HOPE YOU'RE READY QUADE. RICHIE IS.
I wondered whether Cooper had seen it when the Aussie bus went by.''

And The right picture

''Trench warfare. France has gone 16 phases. We're still hanging in there. The penalty is the danger. Andy's trying to referee us, I hear him screaming at us - Hands off! Get out of there!
JK has a dab at the next ruck, is blown away, too late, we think, appealing. Joubert holds his hands wide again - play on.''