Well, it looks like the New Zealand conference winners the Crusaders will have to travel to Johannesburg (Or should I say Joburg) in South Africa to take on the table topping Lions in this years Super Rugby final so the Crusaders defeated the Chiefs (Who are farewelling players such as first five-eighth Aaron Cruden to Montpellier, La Rochelle bound halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow, James Lowe to Leinster & the Glasgow Warriors bound coach Dave Rennie) last night to reach the final for the 1st time since 2014 (It was the Waratahs (The last non-Kiwi team to win a Super Rugby title while the Bulls was the last South African side to win Super Rugby but the last time the Crusaders won a Super Rugby title was in 2008 during the good old days of the Super 14) who won after Craig Joubert controversially awarded a penalty for an illegal turnover made by Crusaders openside flanker Richie McCaw allowing the Waratahs first five-eighth Bernard Foley to kick a match winning penalty) although All Blacks captain Kieran Read is in doubt of playing in the final after damaging his knee because he is in a race against time to be match fit while the dominant & high flying strong Lions side have ended our beloved Hurricanes quest of retaining the Super Rugby title by reaching their 2nd consecutive final by gaining revenge against them (Although they had to reverse the result from the final last year) because the Hurricanes dominated the 1st half then the Lions (Who have got key personnel of players such as South Africa's premier hooker Malcolm Marx (South Africa's equivalent of Dane Coles because he took over from the recently retired Adriaan Strauss as the best hooker in the country), tighthead prop Ruan Dreyer, lock Franco Mostert, loose forward Jaco Kriel (The stand in skipper filling in for the injured Lions & Springboks captain Warren Whiteley), former sevens specialist Kwagga Smith, halfback Ross Cronje (Who had taken over from Faf de Klerk as the Lions premier halfback), the Springboks premier first five-eighth Elton Jantjies (Actually he's the top points scorer this season in Super Rugby because he is always been the short range goal kicker & he is South Africa's answer to Beauden Barrett), left winger Courtnall Skosan, centre Lionel Mapoe as well as right winger Ruan Combrinck (He is sorta like Elliot Daly as the designated long range goal kicker because he is the danger man) & fullback Andries Coetzee) dominated the 2nd but changed things as the Hurricanes star first five-eighth Beauden Barrett had to be sent to the sin bin for not rolling away so the Hurricanes discipline was poor by giving away too many penalties which cost our chance to reach the final.
So that is my 130th blog of the year 2017 (MMXVII) & my 50th this year (I have reached the half century mark in 2017 with the most blogs in a year).
P.S. And it is an all Ferrari front row lockout in Hungary with championship leader Sebastian Vettel (Germany) taking on pole with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) starting in 2nd but can Mercedes get a better start just like Valtteri Bottas (Finland) did in Russia? Because they didn't do well in qualifying with Bottas occupying the 3rd position & his teammate Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) starting in 4th but the race went to Vettel who had to win the Hungarian Grand Prix (His 1st win since Monaco & his 4th of the season (He won in Australia, Bahrain, Monaco & Hungary) along with Hamilton (He won in China, Spain, Canada & his home event in Britain) while Bottas won in both Russia & Austria & Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) only won in the streets of Baku in Azerbaijan) by overcoming a steering issue during the race, increasing his championship lead from 2 to 14 because his Ferrari team had a 1-2 finish after his teammate Raikkonen finished in 2nd while Bottas rounded out the podium to finish in 3rd by overtaking his teammate Hamilton on the final corner just before the chequered flag had been waved.
And here's the points standings for both the drivers & constructors but 1st here's the drivers standings:
1st: Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari), 202 points
2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes), 188 points
3rd: Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes), 169 points
4th: Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer), 117 points
5th: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari), 116 points
6th: Max Verstappen (The Netherlands, Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer), 67 points
7th: Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India Mercedes), 56 points
8th: Esteban Ocon (France, Force India Mercedes), 45 points
9th: Carlos Sainz (Spain, Toro Rosso), 35 points
10th: Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Renault), 18 points
11th: Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams Mercedes), 23 points
12th: Lance Stroll (Canada, Williams Mercedes), 18 points
13th: Romain Grosjean (France, Haas Ferrari), 18 points
14th: Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas Ferrari), 11 points
15th: Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren Honda), 10 points
16th: Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Sauber Ferrari), 5 points
17th: Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso), 4 points
18th: Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, McLaren Honda), 1 point
And then the constructors to wrap up the Formula 1 report:
1st: Mercedes (Germany), 357 points
2nd: Ferrari (Italy), 318 points
3rd: Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer (Austria), 184 points
4th: Force India Mercedes (India), 101 points
5th: Williams Mercedes (Great Britain), 41 points
6th: Toro Rosso (Italy), 39 points
7th: Haas Ferrari (USA), 29 points
8th: Renault (France), 26 points
9th: McLaren Honda (Great Britain), 11 points
10th: Sauber Ferrari (Switzerland), 5 points
And it was yesterday that I went with Buck for a walk after we had breakfast then we went to the market with Pops & Buck then went for a walk again throughout the Mitre 10 car park where Pops had to get some flowers then we went back home by helping the flowers so we had omelette with salad for lunch moments before we went to Cooks Gardens to watch the Whanganui club rugby final between Ruapehu & Border (We watched the senior one 1st between Marton & Hunterville) but it was a close game I tell you what because one of the Ruapehu players Craig Clare scored a match winning drop goal just like Mitch Hunt did for the Crusaders against the Highlanders then we went back home in time for dinner where we had burgers so Dad & Jansen came for both dinner & the rugby game on TV just in the nick of time.
And finally my Malaysian friend of mine Sophia has sent me an email so here is her message in it's entirety:
To my dearest Whetu,
Hi Whetu, how is everything? Did you had fun at pop's 70th Birthday? How did you celebrate? I dont think i will go back to Malaysia anytime soon, maybe next year but we will see.
I also heard you got yourself a dog! i love dogs. what did you name it and what breed is it? Anyway, back to Homework! I will talk to you soon.
Love you and miss you heaps.
Sophia
And RIP to Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington who tragically passed away (On his now late good friend Chris Cornell's birthday on the 20th of July) a couple of weeks ago.
Chester Bennington
1976 - 2017
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