Super Rugby round 15 & UEFA Champions League final review

Well, round 15 of Super Rugby got underway as the Crusaders remain on top of the New Zealand conference with a win against the Hurricanes in Christchurch then the Chiefs grab a bonus point victory (Although Damian McKenzie got a double in the process) against the Waratahs in Hamilton then the Highlanders win by 3 against the Reds in Brisbane a week after losing to the Waratahs (It took about 722 days for the Aussie teams to grab their 1st win against Kiwi opposition but the Highlanders hopes of continuing the streak was marred by the sending off of Tevita Nabura for a flying illegal kung fu kick to the head on Waratahs winger Cameron 'Cam' Clark (Son of Fox Sports rugby commentator & voice of Australian rugby (It used to be Gordon Bray compared to Keith Quinn who used to be the voice of New Zealand rugby until Grant 'Nisbo' Nisbett took over), Greg Clark) which resulted the Highlanders playing 14 men after Nabura was red carded for impersonating Jean-Claude 'The muscles from Brussels' Van Damme (And at one point 13 after Aaron Smith knocked the ball down deliberately).

And finally the UEFA Champions League final of 2018 was won by Spanish club Real Madrid who beat Liverpool 3 - 1 to claim their 13th European club football title as well as getting a threepeat as Karim Benzema scored an opening goal under controversial circumstances (Well, Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius got the ball until Benzema booted the ball out of Karius's hands (Was Benzema offside when he scored the goal? I honestly don't know about it, maybe we will have a look at the video assistant referee (VAR) but the VAR hasn't been used in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League season) then he tried to save Gareth Bale's shot but it was deflected into the net, conceding a 3rd goal against Real Madrid, what a day we are having for the Liverpool goalie) followed by Sadio Mane who equalized it then Gareth Bale scored not 1 but 2 outstanding goals (Including that bicycle kick that Cristiano Ronaldo would be proud of as Ronaldo scored a bicycle kick earlier in the competition against Juventus) but the match will be remembered when Mohamed Salah went down in a heap during the 1st half, clutching his dislocated shoulder before leaving the field injured (And he might miss the FIFA World Cup according to their estimates).

So that is my 202nd blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 22nd of this year.

P.S. And we went to Marton (Me, Pops & Carole) for a drive today but we had an Indian for lunch at the Trafalgar Square foodcourt so Carole Webb has just left because she had to go to the airport to catch a flight home to Auckland (Although she's moving here to Whanganui in late July).

And Paige Williams has sent me an email so here's her message in its entirety (Well, she hasn't send me an email for like 2 months or so):

Hi Whetu,

How are you?

Sorry it's been so long since I emailed, I haven't been checking my emails as have been travelling. I am in Spain at the moment it is beautiful here!

What is your address? I will send you a post card.

Lots of love

Paige xx

And it's been a month since my Malaysian best friend Sophia Ong emailed me so here's her message taken from last month:

Hi Whetu!

Happy late Easter, have been very busy lately because of work and also moving houses, but so far so good!
How was your Easter? did you get lots of eggs?

Sophia

Super Rugby round 14 review (+ All Blacks squad naming for the test series against France & FA Cup final report)

Well, it was on Friday that we went to the greyhounds celebrating Bryan Christie's 70th birthday & I had a great time, especially the dinner (I had steak with potato gratin & 3 salads such as pasta salad, coleslaw & a regular salad) that I had as well as a dessert but it was yesterday that we went to the Citadel for our dinner of the day which is the pope burger that I had before we went to the Yellow house cafe for our dessert (I had a cheesecake there) & we saw one of my Jewish mates named Leon Benbaruk.

And round 14 of Super Rugby got underway as the Hurricanes won by 4 points against the Reds in Wellington then the Crusaders continue their dominance against the Blues in Auckland.

And the All Blacks have revealed their squad for the upcoming test series against France yesterday so here's the squad in its entirety:

Forwards

Hookers

Liam Coltman*1 (Highlanders/Otago, 1)
Nathan Harris (Chiefs/Bay Of Plenty, 11)
Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury, 29)

Props

Owen Franks (Crusaders/Canterbury, 95)
Joe Moody (Crusaders/Canterbury, 31)
Tim Perry (Crusaders/Canterbury, 0)
Jeffery Toomaga-Allen (Hurricanes/Wellington, 1)
Karl Tu'inukuafe (Chiefs/North Harbour, 0)
Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues/Auckland, 14)

Second rowers

Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki, 16)
Tom Franklin*2 (Highlanders/Bay Of Plenty, 0)
Brodie Retallick (Chiefs/Hawke's Bay, 68)
Luke Romano*2 (Crusaders/Canterbury, 31)
Sam Whitelock (Captain, Crusaders/Canterbury, 96)

Back rowers

Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay Of Plenty, 53)
Vaea Fifita (Hurricanes/Wellington, 5)
Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman, 0)
Akira Ioane*1 (Blues/Auckland, 0)
Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington, 22)
Liam Squire (Highlanders/Tasman, 15)
Jordan Taufua (Crusaders/Counties Manukau, 0)
Matt Todd*2 (Crusaders/Canterbury, 13)
Luke Whitelock (Highlanders/Canterbury, 2)

Backs

Halfbacks

TJ Perenara (Hurricanes/Wellington, 42)
Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu, 71)
Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Chiefs/Taranaki, 0)

First five-eighths

Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki, 62)
Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato, 12)
Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders/Canterbury, 0)

Midfielders

Ryan Crotty (Crusaders/Canterbury, 35)
Jack Goodhue (Crusaders/Northland, 0)
Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes/Manawatu, 4)
Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato, 22)
Sonny Bill Williams (Blues/Counties Manukau, 46)

Outside backs

Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki, 2)
Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland, 13)
Nehe Milner-Skudder (Hurricanes/Manawatu, 11)
Waisake Naholo (Highlanders/Taranaki, 18)
Ben Smith (Highlanders/Otago, 64)

*1: Standby players
*2: Called up as injury cover

And what do I think of the All Blacks squad selection so far? Well, no Ben Lam in fact to say the least because he narrowly missed out on a place but 3 newcomers such as Shannon Frizell, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi & Jordan Taufua, how? Because all 3 of them are based on good performances during the course of the Super Rugby season.

And finally the FA Cup final took place at Wembley Stadium in London as Chelsea defeated Manchester United 1 - 0 with a Eden Hazard penalty in the 22nd minute.

So that is my 201st blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 21st of this year.

Brave New World, a double century of blogs (Rise Forth)

Hey, remember me doing my 100th blog last year? Yeah you do. Because it is my 200th blog so I have reached another milestone.

And don’t forget that I’m a fan of both Star Wars & Lord Of The Rings so this could come in handy.
And I have a pet dog named Buck since June last year (We got that Beagle Mastiff cross from the SPCA).

And so onto only 1 blog that I posted this year with the most views or should I say audience by celebrating the best bits of this year but this one is about the 1st part of brief rugby news:

Well, it looks like that ex All Black & Chiefs player Liam Messam is expected to head to Toulon for 2 years to replace Duane Vermeulen who is expected back home to South Africa.

And finally it looks like the Australian Super Rugby teams are getting competitive against New Zealand teams due to the axing of the Western Force with several Force players getting signed up by all of the 4 Australian teams.

So that is my 183rd blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 3rd of this year.

P.S. And I'm going to see The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King movie tonight on TVNZ 1 because I have been watching The Lord Of The Rings movies since a fortnight ago but I have seen the movie Men In Black last night (And I do remember that film a lot since I've 1st watched it) on Three.

So that is my 200th blog titled Brave New World, a double century of blogs (Rise Forth), enjoy.

Super Rugby round 13 review (+ Good times with Ben Blain & his girlfriend Robina Brock)

Well, round 13 of Super Rugby got underway as the Hurricanes pulverized the Blues with a bonus point win in Auckland while the Crusaders had a comeback win over the Waratahs in Christchurch after being 29 - 0 down (This is more like a provincial match in the 80's between Canterbury & Auckland with Auckland leading until Canterbury came back in the end after being risen from the ashes) in a tight but intense epic game then the Highlanders finally ran out comfortable winners against the South African conference leading Lions 39 - 27 in Dunedin a week after their disappointing loss against the Sharks before the Chiefs mowed down the Stormers in Cape Town.

And finally it was on Wednesday (The same day that I watched The Empire Strikes Back which was the last movie I saw (The next movie I'm going to see is my favourite Star Wars movie of all time which is Return Of The Jedi) that my 2nd cousin Ben Blain had arrived to Whanganui accompanied with his beauitful girlfriend named Robina Brock so I had to meet both of them (They were here until at least Friday (We went to Stellar to have a pizza, spring rolls & sandwiches for dinner because we had a Caesar salad for lunch (Yesterday last night for dinner was chicken with pasta & vegetables because we had wraps today for lunch & dinner was a pork stir fry before we had pancakes with blueberries, chocolate sauce, kiwifruit & banana for dessert) in which they left on Friday but the most exciting part of Ben & Robina's visit was the big reveal on Thursday (Same day that we had a bento box for lunch at Japanese takeaway Momiji before going for a swim at the splash centre & we had a beef pasta for dinner) night that I was beginning to like Robina so I became friends with her at last so she was impressed).

So that is my 199th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 19th of this year.

P.S. And don't forget to tune in to my 200th special blog in a couple of days time (#200blogs).

Super Rugby round 12 review (+ some America's Cup & European soccer news)

Well, round 12 of Super Rugby got underway as the Crusaders thrash the Rebels in Melbourne (Although the game featured the return of first five-eighth Richie Mo'unga from a broken jaw & centre Jack Goodhue from a hamstring injury) with a double by hooker Andrew Makalio in his 1st start with the Crusaders then the Hurricanes (Captained by possible England back rower Brad Shields) defeat the Lions in Wellington with possible All Black winger Ben 'Blam' Lam (Well, is he good enough to be an All Black? Oh yes he will be in fact in due course) getting a hat trick of tries (Well, the Lions have lost their talisman hooker Malcolm Marx due to a groin injury so he had to return home to South Africa) before the Blues get better of the Waratahs in Manly, winning by just 3 points.

And finally...It's been a few weeks since Peter Burling had taken over the top job from Glenn Ashby as the new skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand (Although they're not going to use cyclors (They're using grinders instead for the new America's Cup AC75 class) because it is now illegal & prohibited under the new America's Cup boat rules & regulations) for the 2021 America's Cup defence (Burling was the helmsman when they won the America's Cup last year in Bermuda), but former Emirates Team New Zealand & Softbank Team Japan skipper Dean Barker has been appointed as the new helmsman for the New York Yacht Club under the name American Magic (Skippered by Terry Hutchinson (Formerly from AmericaOne, Stars & Stripes, Emirates Team New Zealand & Artemis Racing) so Barker would have to live in the state of Utah with his family there in order to comply with the new residency rules for the 2021 event just like Luna Rossa helmsman Jimmy Spithill (Actually it's Max Sirena who is the skipper) who'll have to reside in Italy with his family while British sailor Ben Ainslie has signed his America's Cup syndicate a new deal worth $153 million effectively becoming INEOS Team GB (Formerly Land Rover BAR (Ben Ainslie Racing) although they had to change their name to INEOS Team UK due to a dispute by the British Olympic Association) but there are 4 confirmed syndicates competing in the 2021 edition of the event (3 challengers (Including INEOS Team UK as I mentioned before along with American Magic & challenger of record Luna Rossa) & 1 defender (Which is apparently Emirates Team New Zealand).

So that is my 198th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 18th of this year.

P.S. And don't forget on the 26th of May is the UEFA Champions League final (It is a rematch of 1981 European club championship football final) between Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid (Coached by the legendary former French player Zinedine Zidane who are aiming for a record 13th European club title as well as a threepeat after missing out on retaining the La Liga title which went to their El Clasico rivals FC Barcelona) taking on Mohamed Salah's Liverpool (Coached by ex Borussia Dortmund coach/manager Jurgen Klopp who have never won a European club title in 13 long years although Salah (Their star talisman) is the top goal scorer of the Premier League at the moment with 31 (4 ahead of Tottenham Hotspurs player Harry Kane) at the NSC Olimpiskiy Stadium in Kiev.

Rules Of The Game Of Thrones 2018 edition (+ Super Rugby round 11 review)

Well, it's been 6 years since I 1st started blogging (I did about 196 blogs but now I'm doing my 197th) so we will keep you informed but it is round 11 of Super Rugby as the Hurricanes (Who impacted by the return from injury of side stepping winger Nehe Milner-Skudder (He had a dodgy game because he got taken out from a Sunwolves player after he kicked the ball in the lead up to the Sunwolves try) thrash the Sunwolves in Wellington (There had so many calls from the TMO with Hurricanes player Vince Aso who got a double but the TMO disallowed both tries being scored by Aso, one was a clear & obvious forward pass by Julian Savea & the other was a illegal neck roll made by Julian's brother Ardie on a Sunwolves player) then the Crusaders defeat the Brumbies in Canberra (Well, in his second game back from injury, there was an unfortunate moment for Crusaders winger Israel Dagg as his opposition player Chance Peni copped a high tackle (It was a double whammy for Dagg as he had to go off for an HIA as well as injuring his knee at the same time meaning that he is out for a couple of weeks ruling out a return to the All Blacks) but was lucky not to be sent off (Just like Conrad van Vuuren) as South African referee Jaco Peyper yellow carded Peni (Well, Peni had to front up the judiciary but he has been suspended for 5 weeks revealing that rugby has gone soft (They just killed the game because of the illegal high tackles so far (Well, rugby is a pathetic game according to English back rower James Haskell) then the Crusaders were reduced to 14 men (1st there was Crusaders second rower Scott Barrett) then 13 (Well, it's like a rugby league team so far as second five-eighth Ryan Crotty goes to the bin for 10 minutes) but the Crusaders managed to hold on to the end) then a match winning penalty goal from London Wasps bound first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga has helped the Highlanders claim a win against the Bulls in Pretoria.

So Pops left on Monday (Although he had to go to Auckland & stayed at Carole Irene Webb's place in order to go to a high school reunion in Waiheke Island but Pops rang me last night that he is at his sister Kathryn's place) meaning that he's coming back here today (I'm having half of the noodle canteen for dinner) & I had a few meals such as cereal & fruit & toast for breakfast, roast pork for lunch & a combination of butter chicken & lamb massaman for dinner while yesterday was the leftover frittata with bacon for breakfast (I didn't take Buck for a walk because it was way too wet out there but I'm always having fun with him all the time but Dad came on Monday night & yesterday afternoon to check up on me), single snack chicken & mushroom for lunch with the leftover tuna, tomato & onion & dinner was again a combination of beef lasagne & home style cottage pie & for breakfast today was cereal & toast (Before I took Buck for a morning walk then watched Star Wars (I enjoyed the movie despite the Blu-ray getting scratched (Well, I tried to fix it yesterday but it didn't work so Pops took me to the Warehouse to get a replacement by showing the lady who works there a receipt but the lady told me not to put toothpaste on a Blu ray disc because using the toothpaste may ruin & damage it although the toothpaste is a bit like sandpaper) ruining both scenes) before having lunch) & lunch was chunky Irish stew but I didn't have the bread because the bread was going off (It went mouldy as I discovered it) & so here I am, doing my 1st blog of the month in May.

So that is my 197th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 17th of this year.