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.