Well, this is part 4 of my year in review so here's another of those best blogs with the most views of the month from the September - October period beginning with Breaking Dawn 2: The 2019 Rugby World Cup preview.
Well, the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan is almost upon us tomorrow night at quarter to 11 so let's have a look at the pools, teams & the key men (Well this is the sequel to the highly successful blog that I did in 2015 called Breaking Dawn: The 2015 Rugby World Cup preview (And yes, the eyes of the rugby world will be in Japan as the country plays host to the Rugby World Cup):
Pool A:
Ireland (Jonathan Sexton)
Japan (Michael Leitch)
Russia (Vasily Artemyev)
Samoa (Chris Vui)
Scotland (Stuart Hogg)
Pool B:
Canada (Tyler Ardron)
Italy (Sergio Parisse)
Namibia (Eugene Jantjies)
New Zealand (Beauden Barrett)
South Africa (Malcolm Marx)
Pool C:
Argentina (Pablo Matera)
England (Maro Itoje)
France (Guilhem Guirado)
Tonga (Telusa Veainu)
United States (Joe Taufete'e)
Pool D:
Australia (David Pocock)
Fiji (Leone Nakarawa)
Georgia (Beka Gorgadze)
Uruguay (Agustin Ormaechea)
Wales (Alun Wyn Jones)
And who is going to win the tournament? We'll see (Well mine would be New Zealand at this stage because they won the last Rugby World Cup).
And here is some of the moments revisited as part of previous blogs that I did involving the Rugby World Cup but 1st it is Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview:
And yes the game was indeed invented by William Webb Ellis the great who invented the game by picking up and ran the ball with it because it was against the rules in football/soccer so a new sport was created way back then.
The 1st World Cup was held back in 1987 with the All Blacks dominated the tournament in which they beat Italy (Including that all time great try from John Kirwan as well as Michael Jones scoring the 1st genuine try of the World Cup because the very 1st try of the World Cup was a penalty try), Fiji and Argentina in the pool games before taking on Scotland in the quarterfinals in which they won and Wales in the semifinals (Huw Richards got sent off for throwing that punch before Wayne 'Buck' Shelford threw a punch on Richards which went unpunished) before clashing with traditional rivals France (Who beat Australia with a desperate last minute try scored by Serge Blanco) in the final moments before New Zealand beat France 29 - 9 (With some great tries being scored by captain David Kirk as well as Kirwan) to win the very 1st ever Rugby World Cup title with Kirk lifting the World Cup title as seen on national television.
And then in 1991 (The year that I was born), the All Blacks world cup curse had begun, losing to eventual champions Australia in the semifinal who beat hosts England in the final...then in 1995, 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 in 1999, the All Blacks took on rivals and eventual runners up France (Who lost to the eventual champions Australia) in the semifinal but nek minute, they were torn sky blast apart from the French who enjoyed an insane amount of rugby during the 2nd half and then in 2003, 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, which was won by England and in 2007 during the quarterfinals, France terminated the All Blacks dream of winning the World Cup just like as it was repeating the heroics way back in '99 through a blatant forward pass not seen by English referee Wayne Barnes (Although South Africa won the tourney beating England in the final).
And so on in 2011, the All Blacks opened with a win over the kingdom of Tonga (Who hijacked us at the start) at Eden Park in Auckland (41 - 10) followed by Japan at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton 83 - 7 (The night before the mighty green throng of Ireland turned the tables on Australia, causing an upset), then France in Auckland (37 - 17) with captain Richie McCaw becoming the 1st All Black to reach 100 test caps followed by beating Canada at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington 79 - 15 (The day after Tonga providing another upset victory over France as well as Dan Carter, who was ruled out of the tournament altogether with a groin injury), then it is quarter final time as we scraped Argentina 33 - 10 in Auckland (Although Colin Slade suffered an injury similar to Dan Carter's), then finally beating against our traditional Trans Tasman rivals Australia (Who defeated South Africa in the quarter final which was better off forgotten) in the semifinal 20 - 6 (It was the night after the French flair titans (Who gave England the chop in the quarterfinal) defeated the Welsh (Who had beaten the mighty green throng in the quarters) in the other semifinal in which Sam Warburton got sent off for that famous spear tackle) before we once again took on France in the final, just as it was back in 1987, with the weight of the nation above our shoulders (Although Stephen 'Beaver' Donald was called up in the last minute whilst he was white baiting, YA GOT THAT!! WHITEBAITING), we have won us the CUP!!! HAIL TO THE KING BABY!!! I'VE GOT BALLS OF STEEL!!! And yeah, not only that we have ended our Rugby World Cup curse after 24 years of agony and pain, as if, not ONLY we beat France 8 - 7, we have managed to lift the World Cup trophy, not only because it is the greatest moment of my life.
And finally this blog that I did in 2016 is about the 2015 tournament revisited which is My 50th Blog: The best of 2012 - 2016 (Greatest Hits + Another longest blog ever made)
And so we fast forward to last year such as Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview but this one is about the preview of the 2015 Rugby World Cup (Won by the All Blacks who had a great but excellent campaign compared to the 1987 & 2011 ones by beating Argentina (Who advanced through to the quarterfinal after finishing runner up in Pool C with victories after losing to New Zealand against Georgia, Tonga & Namibia by beating Ireland (Who topped Pool D with wins against Canada in the opener, Romania, Italy & France (Who took on the AB's in the quarterfinal after losing to Ireland to finish runner up in Pool D after victories against Italy in the opener, Romania & Canada & lost) before losing both to the Wallabies (Who topped the pool of death in Pool A with wins against Fiji in the opener, Uruguay, hosts England (Who got knocked out of their own home turf) & Wales (Who took on South Africa in the quarterfinals after finishing the pool of death in Pool A with victories against Uruguay, hosts England (Who won the World Cup back in 2003) & Fiji before losing to Australia & lost) to advance through to the quarterfinal to take on Scotland (Who beat both Japan & Samoa & losing to the Springboks to finish runner up in Pool B) in which they won (In which the game should've & could've gone to the Scottish under controversial circumstances, they were livid) before beating Argentina in the semifinal & facing the All Blacks in the final in which they missed out by losing to them) in the semifinal & South Africa (Who famously lost to Japan in the opener in one of the greatest upsets & famous wins in the history of the World Cup before topping Pool B with victories against Samoa, Scotland & the United States before advancing through to the quarterfinal by beating Wales before losing to New Zealand in the semifinal & winning against Argentina to claim 3rd place) to determine who will claim 3rd place) in the opener then wins against Namibia, Georgia & Tonga by topping Pool C to advance through to the quarterfinal to take on France in which they won before beating the Boks (Winners in 1995 & 2007) in the semifinal & facing Australia (World Champions in 1991 & 99) in the final in which they won in a convincing fashion because they became the 1st team to go back to back, the 1st to win 3 titles & the 1st time that the All Blacks have won the Rugby World Cup on foreign soil because they have never achieved that before because they finally deserved it by earning our right) held in England (With some matches being played in Wales) which is called Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview.
And finally, the 2nd one is taken from 2019 Rugby World Cup Japan report (Part 5):
Well, news just come in during the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan as 14 man Ireland advance to the quarterfinals after their immense win against Samoa before the match between Canada & Namibia had to be eventually cancelled due to typhoon Hagibis (That's the 3rd time that the tournament organisers had to call the match off along with England/France & New Zealand/Italy) then Wales top Pool D with a resounding victory against Uruguay while Japan topple Scotland (Dubbed as the best match of the 2019 Rugby World Cup) in the 3rd biggest boil over of the 2019 tournament to qualify for their 1st ever Rugby World Cup quarterfinal appearance.
And here is the confirmed list for quarterfinal matches being played (Well, not only these high octane quarterfinal matches are going to be epic indeed, so yeah definitely):
England Vs Australia (The last time both of these sides had met at a Rugby World Cup was during the pool stages in 2015 in which the Wallabies knocked previous hosts England (Who didn't get out of their pool (Well, that was their worst result ever at a Rugby World Cup) after losing to Wales & Australia as I mentioned before) out of the Rugby World Cup (Well I thought Wallaby first five Bernard Foley was the top performer of that game but it went to English lock/second rower Joe Launchbury)
New Zealand Vs Ireland (Their most recent meeting at a Rugby World Cup was a long time ago in 1995 during the pool stages in which the late All Black star winger Jonah Lomu (Who was just a young 20 year old (And what is his occupation? Well he was working as a bank officer at ASB Bank) way back then a year after making his test debut at 19 (He was the youngest AB ever) against France at the old Lancaster Park in Christchurch) who got a double by scoring his 1st 2 test tries)
Wales Vs France (Their only clash at a Rugby World Cup was at a semifinal in 2011 (The winner would face the All Blacks in the final in which we finally claimed victory against our trans Tasman rivals the Wallabies in the other semifinal) in which Welsh captain Sam Warburton who had been shown the red card by Irish referee Alain Rolland for that famous spear/tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc which will always be remembered therefore handing France the victory against a 14 man Wales by a single point (The final score was 9 - 8) & hadn't even scored a single try in the match (Mike Phillips scored a late try but the conversion had been missed by Welsh reserve first five Stephen Jones who had just come onto the field for James Hook who had a wretched night as a goal kicker)
And Japan Vs South Africa (And also their only meeting between the 2 sides at a Rugby World Cup was in 2015 during the pool stages in which New Zealand born Japanese player Karne Hesketh who went in for the kill & scored the match winning try (Well to start with after the full 80 minutes had been up (And the Springboks had their prop forward Coenie Oosthuizen in the sin bin & were down to 14 men), they opted for the scrum (After French referee Jerome Garces had given Japan a scrum penalty) to win the game rather than a penalty goal for the draw which was actually a good idea, & they liked it of course) to seal the deal & claim the biggest boil over in Rugby World Cup history (Well, I remember that game (And Pops told me that the Japanese men were getting emotional about the victory) because it was known as the miracle on Brighton)
P.S. And here are my top 5 Rugby World Cup moments:
5: Sam Warburton's red card against France during the semifinal in 2011
4: The late Jonah Lomu running over the top of Mike Catt also during the semifinal in 1995
3: Japan's glorious upset win against the Springboks in 2015
2: The All Blacks winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup against France in the final (Including Stephen 'Beaver' Donald's match winning penalty to win our 2nd Rugby World Cup title & our 1st in 24 years) on home soil
& 1: The AB's winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup against the Wallabies in the final (Including Beauden 'Beaudy' Barrett's try that sealed the deal to clinch our 2nd Rugby World Cup title in a row & our 1st to win 3 Rugby World Cups) on foreign soil
So that is my 339th blog of the year 2019 (MMXIX) & my 79th of this year (Well, Christmas (AKA the real thing as I call it) is finally here today so merry Christmas to you all boys & girls).
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