Super Rugby round 4 & Six Nations round 3 review (+ my thoughts about coronavirus)

Well, the Crusaders have won another game in round 4 of Super Rugby, continuing their dominance against the Highlanders in a great southern derby match at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch then the Chiefs (Who were without star winger Solomon Alaimalo, potential All Black Lachlan Boshier & mercurial halfback Brad Weber) hopes of remaining unbeaten in the competition have been dashed by a very good Brumbies side (Who bounced back after losing to the Highlanders in week 3) who beat them at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton meaning that Warren Gatland's record as Chiefs coach has ended before an Otere Black (Who had returned from a rib problem) penalty have sealed the deal for the Blues to win in the Republic against the Bulls in Pretoria (Well there were 4 yellow cards have handed out during the match such as Bulls player Andries Ferreira for repeated infringements then Bulls skipper Burger Odendaal for a shoulder to the head on Blues winger Emoni Narawa (It would have been a red card if Narawa didn't duck) before Blues player Jonathan Ruru for cynically killing the ball in a ruck 5 metres out from his line then it was Hoskins Sotutu who got sin binned for an apparent high tackle).

And here are the other results from the 4th round of Super Rugby:

Rebels 24 - 36 Sharks
Reds 64 - 5 Sunwolves
& Stormers 17 - 7 Jaguares

And in Six Nations news such as Scotland have taken victory against Italy by 17 points & managed to keep the Italians scoreless at the end then France for the 1st time in 10 years, have beaten the defending Six Nations champions Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff before England have managed to beat Ireland at Twickenham in London to defend the Millennium Trophy crown.

So that is my 344th blog of the year 2020 (MMXX) & my 4th of this year.

P.S. And I went to Carole's to Pops to have a big brunch or lunch there on Sunday then a day later me & Pops went to Red Eye Cafe for lunch & yesterday went to Columbus coffee at Mitre 10 & saw Carole there where I had a CAB salad there.

And there is something important that I gotta tell you (1st we had the Christchurch mass mosque massacre in March last year along with the the protests in Hong Kong, China & the mass shootings in both Dayton, Ohio & El Paso, Texas which claimed many lives before we had the White Island volcanoes here in New Zealand in December last year then they had the bushfires in Australia (Many koalas are in danger of getting extinct but many people saved them but most of them are donating to the bushfire appeal fund), that there's coronavirus everywhere coming in over in Wuhan in China that there's so many confirmed cases all over the place (And many people have been dead with that disease) especially all over the world (Especially in Japan on a cruise ship (Many Americans & Canadians have been affected with that disease), Iran & in Italy (Both Chinese people have been tested positive for coronavirus meaning that the Ireland Vs Italy Six Nations rugby match have been postponed) but there are certain travel restrictions in place but the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix in Shanghai has been postponed as well as the Tokyo summer Olympics could be called off due to coronavirus) but this is like a throwback to the SARS disease that they had in 2002/03 & the H1N1 swine flu in Mexico in 2009.

Super Rugby round 3 review

Well, the Crusaders (They were cellar dwellers in both 1996 & 97 until they became a champion side in which they 1st dominated the competition in 1998 during the Super 12 era & continued on their tradition ever since (They won Super Rugby 10 times including 1998 as I mentioned before, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018 & last year) came out of nowhere as they returned to winning ways, continuing their dominance against the Blues (Who used to be good way back then until they fell off the pace most recently (Well, 2003 was the last time that the Blues had won the Super Rugby title) at Eden Park before the Chiefs (Who had captain Sam Cane, Aaron Cruden & Anton Lienert-Brown rested for that fixture but now they going to rest Solomon Alaimalo, Lachlan Boshier & Brad Weber for the next match against the Brumbies) had to go one better than last year against the Sunwolves to remain unbeaten in the competition in Tokyo then the Hurricanes (Although they have been dealt with the bad news just coming in with try scoring machine Ben Lam set to join a French club after this years Super Rugby competition) have won another epic Super Rugby encounter against the Sharks at Sky Stadium in Wellington before the Highlanders (Who will be without Sio Tomkinson for the upcoming matches including the great southern derby encounter against the Crusaders through suspension for the high tackle on Tom Banks which I thought it was a red card (The Australian referee Nic Berry had given him a yellow card but Tomkinson was cited by the citing commissioner & he had been fronted up to the judiciary but now he has been banned for several weeks) managed to sneak home at the death (It was one of the Highlanders rookies of Teariki Ben-Nicholas who scored a try with a kick to come before Josh Ioane kicked the match winning conversion for the Highlanders to win their 1st game of the 2020 season) against the Brumbies by just a single point in Canberra.

And here are the other results from the 3rd round of Super Rugby:

Rebels 24 - 10 Waratahs
Lions 30 - 33 Stormers
& Jaguares 43 - 27 Reds

So that is my 343rd blog of the year 2020 (MMXX) & my 3rd of this year.

P.S. And it has been a day since Pops, Carole & I went to Upokongaro to have brunch or lunch there at Cafe 4 Forty 4 a week after our famous visit where I had a big breakfast & I quite liked it of course (And I told Carole at Mitre 10 about her being together with Pops which is quite frankly good for me since the late Nan passed away 4 years ago).

Super Rugby & Six Nations rounds 1 & 2 review

Well, the 2020 Super Rugby season is underway (At an earlier start on the last day of January (So that the finals is held in June to accommodate the mid year rugby tests being held in July) & a new kick off time which is 7:05pm to accommodate the families going to the rugby) as the Chiefs came from behind to beat the Blues in an epic game at Eden Park (It was their bench from the Chiefs which made an impact & it was a game changer when the Blues led at halftime) then the defending Super Rugby champion Crusaders got off to a winning start at Trafalgar Park (Home of the champion Tasman Mako side in the Mitre 10 Cup) in Nelson against the Waratahs then disaster for the Hurricanes in Cape Town as they got crushed by 27 points against the Stormers.

And here are the other results from the opening round of Super Rugby:

Brumbies 27 - 24 Reds
Sharks 23 - 15 Bulls
Sunwolves 36 - 27 Rebels
& Jaguares 38 - 8 Lions

And the Six Nations season for 2020 has begun as Wales thrash Italy at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff then Ireland defeat Scotland in a close encounter at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin before France for the 1st time since 2018, defeat England at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Just seconds before full time, one of the French players celebrated too early by kicking the ball dead meaning that England had been awarded the scrum from where it was kicked then the English had been awarded the penalty for a collapsed scrum so English captain Owen Farrell told Welsh referee Nigel Owens to take that shot at goal & the referee agreed before England successfully nailed the penalty goal to take a bonus point for losing 7 points or less)

And week 2 in Super Rugby as the Sharks win 2 matches in a row as they beat the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin then new Chiefs coach Warren Gatland's perfect record remains intact as the Chiefs were too good against the Crusaders at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton before the Blues & Hurricanes get their 1st wins of the season against the Waratahs (Including that 2nd half hat trick of tries from rookie Blues winger Mark Telea let the Tahs off the hook) in Newcastle & the Jaguares (Jordie Barrett managed to pull off a 60 metre penalty to open the scoring as well as Jamie Booth scoring the match winning try despite the pass was clearly forward but TMO told the South African referee, Rasta Rashivenge that the pass was OK) in Buenos Aires respectively.

And here are the other results from the 2nd round of Super Rugby:

Brumbies 39 - 26 Rebels
Lions 27 - 20 Reds
& Stormers 13 - 0 Bulls

And week 2 of the Six Nations as Ireland win 2 matches in a row in which they beat the defending Six Nations champions Wales at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin then England win against Scotland in a close Calcutta Cup encounter for the 1st time since 2017 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh (There were 2 bad moments of the Calcutta Cup match including an England assistant coach getting pelted by a plastic bottle from a troubles Scottish fan & English skipper Owen Farrell getting booed by Scottish fans when he attempts a conversion or penalty goal (Well that needs to stop because rugby stadiums in England, France, Ireland, Italy & Wales as well as New Zealand, they have banned anyone who boos in front of the kicker (I mean this is not wrestling) but failing to respect the kicker would result in an immediate ejection (They need to be introduced at Scottish rugby stadiums) before France were too good against the struggling Italians at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis during that Giuseppe Garibaldi trophy encounter.

So that is my 342nd blog of the year 2020 (MMXX) & my 2nd of this year.

My 1st blog of 2020 (MMXX) + RIP Kobe Bryant

Well, Happy New Year ladies & gentlemen, I've haven't been blogging for a while so the year 2020 got started as I went with my 2nd cousin Ben Blain to see the new Star Wars movie again which is Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (After that I went to Caroline's for dinner with the whole family).

And I managed to stay home to look after my beloved beagle mastiff cross pet dog Buck while Pops & Carole were away to go on a trip to Auckland & Waiheke Island (Pops & Carole saw the tennis there at the ASB Classic but we have been watching the Australian Open tennis on TV a lot last month & we went to Thai Villa the day Pops & Carole were back in Whanganui after that expedition to Auckland & Waiheke Island) & they went to New Plymouth this month (Buck was with me while I was at home to look after him).

And Kathryn as well as Ken came here just a day before her 60th birthday to look at houses before Carole picked me up to go to my favourite restaurant here in Whanganui, Caroline's (I had a chicken burger there as well as a tan square for pudding).

And finally of course I have been reading my America's Cup book collection a lot especially the Black Magic: Team New Zealand's Victorious Challenge (Official Team New Zealand Souvenir) which is about Team New Zealand's 1st America's Cup win in San Diego way back in 1995 (And it is only 3 months until the 25th anniversary of Team New Zealand's victory against American Dennis Conner & his Stars & Stripes syndicate aboard the Young America boat with Paul Cayard being the helmsman) as well as the Back To Black: Black Magic book in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Team New Zealand (Russell Coutts was the skipper aboard the Team New Zealand yacht) retaining the America's Cup against the Francesco de Angelis skippered Luna Rossa Challenge of Prada from Italy & The Team New Zealand Story: 1995 - 2003 (I read about the 1995 & 2000 triumphs which are my favourite parts of the book) in preparation for next years America's Cup in Auckland (Our own Emirates Team New Zealand is the defender (Skippered by Peter Burling (Who was the helmsman when we won the last America's Cup in Bermuda in 2017 (Our last major sporting triumph) who took over from Australian Glenn Ashby) while only 4 syndicates confirmed to compete in the inaugural Prada Cup such as the challenger of record, the Italian syndicate Luna Rossa (Max Sirena is the skipper while former America's Cup winner Jimmy Spithill is the helmsman aboard the Italian yacht & they are back in the fold since missing the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup after they chose to withdraw because of the reduction of the boat size & they last competed in 2013) & other challengers such as Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Team UK & both American boats American Magic (The skipper is Terry Hutchinson while the helmsman for American Magic is ex-Emirates Team New Zealand & Softbank Team Japan skipper Dean Barker) from the proud New York Yacht Club & the return of the familiar name which is Stars & Stripes Team USA (Who had to pull out of the event citing fears of COVID-19).

And in tennis news such as Russian born American Sofia Kenin winning her maiden Grand Slam crown at the Australian tennis open as she beats Spanish opponent Garbine Muguruza in the women's singles final then Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is able to repeat his heroics from last year as he beats Austrian opponent Dominic Thiem to win the men's singles final.

So that is my 341st blog of the year 2020 (MMXX) & my 1st of this year.

P.S. And the Basketball world is in mourning as NBA Basketball legend who played for the LA Lakers, Kobe Bryant, has tragically passed away after a chopper crash in California in America which killed 9 people including him and his 13 year old daughter Gianna 'Gigi' so rest in power/rest easy but all condolences & prayers go out to the family of Kobe & Gigi.

Kobe Bryant
1978 - 2020