Well, tomorrow is the beginning of the Prada Cup to kick off the campaign at the city of sails in Auckland (The largest city in our country of New Zealand) so here is the race schedule for the rest of the Prada Cup (But 1st it's the favourites American Magic taking on the struggling INEOS Team UK in tomorrow's scheduled 1st race followed by the Brits who'll face the challenger of record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the last race of the day):
Round robin 1
January 15th
Race 1: NYYC American Magic Vs INEOS Team UK (Race won by INEOS TEAM UK)
Race 2: INEOS Team UK vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Race won by INEOS TEAM UK)
January 16th
Race 3: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs NYYC American Magic (Race won by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli)
Round robin 2
Race 1: INEOS Team UK Vs NYYC American Magic (Race won by INEOS Team UK)
January 17th
Race 2: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Team UK (Race won by INEOS Team UK)
Race 3: NYYC American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Race won by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli)
Round robin 3
January 22nd
Race 1: INEOS Team UK Vs NYYC American Magic
Race 2: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Team UK
January 23rd
Race 3: NYYC American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
Round robin 4
Race 1: NYYC American Magic Vs INEOS Team UK
January 24th
Race 2: INEOS Team UK Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
Race 3: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs NYYC American Magic
Semifinal (First to win 4 races)
January 29th to February 2nd
Round robin 2nd ranked (Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli) Vs Round robin 3rd ranked (NYYC American Magic)
Final (First to win 7 races)
February 13th to February 22nd
Semifinal winner (Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli) Vs Round robin 1st ranked (INEOS Team UK)
Prada Cup winner
Challenger to the 36th America's Cup presented by Prada (Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli)
And here is the America's Cup race schedule coming up with the winner of the Prada Cup goes on to challenge Emirates Team New Zealand (Led by both Glenn 'Lenny' Ashby & Peter Burling (New Zealand sailing/yachting's equivalent of 2015 Rugby World Cup winning All Black Beauden Barrett (Rugby union)/current Canterbury, Crusaders & All Blacks player Richie Mo'unga (Rugby union, who is a 3 time Super Rugby champion & once Super Rugby Aotearoa champion with the Crusaders), 6 time Indycar champion Scott Dixon (Motor racing (Indycar)/3 time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin (Motor racing (Indycar)/2016 Supercars champion & one half of last years Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen (Motor racing (Supercars Championship), New Zealand cricket captain Kane Williamson (Cricket) & All White (& Burnley player) Chris Wood (Soccer) for the Auld Mug in a battle for the ages:
March 6th
Day 1
Races 1 & 2
March 7th
Day 2
Races 3 & 4
March 8th
Non race day
March 9th
Reserve day
March 10th
Day 3
Races 5 & 6
March 11th
Non race day
March 12th
Day 4 (Optional)
Races 7 & 8
March 13th
Day 5 (Optional)
Races 9 & 10
March 14th
Day 6 (Optional)
Races 11 & 12
March 15th
Day 7 (Optional)
Races 13 & 14
So that is my 383rd blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 3rd of this year.
P.S. And I have been watching another hobbit movie called The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug but I will watch it tomorrow, Saturday & the rest of it on Sunday but I've also been watching old rugby games such as 6 of the best All Black wins (Especially the Bledisloe Cup test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in 1996 but I laughed about it (Pops thinks that it is no laughing matter but he labels the altercation between Brial & Bunce as disgusting & terrible) when New Zealander Frank Bunce got punched 9 times by Wallaby Michael Brial after the AB's got penalized for holding on to the ball on the ground (It was one of the Wallaby wingers Ben Tune made the tackle on the late Jonah Lomu (The 1st Tongan to play for the All Blacks but his life had been affected when he suffered nephrotic syndrome (A rare & serious kidney disorder that he had until his passing in 2015 due to ailing & declining health) prior to the scuffle but New Zealand rugby commentator Keith Quinn was like when he said in commentary ''What a cheer went up from the crowd & look at this! A tremendous! That! He must be sent off! Brial must be sent off! For that assault on Frank Bunce! He hit him with 10 punches! And I didn't see what started it. Michael Brial he's surely gotta go. He must go surely.'') then Scottish referee Jim Fleming reversed the penalty to New Zealand for foul play as well as a stern warning (Brial (Who was told by referee Fleming to be on his best behavior for the rest of the game after causing a punch up to Bunce) would've been sent off in the process for that assault on Frank Bunce & I mean that is a yellow card (Sin binning) offence these days for striking but Brial may have escaped punishment for a flurry of haymakers on Bunce in a Bledisloe Cup test way back in 1996 (And even Pops was like when he told Carole ''He's gotta go off! He's gotta go off! He hit him with 10 punches! He's gotta go off!'' or when Pops said to Matt Pine ''He's gotta go off! Brial must be sent off! For that assault on Frank Bunce! He hit him with 10 punches! And I didn't see what started it. He's gotta go off! He must go surely.'') but it wasn't the end of the story when the scores were level just before full time as the AB's had to restart from the 22 (After David 'Campo' Campese missed an attempt of a drop goal) with a few minutes to go when Mehrtens kicked the ball to Wallaby winger Ben Tune who ran the ball with it instead of kicking the ball into touch (With the AB's back line started chasing) but the All Black defenders held Tune up at the maul to award a scrum (And I mean, bad move Ben according to the Jonah Lomu book that I've got) for New Zealand before Zinzan Brooke went off the back from the scrum then gets tackled by a Wallaby before All Black halfback Justin Marshall (Future Sky Sport rugby commentator) recycled the ball at the breakdown/ruck to New Zealand first-five eighth Andrew Mehrtens then Mehrtens passed the ball to AB's centre Frank Bunce (Who was the victim of Brial who got punched 9 times instead/rather than 10) then Bunce passed the ball back to Mehrtens & ran through the gap/hole then he passed it to fullback Christian Cullen who falls over (George Gregan with an attempt of a high tackle on Cullen but Cully (The Paekakariki express) ducked underneath it) then Buncey (Did Cullen release? I don't know) drives on & the try is scored just right on the stroke of full time which proved to be the game changer before Mehrts converted it meaning that the Bledisloe Cup is ours for the taking in 1996 & I'll tell you another one when the AB's played against the Wallabies in Sydney in 2000 (Just 2 months before Sydney takes center stage when they hosted the Olympics & a year after the Wallabies won their 2nd (Their 1st was in 1991 when they outplayed England in the final after their victory in the semifinal against the All Blacks (Including David Campese scoring a try then he set the try up scored by Wallaby utility back Tim Horan after All Black fullback Kieran Crowley (Who filled in for the injured Terry Wright) messed up a kick which proved to be the turning point & handed New Zealand (Who were without Michael Jones due to his religious beliefs stopped him from playing because the semi was held on a Sunday & Jones was a devout Christian among most Samoans) their 1st of 7 defeats at a Rugby World Cup) & most recent Rugby World Cup in which they beat France (The All Blacks tormentors in which they beat them to seal a famous come from behind victory in the semifinal at Twickenham to reach their 2nd of 3 Rugby World Cup finals (1st it was in 1987 at the very 1st Rugby World Cup against New Zealand in Auckland then Australia in 1999 in Cardiff & the most recent appearance at a RWC final was in 2011 against the All Blacks in Auckland just like 1987, all of them ended in defeat (The only rugby playing nation to lose all 3 finals compared to South Africa being the only rugby playing nation to win all 3 Rugby World Cup finals out of 3 attempts of winning the famous William Webb Ellis trophy (First it was New Zealand once in Johannesburg in 1995 followed by England (Winners of the 2003 tournament in which they beat the hosts Australia (Who had beaten the All Blacks in the semifinal including Leon MacDonald (The player who was preferred ahead of the partially fit Tana Umaga (Who's 2003 Rugby World Cup was over with a serious knee injury sustained in the match against Italy in the RWC opener in Melbourne) who passed the ball which was intercepted by Wallaby Stirling Mortlock who would run all the way to the try line to score (Even Joe Rokocoko tried to chase Mortlock down but it wasn't to be) which proved to be a game changer cue the national heartbreak when John Mitchell (Current assistant/defence coach of the England rugby team & father of current New Zealand cricketer Daryl) lost his job in the process allowing Graham 'Ted' Henry to take over as AB's coach in which Henry served from 2004 until at least after our 2nd Rugby World Cup triumph in 2011) in the final (It was revenge of 1991 when England lost to Australia in the final on their home turf & it was the moment that Nick Farr-Jones became the 1st Australian skipper to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy followed by John Eales (The last Wallabies Rugby World Cup winning skipper who was part of the success with the Aussies in 1991) in 1999) in Sydney during extra time including that match winning drop goal by world class English first-five eighth Jonny 'Wilko' Wilkinson with his weaker foot) twice in Saint-Denis in 2007 & at the last Rugby World Cup in Yokohama in 2019 (The 2019 Rugby World Cup final was the first final since 2007 not to feature the All Blacks (Who went on to win the 2011 & 2015 tournaments to add to our triumph at the inaugural RWC in 1987) because they lost to a very good England team (Coached by Australian born ex-Wallaby & Japan coach Eddie Jones) in the semifinal (To reach the 2019 RWC final for the strong England side they first got to beat New Zealand in the semi & they did, handing the AB's 1st defeat at a Rugby World Cup since against France in the quarterfinal in 2007 (Producing the All Blacks worst result at a Rugby World Cup) although the best halfback in world rugby, Aaron Smith says that he describes the All Blacks changing room as a funeral after our devastating & gut-wrenching heartbreak in the semi in which England dominated (Including Manu Tuilagi's try & English captain Owen Farrell kicking a couple of penalty goals which proved to be the turning point (Ardie Savea scored a try for the All Blacks to put a glimmer of hope of putting back into the contest but it wasn't good enough to reach the final as the English managed to hold on until the end (They had both tries ruled out by the Television Match Official but somehow they still won & snap the All Blacks 18 match unbeaten run at the Rugby World Cup) when Pops told me about it in 2019) & they made no errors/mistakes during the semifinal match) title in the final at the Millennium Stadium (Now Principality Stadium) in Cardiff) in the greatest rugby test ever when Tana Umaga opened the account when he scored the opening try off an intercept from Wallaby fullback Chris Latham followed by Jonah Lomu (And I mean, what a player, honestly) who was in the clear before setting up the try scored by Pita Alatini before the man known as 'Ala' set up the try scored by Christian Cullen to race out to a 24 to nil lead with 3 tries in the space of 6 minutes before the Wallabies responded by scoring 24 unanswered points to tie the game up but it also wasn't the end of the story when the AB's trailed by a single point as Byron Kelleher who just come on for Marshy, passed the ball to former All Black skipper Taine Randell then Randell pops up to Lomu (Although Grant Nisbett (One of my favourite rugby commentators of all time who appeared as a commentator along with Justin Marshall in the Rugby Challenge video game series) refers to Lomu (AKA big man) as the big fella) who scored the match winner to win a famous Bledisloe Cup & opening Tri Nations test at Stadium Australia (Venue for much of the 2000 Olympic Games & the 2003 Rugby World Cup but it used to be Telstra Stadium & now its called ANZ Stadium) which proved to be the game changer) & the 2nd test of the 3 match test series in 1996 between South Africa & the AB's at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria (Including that double by Goldie Wilson (Who famously scored his second try after Zinzan Brooke picked the ball up off the back of the scrum then passed to Justin Marshall then Marshall passed it to Christian Cullen before Cullen passed it to Jeff Wilson when Wilson made the chip kick then he did get the bounce by getting past South African fullback Andre Joubert to score) as well as a try by Zinny Brooke (Brother of fellow All Black Robin & former Auckland & Southland player Marty) + Both penalty goals by Simon Culhane before being replaced by Jon 'JP' Preston with an injury who landed both penalty goals (Including that one from long range) & a droppie by Zinzan which also proved to be a turning point but South Africa tried to win the game to keep the test series alive before French referee Didier Mene blew the whistle when Marshy said ball's up according to Nisbo in commentary then Mene blew the full time whistle meaning that the AB's have at long last won a test series in South Africa in 1996 (The AB's non playing members including the late Jonah Lomu, Todd Blackadder, Eric Rush & of course, Carlos Spencer performed the Ka Mate haka as a tribute to the winning team that have finally taken victory in a test series held on South African soil (The AB's 1st attempted in 1928 which resulted in failure then 4 other sides that have failed & they finally made rugby history in 1996 when the AB's became the incomparables after finally achieving a test series win against the Springboks in South Africa (A year after New Zealand's heartbreak in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final which resulted victory to the hosts & tournament debutants South Africa at the end of extra time after Joel Stransky slotted a drop goal to put them in the lead during extra time which broke New Zealand hearts) between the two nations).
''The All Blacks made history - and, man, was it sweet...'' Jonah Lomu
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