Well, there has been some comparisons between both WWE wrestlers & Formula 1 drivers such as Stone Cold Steve Austin is wrestling's answer to the late 3 time world champion from Brazil, Ayrton Senna, while The Rock is often compared to as the Michael Schumacher (A 7 time Formula 1 world champion from Germany) of wrestling then Brock Lesnar share the same role as the 7 time Formula 1 world champion from Great Britain, Lewis Hamilton (The most successful British F1 driver in history with 7 F1 world championships along with Michael Schumacher to his credit), & last but not least, Roman Reigns is in fact wrestling's equivalent of last year's F1 world champion & 1st Dutch driver in history to win the Formula 1 World Championship, Max Verstappen, in terms of his performances in the wrestling ring compared to the F1 circuit (And special but honorable mentions such as John Cena is in fact wrestling's answer to Sebastian Vettel & Bret 'the Hitman' Hart is often compared to as the Alain Prost of wrestling while Edge share the same role as twice F1 world champion Fernando Alonso & the Undertaker is in fact wrestling's equivalent of Jacques Villeneuve as well as Seth Rollins is wrestling's answer to Charles Leclerc & Triple H of course is often compared to as the Jenson Button of wrestling then AJ Styles & Rey Mysterio share their roles to both British F1 drivers Lando Norris & George Russell while Rob van Dam, Kane, Shawn Michaels & Batista are wrestling equivalents of both F1 legends of David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg & Mark Webber (And WWE's flagship premier pay per view event of Wrestlemania is similar to the Monaco Grand Prix (The world & Formula 1's premier motor racing event).
And we have just heard that there are reports that Australia (Who haven't triumphed at the tournament since 1999 but last been to a final in 2015 when they went down to the all-conquering All Blacks & missed out on claiming rugby union's most treasured prize, the William Webb Ellis cup (Which is world rugby's most prized possessions as I mentioned in my previous blogs known as the Wiremu here in New Zealand & the Bill in Australia) has been confirmed to host the 2027 men's Rugby World Cup (2 years after the next British & Irish Lions rugby tour to Australia takes place (The last Lions rugby tour was last year to South Africa which was affected by the global pandemic where the current Rugby World Cup holders the Springboks won the most recent test series against the British & Irish Lions) & a year after the Australian state of Victoria plays host to the 2026 Commonwealth Games) for the 1st time since 2003 followed by the United States of America in 2031 (It'll be the 1st time that the RWC will be held in North America) while the hosts for the next women's Rugby World Cups are in England in 2025 followed by Australia in 2029 & the USA in 2033 but there has been confirmation/rumors that the Spanish city of Barcelona (Which previously hosted the summer Olympic Games in 1992) is going to host the next America's Cup in 2024 (And it'll be the 3rd time that Spain will play host to the America's Cup series in 14 years with Valencia previously hosting both the 2007 (In which Alinghi (Who haven't been to an America's Cup arena since 2010 when they lost the Auld Mug to Oracle (Who hasn't competed since losing the America's Cup to current defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in Bermuda in 2017 but I remember a comment from my Jewish mate Leon at Mint cafe 8 months ago about the Swiss syndicate making their return to the America's Cup fold in 2024) led by an Australian named Jimmy Spithill & spent years in the wilderness as I mentioned before in my previous blogs but they have been confirmed to take part again in the Prada Cup in September 2024) had triumphed against the newly named Emirates Team New Zealand (The 4 time America's Cup champions (The most by a non-American syndicate but our 1st triumph came in 1995 in San Diego against the Dennis Conner led Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht previously used by the PACT 95 syndicate during the Citizen Cup followed by Auckland 2000 against the Prada Challenge of Italy then Bermuda in 2017 after 3 unsuccessful attempts in 2003, 2007 & 2013 against the all-Australian crew of Oracle Team USA as I mentioned before & of course, last year in Auckland against the Italian syndicate of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with 'Jimmy the Pitbull' & Francesco 'Checo' Bruni sharing the helmsman duties) in the deciding race) & 2010 regattas) because of a controversial maneuver based on financial considerations, but continuing on the America's Cup story that there had been some infamous crashes that had happened in America's Cup history such as OneAustralia's boat bending like a banana which caused it to sink & nowhere to be found (Or nowhere to go should I say) during a race against Team New Zealand in San Diego, California in the United States in 1995 in which they had been defeated by shipwreck & forced to change to a slower boat for the rest of the campaign then 4 years later in November 1999, same thing happened that Young America had a mishap during the Louis Vuitton Cup race in Auckland, New Zealand in which the boat had also been bending like a banana just like OneAustralia in 1995 before they switched to a 2nd boat for the remainder of the regatta while 18 years later in 2017 that our own Emirates Team New Zealand had a frightening pitchpole just like in 2013 (And in 2003 that we had broken our mast which resulted Alinghi winning) during our race against Land Rover BAR in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinal (And we managed to overcome the disaster by beating the Brits in the semi then Artemis in the final to claim the last ever Louis Vuitton Cup & of course, that in your face, get out of my way attitude moment, in which we cashed in & triumphed in the 35th America's Cup match by infamously stealing the show dubbed as the Lenny (Glenn Ashby) & Pete/Pistol Pete (Peter Burling) show as mentioned in my previous blogs against the all Aussie crew of Oracle Team USA after 17 long years for the ages) in Bermuda & finally of course, 4 years later, the dramatic capsize by the Dean Barker helmed American syndicate of American Magic during the Prada Cup race against the eventual champions of the Prada Cup, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in Auckland most recently last year (It took about 9 days to fix that boat after a task was carried out but it was one of my favourite memories of last years Prada Cup so far before they raced again, eventually losing out to the dominant Italians of Luna Rossa in the semifinal of the newly christened Prada Cup).
And how competitive are the Springboks (Compared to England since they infamously beat us in the semifinal (Well, they deserved to win that one in our dreaded game of our lives (Our 1st defeat at a Rugby World Cup since the quarterfinal encounter against France in 2007 which was always disappointing) in international rugby in which the English ended our hopes of a historic 1st ever three-peat at the Rugby World Cup at the last tournament in 2019 (And I know that the 12 point semifinal loss against the dominant England side still hurts us for our Kiwis (Especially the story that I remember according to Dad about that the in form player of Ben Smith who should've & could've played instead of George Bridge during Carole's birthday dinner 3 months ago), which opened the door for the South Africans to successfully win the 2019 tournament with next year's RWC is going to be the most competitive in all of the tournaments being held) but they fell short on winning rugby's ultimate prize when South Africa conquered them in the final as well as Ireland (Who'll tour New Zealand in July as they face the All Blacks in a 3 match test series in a chance for our rugby union mad country of New Zealand to redeem ourselves after back to back defeats (1st it was against the Irish therefore losing against them in Dublin followed by the French (Who won't play against us until next years tournament in the opening pool game) in Saint-Denis) to end the year for the 1st time since 1999 (It was at a RWC when France came from behind to topple the All Blacks (Who had the late Jonah Lomu getting a double but a tremendous fightback from the French knocked the AB's out of the RWC in which the Australians were happy about the result) for the 1st time at a Rugby World Cup in the semifinal followed by the South Africans in the 3rd & 4th place playoff in a rematch of the 1995 final in which the Springboks were dominant in the end including that drop goal by Springbok first five-eighth Joel Stransky which broke Kiwi hearts as I mentioned in my previous blogs to win the 1st of 3 Rugby World Cups & in which the last time the Boks had beaten the All Blacks at a RWC (It was in 2003 in the quarterfinals that New Zealand won in the end (Including as I mentioned in my previous blogs that the late All Black Jerry Collins making that thumping tackle on Springbok winger Thinus Delport in one of the best hits of the game (Compared to Brian Lima's big hit on Derick Hougaard during Samoa's pool game against South Africa in one of the best crunching tackles you'll ever see!) against the South Africans during the quarterfinal & Carlos Spencer's through the legs pass to Joe Rokocoko in which Joe Rocks scored that crucial try) for our 1st win against South Africa at a Rugby World Cup then in 2015 in the semifinal (South Africa came so close but would've won them the semi as well as they would've played against Australia in the final & easily won the RWC, but that didn't happen) against the same opponent & in 2019 in the pool stages against the All Blacks in which the last time that the Springboks had been defeated in a Rugby World Cup game (And they had never put a foot wrong as well as they never looked back after losing to the AB's when they won the last 6 games of the RWC (The 1st side to achieve the feat of winning the tournament after defeat in the opening game) against neighbours Namibia, Italy & Canada in the pools, previous hosts Japan in the quarters, Wales in the semi & last but not least, England in the final in which they successfully triumphed to win their 1st Rugby World Cup since 2007 (And remember, England went into the final (In the end, it all came down to just one match - the very last one (Which is exactly the 2019 RWC final) as favourites compared to the Springboks who were underdogs going into the final against the English, but one of the English prop forwards of Kyle Sinckler (Who was easily been one of the best English rugby players in the 2019 tournament) came off the field with a head injury after being elbowed by his own teammate Maro Itoje, so reserve tight head prop forward Dan Cole came on for the remainder of the final for 77 or 78 minutes allowing the South Africans being able to capitalize & end England's dream of winning the Rugby World Cup (And if Sinckler didn't get concussed, that would've made a difference but the English were robbed of that occasion) by dominating the final to win it by bringing the William Webb Ellis cup back to South Africa from its former glory after 12 years at the most recent RWC final at the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan (And they've made a highly successful documentary about it, known as Chasing The Sun in which the doco is about the Springboks looking to end an 8 year dominance from the All Blacks for a chance of Rugby World Cup glory in 2019, 12 years after their last triumph, but it begins 18 months in the leadup to the tournament in which the South Africans struggled until a new head coach arrives & says that they believe that he agreed that the Boks could actually win the RWC in 2019, inspired by their previous triumphs in 1995 & 2007, in order to change the team's fortunes around) since they beat New Zealand in our penultimate test last year & France for winning the last & most recent test match of the year against the All Blacks also last year with other sides trying to catch up by closing the gap before the next tournament) since winning the most recent Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019? Well, to be honest after the 57 - 0 drubbing against the All Blacks at North Harbour Stadium in Albany in 2017 during a Rugby Championship game, they hadn't lost touch & managed to find the competitive edge since the appointment of Rassie Erasmus as coach at the time (He was replaced by current coach Jacques Nienaber since 2020) as they beat the AB's at Westpac Stadium (Now Sky Stadium) in Wellington in 2018 where they gained from strength to strength, a year before completing the rare double as I mentioned in my previous blogs which is both the Rugby Championship & the big one which is the RWC triumph (Their 3rd overall (After previously winning it in both 1995 & 2007) & 1st since 2007 in which they beat the AB's conquerors in the semi, England (Well, can they bounce back? Because they are expecting to go one better than in 2019 & break a 20 year drought (The last time they did that it was in 2003 where the English became the 1st & only Northern Hemisphere side to triumph at the Rugby World Cup) in the final which is a replay of the 2007 final (The try scorers for South Africa in the 2019 final were both Makazole Mapimpi (Who was the 1st of 2 try scorers for the Boks (Who have never lost a RWC final every time they appeared & is the only side to achieve that feat as I also mentioned in my previous blogs) at a Rugby World Cup final) & Cheslin Kolbe (Who is one of South Africa's best rugby union players since the days of Os du Randt, Bryan Habana, Percy Montgomery, Francois Pienaar & the late Joost van der Westhuizen along with Eben Etzebeth & Malcolm Marx (Their best forwards for South Africa) while Handre Pollard scored 22 points but the standout player or MVP (Most valuable player) of the final was Duane Vermeulen when he exhibited the mastery of a veteran as I also mentioned in my previous blogs). And after that (They didn't play any of their games in 2020 when the entire/whole world was stopped due to the travel restrictions imposed regarding to the corona virus), they won a test series against the British & Irish Lions as well as they crushed the All Blacks hopes of ending our Rugby Championship campaign undefeated, in the final round last year & now, they're still ranked the best top ranked rugby playing nation in the world ahead of us (And they're the tournament favourites heading into next year's RWC in France (Who have their star player of World Rugby player of the year last year of Antoine Dupont as he guided his country's win over New Zealand (Who have up to 5 main challengers going into next year's Rugby World Cup such as Argentina, Australia, France, Ireland & South Africa (Who have their 4 main challengers going into the 2023 tournament such as the Wallabies, England & the All Blacks) but England as well since they beat us in the semi during the 2019 tournament despite that the fact that I hardly mentioned the English in terms of the test matches outside of the RWC as I mentioned before in my previous blogs) last year & began this year with the French ending a 12 year wait of winning Six Nations titles for the 1st time since 2010 as well as the coveted grand slam (And they previously appeared in the final in 1987 (Against the AB's at Eden Park in Auckland), 1999 (Also against the Wallabies at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales) & 2011 (It was against New Zealand again in a rematch of the 1987 final at Eden Park in Auckland) but never won one of them (And are looking to become the 2nd Northern Hemisphere side after England in 2003 to win the tournament) as they looking to end 36 years of agony & pain as I also mentioned in my previous blogs & to follow the French football team's footsteps of winning both Football World Cups in 1998 & 2018) as well as they're looking to become the 2nd side after the All Blacks (Who haven't triumphed since 2015 (The only time the AB's had won the tournament on foreign soil to add to both our triumphs in 1987 & 2011 in which we won those tournaments on home soil (We co-hosted that Rugby World Cup along with Australia in 1987 & we hosted the tournament in 2011) in which we beat the Wallabies of Australia in the final at Twickenham in London, England to become the 1st back to back Rugby World Cup champions & the 1st to win 3 Rugby World Cups) in 2015 to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup) & is established one of the powerhouses in international rugby since their RWC triumph in 2019 by being the world leader & major global player in international rugby.
And when the world stopped in March 2020, Italy (Who are not in this year's Football World Cup in Qatar after losing to North Macedonia in international football's, biggest boil over, in the semifinal of the UEFA qualification playoff (Compared to Iceland's sensational but historic, upset victory which came out of nowhere over England in the round of 16 match at Euro 2016) had begun their plans of winning Euro 2020 which was delayed to a year due to the pandemic & they successfully did when they beat England (Who are in the World Cup along with 31 others including defending champions France (Who got knocked over by Switzerland in the round of 16 match at Euro 2020 last year on penalties) & tournament favourites Brazil (Who is the top ranked football playing nation in the world which lost to Argentina (Winner of the Finalissima (A clash between the best of Europe & the best of South America in international football) against the European champions Italy) in last year's Copa America final) in the final at Wembley in London a year later along with Australia who started their plans of winning the T20 World Cup (The next one is this year with Australia hosting & are the defending champions in this format going into the tournament) which proved to be successful when they won against traditional trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand (Who had beaten India to claim our historic 1st ever World Test Championship last year (Same year that Emirates Team New Zealand's successful shot of defending the America's Cup (Which is by far, the oldest trophy, in international sport, perhaps undoubtly the hardest sporting trophy to win but I have been an avid cup follower since 1995 when Team New Zealand 1st triumphed in San Diego against Dennis Conner & co of Stars & Stripes (They used the Young America yacht in the America's Cup match previously used by the PACT 95 syndicate in order to get up to speed but they didn't as they lost by being swept in the best of nine series 5 - 0) for the 2nd time against Prada Cup champions Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in Auckland & New Zealand claiming 7 gold medals (Including the duo of Kerri Gowler & Grace Prendergast then Emma Twigg, the rowing men's 8, the Black Ferns rugby sevens team (Whose road to redemption after losing to Australia in the gold medal match at Rio 2016 were successful) then Lisa Carrington (New Zealand's most successful Olympian since the good old days of Ian 'Ferg' Ferguson) who did it 3 times & Caitlin Regal who was involved with Carrington) as well as 6 silvers & 7 bronzes at the most recent summer Olympic Games in Tokyo) in Southampton & unable to follow it up by missing out on winning the T20 World Cup in the same year) in Dubai which was November last year a month before the Ashes series began which was won by the Australians who prevailed over the English (Who have their new coach in the test format of former New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum as well as the appointment of their new test captain, Ben Stokes (Who had taken over from Joe Root with Root moving on by relinquishing that skipper's role in the test format before their test series against the defending world test champions, the Black Caps), a year out until the next Ashes series in England against the current holders Australia) to retain the most important test series in international cricket where they haven't lost touch & never put a foot wrong since regaining the Ashes in 2018 (They clinched it in the 3rd test at Perth to go 3-0 up).
And there had been difference between the All Blacks winning the Lions series in 2005 to the drawn series in 2017 that both Tana Umaga & Keven Mealamu didn't get sent off for a lifting tackle off the ball on Brian O'Driscoll, resulting in an serious injury in 2005 during the 1st test in Christchurch which was won by the All Blacks to go 1 - 0 up in the test series (The Television Match Official (TMO) didn't check for foul play way back then until it was introduced in 2013 that the TMO can have a look for foul play (The Television Match Official in rugby union can check for both match changing situations, whether is in the act of scoring a try &/or foul play (Unlike the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in football can consult for 4 things, whether it's a goal, a penalty, red card &/or mistaken identity) but Sonny Bill Williams did when he got red carded for a no arms in the tackle to the head on Anthony Watson after a consultation by the TMO for the referee to go upstairs to review a foul play incident during the 2nd test in Wellington (He was the 3rd AB to have been ordered off in a test after the late Cyril Brownlie & the late Sir Colin Meads (3 other players joined the likes of Brownlie, Meads & Williams such as Scott Barrett against Australia in 2019, Ofa Tu'ungafasi in 2020 against the same opponent, the Wallabies & Scott's brother Jordie Barrett most recently last year in a test also against the Australians) since World Rugby is clamping down on dangerous high tackles when it was introduced on the 3rd of January 2017) meaning that he was hit with a 4 week suspension before the British & Irish Lions kept their test series hopes alive therefore Williams missed that deciding test in Auckland.
And the results of the quarterfinals of this years Super Rugby Pacific are in as the Crusaders are the 1st team to reach the semifinal after slaying the Reds in a rematch of the final round robin game at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch a day before the Chiefs rattled the Waratahs at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton to book a place in the semi against the Crusaders in a replay of last year's Super Rugby Aotearoa final then the Blues advance to the final four off the back of a Beauden Barrett double against the Highlanders at Eden Park in Auckland in a rematch of the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final from last year which was marred by the red card of Highlanders starting hooker Andrew Makalio for a dangerous tackle (They had lost Bryce Heem during the match as a result of a concussion & is likely to miss both the semis & the final if the Blues make it (They had lost influential captain Dalton Papali'i after an injury sustained during the captain's run already along with both other injured players Anton Segner & Caleb Clarke) which deemed to be always banned as said by the Australian referee Angus Gardner before he sent Makalio off for 20 minutes under the red card law interpretations while he had to be replaced by another player after 20 minutes but the red carded player can't come back on the field before the Brumbies (Who had Len Ikitau sent off for a dangerous tackle during the game & has missed a crucial semifinal game against the Blues but is likely to miss the 1st Wallabies test against England in Brisbane as a result of a suspension being handed out by the judiciary) have snapped a 3 match losing streak when they were no match against the Hurricanes in style to make the semifinal at GIO Stadium in Canberra (And the Brumbies had to deliver a Boston Celtics like performance in which the Celtics dominated in the 4th quarter to down the Golden State Warriors in game 1 of the NBA Finals (And one of the Brumbies players provided the Jayson Tatum (Who is a star player of the Celtics compared to Stephen 'Steph the Chef' Curry (Son of ex-NBA player Dell & a 3 time NBA champion with that franchise (The last time the Warriors won an NBA Championship was in 2017-18 in which they had gone back to back while the last time the Boston Celtics (Who are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers with 17 as the most successful NBA franchise but if the Celtics win the NBA finals, the record for most NBA championships is broken) triumphed in the NBA Finals was in 2007-08 including their good player which is the Finals MVP from 2008 of Paul Pierce (Who joined the likes of both Bill Russell & Larry Bird (Who had a formidable rivalry with Earvin 'Magic' Johnson of the LA Lakers during the Celtics-Lakers rivalry which had occured during the 1980's) as their other successful players playing for the Celtics) & has formed a formidable trio of him & 2 others such as Klay Thompson & Draymond Green (But both players who use to play for the Warriors & Celtics such as Kevin 'KD' Durant & Kyrie Irving respectively who now ply their trade with the Brooklyn Nets (Who got beaten by the Celtics in the Eastern conference quarterfinals) of the Golden State Warriors) role in which they ended the Hurricanes 2022 season in an incredible comeback victory in the quarterfinal as well as our hopes & aspirations of claiming a spot in the semi against the Blues (Who'll put their 14 game winning streak on the line against a dominant Brumbies side looking to end the Blues hopes of reaching the final (Unlike England (Who had lost to the Springboks in the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup after Kyle Sinckler came off the field with a head injury early in the game) ended the AB's quest of a historic first ever three peat at the RWC in the semi at the most recent tournament in 2019 just like the Toronto Raptors did against the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA finals) but the men from Canberra has never won a match against the Blues at the garden of Eden since 2013 but let's hope that there will not be an upset on the cards in an highly anticipated rematch of the 1997 Super 12 final in which the Blues won in the end to secure back to back Super 12 titles (And well it is all or nothing to play for, but if the Blues fall to the Brumbies (Who'll have their key player & danger man back for the semis of flank forward Rob Valetini from an injury), their dream of reaching the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final, is over (But fingers crossed by the way, hoping for a Blues - Crusaders final), has ended) in one of the best games from an Australian point of view (Or should I say, perspective) in which the men from Canberra managed to stage a Boston Celtics inspired comeback to win by 10 points after coming from behind.
And here is the confirmed list for the semifinal matches being played in Super Rugby Pacific:
Crusaders Vs Chiefs (Their most recent meeting in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 6 of the competition when the Crusaders ran out as winners against the Chiefs side dealt by problems caused by COVID-19 omicron strain in Hamilton).
& Blues Vs Brumbies (The last time both of these sides had met in Super Rugby Pacific was during the penultimate round of the regular season in which the Blues came away with a win in Canberra after Beauden Barrett secured the match winning drop goal which proved to be successful, therefore breaking Brumbies hearts).
And there has been an update of results of the semis of this years Super Rugby Pacific as the Crusaders are the 1st team to reach the final after a decent win against the Chiefs off the back of a Cullen Grace double (There were 3 yellow cards in the match as well as a red such as Quinn Tupaea for the Chiefs for a dangerous tackle which is a contact to the head on Argentinian born Crusaders loose forward Pablo Matera (Who probably should've gone off for an HIA after being groggy like that) then Matera got his 1st yellow card for continuing to mount penalties such as a no clear release (Tackler not releasing) & his 2nd yellow card which resulted in a red card for a high tackle on Chiefs first five Bryn Gatland by whacking him in the head of a player but he was lucky not to be suspended for the final after the judiciary vowed that Matera had been given the all clear & he is now the 1st Argentinian to win a Super Rugby Pacific title in history (He came so close in 2019 when he was part of the now defunct Jaguares when they clashed the Crusaders in the last ever Super Rugby final) & their record breaking 222 tackles made at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch a day before the Blues have famously beaten the Brumbies, by the barest of margins in a thriller to go through to the final to play the Crusaders at the garden of Eden at Eden Park in Auckland (There were 2 yellow cards dished out in the match such as Kurt Eklund for a lifting/tip tackle on a Brumbies player in which that should've been a red card & Adrian Choat for bashing a Brumbies player in the head but the officiating was dreadful & appalling with New Zealand referee Ben O'Keefe being overlooked for the final but he's not as O'Keefe expected to be the man with the whistle for the Blues clash against the Crusaders in the final) including Blues reserve prop forward Ofa Tu'ungafasi charging down a attempted drop goal by the Brumbies in the dying seconds of the semifinal (Well, I thought Tu'ungafasi was offside to start with when he ran too quick to make the game defining charge down courtesy of that terrible officating by New Zealand referee Ben O'Keefe) match which proved to be the turning point or should I say game changer in which the men from Auckland have won a club record extending 15 in a row (And I love that cheesy one-liner from the other voice of New Zealand rugby of Tony 'TJ' Johnson who said in commentary about the game defining charge down: "Ofa Tu'ungafasi! Where did you come from!?" Compared to Andrew 'Swainy' Swain's comment on Highlander Jona Nareki (The last celeb or famous person I have met in my whole life & there was a photo on Pops Facebook page of me & Pops old students of Jona when I had my hair trimmed back in late 2020 (And when I first met him, Jona tried to shake my hand but I gave him an elbow bump instead) who made that enormous hit to the Western Force player at the time of Jordan Olowofela during a Super Rugby Trans-Tasman game last year, as a heat seeking missile).
So it's the Blues to play the Crusaders in the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final (It is a rematch of the 1998 & 2003 finals in which the Crusaders & the Blues had won the Super 12 titles respectively but their most recent meeting between the 2 teams was 2 months ago in which the Blues won the match at Orangetheory Stadium in which the Blues had ended an 18 year drought to beat the Crusaders (Also the Blues first victory against the Crusaders in Super Rugby since 2014 at Eden Park) in Christchurch but will it be stand-in Blues skipper Beauden Barrett or his brother, the Crusaders captain Scott Barrett to become the new Super Rugby Pacific winning captain to lift the new Super Rugby Pacific trophy this year?) at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday night New Zealand time to decide who will become the 1st ever Super Rugby Pacific champion (Well, I can't wait this Saturday because I am so looking forward to it, so too is Pops not only because he is just a rugby fanatic like me).
And finally there has been an update of the Super Rugby Pacific final as the Scott 'Razor' Robertson coached Crusaders end the Blues quest of becoming champions of the Super Rugby Pacific title in front of a sell out crowd of 43,000 people at Eden Park in Auckland but hopefully that the Blues can change of winning it next year after falling short to the dominant Crusaders side who dented the Blues hopes by snapping a 15 match winning streak & they won their 13th overall title (That's 10 Super Rugby championships, both Super Rugby Aotearoa titles & now, the Super Rugby Pacific championship (And what a disappointing end for the Blues, what a match for our viewers right around the world, but I wonder the headlines will say: CRUSADERS CRUSH BLUES HOPES OF SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC GLORY or more like: BLUES MISS OUT ON WINNING SRP TITLE AGAINST CRUSADERS) because it was supposed to be the Blues year this year but that didn't happen (And it has been all Crusaders as they were in charge during the 1st half (Including a drop goal & a penalty goal by their main key playmaker Richie Mo'unga (Who played like Steph Curry (Who was widely regarded as the best shooter in NBA) when he received his 1st NBA finals MVP as the Golden State Warriors won against the Boston Celtics in game 6 of this year's NBA finals & claim their 7th NBA title) & a try from Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall which was successfully converted by Mo'unga but there is hope for Scott Robertson of becoming the new All Black coach if Ian Foster loses his job by falling out of form because Robertson should've taken over from Steve Hansen back in 2019 after a dismal Rugby World Cup (And Foster got the nod instead with Robertson being overlooked although Razor still has a contract with the Crusaders as coach until at least 2024) but I didn't watch the 2nd half meaning that the Crusaders were always going to win, & they did due to the fact that they've got it, but I'm not watching the replay of the final because I can't watch this anymore, but this is like the All Whites - Costa Rica match for a place in this year's Football World Cup in Qatar with the Costa Ricans dominated by winning the match to secure the last qualification spot therefore they scored an early goal to put them in front & held on until the end, but the match was marred by the red card of New Zealand player Kosta Barbarouses for a foul play incident in which he got suspended for both games against the Socceroos of Australia (Who already qualified by beating Peru on penalties (Just like 2005 in which John Aloisi broke Uruguayan hearts to secure qualification for the 1st time since their debut appearance in 1974 in the 2006 tournament (They qualified by beating Japan but they lost to Brazil before they had a draw against Croatia (Including a goal from Harry Kewell denying the Croatians a chance of making it into the round of 16) in the group games to make it into the round of 16 when they eventually fell against the eventual champions Italy) & in 2017 when they beat Honduras with Mile Jedinak providing the heroics with a hat-trick of goals to make it to Russia in 2018 (They didn't make it into the knockout stages after defeats against the eventual champions France & Peru & a draw against Denmark) but I did a story of the Australian football/soccer team's history at the Football World Cup before in my blog that I did last month) in the 2 game series (The 1st one is in Brisbane followed by Auckland hosting the 2nd game) & of course, the Warriors winning the NBA title for the first time since they had gone back to back in 2017-18 after ending the Celtics hopes of forcing a decider with the win in game 6), & not only they were inconsistent (And that's the Blues 1st defeat since against the Hurricanes in round 2 of this year's competition with Ardie Savea providing the heroics with a game defining try with a kick to come which was successfully converted by Ruben Love in a game was held behind closed doors as a result of omicron throughout the country earlier this year) but what went wrong for the Blues to lose a final like this? Well, they got it all wrong, especially the lineouts that they did not improve (And Luke Romano should've come on early to sort the Blues lineout issues that they heard) which affected their performance on the field & at least the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final is reminiscent to the 1998 Super 12 final that the Crusaders have begun their dominance in Super Rugby, ending the Blues (Who dominated the competition 2 years running in 1996-97) hopes of what would be a chance of a historic threepeat (And it's similar to the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup this year (And I have been watching hockey a lot here in New Zealand, especially on TV when it was shown on ESPN) by ending the Tampa Bay Lightning's hopes of a threepeat).
So that is my 461st blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 9th of this year, stay safe & one love.
P.S. And just wanted to say that it's the late Nan's birthday out there today so I miss her, I always miss her a lot since she passed away in January 2016 (I took over from her by living with Pops since February 2017 after my success that I had when we had the Christmas lights in December 2016 & Pops was impressed so I agreed with him to terms meaning that my days living with Dad from childbirth had ended not only because I did not know that Dad had a job while Pops was retired already in 2011 along with the late Nan in which he had an early retirement) but I always loved her a lot when she was alive.
And finally that we're 1 year away until the next men's Rugby World Cup in France with the opening match between the host nation of the French & the 3 time champions of the tournament of the All Blacks in Pool A at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Whoever wins this will play the top ranked rugby playing nation in the world of Ireland (New Zealand's preferred opponents in the quarterfinal & the nation that has never reached both the semifinal & final stages of the tournament & have never beaten the All Blacks before at a Rugby World Cup (We swept past them in both 1995 in a pool game & at the most recent tournament in 2019 in the quarters) in the quarterfinal who has now taken over as favourites to win the 2023 tournament from the 3 time defending world champions & current World Cup holders South Africa (The AB's preferred opponents in the final in which the Springboks (Who'll open their campaign as well as their title defence against Scotland at Stade Velodrome in Marseille) have never lost the final of the RWC before, but if we lose to France in the opening game of the tournament, it'll be the South Africans in the quarters as I mentioned in my previous blogs (And bear in mind that New Zealand has never lost a pool game before & they have never lost a quarterfinal match since 2007 against the French in controversial circumstances) with the 2023 Rugby World Cup is going to be the most competitive tournament in history in all of the previous Rugby World Cups being held, (And my thoughts would be, a year out until next years tournament? Bring on 2023).
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