Well, it seems that the sport of rugby union is king here in our country of New Zealand because of the All Blacks (Our nation's rugby team) being the most successful rugby union national team mainly due to our winning percentage of nearly 80% over 612 tests ranging from 1903 until last year & have played over 600 test matches as well as 3 Rugby World Cup championships to our name along with our old foe of the Springboks of South Africa (Who are seeking history along with the All Blacks for a record breaking 4th Rugby World Cup championship at next years tournament as well as become the 2nd side to retain the Rugby World Cup & if fit & available that Siya Kolisi is looking to become the 2nd captain (And the 1st South African skipper) to lift the William Webb Ellis cup twice after Richie McCaw in 2015) + 19 Southern Hemisphere rugby titles (Who compete along with the Boks, the Wallabies of Australia & Argentina in the Rugby Championship (It was once known as the Tri Nations before Argentina joined the competition) in the competitions 26 year history as well as 4 Grand Slams achieved over the home unions of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales in 1978, 2005, 2008 & 2010 & some great legendary players including Tony Woodcock, Sean Fitzpatrick, the late Ken Gray, Brodie Retallick, the late Sir Colin Meads, Sir Michael Jones, Richie McCaw, Zinzan Brooke, Aaron Smith, Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith, the late Jonah Lomu, Sir Bryan Williams & Christian Cullen, but my love affair of rugby union began in 1995 as a young toddler watching the 1995 final of the Rugby World Cup (1995 was the 1st time I remembered watching the RWC but I have covered it since 1999 but there is an American movie actor named Jason Momoa (AKA that Aquaman guy who appeared in Game of Thrones) who is a fan of the All Blacks as he met them before back in 2019 during the Rugby World Cup in Japan against Canada then at an airport this year with the players in Auckland) between the traditional rivals of New Zealand & South Africa along with my Dad (He was getting excited when Andrew Mehrtens attempted a drop goal but it sailed wide but Dad was gutted about the result when Joel Stransky broke our hearts when he successfully went for the drop goal (We had to wait for 16 years until our next Rugby World Cup title in 2011 in which Stephen Donald (The man known as Beaver) kicked the winning penalty goal to end 24 years of heartbreak & disappointment (And that was the 1st time I saw the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup on TV) but my standout of the Rugby World Cup that I saw on television was the All Blacks winning the tournament on foreign soil for the 1st & only time in 2015 in a memorable final against our Trans-Tasman rivals of Australia at Twickenham in London, England, in captain at the time Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith & Keven Mealamu's farewell test which will go down in history) in Raetihi in which we infamously watched the match as I mentioned in my blog in 2017.
And here are the potential match ups that are going to look like in this year's Football World Cup knockout stages going forward but I'm exactly doing the football version of it since I did the rugby version in my previous blog (And I can't wait to watch this years Football World Cup (Even though New Zealand are not in it as we lost to Costa Rica (Who are drawn in the group of death in Group E along with 2010 champions Spain, the 4 time world champions Germany & Japan) in the final qualifying match of the Football World Cup) as its being shown on Sky Sport starting with the host nation of Qatar taking to the field against Ecuador on the 21st of November but Pops isn't certainly a football fan (He's mainly into rugby union) except the World Cup, well I am (And I'm mostly a rugby fanatic) along with my Moroccan Jewish mate Leon Benbaruk):
Round of 16
Winner Group A (The Netherlands) vs. Runner-up Group B (USA): Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan
Winner Group C (Argentina) vs. Runner-up Group D (Denmark): Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan
Winner Group D (France) vs. Runner-up Group C (Mexico): Al Thumama Stadium, Doha
Winner Group B (England) vs. Runner-up Group A (Senegal): Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
Winner Group E (Spain) vs. Runner-up Group F (Croatia): Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah*
Winner Group G (Brazil) vs. Runner-up Group H (Uruguay): Stadium 974, Doha
Winner Group F (Belgium) vs. Runner-up Group E (Germany): Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan
Winner Group H (Portugal) vs. Runner-up Group G (Switzerland): Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail*
Quarter finals
Winners of 53 (Spain) vs. Winners of 54 (Brazil): Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan*
Winners of 49 (The Netherlands) vs. Winners of 50 (Argentina): Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail*
Winners of 55 (Belgium) vs. Winners of 56 (Portugal): Al Thumama Stadium, Doha*
Winners of 51 (England) vs. Winners of 52 (France): Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor
Semi finals
Winners of 57 (Argentina) vs. Winners of 58 (Brazil): Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail*
Winners of 59 (France) vs. Winners of 60 (Belgium): Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor*
3rd/4th Place Playoff
Losers of 61 (Argentina) vs. Losers of 62 (France): Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan*
Final
Winners of 61 (Brazil) vs. Winners of 62 (Belgium): Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail*
*: Key matchups
And back onto the rugby union stuff that it's great now that the All Blacks have now won the Rugby Championship this year even though after succumbing to a test series defeat against Ireland (And I mean, what a turnaround, what a tremendous turnaround that we were able to recover after Ian Foster saved his All Blacks coaching job following their win against South Africa (Who we lost in round 1) at the city of gold in Johannesburg in round 2 of this year's Rugby Championship before we lost to Argentina (Who made history once more just like in 2020 in Parramatta in the Tri Nations) in Christchurch especially our discipline may have cost us of winning that test which was a bit of a letdown, then we managed to recover to hammer the Argentinians in Hamilton in which we adapted the kicking game before securing back to back victories against the Wallabies (Including the scrum that New Zealand had awarded for time wasting (Although the Australian first-five of Bernard Foley took too long that they cost the Bledisloe when they got it all wrong) during the 1st Bledisloe Cup test in Melbourne which erupted in controversy, therefore we opened the door for our big chance of winning that test which was a success) to claim the Rugby Championship mainly that the Springboks had failed to get an attacking bonus point despite their victory against Argentina).
And Dad was telling Pops on the 26th of September last month that Jansen went to Auckland to see a K-Pop concert but missed his flight back to Napier & he's now stranded at Auckland Airport, waiting for him & his partner to return to Hawke's Bay (Jans's new home province due to mainly that he wanted a change of scenery).
And finally the draw for next year's Super Rugby Pacific has been revealed with the Crusaders begin their title defence against the Chiefs on February the 24th while the Blues road to redemption begins against the Highlanders then the Super Round at AAMI Park in Melbourne with the great Southern derby match between the Crusaders & the Highlanders then the key matchup in round 4 in which the Crusaders will lock horns with the Blues in the Super Rugby Pacific final rematch (And all 91 games including the final scheduled for the 4th of June, are scheduled to be shown on Sky Sport in New Zealand).
So that is my 467th blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 15th of this year, stay safe & one love, viva Ukraine.
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