Suffragette City/Summer In The City/Bright Lights: My 8th blog of the year 2023

Well, I think the France - All Blacks clash in this years Rugby World Cup could be the match of the tournament along with South Africa's date with Ireland which is the 2nd best key matchup of the tournament (And remember folks, bear in mind that New Zealand's unbeaten run in the pools at the RWC is on the line in which either 3 of these sides like Ireland (Our most preferred quarterfinal opponent in which they never reached the semis & the final in the tournament's 36 year history), Scotland (In which they have never been to the knockout stages since 2015 in which they went down to Australia (Who last been to a final in 2015 against the all conquering All Blacks but never won since 1999 in which at the start of this year that they welcomed back Eddie Jones as their coach hoping to bring back the Bill to their shores since 1999) in controversial fashion in the dying minutes of the quarters) & the reigning world champions the Springboks (Champions of the most recent Rugby World Cup in 2019 in Japan after a dominant display against the nation who stunned New Zealand in the semifinals, England (Who had their prop forward Kyle Sinckler subbed off with a head injury early in the game) as I mentioned in my previous blogs in the final (3 years before Argentina (Who was heavily favoured to win the tournament after Brazil got knocked out by Croatia (The team that Argentina beat in the semi) on penalties in the quarterfinal) really did it at the Football World Cup when they won on penalties, against the defending champs at the time of France in that epic but memorable final being held in Qatar in which was one of the best finals in history in all of the Football World Cups so far (Compared to the final in 1954 where a heavily favoured Hungary team that won the gold medal at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 thought that they could win the World Cup, & they lost to a decent West Germany side who would gone on to win the tournament for the 1st time out of the 4 World Cup titles that they won which set the tone), in a fitting farewell to Argentina's greatest footballer since the late Diego Maradona of Lionel Messi (And I mean how appropriate to Messi as he cements his status as a true football legend & one of Argentina football's best players during modern times) as well as the All Blacks most preferred opponent in the final & are gunning to become the 2nd side to complete their successful defence of the RWC after the AB's did it in 2015 but only once in the history of the Rugby World Cup that a side has gone on to win the tournament in style after losing the opening game, & that honour went to the Boks at the most recent one in 2019 as I also mentioned in my blogs, just like both Spain & Argentina did at the Football World Cup in 2010 & last year respectively) will be our opponents in the quarterfinal, even if we beat or lose to the host nation in pool play (And that's the 1st time that New Zealand will play in the opening match in the tournament since 2011 against Tonga in which we won, compared to the first time France will play in the Rugby World Cup opener since 2007 against Argentina (Their best result was a 3rd placing in which they played France again in a rematch of the tournament opener but last been to a semifinal since 2015 in which Australia beat them & they did not reach the knockout stages last time out in 2019) in which they lost) but one of the most iconic moments of the RWC would have to be the late Jonah Lomu (AKA the enforcer of New Zealand rugby compared to Portia Woodman-Wickliffe being the female equivalent of taking on the enforcer role of New Zealand rugby) tearing to shreds as a star performer & an impact player as I mentioned in my previous blogs where he ran over the top of English player Mike Catt (And the voice of New Zealand rugby at the time of Quinny (Now it's Nisbo (One of my favourite rugby commentators of all time because it used to be the late Bill McLaren (And I like Tony 'TJ' Johnson as well) but Dad prefers Andrew Mehrtens as one of his favourite rugby commentators (And Mehrts was better than Phil Kearns) who has since been taken over as the voice of NZ rugby as Sky currently has broadcasting rights to the rugby here in New Zealand both internationally & domestically) infamously said when Lomu scored that try when he bulldozed Catt during our semifinal encounter against the English in 1995 in one of Rugby World Cup's most iconic moments: "Lomu! Oh, oh!) in 1995 which was my 4th best moment of the tournament since I was born in 1991, ahead of Sam Warburton's red card against France which should've & could've been a yellow by Irish referee Alain Rolland for a tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc in one of the RWC's most controversial decisions but behind Japan shocking the rugby world in akin to a David against Goliath battle with an unlikely, historic upset win against South Africa in the 2015 edition of the tournament but I remember in commentary said by ex-Springbok player Joel Stransky that he said about it: "To steal the game for Japan in one of the most victories in the history of sport, not just in the game of rugby" & also Spain thought that they made it to France 2023 but that didn't count as they had been disqualified for fielding an ineligible player who used a forged passport & had been deducted 10 points which was kinda sad as I mentioned in my previous blogs (And Romania have taken Spain's place in a similar fashion to Euro 92 football in which Denmark failed to qualify as they got beaten by FR Yugoslavia in a qualifier but the Danes (Who originally failed to qualify) confirmed that they have been declared to take part after that they found out that FR Yugoslavia had stripped of their place in the tournament as a result of the civil war being broke out in their home country 10 days before it commenced).

And an update in which a new New Zealand Prime Minister has been decided on a count back, & they have chosen Chris Hipkins to be our new leader commencing on the 7th of February this month, replacing Jacinda Ardern who had to resign as she had opted not to seek re-election & to step away from the leadership in the upcoming New Zealand general election due on the 14th of October this year (And the challenges that Ardern had to deal with during her time as the New Zealand Prime Minister was the tragic shootings unfolded in Christchurch in 2019 in which 51 lives had taken away by that senseless, Australian born gunman who opened fire at both Mosques killing people & the eruption on White Island which claimed 22 lives (And both of them were missing as a result) in the same year, 3 months prior to the tragic events of my generation unfolded with the global COVID-19 pandemic which had arrived on our shores in 2020 (Compared to the September 11th tragedy in America in 2001 as I mentioned in my previous blogs, 5 years before the clamp down on liquids being brought onto the plane with carry on luggage being the exceptions in response to the terror bomb foil plot back in the UK in 2006 a year after the terrorist attacks unfolded in the British city of London on the 7th of July just days after it had been awarded hosting rights of the 2012 summer Olympic Games).

And it's been a year since the volcanic eruption had happened in the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific which was massive & it came underneath the sea by emitting the largest atmospheric explosion recorded on planet earth in more than a century it was the biggest since the eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883 as Pops told me on the 23rd of February.

And finally, back into the rugby stuff as here is the list of the All Blacks scheduled matches for 2023:

Argentina Vs New Zealand: Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza (2023 Rugby Championship)

New Zealand Vs South Africa: Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland (2023 Rugby Championship)

Australia Vs New Zealand: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne (2023 Rugby Championship & 1st Bledisloe Cup test)

New Zealand Vs Australia: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin (2nd Bledisloe Cup test)

South Africa Vs New Zealand: Twickenham Stadium, London, England (Pre-Rugby World Cup friendly)

France Vs New Zealand: Stade de France, Saint-Denis (2023 Rugby World Cup, pool A)

New Zealand Vs Namibia: Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse, France (2023 Rugby World Cup, pool A)

New Zealand Vs Italy: Parc OL, Lyon, France (2023 Rugby World Cup, pool A)

New Zealand Vs Uruguay: Parc OL, Lyon, France (2023 Rugby Word Cup, pool A)

Potential quarterfinal match-up

Vs winner Pool B (Ireland/South Africa/Scotland) or runner up pool B (Ireland/South Africa/Scotland): Stade de France (2023 Rugby World Cup)

Potential semifinal match-up

Vs winner QF1 (Argentina/Australia/England/Wales) or winner QF3 (Argentina/Australia/England/Wales): Stade de France (2023 Rugby World Cup)

Potential final match-up

Vs winner SF1 (Argentina/Australia/England/France/Ireland/South Africa/Wales) or winner SF2 (Argentina/Australia/England/France/Ireland/South Africa/Wales): Stade de France (2023 Rugby World Cup)

So that is my 484th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 8th of this year, viva Ukraine.

I Walk Alone/The Game/My Time Is Now: My 7th blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest on the rugby spotlight as former England coach Eddie Jones has been welcomed back as the new Wallabies coach to replace the embattled New Zealander Dave Rennie & is now in his 2nd tenure (His 1st was he took over from the successful Rod Macqueen from 2001 until 2006 where John 'Knuckles' Connolly had taken over until the 2007 tournament) hoping to bring back the glory days of winning Rugby World Cups just like in both 1991 & 1999 as well as winning back the Bledisloe against New Zealand (Who dominated since 2003 in which they famously won back the Bledisloe Cup after 5 years) where they haven't held it for 21 years (And the headlines would probably say: WELCOME BACK EDDIE, JONES RETURNS TO COACH WALLABIES or more like: FORMER ENGLAND COACH IS BACK AS COACH OF AUSTRALIA RUGBY TEAM AGAIN), & they're after them according to AB's coach Ian Foster, but it's just 7 months until the eyes of the rugby world will be in France, as the nation plays host to the Rugby World Cup tournament (A year before Paris plays host to the summer Olympic Games as well as Germany gearing up to host Euro 2024 (It is Germany's biggest sporting event since the 2006 Football World Cup (Won by Italy who prevailed over France on penalties in the aftermath of an incident involving Zinedine Zidane who took Marco Materazzi out illegally with his head during extra time by hitting the Italian defender in the chest, resulting in a red card to Zidane in his last game of his illustrious football career when Zidane's career had ended in disgrace in his final international) & Barcelona in Spain are preparing to host the 37th America's Cup with Emirates Team New Zealand being the current holders of the prestigious Auld Mug while INEOS Britannia is already locked in as our challenger of record).

And the latest on the cricket as it looks like that Pakistani cricketer Naseem Shah (A young gun who is a bowler) is going to be the next big thing in world cricket after decimating the Black Caps batters during the 1st ODI which resulted victory for Pakistan (Who haven't triumphed at the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup since 1992 against England (The current world champions of both the men's 50 over & 20 over format who last appeared in the final until in 2019 that they won their 1st ever men's 50 over Cricket World Cup against New Zealand (Who had to wait 2 years of winning an ICC sanctioned tournament, in which we won that historic 1st ever World Test Championship in our memorable final of our lives in which Ross Taylor hit the winning runs in front of 4,000 die-hard cricket fans as I mentioned in my previous blogs against India (Who have never won the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup since 2011 & in contention of making another appearance in the World Test Championship final if they lose 1 or 2 out of the 4 tests in an upcoming test series against Australia on Indian soil after the Indians host New Zealand in a limited overs series) which put the final nail in India's coffin for the New Zealanders at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton after the disappointment of both the 2015 & 2019 men's 50 over Cricket World Cup finals against Australia & the English respectively behind them but New Zealand's next cricket tour is against India on Indian soil in a limited overs series which is the last before this years men's 50 over Cricket World Cup being staged in India) in a dramatic super-over at Lord's in London) in the final at the MCG) as he picked up 5 or 6 wickets during the match (And at least we won the ODI series after dominating the last 2 One Day Internationals) but there was a draw in the Sydney test between Australia (Who is on track to reach their 1st World Test Championship final) & South Africa in which the Aussies surprisingly won the test series against the South Africans on Australian soil for the 1st time since 2005-06 after the Proteas would went on to win the last 3 test series in Australia against the Aussies until most recently.

And there once was a rugby story about Wallaby winger Marika Koroibete not being handed a suspension after getting sent off by New Zealand referee Ben O'Keeffe for a dangerous tackle (And yeah, it was in 2017 that the war on dangerous head contact in rugby union began after a major shakeup to the rugby laws which resulted a ban on high tackles, 2 years before the introduction of the decision making framework for tackles regarding to contact to the head & neck, as well as with the tackle height set to be altered in time for this years Rugby World Cup as well as certain law trials used in this years Super Rugby Pacific competition & the Six Nations from the shoulders to the waist area in an effort to make the game safe & the implementation of the high tackle technique warning which results players getting banned for just the 1 game, even if they commit the 2nd high tackle technique warning during the match (And World Rugby's so-called high tackle epidemic is better than the war on gun violence that they're currently having in the USA) during the deciding test against France at Lang Park in Brisbane in 2021 in which the French player Anthony Jelonch took a dive or should I say, simulated like a football player in which the crowd where outraged by giving Koroibete raspberries after he had been shown the red card for a high tackle violation as I mentioned in my previous blogs in which the Wallabies prevailed by winning the test series against the French 2 - 1 after Noah Lolesio's match winning penalty goal, proved to be the game changer but he was cleared of any wrongdoing by the judiciary meaning that he was free to play for the next test against the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland in which the All Blacks won by 8 points.

And in motor racing related news such as Alphatauri test & reserve driver as well as the former Toyota Racing Series champion of Liam Lawson has found a race seat when he competes in Japan's Super Formula series, hoping to emulate Nick Cassidy's success in 2019 in which he became the champion of Super Formula (That was a few years before he made the transition to Formula E in which he is one of the 2 Kiwis involved along with former Toyota Racing Series & GP3 champion Mitch Evans), but the biggest storyline in motorsport going into 2023 is fellow New Zealander & another one of the former Toyota Racing Series drivers of Marcus Armstrong finding a new ride to replace Jimmie Johnson who is heading back to NASCAR part time, in the legendary Chip Ganassi Racing to team up with the 6 time Indycar champion & Armstrong's childhood idol Scott Dixon for the road & street courses (With Japan's Takuma 'Taku' Sato (The former F1 driver who is the most successful Japanese driver in American open wheel racing since Tora Takagi 21 years ago when Sato triumphed in the Indy 500 twice in both 2017 & 2020) given the duties of racing on oval tracks) & will be one of 3 New Zealanders competing in Indycar along with Dixon & Penske driver as well as the former 3 time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin, but Marcus's main goal/objective is to beat the reigning 2 time Indycar Series champion from down under which is Australia (As well as the man who conquered the Indy 500 once in 2018 & is one of the strongest & fittest competitors ever to grace on the Indycar circuit ahead of last year's Indycar Series season), & one of McLaughlin's teammates in the Team Penske stable, Will Power (Who made Team Penske great again in Indycar when he won his 2nd title last year at Laguna Seca after he dominated qualifying where nobody was able to match Power's pole winning time as I mentioned in my previous blogs, but is looking to keep Team Penske great in Indycar if Power remains the champion this year (And yeah, that was a bit of a Donald Trump (The former US president who is running for president again in his last ditch bid of challenging the current US president of Joe Biden at the next US general elections next year) inspired reference that I made about Will Power's success in Indycar, just like South Africa did in 2019 when they won the Rugby World Cup against England (Who broke New Zealand hearts in the semifinal by ending our hopes of reaching another final in a bid for our historic 3rd straight RWC championship, but have never won the tournament since 2003 in which they famously beaten hosts at the time of Australia in the final in Sydney courtesy of a clutch drop goal provided by Jonny 'Wilko' Wilkinson) in the final in Yokohama, Japan (It was 4 years after the Japanese claimed the unthinkable as they shocked the rugby world with an historic upset win against the South Africans in Brighton, England during the pool game, dubbed as the Brighton Miracle with many male Japanese fans in the crowd getting emotional about the victory as Pops told me back in 2015, which turned the rugby world upside down) where they made South African rugby great again, but the Springboks are gunning to keep South African rugby great if they were to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup in France this year (And again I have made another one of the references, inspired by Trump about the Boks success at the 2019 tournament, but let's make New Zealand rugby great again after our failure in 2019 (That was the year before the global corona virus pandemic had happened in 2020 in March after the World Health Organisation had declared it when COVID-19 began to spread, resulting in both Euro 2020 (Won by Italy (Who didn't appear in the last 2 Football World Cups after failing to qualify twice on that occasion) after their victory against England (Who lost to France in the quarterfinal of the Football World Cup last year) on penalties at Wembley Stadium in London) & the Tokyo Olympics (In which our country of New Zealand won 7 gold medals at that games (The most in the modern era, but were 1 shy of the all time record set in Los Angeles in 1984 with 8) being delayed to a year) against the English in the semi, ending our quest of a 3rd consecutive Rugby World Cup title) as well as either McLaughlin who is the title favourite this year & the former 2 time champion of American Josef Newgarden who did it twice in 2017 & 2019) but the ticket price for the Indycar double-header in Iowa as well as their concerts are going to be high as well as being expensive/dear due to inflation still being affected worldwide according to the price hike in which most racing fans are livid about that.

And finally that the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Who had a photo with both Pops & Carole back in 2020) is forced to give up the top job in the country as she announced that she's out as the Prime Minister of New Zealand by resigning, but I was shocked & surprised about the reaction of her calling her time as PM, who she served from 2017 until this year which is election year in which Ardern will not be seeking re-election as her daughter of Neve te Aroha who is preparing to go to school, so that's why she had to resign as she will remain Prime Minister until the day after Waitangi Day which is the 7th of February as she prepares to walk away from the leadership for good with many of the front runners are stepping up to replace Ardern.

So that is my 483rd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 7th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Creep/I Don't Want To Be Blind: My 6th blog of the year 2023

Well, there was an incredible story about Richie McCaw (Who was the 1st New Zealander to reach 100 test caps (Along with Mils Muliaina, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock, Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Kieran Read, Owen Franks, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett & Brodie Retallick) for the AB's (It was against France during a pool game at the Rugby World Cup in 2011 in which Dan Carter stole the show for his best game of the tournament as he was the standout player of the game but the most recent All Black to join the 100 test club was Brodie Retallick (Who served a 2 week ban after becoming the 8th different All Black after the late Cyril Brownlie, the late Sir Colin Meads, Sonny Bill Williams (Who took Anthony Watson out with a dangerous cleanout similar to Retallick did on Himeno in 2017 in which the AB's would lose a test against the British & Irish Lions in Wellington), Scott Barrett (For a cheap shot on Wallabies captain at the time of Michael Hooper in which we caused us to lose the 1st Bledisloe Cup test in Perth in 2019 which was World Cup year), Ofa Tu'ungafasi (For his sanctions on Australian winger Tom Wright in which he whacked him in the head with his shoulder during the 4th & final Bledisloe Cup test in 2020 in which we were on the losing side), Jordie Barrett (For his troubles in which he laid out Marika Koroibete with his foot straight to the head but was lucky not to get suspended by the citing officer after being cited in which we won the 3rd & final Bledisloe Cup test in 2021) & Angus Ta'avao (For illegally taken Garry Ringrose out with a crude headbutt in a head on head clash during the 2nd test in Dunedin last year in which the Irish won to keep their hopes of winning the test series alive) to be sent off in a test by Georgian referee Nika Amushukeli for the dangerous cleanout on former Highlanders player Kazuki Himeno during the test against Japan at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo & had to serve an intervention programme run by the sport's governing body World Rugby in order to avoid getting red carded again) in our most recent rugby test against England 2 months ago in which the English came back to snatch a draw after Beauden Barrett easily got yellow carded for a professional foul that looked a bit cynical, on English first-five Marcus Smith in which they thought was a penalty try during the test with New Zealand's hopes of sealing our 1st test win against England since 2018 (A year before England ended our hopes of a historic first ever threepeat of the RWC in the semi (And I exactly remember that we've blown it in Yokohama against the English in the semifinal (As described by All Black halfback Aaron Smith that the New Zealand changing room had turned into a funeral according to the comment Pops made to me in 2019 in which we were disappointed & so gutted about the result) & after South Africa won against Wales in the other semi that the RWC was on the line in the final between England & the Springboks, in a replay of the 2007 final with the Boks winning their 3rd Rugby World Cup title (To join the All Blacks as the other 3 time winners of the Rugby World Cup), & their 1st in 12 years (Just like they did in 2007 to add to their title in 1995 as their other RWC triumphs for the South Africans) as they dominated the game much after their English prop forward Kyle Sinckler went off with a head injury that took him out of the match so Dan Cole had to come on to the field as an HIA replacement for Sinckler, for the remainder of the final which was about 77 or 78 minutes but the English missed out when they got crushed as South Africa (Who had both Makazole Mapimpi (Who was the 1st South African player in history to score a try in the Rugby World Cup final) & Cheslin Kolbe (Who mesmerized Owen Farrell with a beautiful but lovely sidestep then he had gone all the way to the try line to score) as their try scorers during the final) became for the right to be called themselves as the world champions) & our 1st defeat at the tournament since 2007 against France (Of who the AB's will play in the tournament opener a fortnight after we play the reigning Rugby World Cup champions of South Africa (Who'll begin their title defence against Scotland in Marseille) in a pre-RWC test in Twickenham in London, England & our 1st meeting against the French (Our last meeting was in 2021 where the French (Who played like the Irish a week earlier but their style of play had been entirely different), ended our hopes for victory in which France (The current Six Nations champions who won it last year & ranked number 2 in the world behind Ireland (Who is ranked number 1 in the world after their historic test series win against New Zealand last year & are the tournament favourites in this years Rugby World Cup taking over from South Africa but they haven't won the Six Nations championship since 2018 compared to Wales who haven't won it since 2021 as well as England who has never won the Six Nations since 2020 & Scotland who haven't triumphed in the Six Nations since 1999 which was during the Five Nations era & they haven't won it since while Italy (Who don't deserve to be in the Six Nations, but why South Africa should replace them? And if they're in the competition, they would have to be based in Europe for the forseeable future) have never won it in the tournament's history but there is something interesting in Super Rugby Pacific this year as there are 3 key matchups to look forward to such as the opener in round 1 between the 11 time defending champions of SRP, the Crusaders taking on the Chiefs in a rematch of the semifinal from last year at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch as well as the red & blacks face the Highlanders in the great southern derby at AAMI Park in Melbourne during the super round in round 2 & of course they play the Blues in a replay of this year's Super Rugby Pacific final (In which the Crusaders dominated where the final which was lopsided when it ended in a one-sided affair where the Blues (Who are seeking redemption in this years upcoming Super Rugby Pacific season according to their captain Dalton Papali'i (Who is still haunted by that final defeat from last year) just fell agonizingly short of a chance of claiming their 1st full Super Rugby crown since 2003 & they were gutted about the result in which the Crusaders won) during round 4 of the competition) but both sides are due to meet in round 2 of this years Six Nations) had their 1st win against the All Blacks since 2009 in Dunedin & the 1st victory against New Zealand on French soil since 2000 in Marseille but there was one English writer that Pops told me predicting that France will win the tournament for their 1st RWC crown (And they have never done that before in the tournament's history after coming so close 3 times in 1987, 1999 & 2011 as I mentioned in my previous blogs & are gunning to end 36 years of pain & agony) but the people of Australia think that the Wallabies could actually win the tournament while some say it might be an Australia - France final just like in 1999 (It was the year that the Wallabies had last won a Rugby World Cup but they haven't done it since when they last appeared in the final in 2015 in which they fell short against the all-conquering AB's) while the Irish might have an outside chance of winning the tournament not only they're the top ranked rugby playing nation in the world & are favourites to win the RWC, but have never reached both the semis & final before after losing in the quarterfinal on 7 occasions (1987 & 1991 against Australia, 1995 & 2003 against France, 2011 against Wales, 2015 against Argentina & 2019 against New Zealand, but will the Irish make history this year to reach the semis for the 1st time in the tournament's history? We'll find out in 7 months time) had been evaporated) unlike their national football team missed out last month on defending their Football World Cup title in which they lost on penalties against the Lionel Messi led Argentina who had to win their 3rd Football World Cup championship (And here's an interesting fact that every time Canada would appear in a Football/Soccer World Cup, Argentina would've gone on to win the tournament (And only once that the Argentinians have won the World Cup even though Canada didn't qualify, it was in 1978), & they did it twice in both 1986 & last year), & their 1st since 1986 to add to their title in 1978, in that memorable but iconic final in Football World Cup history (And the Argentinians had a great tournament despite the single blip against the Saudis (Who ended Argentina's 36 match unbeaten streak (And they were just 1 shy of the all-time record set by the current European champions Italy with 37 who were destroyed & crushed as the Italians were stunned after missing out on making the Football World Cup again after their defeat against North Macedonia (Who pulled off a Sweden in 2017 before falling to Portugal (Who beat Turkey in the Football World Cup European qualification playoff semi, but lost to Morocco in the quarterfinal of last years tournament as they became the 1st African side in history, to advance to the semis of the World Cup) in the final of the Football World Cup UEFA qualification playoff) earlier last year, in the semifinals of the Football World Cup European qualifying playoff) in their opening game of the tournament) since the game in 1950 (There was no final way back then) between Uruguay & Brazil in which the Uruguayans came out of nowhere to beat the hosts at the time of Brazil in an epic match (That was 8 years before Brazil ended their wait & would gone on to win their 1st of 5 Football World Cup championships way back in 1958 which was a long time ago) at a Rugby World Cup since 2015 in which we hammered them in a blowout in the quarterfinal which ended in sheer humiliation, including Julian Savea's heroics in which he bagged himself a hat-trick during the knockout game in which was the biggest winning margin at a knock out game in the RWC since the AB's completely thrashed Wales 49 - 6 at Ballymore in Brisbane, Australia way back in 1987 marred by that serious foul play incident in which Welsh lock forward Huw Richards had been shown the red card for striking one of the Whetton twin brothers then New Zealand loose forward Buck Shelford laid Richards out with his fist, but luckily he didn't get sent off (And he should've been should today's modern video technology replays be available) in the quarterfinal in which our unbeaten run at the RWC began, stretching back to 2011 in the opener against Tonga (+ both Rugby World Cup triumphs in 2011 in the final against our formidable rivals France at Eden Park in Auckland which was a close encounter & 2015 in the final against our Trans-Tasman neighbors Australia at Twickenham in London, England which was our most memorable moment our of lives in New Zealand rugby (And that was the 1st & only time, that the AB's had won the tournament away from home) in which McCaw, Carter & 3 others including Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith & Keven Mealamu who had their last games of their rugby careers) until the quarterfinals in 2019 against Ireland) & is the most capped All Black at 148, compared to Alun Wyn Jones of Wales being the most capped player in test rugby at 160 (148 for the Welsh & 12 times for the British & Irish Lions) in the 2011 Rugby World Cup that he played with a broken foot that he had for the duration of the tournament when the AB's had ended a 24 year wait of winning a RWC title (It was at the beginning of 2011 that McCaw sustained an injury during Super Rugby preseason with the Crusaders that he was intially ruled out for the whole season, especially the RWC but he managed to play in that tournament in which he defied his doctors orders of playing with an injury in which the All Blacks became the last host nation to win the tournament (And my thoughts after New Zealand infamously won the 2011 tournament in style after 24 long years on our home patch: "Hail to the king baby! I've got balls of steel!" (And that's both lines taken from the Duke Nukem games but I prefer Doom as my favourite shooting game series (I've got both the first Doom & Doom II games on the PS4 while Dad is into Call of Duty now but I prefer the 2005 version of Star Wars: Battlefront II as one of my favourite shooting games of all time) but also that Dan Carter got injured during training before our last pool game of the 2011 tournament against Canada meaning that his tournament was over as Aaron Cruden (Who originally missed selection when the selectors preferred both Carter & Colin Slade before the 2011 RWC) took Carter's place as an injury replacement (Then Stephen Donald (Who also along with Cruden missed selection & was the one who made that crucial mistake of not kicking it out when the All Blacks infamously lost against the Wallabies in a Bledisloe Cup test in Hong Kong back in 2010) assumed the call up in the aftermath of Slade getting injured whilst he was on a whitebaiting mission in the Waikato region as I mentioned in my previous blogs & kicked the penalty goal after coming on for the injured Cruden during the 1st half) allowing Piri Weepu to assume the playmaking duties for the rest of the tournament but however he strained a quad during the warmup against France in the final in which he struggled his goal kicking allowing Andy Ellis to take his place but Beaver's winning penalty goal was the turning point to achieve immortality by lifting te Wiremu aloft, 24 years after the events of 1987 in which David Kirk became the 1st All Black skipper to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy at Eden Park in Auckland against France in that infamous final of the inaugural Rugby World Cup as seen on national television as I mentioned in my previous blogs) but I'm looking forward to the upcoming rugby season this year especially the RWC that they're gonna have during the September-October period (And my thoughts heading into the rugby season this year: "Do not count your chickens before they hatch...You mess with the bull, you get the horns").

And the latest on the NFL as Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin had suffered a heart attack after being felled by a tackle during an NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals where he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but his health had been steadily improving since being admitted in hospital but the NFL is showing solidarity to him with the remainder of the match between the Bills & the Bengals will not continue after that frightening incident in which Hamlin nearly passed away (And the 1st celebrity to pass away this year was American rally driver, car culture icon & the founder of the Hoonigan company, Ken Block at the age of 55 in which he was involved in a tragic snowmobile crash over in Utah but my thoughts are after Block tragically passed away: All thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the Block family for what they have just seen, rest in pieces (RIP) to the great man who had a decent life in which he was hooked into cars by becoming a car enthusiast (Then the 2nd celeb to pass away was German model Tatjana Patitz then the daughter & only child of the late singer & entertainer of Elvis most recently, Lisa Marie Presley at 54 (But I wanted to give condolences but all thoughts & prayers are behind both of the families of Patitz & Presley respectively so rest easy to both of them).

Ken Block

1967 - 2023

Tatjana Patitz

1966 - 2023

& Lisa Marie Presley

1968 - 2023

And the latest on the football is Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo signing a new deal to join a Saudi Arabian club of Al-Nassr but he has to serve a 2 game ban as a result of an incident involving him knocking a fans phone while he was with his former club Manchester United back in April last year (And he is among the suspended players list along with FC Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski of Poland who is suspended for 3 matches for an obscene gesture directed at opposition fans which resulted in a sending off by the referee).

And finally in Brazil that protesters storm onto the parliament & supreme court buildings illegally in Brasilia demanding that Jair Bolsonaro (Who lost in an election on the 31st of October last year in the 2nd round of voting) should not accept defeat in last year's election against the current Brazilian president Lula da Silva reminiscent to the events of the Capitol insurrection riots on January 6th, 2021 (And in the aftermath of the events of January 6th that security measures had been stepped up in the Capitol buildings by coming out of an abundance of warning since while the US Capitol Police is on standby by their civil disturbance units for several protests on the Capitol grounds that have already been granted permits and at the Supreme Court building) which triggered a huge breach to security which there will be repercussions in the aftermath of the event (And so the Brazilian law enforcement units have been summoned & arrived by first using tear gas to disperse crowds & there has been an update as heaps of arrests being made due to vandalism to the facilities but there will be security upgrades possible to both the parliament & supreme court buildings such as gates being installed therefore stopping any future incidents being happened) but there has been an update as 1,500 protesters have been detained for attacks to the parliament buildings, resulted that security had been upped throughout the parliament buildings following the incident compared to the Peru protests that turned sour & violent in which the death toll was risen to 47 which was about the call made by supporters of the ousted president of Peru, Pedro Castillo as well as the main goal demanding the resignation of the current president Dina Boluarte, but there is a curfew in place from 8pm until 4am for 3 days in a bid to stamp out violence throughout the area to protect the life, integrity & freedom of citizens following the conflicts in Puno, the Council of Ministers tweeted Tuesday, aimed at putting an end to (A rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force as well as 6 people have been stabbed & got wounded at Gare du Nord which is a busy train station located in Paris as the armed attacker got shot & had his weapon disarmed by law enforcements when he got neutralized & apprehended which resulted in major delays in a frightening incident as well as I haven't mentioned about the shootings in Virginia at a University where 3 have been killed & 2 others have been injured but 4 of the victims, including the 3 who died, were members of the UVA football team while the suspected gunman is facing 3 counts of second-degree murder & other charges in connection to the shooting & also the mass shooting in Buffalo in May last year at a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in the East Side neighbourhood, claming 10 victims in a serious incident fuelled with racism, which resulted the alleged gunman being charged with both murder & terrorism by pleading guilty & is likely to be sent behind bars for life with no parole & also a 6 year old shot a teacher at a school which resulted the very young gunman likely to serve in juvenile detention (And the war on gun violence in the United States (Which has the reputation of being the most dangerous country in the world due to the high murder rate involving firearms) has to stop (Well, this is making me sick), especially those innocent people getting targeted by being shot to death by those suspected gunmen by introducing the bipartisan law (AKA the domestic partner loophole) which prohibits would be criminals from accessing guns in the aftermath of the Ulvalde shooting tragedy last year (Same year that the clamp down on abortion rights in America was implemented in the aftermath of the decision made by the supreme court, to overturn Roe v Wade) & raising the legal age from 18 to 21 just like they raised the drinking age which helped reduce vehicle accidents, in an effort to keep the country safe just like 4 years ago in 2019 in March that the Mosque shootings have happened in Christchurch in New Zealand which resulted in a crack down on high powered rifles like the AR-15 semi automatic rifle used in the shooting here in our country, in the aftermath of a tragic event like that (And the suspected gunman who conducted the shooting was from Australia while the Christchurch terror attacks was reminiscent/shades of the tragic shootings in Port Arthur in the island of Tasmania in Australia in 1996 (And in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre where gun laws might have worked with many of the high powered rifles were seized & destroyed by police as a result of the clamp down on them) as I mentioned in my previous blogs & it was worse than the tragic events unfolded in Aramoana in 1990).

So that is my 482nd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 6th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Love Me Again/Thanks fr the Mmrs/Without Me: My 5th blog of the year 2023

Well, this is my post 2022 Football World Cup blog that I'm doing now since the tournament's ended while it has been an incredible year in sport in 2022 despite inflation being hit around the world in countries such as Turkey & Argentina which resulted prices being raised for the matter meaning that everything is expensive/dear, the arrival of omicron in New Zealand which lasted 8 months, the protests about the Ottawa siege had taken place in Wellington during the omicron outbreak reminiscent of the January 6th riots in Washington DC in 2021, the Ulvalde shooting tragedy in the lone star state of Texas in the USA which claimed 21 innocent lives which included 19 children & both teachers, the end of abortion rights in America after the supreme court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade, the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe which was shades of the JFK assassination in 1963, the raids at the former US President Donald Trump's residence at Mar-El-Lago in Florida in which documents about the events of the Capitol Insurrection on January 6th had been seized by the FBI, China introducing a zero corona virus loophole by imposing a full scaled shut down mode in most parts of the country like in Beijing & Shanghai due to the big COVID-19 surge according to their government (It was lifted last month but there are so many confirmed cases of the corona virus including that new variant is starting to spread recently just like both Delta we had in mid to late 2021 & Omicron earlier last year), Her Majesty the Queen of Queen Elizabeth II passing away due to natural causes according to the death report, allowing His Royal Highness Prince Charles to take over the duties as the new King of of the Commonwealth by becoming His Majesty the King of King Charles III, the American state of Florida ravaged by Hurricane Ian & the Democrats retaining control of the senate but the Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives in this years US mid-term elections such as the 2 golds & a silver at the Beijing Winter Olympics for New Zealand then we won a whopping record of 20 gold medals at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games which is the most outside of our home country as well as 12 silvers & 17 bronzes in which we won 49 medals (The most outside of New Zealand) for our country while our very own Black Ferns led by both co-captains of Ruahei Demant & Kennedy Simon went on to defend the Women's Rugby World Cup & to win it for the record extending 6th time against the much dominant England side who went into the final off the back of a 30 match winning streak, in that memorable final of our lives throughout the women's side of it in front of a sold out Eden Park in Auckland before the Jos Buttler led England won the T20 World Cup against the nation who beat the Black Caps in the semi final of Pakistan at the MCG (Which is preparing to be gearing up to host the Boxing Day test which is the 2nd test match of the 3 match test series between Australia & South Africa) in Melbourne as well as the country who ended the world number 1 ranked New Zealand Kiwis hopes of reaching the final for the 1st time since 2013 in the semifinal, the Kangaroos of Australia led by Sydney Rooster James 'Teddy' Tedesco (Who once played for Italy in both RLWC's in 2013 & 2017 but he is now an Australian) retaining the Rugby League World Cup for the record 12th time against Toa Samoa of Samoa who became the 1st nation in history from the Pacific Islands to reach the final after wins against Tonga in the quarterfinal & hosts at the time of England in the semifinal which was decided by golden point in which the Samoans came through in a historic upset after losing to them in the opening match of the Rugby League World Cup & made history at Old Trafford in Manchester, England but the biggest sporting headline in 2022 would have to go to Argentina (Coached & captained by both Lionel's of Scaloni & Messi (Who ended his World Cup career as a winning player when at that moment, he hoisted the trophy aloft by becoming the 1st Argentinian skipper since his childhood idol, the late great Diego Maradona in 1986 as well as being awarded his player of the game efforts for his heroics in the final in which he scored both goals which just shades his Paris Saint-Germain club teammate Kylian Mbappe & his hat-trick of goals that he scored (The 1st since Englishman Geoff Hurst did it in 1966 & won it for his country against Germany in the final at the old Wembley Stadium where England for the only time, would gone on to win the Football World Cup (They won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 against the hosts at the time of the Wallabies of Australia in the final at Stadium Australia in Sydney with Jonny Wilkinson provided the clutch moment of scoring the winning drop goal at extra time that put them into the lead & held on to win that final in style, & they won the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup in 2019 against the Black Caps of New Zealand in the final at Lord's in London which was decided by a super over which was the 1st in history but it was the English who emerged triumphant as a result of the boundary count back regulation in which they scored the most boundaries than us) & also being named the best player of the tournament (Emulating Croatia's Luka Modric who did it in 2018), & I mean what a player just because Messi is like a complete package for his success on the football pitch especially for higher honors (Compared to Cristiano Ronaldo & Neymar who both failed to adapt as well as Messi of course being succeeded on his own right on that occasion) as he is widely regarded as one of the best footballers of all time in the modern era (Compared to Brazilian football legend Pele who passed away most recently due to declining health who is one of the greatest footballers in the world of all time to ever grace onto the football pitch so RIP to the great humble man who became the loyal servant of Brazilian football & he was an integral member of the Football World Cup winning side for Brazil in 1958 (His first in which Brazil 1st triumphed in the Football World Cup against hosts at the time of Sweden in the final including that the goal that he scored by becoming the 1st teen to score a goal in the Football World Cup final followed by Kylian Mbappe in 2018 in which France did it against Croatia), 1962 (In which he played the opening game against Mexico in which he got injured during the game & missed the remainder of the tournament including the final) & 1970 (His last ever World Cup title in which he bowed out to end on a high note against Italy in that memorable final in which the Brazilians regained the crown) & what a way to end his international football career as Leo finishes off in style of achieving the boyhood dream of becoming a Football World Cup winning player as well as the captain of a Football World Cup winning side along with 25 others like Angel di Maria, Emiliano Martinez, Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Rodrigo de Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Julian Alvarez, Marcos Acuna, Lisandro Martinez, Gonzalo Montiel, Leandro Paredes, Enzo Fernandez, Cristian Romero, Juan Foyth, Nicolas Otamendi, Nahuel Molina, German Pezzella, Ezequiel Palacios, Angel Correa, Franco Armani, Geronimo Rulli, Thiago Alamada, Guido Rodriguez, Papu Gomez & Nicolas Tagliafico for example & the head coach/manager of Lionel Scaloni who is in fact a former player when they achieved as they were on top of the world by becoming world beaters on that occasion) but all thoughts, condolences & prayers go to the family of Pele but most former Brazilian footballers were disappointed that they didn't go to Pele's funeral when the funeral was held privately which was exclusive to family members as Pops told me on the 6th of January when we had dinner at Carole's place) as well as being the best Argentinian footballer ever produced, even since the days of the late Maradona) who were teammates when Argentina competed in the 2006 Football World Cup in Germany) for winning football's most treasured prize & the pinnacle of world football, the Football World Cup who began their campaign with defeat (Their 1st since 2019 against Brazil, in the semifinal of the Copa America competition) against Saudi Arabia (And that was the Argentinians only blemish in the tournament so far & as luck would have it by going all the way to win the World Cup in style by finishing it off against the French on spot kicks in that epic final widely regarded as the best in the tournament's 92 year history) who made history by shocking the football world & ended the Argentinians 36 match unbeaten run (They were 1 shy of the all-time record set by the defending European Football champions Italy (The one that beat England in the final which was decided by penalties of the delayed Euro 2020 at Wembley until that unbeaten run was broken by Spain (Who the Italians beat in the semi of the Euros on penalties) in the semifinal of the UEFA Nations League in 2021) including their Copa America triumph in 2021 against Brazil in the final at the empty Maracana stadium due to COVID-19 reasons before winning 6 straight (Against both Mexico & Poland in the group stages, Australia in the round of 16, the Netherlands in the quarters, Croatia in the semis & France in the final as I mentioned before in my previous blog) en route to the title just like Spain did in 2010, after their win on penalties against the defending champions at the time of France to win their 3rd World Cup crown after previous triumphs in both 1978 & 1986 in that memorable final that I've ever seen which the best football game that I've watched, in any form for a long time which was in fact my life changing moment throughout the football perspective side of it (And the latest on the post Football World Cup news such as Welshman Gareth Bale of LAFC, has called time on his international career after appearing both European Championships in 2016 as well as 2020 & a single Football World Cup tournament most recently last month which is last year in which Wales would appear in just their 2nd Football World Cup & their 1st since 1958 & also the French World Cup winning player in 2018 of Raphael Varane (Who now plays for Manchester United) calling it quits in international football).

Pele

1940 - 2022

And with Formula 1 is about to be broadcasting from Sky NZ this year, I have decided to follow F1 again, with the 2023 season fielding 3 rookies such as 2 former Formula 2 champions from Australia & the Netherlands, Oscar Piastri (The guy who taken over Daniel Ricciardo's race seat who chose 81 as his car number through out his career which was during his kart days) in the McLaren & Nyck de Vries (Who is a former Formula E champion whose race number is 21 previously used by Mexican Esteban Gutierrez & one of 2 Dutch drivers on the F1 grid along with the current twice world champion Max Verstappen) in the Alphatauri & the American of Logan Sargeant (The 1st American in F1 since current Indycar driver Alexander Rossi (The Indy 500 winner back in 2016) in 2015 who made the decision to use Stoffel Vandoorne's old racing number of 2 & followed the European system of making it into F1 instead of following the American system which was the pathway to Indycar) & the 3 world champions (2 former & 1 current) on the grid with the departure of the retirement bound 4 time world champion from Germany of Sebastian Vettel, such as the twice world champion in the Aston Martin to replace Vettel, Fernando Alonso (Who made his debut way back in 2001 at the Australian Grand Prix, a year after the great German of Michael Schumacher (Who is a 7 time world champion along with Hamilton & the 1st German to win the world championship followed by Vettel who did it 4 times & Nico Rosberg (Son of Keke who was the 1st Finnish driver to win the World Championship followed by Mika Hakkinen (Who once regarded as Michael Schumacher's greatest rival) twice & Kimi Raikkonen) won his 3rd world title, his 1st for Ferrari (Who competed in F1 since 1950) once) & the year before Schumacher won his 5th F1 crown where he tied with the late Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio), the former 7 time world champion in the Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton (Who made his F1 debut in 2007 in Australia, a year after Michael Schumacher's 1st retirement in F1 as well as Fernando Alonso winning his 2nd & most recent F1 crown & the year before Hamilton would gone on to win his 1st of his 7 World Championships) & the current 2 time Formula 1 world champion in the Red Bull (Their last win in F1 was at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year in which he extended the record with 15 wins in a single season previously set by both Schumacher in 2004 & Vettel in 2013 with 13 then they lost so many of their upgrades that they had like a loss of 10% of wind tunnel development after getting fined $7 million for infringements regarding to the cost cap back in 2021 when Verstappen 1st triumphed in F1 when he beat Mercedes driver & the defending world champion at the time of Lewis Hamilton (Who would've achieved his legendary status as the greatest F1 driver of all time if he won his record breaking 8th World Championship) for the title), Max Verstappen (The son of former driver Jos who made his F1 debut in 2015, also in Australia the year after Lewis Hamilton won his 2nd World Championship, his 1st with Mercedes & the year before Nico Rosberg winning his maiden F1 world championship before retiring from the sport as well as the 2nd son of a former World Champion after Damon Hill (Son of the late Graham) to become World Champion) but I like the introductory call at the start of every Formula 1 race since Sky Sports UK took over the broadcasting rights of F1 since 2012 from the current voice in Formula 1 better known as 'Crofty' of David Croft (It used to be the late Murray Walker who used to be the original voice of F1 (Too bad he passed away in 2021) "It's lights out, & away we go!" compared to me saying "Away we go!" a lot every time at the start of a rugby, football/soccer or especially a wrestling match (But I always say "Here we go!" at the beginning of a cricket or tennis match) as well as the start of a sporting event on which was influenced by Croft (I always say that famous introductory call of "It's lights out, & away we go!" or "And it's lights out & away we go!" in the F1 games that I play on the PS4 &/or PS5 then at the start of a motor race on TV as well as the Gran Turismo 7 game (My favourite part of the game would have to be the open wheel single seater racing cars including both the Super Formula SF19 & SF23 cars as well as the Gran Turismo F1500T-A & the 1988 McLaren Formula 1 car, but I like the tin top racing cars as well (Like the Super GT, DTM & the FIA GT Championship & also, cars from the Group GT3 class & the old All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship but I like the classic Group C, LMP1 & Le Mans Hybrid racing cars) which I always say at the start of each open wheel single seater race "The field is about to accelerate as they come off the final corner, waiting for the start & here we go!" & "And here we go!" influenced by once the voice of Indycar/CART of Paul Page (Who once famously said "I'm Paul Page, from Papyrus, this is Indycar Racing!" in the Indycar Racing game & "I'm Paul Page, from Papyrus, this is Indycar Racing II!" in the Indycar Racing II game) as well as everytime I always say at the start of an Indycar race on Forza Motorsport 7 "Watch for that green flag, & here we go!" or "Watch for that green flag, & the race is on!" which is influenced by Irish race car driver turned racing commentator of Derek 'Double D' Daly (Father of current Indycar racer Conor who is an Irish American) from the Andretti Racing game that I've got now on PC & also I always say every time at the start of a NASCAR race in the Forza 7 game "The field comes off the final corner, the race is on!" or "The pace begins to quicken, the green flag is out!" as well as I always say on the Gran Turismo 7 game at the start of each race involving tin top racing cars "And there it is! The race is on!" or "The field comes down looking for the start, the race at (Insert track name here) is on!" which is inspired by the late American motor racing broadcaster Bob Jenkins (Before Australian born American Leigh Diffey took over as the current voice of Indycar on television) from the same game & also taken from British race commentator & the voice of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC) of Jonathan Green every time at the start of the F1 race that I watch on TV & sometimes I play on the F1 games on both the PS4 & PS5 "Out go the lights! And away we go! But of course I always say every time at the start of a motor race whether it's a standing start "The revs go up, it's about time for the start of the race, we're underway!" or a rolling start as well as a rugby, football or wrestling match "We're underway!").

And the latest on the rugby as both All Blacks of Shannon Frizell & Richie Mo'unga have been signed with a Japanese club competing in the Japan Rugby League One competition in Japan (Well, that is going to be a massive blow for the AB's (Who haven't truimphed since 2015 against the Wallabies (The last time Australia had a successful Rugby World Cup glory, it was in 1999 (The only time that Australia had conceded a try during the tournament was against the United States in which Juan Grobler had scored during a pool game against the Aussies) to add to their title in 1991) in our most memorable final of our lives in which we completed the successful defence of the RWC at Twickenham (And it was 8 years ago that the 1st & only time, that the All Blacks who made history, would gone on to win the tournament outside of New Zealand when the AB's did it in style, winning the final against our traditional trans-Tasman rivals the Wallabies for a 34 points to 17 victory) to add to our success in both 1987 & of course, 2011 but the last major sporting success for our country apart from the Commonwealth Games as well as the summer & winter Olympics was in 2021 in the World Test Championship in which the Black Caps (Who have been struggled recently & are out of contention of reaching the final of next year's World Test Championship but they're in Pakistan as they play a test & ODI series against Pakistan) prevailed over India in that memorable final of our generation at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton in front of 4,000 die-hard cricket enthusiasts) going into this years Rugby World Cup with Stephen Perofeta likely to take over from Mo'unga as our 1st choice first five with other sides like the current RWC holders South Africa (Who did it before in 1995, 2007 & at the last one in 2019 hoping to become the 2nd side in history to successfully retain the Rugby World Cup after the All Blacks did it in 2015 to follow up to our success on home soil in 2011 as well as their captain & self-proclaimed rugby god of Siya Kolisi (First it was Francois Pienaar then John Smit) seeking to become the 1st South African captain in history to lift the William Webb Ellis cup twice (It was Richie McCaw (But first it was David Kirk) who was the only All Black skipper to lift the trophy twice) & the hosts France (Who have never won the tournament before with Antoine Dupont gunning to become the first French skipper to lift the famous William Webb Ellis trophy as well as the 1st non-English speaking RWC winning captain in history but their best result was runners-up in 1987 (Against New Zealand), 1999 (Against Australia) & 2011 (The last time the French had reached the final in which they went down & fell short to a good All Blacks team) now having an opportunity to try to win the William Webb Ellis trophy).

And finally in cricket news such as Australia (Who had both Cameron Green & Mitchell Starc succumbing to injuries during the test meaning that both won't be available for the next test which is the New Years Day test in Sydney) clinch the test series against South Africa in that highly anticipated Boxing Day test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne with David Warner scoring a double hundred in the 1st innings in his 100th test who had to overcome injury (First, he got injured after he retired hurt, then a day later, both the doctors & medics cleared him of any injury & he got out to bat after an Aussie batter got dismissed then he got clean bowled by the fastest bowler in the world of South Africa's Anrich Nortje (Who got hit by a spider-cam when the Boxing Day test was marred by an incident involving the spidercam on Nortje as he escaped serious injury & tells the press during a press conference that the spider cam should not have travelled at head height, but the spidercam operator who works for Fox Sports had been stood down as a result of the direct incident) as well as Australian keeper-batter Alex Carey picking up his maiden ton but it has been all Australia as they went on to win the test in style by an innings & 182 runs to cap off 2022.

So that is my 481st blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 5th of this year, viva Ukraine.