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.
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