Money/Brain Damage: My 20th blog of the year 2023

Well, there is a Rugby World Cup related story about there has been both instances that the final of the RWC had to be played at extra time with 1995 being the 1st as South Africa (Who won their 1st of 3 titles that they won) broke New Zealand (The only time that we lost a final of the tournament compared to the 3 wins we had in the final out of 4 appearances in 1987 (It was during the opening match of the tournament against Italy that the All Blacks winger of John Kirwan scored a magnificent length of the field try which was 80 metres in another one of the most iconic moments of the RWC compared to the late All Black of Jonah Lomu (Who was the one individual of them all in which he has never scored a test try against South Africa throughout his international rugby career) barging his way to the try line when he took Mike Catt out by bulldozing him in 1995 during the semi against England, in one of the Rugby World Cup's most iconic moments according to the previous blogs that I did), 2011 & 2015) hearts with a drop goal provided by Joel Stransky (Who revealed that he had been practising drop goals a lot as part of his training method just days in the lead up to the final) that put them into the lead & held on to win that final which proved to be the turning point at Ellis Park in Johannesburg moments before the late great leader of the country, in the form of Nelson Mandela (The nation's 1st leader of African origin in which he used rugby as their symbol during his country's success in the 1995 tournament) who presented the trophy to Francois Pienaar (Who was the 1st Springbok captain to lift the famous William Webb Ellis trophy followed by John Smit in 2007 (South Africa's plans of winning the 2007 tournament began after a quarterfinal defeat against New Zealand in the 2003 RWC in Melbourne, Australia, just like the All Blacks did that our plans of winning the 2011 tournament started after a shock quarterfinal loss against hosts at the time of France in Cardiff, Wales during the 2007 Rugby World Cup (The last time we lost a game at the Rugby World Cup until 2019 in the semi against England (Who got knocked out in the pools in 2015 after 2 tough losses against Wales & Australia, 4 years before they changed things around when they reached the final in which they eventually fell to the Springboks in which they missed out on that occasion (And England could've won the tournament if Kyle Sinckler had not been concussed by his own teammate Maro Itoje as I told Pops about it 2 days ago as things would be a whole lot different) in that dreaded match of our lives (And that 12 point defeat still haunts us in which we were so gutted about the result) & the last time that the French had beaten the AB's at a Rugby World Cup, & also in which the last time New Zealand would lose a quarterfinal game at a RWC) through a dreadful but dodgy refereeing decision from English ref Wayne Barnes but one of the French players of Sebastien Chabal (Who had infamously faced the haka up close & personal along with his French teammates who were rubbing their noses during the All Blacks had performed the traditional Maori war dance before the game in the quarterfinal in 2007) says that it went clearly forward according to the comment I heard from Pops on the 10th of May) & Siyamthanda 'Siya' Kolisi (The 1st man of African origin to hoist the William Webb Ellis cup aloft compared to Barack Obama becoming the 1st African American president of the United States in history, but I heard that he's heading to France to play Racing 92 in the French Top 14 competition from the Sharks that plays in the United Rugby Championship (URC) competition after the tournament but his hopes of captaining his country in defence of the tournament took a tumble as he suffered a terrible injury during a URC game (And I hope that's not serious but if he is ruled out of the RWC (In which the 2023 edition will be Kolisi's last) through a knee injury, the South Africans will be totally gutted about it even he is opted for a surgery to repair the injury but he has a chance of rehabilitating that injury which rules him out for at least 4 months but will return for the duration of the tournament but one of the Springbok players of Lukhanyo Am (Who is one of the best centres in world rugby) may step up the captaincy role if Kolisi is currently ruled out with a knee injury) most recently in 2019 (The same year during the tournament that the dominant South Africans (Who had their prop forward Tendai Mtawarira yellow carded during the match as he had been adjudged to have made a tackle on Japanese player Keita Inagaki, then lifted past the horizontal in which the man known as 'the Beast' could've been sent off for that) would face the hosts at the time of Japan (Who scored 2 big wins against both Ireland & Scotland as well as against the lesser known nations such as Russia & Samoa in the pools to become the 1st Asian side to top the pool at a Rugby World Cup in Pool A) in the quarterfinal & won as they exacted revenge after losing to them in an historic boil over that the Japanese won in 2015 in their 1st meeting between the 2 countries in international rugby (They met next time out in 2019 in which the Boks (Who had lost to the AB's in the opening game in which they became the last side to beat South Africa at a RWC before they had gone all the way by benefiting all 6 matches which resulted in wins en route to the title) secured their 1st win against Japan, that time in a pre-Rugby World Cup friendly before their most recent meeting in a quarterfinal) which united the host country as well as the people of South Africa (And the events of the 1995 tournament was immortalized in the famous 2009 movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman (The famous African American movie actor who appeared in films such as The Shawshank Redemption, Along Came a Spider & The Dark Knight when he played the part of Mandela & appeared in the opening ceremony of last year's Football World Cup moments before the game between hosts at the time of Qatar & Ecuador) & Matt Damon (Another one of the famous American Hollywood film stars who portrayed the role of Pienaar & has appeared in famous films such as Goodwill Hunting, the Jason Bourne series & Ford Vs Ferrari), then fast forward to 2003 where the last time the RWC final had to be played at extra time in which the Clive Woodward coached & Martin 'Johnno' Johnson led England ended Australia's hopes of defending the Rugby World Cup (Then England appeared in another final in 2007 in France where they fell short to the South Africans but that honor belongs to the All Blacks as they became the 1st & only side to retain rugby's holy grail in 2015 (And the only time that the AB's were able to win the tournament, outside of our country which is New Zealand) after our memorable victory against the Wallabies in that epic but action-packed final in England in which I was so stoked about the result) with that drop goal provided by Jonny Wilkinson who provided the clutch moment by putting them into the lead at Stadium Australia in Sydney (The Wallabies had scored a late penalty by one of their players of Elton Flatley to force them into extra time after one of the English players had conceded a penalty in the dying seconds of the 2003 final) & also held on to win that final which proved to be the game changer in which the 2003 tournament was the only time a Northern Hemisphere side had won the RWC (Will that about to change this year? As heavy tournament favourites & number 1 ranked Ireland & hosts of this years tournament & number 2 ranked France (Who'll open their campaign against New Zealand in which the French haven't played against us at a Rugby World Cup since the 2015 quarterfinal in which the All Blacks upstaged France & hammered them in a blowout which was the biggest winning margin at a RWC knockout match as well as Julian Savea's heroics in which he scored a hat-trick of tries, & to exact utu after our shock defeat in the quarters in 2007 that we just had) are among the serious contenders of winning the Rugby World Cup).

And there's a Star Wars related fact that famous British/Scottish actor Denis Lawson who appeared in the Star Wars original trilogy & The Rise of Skywalker as rebel pilot Wedge Antilles, while his nephew Ewan McGregor (The man who appeared on Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge & Angels & Demons) appeared as the young Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi (The famous iconic character was played by the late Alec Guinness in the original trilogy) in the Star Wars prequel trilogy & Kenobi: a Star Wars Story but there is Billie Lourd who appeared in the Star Wars sequel trilogy as Lieutenant Connix while her late mother Carrie Fisher (Who is the daughter of the late Debbie Reynolds (Grandmother of Lourd) appeared in both the Star Wars original & sequel trilogies as Princess Leia (Although Fisher appeared in Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker posthumously via computer generated imagery), but I was planning to watch Return of the Jedi next month in honor of the 40th anniversary of the film's release on Star Wars day which is May the 4th (And I have never seen a full scale movie since 2021 when I watched the Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring (And the last movie I saw was the Matrix Reloaded which was a month ago as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations), but I was planning to watch Richie McCaw: Chasing Great in August a month before this years Rugby World Cup in France, same month as I watch the Matrix Revolutions (I would be watching my favourite part of the movie, right until the film is complete) as part of the 20 year celebration of the release of the movie as well as the Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King in October (Same thing as the Matrix Revolutions) in honor of 20 years since the film came out in cinemas/movie theatres & the Matrix Resurrections on New Year's Eve 2023 (I've never seen that movie before but I'll watch it in full).

And continuing onto the rugby as there were 2 very interesting law changes that came into effect in Super Rugby Pacific such as the halfback cannot go past the opposing forwards at the scrum but if they do, a penalty will be awarded for an offside & also if a player mistakenly gets yellow carded by a referee for a foul play incident like the high tackle, the referee will say that there will be an on-field review to determine whether the TMO has up to 8 minutes to decide whether they'll remain this as a yellow card or subsquently change it to a red card which could possibly be introduced at the Rugby World Cup this year (And also shot clocks have been implemented just for scrums & lineouts which last 30 seconds while a penalty goal lasts about a minute & the conversion lasts about 1 & a half minutes in an effort to speed it up (And it's similar to the 18 second pitch clock that they're using in Major League Baseball already & also the play clock in the NFL, the serve clock in tennis, the shot clock in the NBA & both the scrum & sin bin clock being used in the NRL) in response to the Bernard Foley saga when the French referee awarded the All Blacks a scrum for time wasting during the Bledisloe Cup test in Melbourne last year which gifted New Zealand the all important win with a match winning try scored by none other than Jordie Barrett) along with the tackle below the sternum law which was introduced in club rugby here in New Zealand.

And finally the latest on the Super Rugby Pacific competition as the results of the 8th round of the competition are in:

Moana Pasifika 28 - 40 Reds (It was the Reds day as they decimated Moana (Who are at the bottom of the table & have yet to win a match this year) with a win which saved former All Black Brad Thorn's job as coach of the Reds at Apia Park in Apia, Samoa)

Brumbies 43 - 28 Fijian Drua (And it was the Brumbies night as they move up to 2nd behind the unbeaten Chiefs to remain Australia's top team in the Super Rugby Pacific competition as they were too good against the Fijian Drua at GIO Stadium in Canberra)

Hurricanes 17 - 33 Chiefs (It was the Chiefs day as they came 17 - 8 behind to down the Hurricanes (Who drop to 3rd behind Australia's best which is the Brumbies) to still remain flawless in 2023 at Sky Stadium in Wellington in that top of the table clash)

& Waratahs 36 - 16 Force (And it was the Waratahs night as they were no match against the Force at Allianz Stadium in Sydney with a win in which the Tahs had moved up to 9th in the standings)

So that is my 496th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 20th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the whole international rally community is in mourning & in shock as Irish rally driver Craig Breen has sadly, tragically passed away in a testing crash in Croatia during the Rally of Croatia event in Lobor so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the Breen family, rest easy/rest in pieces (First, it was New Zealand rally driver Possum Bourne 20 years ago way back in 2003 then a pair of former British world rally champions of Richard Burns in 2005 as a result of a blackout then Colin McRae in 2007 due to a helicopter crash & now Craig Breen as one of the famous persons to pass away this year along with former rally driver & founder of DC shoes of Ken Block, German model Tatjana Patitz & last but not least, the daughter of the late American rock & roll entertainer of Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley (And now in all of a sudden, the American talk show host of Jerry Springer (The son of Jewish immigrants) has suddenly passed away recently at 79 so all thoughts, condolences & prayers go to the Springer family back in the United States so rest in paradise/rest in peace).

Craig Breen

1990 - 2023

& Jerry Springer

1944 - 2023

And I hadn't mentioned the famous Hollywood actor of Italian American Ray Liotta (Who joins the likes of Sidney Poitier, William Hurt, Inga Tuigamala (One of the first power wingers in world rugby before the arrival of the late Jonah Lomu who first burst into the rugby scene), Joeli Vidiri (The best All Black that never was according to the blog that I did last year), Rod Marsh, Shane Warne (The famous Australian cricketer who was a global icon of the sport), Taylor Hawkins (The Foo Fighters drummer who had been with the band for 25 years as well as being a Rock & Roll hall of famer), Andrew Symonds, Shinzo Abe (Who was the longest serving Prime Minister of Japan where the nation had a John F Kennedy moment when it occurred in one of the darkest days in Japanese history), Olivia Newton-John (The actress who appears in Grease along with John Travolta who starred in Pulp Fiction), Willie Lose (The former Tongan rugby player who played in the 1995 Rugby World Cup for his country, then he became a rugby broadcaster/commentator after his playing days ended), Her Majesty the Queen of Queen Elizabeth II (The longest serving monarch in the British Commonwealth for 70 years), Mills Lane (The boxing referee who became a court judge), Doddie Weir (A Scottish rugby player who played as a lock forward throughout his career), Bill Russell (The NBA legend who played for the Boston Celtics), Anne Heche, James Caan, Robbie Coltrane, Kirsty Alley, Coolio, Christine McVie (Of Fleetwood Mac fame) & Pele (The world famous Brazilian footballer who was a legend of the game) as others who have passed away last year) who passed away last year after all of his difficult but most enduring life as a famous movie star.

Ray Liotta

1954 - 2022

Renegade Fighter/Give It All/Glorafilia: My 19th blog of the year 2023

Well, there are suggestions that which teams will face in the final of the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup, & it's going to be a dream final between the hosts India (Who haven't triumphed since 2011 in which they beat Sri Lanka in the final in Mumbai including captain at the time of MS Dhoni hitting the match winning six to achieve immortality for the 2nd time to add to their title in 1983 when they won against the West Indies in the final at Lord's where Kapil Dev had taken one of the best catches you'll ever see of all time to dismiss 'the Master Blaster' of Viv Richards which proved to be the game changer) & the 5 time champions Australia (Who has never won since 2015 in which they ended the Black Caps hopes of Cricket World Cup glory as Mitchell Starc easily bowled the New Zealand captain at the time of Brendon McCullum therefore they caused us to lose wickets as I mentioned in my previous blogs which proved to be the turning point) compared to the potential Rugby World Cup final matchup which is going to be the top ranked rugby playing nation in the world of Ireland (The heavy favourites who have never won a RWC title before but never reached beyond/past the quarterfinal stages of the Rugby World Cup but will their be their year? Well I hope not but to win the tournament, you've got to pick the right players as Pops told me on the day after ANZAC day) & the host nation of France (Who has never won the tournament before after coming so close on 3 occasions in both 1987 & 2011 against New Zealand (Our last triumph came in 2015 against the Wallabies (Who last tasted success in 1999) in one of the greatest Rugby World Cup finals ever by far as I mentioned in my previous blogs & are gunning to end 36 years of pain but will it happen for the 1st time if France had won the tournament on their home patch (Just like the All Blacks did in 1987 & 2011 & the Springboks in 1995)? I don't think so, but will it happen again if South Africa successfully defends rugby's most treasured prize which is the Rugby World Cup (Just like the AB's did in 2015)? No way (And I mean that, is rugby, & what did you expect? Did you think you could relax?) but will it be our year in terms of winning that tournament which is due in 5 months time? We'll see, but if we face Ireland in the quarterfinal (In which the All Blacks have never lost a quarterfinal game at a RWC since 2007 against France which was our most disappointing one therefore producing our worst result of the tournament so far) of this years Rugby World Cup, it'll be our country's biggest & most difficult but demanding, RWC game of our lives since the semifinal encounter against England in 2019) & 1999 against Australia).

And also there has once been a Formula 1 story about the ex-twice world champion of Fernando Alonso (Who is with Aston Martin now since he joined that team this year from Alpine & is the oldest driver in this years F1 grid at 41 or 42, therefore assuming that elder statesman role), whose last win came at his home Grand Prix in Spain in 2013 while driving for Ferrari then the last time the former 7 time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton (Who currently races for Mercedes in F1 since 2013 & is the 2nd oldest driver on the grid at 37 behind his former teammate at McLaren (Who got disqualified for leaking information such as classified documents from Ferrari therefore they lost all of their championship points in which the scandal was clearly known as Spygate in 2007, a year before Crashgate in which Nelson Piquet Jr was instructed by his race engineer to deliberately crash out during the first ever night race being staged in F1 history at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix to allow Alonso a chance of winning the race (And after that, ING had pulled out as Renault's main sponsor following the Crashgate scandal during the 2009 season) & also Honda pulling out of the last minute of competing in the 2009 F1 season as a result of the global financial economic recession before Ross Brawn purchased them in a buyout (This is like WCW (World Championship Wrestling) being the chief rival of the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) 25 years ago in 1998, 3 years before the World Wrestling Federation's buyout of World Championship Wrestling in 2001 (This was the year before the WWF had to be renamed the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) because it sounded too much like the World Widlife Fund), & now AEW (All Elite Wrestling) is now the chief rival of the World Wrestling Entertainment this year) & then became Brawn GP which competed for just the one season which ended in glory with Jenson 'JB' Button (Who hailed as Britain's next world champion when he made his Formula 1 debut in 2000 with Williams whose career seemed to be going down the plughole at the very moment Lewis Hamilton was rocketing to stardom in 2008 just before the events unfolded in the 2009 season) winning the drivers title & Brawn (Who later became Mercedes from 2010 onwards) becoming the constructors champion which shocked the F1 world) in 2007 of Alonso but I didn't know that he's been knighted a few years ago for his services to motor racing meaning that he is now Sir Lewis Hamilton) won an F1 race, it was at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021 (That was before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where Red Bull's Max Verstappen (One of now my favourite Formula 1 drivers now since Sir Lewis Hamilton stopped winning in due course when Verstappen (Best known as the son of former F1 & A1GP ace Jos as well as being the most successful racing car driver from Holland since Arie Luyendyk & his 2 Indianapolis 500 wins in both 1990 & 1997) took over as the sport's number 1 driver, although our Kiwi F1 fans are in favour of the Mexican of Sergio Perez as well) ended Hamilton's hopes of a record 8th F1 title (And if Hamilton held off Verstappen & won both the race as well as the title, he would've solidified his legendary status as one of the greatest racing car drivers of all time in F1 history), by overtaking him on the last lap of the Grand Prix in which he won both the race & his 1st of 2 world championships that he won as well as becoming the 1st Dutch F1 driver to do so of winning the title, but there has been a Dutch takeover in motor racing according to the blog that I did last year with Max Verstappen winning his 1st 2 titles in F1 in both 2021 (That season was labelled as one of the greatest F1 seasons of all time in the history of the sport, & it must've been the sim racing stuff that propelled Max Verstappen into greatness) & last year & last but not least, a Kiwi of Dutch origin of Shane 'SVG' van Gisbergen who won both consecutive Supercars Championship titles in both 2021 & last year to add to his 1st championship that he won in 2016 as well as both victories at the great race which is the Bathurst 1000 in 2020 & last year with Australian Garth Tander (The 2007 champ) but this year he is teaming up with another Kiwi, Richie Stanaway for both the returning Sandown 500 event & the big one which is the Bathurst 1000 this year) & of course the current 2 time world champion Max Verstappen's most recent win in F1 came at the most recent Grand Prix in Australia filled with drama where the race was red flagged not once not twice but 3 times which resulted in 3 standing starts when all 3 world champions (2 former & 1 current) appeared on the podium altogether (Compared to Italian born naturalized American citizen Mario Andretti (Father of former driver turned team owner of Michael & grandfather of Marco who was an Indycar driver), synonymous with American motor racing who triumphed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1969 (The only time the Andretti family have tasted success at Indy) & the Formula 1 World Championship in 1978, being the last American to do so & of course he raced until he was 54 in 1994 when he officially retired from competitive motor racing (Compared to our own Kiwi of Kenny Smith who is still competing in motor racing at 81 & is also synonymous with New Zealand motor racing as well as the 4 time Indy 500 winner from Brazil of Helio Castroneves being the oldest to compete in this years Indycar grid at 47 since Jimmie Johnson walked away from Indycar racing to compete in NASCAR again, compared to the 6 time Indycar champion from our country of New Zealand of Scott Dixon who is 42 & the current twice Indycar champion of Australia's Will Power who is 41 years of age (And the younger gen have taken over such as 2021 Indycar champion from Spain of Alex Palou as well as Mexico's Pato O'Ward & the son of American racing car driver Bryan of 22 year old Colton Herta (Who is an American just like his father but he is a member of the lesser known rock band called the Zibs as a drummer when he's not racing compared to Riley Hawk (Son of the world famous skateboarding legend & icon Tony) who is a member of another lesser known rock band, Warish as the lead singer & guitarist but he used to be a skateboarder just like his famous father, until he had that injury which ended his chances of competing at the big time & is a massive fan of the stoner rock music genre (The one famous rock band that is part of the stoner rock music genre is Queens of the Stone Age), but it's great to have Formula 1 back on Sky Sport here in New Zealand after Spark Sport (Which is going to be defunct from July this year) had the broadcasting rights which lasted from 2019 until last year (And the next F1 grand prix racing event takes place at round 4 in Baku in Azerbaijan on the weekend of the 28th to the 30th of April (The winner of the most recent race which had taken place last year went to none other than Verstappen (Who has both wins this year compared to his teammate at Red Bull Racing (Led by its famous head honcho of former British racing car driver Christian Horner (Who is married to a former Spice Girl named Geri Haliwell-Horner who is due to appear in the upcoming film of the Gran Turismo movie which is based of the life of GT Academy winner of Jann Mardenborough (Son of famous footballer Steve) of 'Checo' Perez (He shares the same nickname as Italian America's Cup sailor Francesco Bruni) who won it once in Saudi Arabia but the son of an F1 driver is doing well in motor racing as the young Austrian Charlie Wurz (Son of famous driver Alexander who competed in Formula Ford in the 1990's (And Charlie describes that his father Alex once said that the New Zealand drivers are known for their aggression) in New Zealand before going on to compete in the DTM in 1996 & Formula 1 from 1997 to 2000 (He drove for Benetton during that period) & 2007 (He competed with Williams for one season after he spent time with McLaren as a test driver in which he competed just the one race at the San Marino Grand Prix in 2005 then he retired from F1 & was a twice the winning driver of the 24 Hours of Le Mans) had won the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (Formerly the Toyota Racing Series & is known to produce drivers such as our own New Zealander Liam Lawson (The former champion who currently competes in Super Formula in Japan as well as being the test & reserve driver of Alphatauri & is touted as New Zealand's next big Formula 1 star (Although Brendon Hartley was the last Kiwi to compete in F1 in 2018, a year after his debut at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas), Brazilian Igor Fraga (One of the ex-champs who is the inaugural Gran Turismo World Champion in 2018 followed by German Mikal Hizal, Japan's Takuma Miyazono, Italian Valerio Gallo & Spain's Coque Lopez & is currently competing in Super Formula Lights (Which is one step below Super Formula (The main open wheel racing series in Japan compared to Indycar in North America & Formula 1 worldwide) this year), Britain's Lando Norris (The 2016 champion who is the current F1 driver competing for the McLaren (Which is an iconic British sports car manufacturer, but is founded by a New Zealander of the late Bruce McLaren who was a famous race car driver & is one of 3 New Zealanders that were part of the golden generation of New Zealand motor racing drivers in the 1960's along with the late Chris Amon (Father of his children of both Georgia & James) & the late Dennis 'Denny' Hulme (Our country's one & only F1 world champion in 1967) according to the blogs that I did last year) F1 team) & Canada's Lance Stroll (The son of a famous Canadian billionaire of Lawrence who is currently competing in Formula 1 driving for Aston Martin who was champion of the TRS in 2015) title (Who beat his teammate of Callum Hedge (The young 19 year old New Zealander currently competing in both the United States in Formula Regional Americas, & in Australia in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia) in an epic title battle for the ages) by following his father's footsteps of racing in New Zealand, but he's now competing in the Formula Regional European Championship for ART Grand Prix).

And a quick sports flash such as our own Kiwi who fights under the Nigerian flag of Israel Adesanya regaining the middleweight title over Brazil's Alex Pereira (Who had to move up to another weight class after his defeat in the hands of the fighter known as 'The Last Style Bender') via way of KO (Knock-out)/TKO (Technical knock-out) at UFC 287 in Miami, Florida in one of the greatest revenge stories in sport (First, Adesanya got defeated by Pereira, then Pereira lost during his title defence against the Nigerian-Kiwi fighter in what was in fact, a different story), then the All Blacks sevens claim an unlikely victory over Argentina in the cup final to win the sevens event in Singapore (And that's our 4th to go with our titles won in Sydney, Los Angeles & Hong Kong) with New Zealand having to clinch the automatic qualification spot at the Paris Olympics next year, therefore capping off an incredible New Zealand Easter sporting weekend that happened.

And so many sporting events to look forward to this year such as the Football Women's World Cup being held in Australia & New Zealand (The United States are the current holders, having previously won the 2019 edition of the tournament against the Netherlands (Who'll play the Americans again during the group stages in a rematch of the 2019 final) in the final at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in the Lyon suburb of Decines-Charpieu) followed by the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa (In which the Silver Ferns of New Zealand are the defending champions going into the 2023 edition of the event having previously won in 2019 by a single point against our Trans-Tassie rivals Australia in the final in Liverpool, England to claim our 1st World Championship since 2003 in Jamaica to add to our crown that we won in 1987) then the Rugby World Cup in France (South Africa are the reigning champs going into the 2023 edition of the tournament having previously won at the most recent RWC 2019 against England (Who knocked the All Blacks (Who were without the injured Damian McKenzie which changed the course of the World Cup, but we could've used him should he had not been injured during a Super Rugby game) out in the semifinal ending our bid of a successful historic 1st ever threepeat as I also mentioned in my previous blogs in which we were heartbroken) in that infamous final at Yokohama Stadium in Yokohama, Japan) which I'm always most looking forward to (And hopefully the Rugby World Cup this year will be better than the Football World Cup late last year (And watching the final of last years Football World Cup as well as seeing Argentina win on penalties against France was my life changing moment throughout the football side of it) & of course the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup being staged in India (The English are the current holders going into the tournament, having previously won in 2019 against the Black Caps (Whose hopes of winning our 1st CWC crown proved costly as Martin Guptill was run out by Jos Buttler off an incredible throw by Jason Roy that won them their 1st World Cup but the English had scored the most boundaries than us according to the boundary count back regulation) in the final which was decided by a super over at Lord's in London).

And the latest on the cricket as former Black Caps captain Kane Williamson (Who was the 1st ever World Test Championship winning captain when he led the Black Caps to a successful triumph against India in that memorable final at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton in 2021 in front of 4,000 people which was a corona virus capacity) has been ruled out of this years men's 50 over Cricket World Cup as a result of a serious injury sustained during an IPL game in India (It was shades of Sevu Reece getting injured during a Super Rugby Pacific rugby match between the Blues & the Crusaders in which he is ruled out of the Rugby World Cup altogether with a bad injury) which is going to hamper the Black Caps bid of ending 48 years of agony & hurt (And losing him was a hell of a blow, but this'll be a massive blow for New Zealand & our chances of winning our 1st men's 50 over Cricket World Cup title to add to our WTC crown in 2021 & the ICC Knockout Trophy title in 2000) after coming oh so close twice of claiming cricket's biggest prize in 2015 against co-hosts Australia & 2019 against previous hosts England, but the next most important cricket match is the World Test Championship final between Australia & India at the Oval in London on the 7th to the 11th of June followed by the most important test cricket series in the world which is the Ashes between the Brendon McCullum coached & Ben Stokes led England (Who have not won an Ashes series since 2015 but is it time to unleash Baz ball against the Aussies? We'll see) hosting the current holders of the Ashes which is the Aussies (Who have been the defending holders since 2017/18) coached by former test player Andrew 'Ron' McDonald (Who took over from former test player Justin 'Alfie/JL' Langer since early last year after the events of the previous Ashes series being staged) & led by Pat Cummins (Who has been captain of Australia in the test format when he took over from Tim Paine since the most recent Ashes test cricket series in 2021-22 in Australia) which is held between June to August & the big one is the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup being staged in India (The twice world champions (First 1983 then 2011 in which they have never won since) who have not won since 2011) where the English (Champions of the most recent tournament in 2019) are the defending champions going into the tournament (And Australia was the last side to defend the men's 50 over Cricket World Cup back in 2003 but will this be England's year as they become the 1st team since the Aussies to retain the title? No way).

And I was telling Leon at Caroline's on Easter Sunday about Morocco's fairytale run to the semifinal of the Football World Cup last year when the Moroccans (Who had their previous coach/manager of Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic being sacked 3 months out until the tournament, allowing one of the assistant coaches of Walid Regragui (Who is a French born Moroccan) to take over as coach/manager of the Morocco football team which featured foreigners including 14 of them who opted to play for the Moroccans including Younes 'Yassine' Bounou who was born in Canada, then includes the Spanish born star talisman Achraf Hakimi, Sofiyan Amrabat who originally comes from the Netherlands along with Hakim Ziyech & Sofiane Boufal who was originally a Frenchman) became the 1st African side to reach the semis (They famously crashed the 2010 champs & 3 time European champions Spain (Featuring Aymeric Laporte of Man City as their main man for their country) out on penalties, then put the Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal (Champions of both Euro 2016 & the 2019 UEFA Nations League) to bed in the quarters when they made history, but they missed out on a win against the 2 time defending champions at the time & twice European champions of France (Which featured Kylian Mbappe who stepped up to that occasion as the leading star player for the French following the injury to Karim Benzema before the tournament had started) in the semi), compared to my thoughts to Dad (Who is a bit of a league fan himself) about the Samoa rugby league team reaching the 2021 Rugby League World Cup final which was held last year in which they became the 1st Pacific Island nation in history to do so of reaching the big dance (1st they defeated Tonga in the quarterfinal which was a bit of payback when the Samoans lost to them in 2017 in the pools, then they upstaged the host nation at the time of England in that infamous semi including that match winning field goal provided by twice premiership winning player for the Penrith Panthers of Stephen Crichton (Who is a teammate of Jarome Luai in both club & international level), exacting revenge after their defeat in their opening pool game before falling short to the dominant Kangaroos side of Australia (Which featured a star studded team including captain James 'Teddy' Tedesco, Daly 'DCE' Cherry-Evans, Valentine 'Val' Holmes, Cameron Munster, Nathan Cleary (Son of famous league player who used to play for the New Zealand Warriors of Ivan & one of Crichton & Luai's teammates with Penrith), Josh Addo-Carr (The one who broke New Zealand hearts where he scored a try during the game to put the semi beyond doubt which proved to be the turning point) & Lindsay Collins) in the final).

And finally the latest on the Super Rugby Pacific competition as the results of the 7th round of the competition are in:

Crusaders 38 - 21 Moana Pasifika (It was the Crusaders who got the job done as they maintain their 100% winning record against Moana (Who gave the Crusaders a real fright when they led at halftime but it wasn't enough to down the Crusaders who is 4th on the table behind the Brumbies) in Super Rugby Pacific at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch)

Reds 24 - 52 Brumbies (And it was the Brumbies who remain in 3rd in the compeition ahead of the Crusaders to remain Australia's best when they overpower the Reds at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane)

Highlanders 14 - 29 Hurricanes (It was the Hurricanes night as they pummel the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin as they take over the lead of the standings ahead of the unbeaten Chiefs)

& Rebels 17 - 54 Blues (And it was the Blues (Who had their 1st game at AAMI Park since the Super Round in which poor discipline cost the Blues chance of winning against the Brumbies) who thrash the Rebels (Who dominated the 1st half before the Blues took control of the 2nd half & won with Mark Telea who got yellow carded along with Cabous Eloff of the Rebels (Who can't spare any more front row & lock replacements late in the game & they were down to 13 players after hooker Alex Mafi left the field with an injury along with reserve hooker Jordan Uelese & others like prop forward Pone Fa'amausili & lock forward Trevor Hosea), scoring a hat trick of tries during the match) at AAMI Park in Melbourne).

So that is my 495th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 19th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone/Sing For Absolution: My 18th blog of the year 2023

Well, in rugby related news such as there has been a major as All Black, Crusaders & Tasman Mako wing Sevu Reece is out, for the whole tournament which is the 2023 Rugby World Cup (And he will not play further part due to a blown knee in which he was heartbroken, just like Aaron Cruden in 2015 (At least we won it in that year against Australia in that memorable final of our lives for which I was stoked about it & the only time that we won the tournament away from home or should I say, on foreign soil) & Damian McKenzie in 2019 (It was England who decimated us in the semi final at the most recent tournament which was heartbreaking) as the other All Blacks to miss out on playing at a RWC through a serious injury (And what is my message to Sevu Reece is to get well on his road to recovery but he'll be back of playing in rugby's biggest showcase at the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027).

And news straight out of America as the former US president of Donald Trump has been arraigned by handing himself in at a court house in New York City in New York & is expecting to face criminal charges involving hush money payment being handed out as well as other charges but good job as he is likely to be sent behind bars (And there has been protests by pro-Trump supporters about his arrest with the NY court house expected to be under heightened security therefore protecting the facility) but news that I have just missed since a month ago that there's also reports about the Fox News channel suing the news anchors & reporters about false claims about the results of the 2020 US general election in which Biden won in which he became the US president that I have not ever heard of in my blogs when they had a lawsuit about a major deformation case when they had to pay worth 787 & a half million American dollars in which the 2020 election was rigged against the US president at the time of Trump (And Tucker Carlson has been fired now as a result of the events unfolded, so too is a CNN news anchor of Don Lemon who quit CNN for fake election lies (Just like Chris Cuomo who got sacked in late 2021 (He was originally handed himself a suspension) effective immediately for infringing CNN's journalistic standards when he helped his brother, ex-New York governor Andrew by navigating the sex harassement allegations against him), & also that there is a civil war broke out in Sudan that has happened there when I watched about it on CNN on the 22nd of April in a clash between rival factions of the military government of Sudan such as Sudan's military & the nation's main paramilitary force, when clashes broke out accross the country, mainly in the capital city of Khartoum & the Darfur region in which 56 innocent lives had been taken. 

And in rugby sevens related news such as the Black Ferns 7s (The current Olympic champions) winning the women's event against Australia (The defending women's world sevens & Commonwealth champions) in the final then the All Blacks 7s winning it in style after facing stiff competition against the current world & Olympic champions Fiji in that epic men's final that they just ever seen.

And the latest on the Super Rugby Pacific competition as the results of the 6th round of the competition are in:

Moana Pasifika 17 - 45 Highlanders (It was the Highlanders night as they decimated Moana Pasifika who have yet to win in the competition at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland)

Reds 12 - 25 Crusaders (And it was the Crusaders who got the job done as they were too good against a valiant Reds side at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane)

Fijian Drua 38 - 28 Rebels (It was the Fijian Drua's day as they eased past the Rebels at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva)

Chiefs 20 - 13 Blues (And it was the Chiefs who won 6 out of 6 games for their perfect start to the season as they send the Blues into oblivion at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton)

Brumbies 40 - 36 Waratahs (It was the Brumbies who remain Australia's best as they continue their dominance over the Waratahs at Canberra Stadium in Canberra)

& Hurricanes 45 - 42 Force (And it was the Hurricanes who won as they held off a spirited challenge by the Force in a high scoring affair at Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North)

So that is my 494th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 18th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Fighting Myself/Brimful Of Asha: My 17th blog of the year 2023

Well, there has been a side has beaten the AB's before going on to win the Rugby World Cup on both occasions but 1st, it was Australia in 1991 in the semifinal in which they did that (They defeated New Zealand (Who were without Michael Jones (Who also missed the team's semifinal win against Wales in 1987 because of him being a devout Christian among most Samoans (And that's why the rugby players from Samoa never train on Sundays as a matter of fact) with Mark Brooke-Cowden taking the Iceman's place) due to his religious beliefs that stopped him from playing not only that the semi was played on a Sunday) in the semifinal (The 2 memorable moments in the semi where David 'Campo' Campese (A good mate of the late Jonah Lomu who was the 1st true global superstar of rugby) scoring that magnificent try then he set one try up for Tim Horan after Kieran Crowley (In for the injured Terry Wright) fluffed a kick which proved to be the turning point as the Wallabies had ended the reign of the AB's as the world champs in rugby union) before going on to win the RWC against England in the final) followed by South Africa in 1995 (Including Joel Stransky's winning drop goal during extra time, that put them into the lead & held on to win that final which proved to be the game changer, against a New Zealand side who have just won the semi against England after the late Jonah Lomu crashing in to score 4 tries, including the one that he bulldozed Mike Catt in one of Rugby World Cup's most iconic moments along with John Kirwan's 80 metre length of the field stunner against Italy in the very 1st match of the Rugby World Cup (The 1st try of the tournament was in fact a penalty try while the 1st genuine try of the RWC went to none other than Jones) in 1987 which is the 2nd most iconic moment of the tournament) in the final.

And onto the football related stuff that Argentina's 4 year plans of winning the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar started after their defeat in the round of 16 against eventual champions France (Who Argentina (Led by one of the best footballers in the entire planet/whole universe of Leo Messi (Who is married to Antonella Rocuzzo (Her parents own a supermarket chain back in Argentina but there was an shocking incident involving both gunmen who opened fire at a supermarket owned by the in-laws of Argentina captain & Paris Saint Germain forward at the time of Lionel Messi at his hometown in Rosario, police said while the incident occurred during the early hours of Thursday morning, leaving 14 bullet holes at a market owned by the parents of Antonela Roccuzzo, Messi’s wife, Rosario police said. then the police and Pablo Javkin, the mayor of Rosario, confirmed that gunmen had left a “handwritten note” with threats against the 35-year-old Messi) & he played a pivotal role when he led his side of bringing the Football World Cup back to Argentina (Who began their campaign with a shock loss against Saudi Arabia in one of the upsets of the tournament) after 36 years, therefore cementing his legendary status as a true football god) fought them again in the 2022 final (In which was one of by far the greatest Football World Cup finals of all-time since 1950 in which hosts at the time of Brazil got beaten by Uruguay in a match that is sorta like a final because there was no final way back then which will go down in history, inspired by their previous triumphs in both 1978 (First it was Mario Kempes who stole the show as their main talisman) & 1986 (And then the late Maradona) for the Argentinians (And most people were saying that it was the best final ever in all of the finals being played at the Football World Cup in the tournament's 92 year history, & what a beauty it was) before they would gone on to win the World Cup after they won on penalties, therefore denying France (Who had Kylian Mbappe becoming the 2nd player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final after Englishman Geoff Hurst in 1966, but was on the losing side as their quest of retaining the Football World Cup, had been short lived) the chance to successfully retain the Football World Cup for the first time in 60 years where the Brazilians last did it) in one of the greatest classic Football World Cup matches of all time in the 2018 tournament in Russia (Compared to race 9 of America's Cup 2021 where Emirates Team New Zealand would gone on to win the race against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli after overtaking the Italians who committed a mistake just before the final mark, to be on match point when the 9th race of America's Cup 36 was arguably considered one of the greatest but classic America's Cup contests of all time compared to the worst race of the 36th America's Cup in the 8th race was the weirdest in history where Team New Zealand fell off on our foils, then got back up to speed before Luna Rossa fell our their foils, but we had to go in for the kill to take the lead of the race whilst the Italians were off their foils when race 8 was shortened to 5 legs according to the race committee & we won that crucially to go 5 - 3 up in the best of 13 first to 7 series) when the country just needed to get in shape in order to get back on top by working harder than ever before according to the blog that I did 4 months ago back in January this year.

And continuing onto the rugby stuff as former All Black lock Brad Thorn has announced that he's stepping down as coach of the Reds at the end of this season (And many of the front runners likely to take over such as both New Zealanders of current Panasonic Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans & ex-Wallabies coach Dave Rennie (Who announced that he had turned down an offer to coach for the Blues).

And the latest on the Super Rugby Pacific competition as the results of the 5th round of the competition are in:

Crusaders 35 - 17 Brumbies (It was the Crusaders night as they ended the Brumbies hopes of remaining undefeated this year at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch)

Waratahs 14 - 24 Chiefs (And it was the Chiefs who stunned the Waratahs to remain flawless in 2023 at Allianz Stadium in Sydney)

Highlanders 57 - 24 Fijian Drua (It was the Highlanders day as they overcome injuries to players during the warmup to secure a hammering over the Drua at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin)

Moana Pasifika 0 - 59 Hurricanes (And it was the Hurricanes who completely humiliated Moana Pasifika in a blowout to record their 1st clean sheet/shutout of this years Super Rugby Pacific season at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland)

Rebels 40 - 34 Reds (It was the Rebels who claim another boilover, this time against the Reds at AAMI Park in Melbourne)

& Blues 30 - 17 Force (And it was the Blues who prevailed against the Force but missed out on a attacking bonus point at Eden Park in Auckland)

So that is my 493rd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 17th of this year, viva Ukraine.