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.
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