Well, there are fires breaking out in Canada as smoke from the fires has passed on to America's East Coast while millions of Americans (Who have been given health warnings & guidelines to follow with high quality masks being required to wear outside but not for long (And they must stay indoors folks according to the mayor of New York), just like the days during the COVID-19 pandemic with the war on toxic smoke had been officially declared in the eastern part of the United States who are under attack from the fire taken from the Canadians (They could face sanctions for causing a fire like that) as they braced themselves of a epidemic taken from a dangerous smoke) being affected under air quality alerts as Canada wildfires rage with New York City being the worst in the world in terms of air pollution (And they have postponed both a WNBA game in New York & both MLB baseball games also in NYC & in Philly have been called off but many flights have been delayed across the eastern part of America as well but oh, this is a downward spiral as things especially in New York that have gotten out of control & escalated completely) but a quick news flash that the former US vice president of Mike Pence is announcing his intentions to run for president along with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
And reports straight out of the tennis as the final four at Roland Garros has been confirmed but first in the women's singles as Australian Open women's singles champion of Aryna Sabalenka takes on Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova before world number 1 ranked Iga Swiatek will play Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia then onto the men's department as the highly anticipated showdown between Novak Djokovic & young 20 year old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz has been locked in while Alexander Zverev will play Casper Ruud for a place in the men's singles final at the French tennis open but there has been an update as Karolina Muchova & Iga Swiatek crusing into the women's singles final with their victories in the semi final against both Aryna Sabalenka & Beatriz Haddad Maia respectively while in the men's singles as both Novak Djokovic & Casper Ruud had their wins against Carlos Alcaraz & Alexander Zverev respectively in the semi of the men's singles to advance through to the final.
And in Formula 1 related news such as Max Verstappen (The man who totally dominated Monaco when he won that famous motorsport event in the world on the same day that American Josef Newgarden stole the show as well as the headlines of winning his 1st Indy 500 to add 2 of his Indycar Series championships that he won in both 2017 & 2019, as he held off fellow American Santino Ferrucci for the win in a duel for the last couple of laps a week before the 2021 Indycar champion of Alex Palou who won the most recent race in Indycar on the streets of 'The Motor City' of Detroit, Michigan which returned to the Indycar fold after 32 years (It took place at Belle Isle from 1992 to 2001 then 2007 until last year) has taken victory in Spain therefore claiming his 5th win of the season (First it was Bahrain then Australia, Miami, the aforementioned Monaco race I was discussing before & Spain now) but Mercedes are slowly creeping up as they restore to a pre-2021 pace (And are they're offically back? Well, they could be since 2021 where the F1 crown went down to the wire in Abu Dhabi & now Mercedes have just had sufficent upgrades which made all the difference but it must've been the upgrades which might have worked the best) while Red Bull's 100% winning record this year remains intact.
And finally here are the results of the final round of round 15 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:
Blues 16 - 9 Highlanders (It was the Blues night as they ended the Highlanders (Who had bid the 2015 Super Rugby winning player for the Highlanders as well as the Rugby World Cup winning player for the All Blacks of Aaron Smith farewell as he heads off to Japan to play for Toyota Verblitz in the Japan Rugby League One competition) hopes of reaching the playoffs at Eden Park in Auckland in a successful effort of hosting a home quarterfinal)
Brumbies 33 - 17 Rebels (And it was the Brumbies who have stunned the Rebels to bits to book a place of hosting a home quarterfinal at GIO Stadium Canberra)
Fijian Drua 41 - 17 Reds (It was the Fijian Drua's day as they were no match against the Reds (Who lost that game despite securing qualification into the playoffs) to book a quarterfinal place at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva)
Hurricanes 27 - 26 Crusaders (And it was the Hurricanes night as they book a place in the playoffs with a win by a single point against the Crusaders who have already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals at Sky Stadium in Wellington, but the Crusaders have a new coach now to replace the All Blacks bound Scott Robertson with Rob Penney set to take over from him commencing next year, compared to Scotsman Clark Laidlaw being appointed as the new Hurricanes coach that I haven't heard of as he is set to take over from Jason Holland)
Waratahs 24 - 33 Moana Pasifika (And it was Moana Pasifika who claim their 1st & only win of the season after upstaging & spoiling the Waratahs (Who had their player Michael Hooper bid an emotional farewell as he scores the last try of the game in his illustrious Super Rugby career) party to register the boil over of the season at Allianz Stadium in Sydney)
& Force 19 - 43 Chiefs (And it was the Chiefs (Led by Anton Lienert-Brown while their Chiefs front line players had to be rested such as Damian McKenzie) who snatch a win against the Force who suffered their 1st home defeat of the season at HBF Park in Perth)
And here are the confirmed matches being played in the quarterfinal stage in this years Super Rugby Pacific tournament:
Blues Vs Waratahs* (The most recent meeting between both teams in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 9 where the Blues totally dominated the game against the Tahs side who were without its star Wallabies players including Lalakai Foketi, Michael Hooper & Mark Nawaqanitawase)
Chiefs Vs Reds* (The last time both of these sides met in SRP was in round 12 where the Reds had won the game to claim the upset of the season against the Chiefs whose 11 game winning streak had been snapped)
Crusaders Vs Drua* (Their most recent clash in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 3 where the Fijian Drua had won to claim the biggest boil over & will meet the Crusaders again for a place in the semi)
& Brumbies Vs Hurricanes* (And also their first meeting between the 2 sides in Super Rugby Pacific since round 10 where the Hurricanes had won against Australia's best which is the Brumbies (Who are by far, the most competitive Australian side against New Zealand opposition)
*: Key matchups
So that is my 503rd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 27th of this year, viva Ukraine.
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