Well, the National Party is getting tough on crime in which most Kiwis are getting worried even if they win the election this year such as the restoration of law & order as they will back the cops by giving them a range of new legislative powers to disrupt & clamp down crime which is their plan as well as they'll crack down gang patches in public & prevent any gang members gathering in public places & also going to fight youth crime too, but a National government will make New Zealand a safe place to live, work & raise a family through effective policies that fight crime as well as implementing a Young Serious Offender category to raise consequences for repeat offenders like ram-raiders while more Kiwis are now victims of crime which shows Labour is lacking leadership & out of ideas when it comes to law & order then National is the party of law & order & they propose by doubling the sentences of those convicted whether it's theft or burglary in an area (But there's an expert has slammed National's propsed law & order reforms, saying the party's policy is "retrograde" which deemed to be 'Ineffective, expensive & inequitable' then new data released by National shows retail crime is increased by almost 40% compared with last year which had been skyrocketed while their is now been an average of 292 retail crimes being reported but there's a National goverment are expected to tackle gangs as well as crime).
And something terrible has happened in France as there were riots all over the place in places like Paris, Marseille & around the country about a shooting by police on a 17 year old regarding to police brutality while 1,300 people had been detained for it overnight as 45,000 cops had been dispatched/sent according to the minister with France's mayors even calling out for a mass mobilization just 2 months out until this years Rugby World Cup which has raised concerns about their preparation of hosting a global rugby tournament (And is it safe just in case if there's protests with security required to be heightened on that occasion? I hope so unlike the tackle height law from the shoulders to the sternum area in rugby that they're introducing in time for this years Rugby World Cup in an effort to make the game safer & a bid to end the war on dangerous contact regarding to the head & neck area is very similar to gun control in real life (In which Australia, New Zealand (Who leads the way of gun control reforms in 2019), Norway & the UK have already introduced in light of those devastating, horrible events that have been unfolded, compared to World War II in 1939 to 1945 & of course, the worst year in human history which circulated around 536 AD regarding to both eruptions & plagues that wiped the human race out) that they're trying to introduce in the United States (Whose northern part of America as well as Canada being blighted by the toxic smoke that they had from the wildfires in Canada which resulted air quality being poor on that occasion) regarding to those pretty terrible shootings that happened on the 4th of July on Independence Day but life is still a bit messed up mainly due to the cost of living crisis that they're having around the world as a result of high prices such as food & fuel are skyrocketing since last year).
And news coming straight out of rugby that there is going to be a global rugby competition called the World League which is expected to commence in 2026 a year out until the Rugby World Cup being held in Australia with the new competition has signalled the new era for both the July & November international rugby windows with SANZAAR and Six Nations Rugby are working in partnership to establish a new international rugby competition due to start in 2026 although the new competition will take place in the existing July and November international rugby windows while each of the four SANZAAR nations of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand (Who'll be without their key Crusaders stalwarts of Leicester Fainga'anuku (Who is nursing a calf problem that he suffered during the Super Rugby Pacific final against the Chiefs) & Will Jordan (Mainly as a result of concussion symptoms prevented him from travelling so Shaun Stevenson takes his place for the time being) for the test against Argentina on the 8th of July (That's the 9th New Zealand time which I'm always looking forward to) & South Africa and all of the Six Nations Rugby Unions such as England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales and federations will compete in the competition, with two invitational Unions such as Fiji & Japan for example, to join the SANZAAR nations then SANZAAR and Six Nations Rugby will own and operate the elite competition & World Rugby will create a newly formed second-tier competition, to facilitate promotion and relegation from 2030, & I think both Ma'a Nonu & Conrad Smith were the best midfield pairing for the All Blacks during our run for success in the early to mid 2010s, but Walter Little & Frank Bunce were by far the better midfield combination for New Zealand during the 1990's period according to antoher story that I remember from Dad but I prefer Nonu & Smith as my preferred all-time AB's midfield pairing.
And in Formula 1 related news such as Max Verstappen (The son of 'The Flying Dutchman' & 'The Boss' of Jos (The most hated man in Formula 1 as well as a former A1GP driver for the Netherlands), who said that the number of races in next year's F1 calendar was revealed (It remains the same but there was notable additions such as the return of China at the Shanghai International Circuit after a 5 year absence which is due to be held from next year onwards since the nation had eased its corona virus restrictions back in March or April (And it was during the pandemic that our country of New Zealand led the way in terms of COVID-19 response back in 2020 until last year where we opened our borders up in April, then eased our border restrictions back in December) & the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix being confirmed also for next year after the event had been called off this year due to flooding in the region) that it was too many) according to the blog that I did 3 months ago who dominated the sprint race qualifying to be on pole for the race) has won the Austrian GP, his 7th of the season in a Grand Prix marred by incidents involving multiple drivers such as 8 like Alpine's Esteban Ocon for example as well as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Sir Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, Alphatauri's Yuki Tsunoda & Logan Sargeant in the Williams had copped penalties for infringements such as going off track by failing to observe/comply the white line which is the field of play a lot in which further action had to be taken by the race stewards in a bid to stamp out drivers who go off the circuit for which was deemed to be harsh with the extreme but sheer number of laps being deleted for offences being taken too seriously to account (But I'm looking forward to Britain which is the home race of 3 British drivers such as Hamilton, Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell & McLaren's Lando Norris (And can anyone stop Red Bull maintaining their perfect record this year? That is the question but will find out in the race on Sunday (And I just heard that Max Verstappen has dominated the 1st 2 official practice sessions on Friday) but the most recent grand prix held in Britain was last year in which Sainz won for the 1st time in Formula 1, but it was filled with drama as chaos erupted in the very 1st lap of the race where China's Zhou Guanyu (Along with Russell who also crashed) in the Alfa Romeo flipped his car over in an unfortunate crash, although he did survive the impact mainly because of the halo (Which was introduced in 2018 for safety purposes regarding to the driver's head area) which is the accepted form as part of safety in F1 along with the HANS device which was mandated in 2003 as also an accepted part of the safety features in motor racing regarding to the head & neck area, while the most memorable F1 race at Silverstone was at the British Grand Prix in 2020 where Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes won his home race on 3 wheels even though he picked up a flattie on the last lap (And that was obviously unfortunate that the crowd wasn't there as they remained in their homes due to the global COVID-19 pandemic in which the grand prix had being staged during that most difficult but tough time in that year) but guess what, the 3 time defending Supercars champion of Shane van Gisbergen (Who has struggled recently in defence of his title this year with Erebus Motorsport now taken over as the top team in the Supercars Championship since the start of the Gen 3 era with their driver Brodie Kostecki (Teammate of Will Brown who is obviously playing the supporting role of Brodie Kostecki's bid of winning his maiden Supercars Championship title) is currently the points leader going into the next event at Reid Park at Townsville) becomes the 1st New Zealander to win a NASCAR race in the streets of Chicago, Illnois which played host to its historic first ever NASCAR street race whilst making his NASCAR Cup Series debut over there as van Gisbergen also becomes the 1st New Zealander to compete in NASCAR.
And back to the rugby stuff that the AB's team had been named to play against Argentina for our always highly anticipated 1st rugby test of the year as well as the Rugby Championship opener (Along with the world champion Springboks (Who had left out their front line players such as Damian de Allende, Lood de Jager, Faf de Klerk, Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi & Malcolm Marx to prepare for the All Blacks in international rugby's most storied rivalry at Mount Smart Stadium in South Auckland to play their 1st test against the AB's in New Zealand since 2019 where it ended in a draw in Wellington before going on to win their last Rugby Championship with a bonus point win against Argentina, 3 months before successfully carrying the hopes of the entire country on their shoulders when they triumphed at the most recent Rugby World Cup in Japan against England in the final in the same year where the skipper Siya Kolisi (Who was one of the really decent rugby players that they had) hoisted the William Webb Ellis cup aloft in front of 70,000 people who are passionate rugby supporters therefore Kolisi played a key but crucial role of bringing the famous William Webb Ellis trophy back to South Africa after 12 years where they ended the utter dominance of the AB's according to the blog that I did last year who had our successful RWC glory at home in 2011 after 24 years before becoming the first & only side to defend the title in 2015 as well as the only time we won the tournament, outside of our home country) hosting the Wallabies (Who is Eddie Jones's 1st game back in charge for the 1st time since 2006 (It was in 2001 that the 1st match that Jones coached for the Aussies was against the South Africans on that ground at Loftus), & has named both Michael Hooper & James Slipper as co-captains in which Australia has never won against South Africa in Pretoria, but will history be made I reckon? I hope not) at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria) at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina (I wonder how the Super Rugby Pacific law interpretations will work by crossing over to the Rugby Championship in which they'll work the best in favour against the All Blacks (Who have the reputation for our worst discipline as we conceded too many penalties as well as yellow & red cards as well) so here is the starting lineup according to head coach Ian 'Fozzy' Foster (Who is in his final year as coach of New Zealand but it's has been 2 years since the last time I did the All Blacks team naming thing & it has been a while so I'm definitely making a comeback):
PLAYING XV
FORWARD PACK
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Hurricanes/Wellington)
3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)
SECOND ROW
4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)
5 (No.5 lock): Josh Lord (Chiefs/Taranaki)
LOOSE FORWARDS
6 (Blind side flanker): Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)
7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)
8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)
BACK LINE
HALVES
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)
10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)
13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left wing): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)
14 (Right wing): Emoni Narawa (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)
& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)
& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS
16 (Reserve hooker): Codie Taylor
17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi
18 (Reserve tight head prop): Nepo Laulala
19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i
20 (Reserve loose forward): Dalton Papali'i
21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie
22 (Reserve first-five eighth): Richie Mo'unga
& 23 (Reserve back): Braydon Ennor
So that is my 508th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 32nd of this year, viva Ukraine.
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