Vertigo/Pride (In The Name Of Love): My 44th blog of the year 2023

Well, Ireland have done it! (Can you believe it! I wonder the headlines would probably say: IRISH CURSE HAS STRUCK SOUTH AFRICA IN SAINT-DENIS or more like: SPRINGBOKS UNDONE BY LUCK OF THE IRISH IN GLORIOUS FASHION, but what a nice way for Ireland to win that game, what a match for our viewers right around the world) They'll be facing the All Blacks in the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup after a hard fought victory over the reigning world champs the Springboks (Who'll take on France in the other quarterfinal since South Africa had tasted the Irish curse with Ireland who gave the South Africans an Irish whipping) by 5 points at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (And it was a great win from Ireland led by the ever incomparable Johnny Sexton by the way, but the New Zealander of Samoan origin who plays for the Irish of Bundee Aki (Ex-Counties Manukau & Chiefs player) could end up being player of the tournament after he had a monster of a game against the South Africans in which he was the standout player of the game just like he did against Tonga), so let's relive the live updates of the last 10 minutes of the match according to Newshub:

THE LAST 10 - RSA VS IRE

70TH MINUTE: Lineout won by Ryan before Murray clears with a kick over halfway, falling for Willemse. He counters, stepping one to get to halfway. Short ball for Snyman and he storms up to the 22, busting through tackles. Wide ball to Arendse but Lowe gets a hand to it and knocks it into touch. Boks throw to the lineout 15 out.

71ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY SOUTH AFRICA (JOINING MAUL INCORRECTLY): Fourie throws and finds Snyman at the lineout as the Boks set the driving maul. Well defended by Ireland before they give away the penalty, side entry to the maul from Beirne. De Klerk finds touch on the 5m line.

72ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM IRELAND: Fourie throws but the Irish compete and his throw is not straight! Crucial error by Fourie as Ireland have the feed to the scrum on their own 5m line.

73RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): South Africa push early and concede the free kick. Easy let off for Ireland as Lowe sends the kick into touch 40 out from the Boks line.

75TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY GOAL MISS IRELAND (J. CROWLEY): 

Lineout won by the Boks as de Allende breaks through the middle and into Irish territory. Building phases 30 out before Snyman loses the ball. Murray hacks the ball long down field and Kriel does well to get back and grab the ball. He loses it in the tackle though and Lowe attacks down the left, being dragged down 15 out. Short ball for Hansen in midfield but the Boks are there to meet him. Ireland building phases in midfield, not really gaining any metres. Crowley has his attempted drop goal touched by a Bok hand and it goes dead, resulting in an attacking 5m scrum for the Irish.

76TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Both front rows get a stern talking to as the scrum is reset a couple of times. Eventually O'Keefe has enough and on the third attempt he penalises South Africa. Ireland will line up the shot at goal, 15 in from left touch.

77TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL IRELAND (J. CROWLEY): Crowley nails the kick from a handy position.

79TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY SOUTH AFRICA (PLAYER LEAVING FEET): Libbok sends the restart short and it falls for Ryan. Crowley clears with a long kick into Boks territory, taken by Libbok who counters back to his 10m line. Snyman rolls his sleeves up and carries well in midfield before Kolbe looks to break down the right. Hansen steals the ball at the ruck and Lowe sends a long kick into the Boks 22 for Willemse to counter back. Back door play sees Kriel attack down the right but Aki shuts him down. Boks win the penalty as Ryan is caught off his feet at the ruck. Libbok finds touch inside the 22.

80TH MINUTE + 1ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): South Africa secure the lineout and set the driving maul. Storming towards the line are the Boks before the maul collapses. The ball is trapped and O'Keefe blows it up, bringing an end to this incredible match.

FULL-TIME: 8 - 13

In what was a battle for the ages, Ireland come away victorious over a resilient Springboks side in Paris. This contest went right down to the wire as the Boks hammered away on the Irish line to close the match. Ireland remained strong, though, and held the South Africans out to remain unbeaten at this Rugby World Cup.

Ireland were classy from the outset, utilising their set piece dominance to gain the upper hand throughout. Ryan and Doris got through a mountain of work up front, while Bundee Aki continued his red-hot form in the first half to lead the Irish to victory. Sexton seems to never age and consistently performs at such a high level for Ireland, with this match being no different. Lowe and Hansen proved to be dangerous on the wings, and it was Lowe's raking left boot that got the Irish out of trouble on several occasions. They have just sent a resounding message to the rest of the competition, that they are here to win it all.

The Springboks were always in the contest and will rue some missed opportunities, particularly in the second half. Multiple missed kicks at goal from Libbok and de Klerk will leave the Boks gutted with the result. Wiese was dominant in the collisions throughout the match, while Kolisi continuously rolled his sleeves up and took some tough carries for his side. While the result isn't what the South Africans wanted, now is the time to drop a game in the World Cup. They will be left to lick their wounds and need to improve if they are to meet Ireland again at this World Cup.

Next up for Ireland is Scotland in 13 days time in what will be good preparation for the quarters. Until then, they will enjoy a well deserved break. The Springboks have Tonga in 7 days and will no doubt come out firing for that match as they look to secure second place in Pool B heading into the final stages.

That is all we have time for from Paris. I hope you have enjoyed coverage of Rugby World Cup 2023 and have a wonderful rest of your day.

And here are the other results from the pool matches of the 2023 Rugby World Cup that have just come in:

Italy 38 - 17 Uruguay (It was Italy's day as they dispatched Uruguay at Allianz Rivera in Nice)

France 96 - 0 Namibia (It was the hosts France's night as they had a comprehensive blowout against the Namibians in a record score which was marred by the red card of Namibian captain Johan Deysel (Who is now been given a lengthy ban for his actions which is worth up to 5 to 6 weeks & joins New Zealander Ethan de Groot & Englishman Tom Curry as part of the suspended players list) for a high tackle on French captain Antoine Dupont who could be ruled out for the next couple of games due to a facial injury in which the French fans were holding their breath)

Argentina 19 - 10 Samoa (And it was Argentina's day as they smoked Samoa to bits at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne)

Georgia 18 - 18 Portugal (And no side has ever claimed a win due to the first drawn match at this years World Cup as both sides share the points & the spoils after Portugal had the chance to win the game with a match winning penalty goal, but it sailed wide at Stadium de Toulouse in Toulouse)

England 71 - 0 Chile (It was England's night as they hammered Chile in English captain's Owen Farrell's return from a 4 week ban at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille while the star of the game was Henry Arundell who ran in 5 tries following his return from injury)

Scotland 45 - 17 Tonga (It was Scotland's day as they thrashed Tonga apart to pieces at at Allianz Rivera in Nice which was overshadowed by ex-All Black Vaea Fifita being sent off for a reckless cheap shot on Scotland's playmaker Finn Russell which ends his World Cup as a result of a ban)

& Wales 40 - 6 Australia (It was Wales's night as they continue their domimance over the Wallabies (Who now had their worst result at the tournament, surpassing the quarterfinal stages in 1995, 2007 & 2019 & have now had a record defeat by 26 points (Also surpassing the 16 point margin that they had in their quarterfinal defeat against England in 2019) at a Rugby World Cup at OL Stadium in Lyon which resulted Eddie Jones losing his job after the tournament due to dismal results over Fiji & now Wales recently (Well, he's gotta go as Australia sink to a new low in the world rankings & with Jones (Who he'll be gutted & heartbroken among most Aussies especially the players themselves by copping a bit of flak compared to the Matildas thrilling run to the Football Women's World Cup that they had this year in which they were semifinalists on that occasion (They lost to England before losing again to Sweden in the 3rd/4th place playoff) having the possibility of coaching Japan again despite his rumors of a job being on offer)

And the latest on Formula One as the dual world champion of Holland's Max Verstappen has returned to winning ways (Following his disappointment in Singapore where Red Bull were unable to maintain their 100% winning record in 2023) at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka to clinch the constructors title for his team Red Bull while the McLaren pair of both Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri (Who had his best result in 3rd in which he finished on the podium) have rounded out the podium, but he has a potential mathematical chance of clinching his 3rd consecutive world championship going into the next Grand Prix in Qatar at the sprint race.

And finally on the 27th of September that I went with my parents of Dad & my step mum of Raewyn on a trip to Palmy of Palmerston North (In which I haven't been since last year in November with Pops), & I had a great time there as me & Dad visited the rugby museum (Although the original volunteer was fallen ill so someone had to fill in) & had brunch at Cafe Cuba where I had beef ragu pasta there then went to the mall at The Plaza in which I went to JB Hi-Fi to get both Blu-ray movies of both Mision Impossible 2 & the Fast & The Furious before heading to Noel Leeming to get my Seagate Xbox game drive & then, we headed back home after visting a number of shops there to enjoy the day it was.

So that is my 520th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 44th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the All Blacks team has been revealed ahead of our next pool game against Italy (Our 1st meeting between the two sides was in 1987 which resulted in a comprehensive blowout for New Zealand in which John Kirwan scored a magnificent length of the field stunner which was the memorable moment in the game (The 1st try of the very opening match of the Rugby World Cup was in fact a penalty try while the first genuine try of the tournament was in fact Michael Jones) in which the All Blacks for the first time, put on 50 points in a full blown international) but the last time we met the Italians was in 2007 in the pool games in which we had a win against them & we were originally going to play them 4 years ago in 2019, but the game had been cancelled/called off as a result of a typhoon spreading across Japan), so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues/Northland)

2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Blues/Counties Manukau)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Brodie Retallick (Chiefs/Hawke's Bay)

5 (No.5 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)

7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Captain, Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)

10 (First five-eighth): Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders/Canterbury)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)

14 (Right wing): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Dane Coles

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Tamaiti Williams (Who takes Ethan de Groot's place as the reserve loosehead prop as De Groot is suspended for this & the next match as a result of a red card for a reckless high tackle on a Namibian player in the previous game against Namibia)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Who returns from a nasty leg gash sustained against the Springboks in London before the World Cup, taking Fletcher Newell's place as the reserve tighthead prop spot)

19 (Reserve lock): Sam Whitelock (Who is dropped to the bench with Scott Barrett elevated to the starting lineup to start as the number 5 lock position & is in line of becoming the most capped All Blacks test player at 149, surpassing the all time record set by Richie McCaw with 148)

20 (Reserve loose forward): Sam Cane (Who replaces his Chiefs teammate Tupou Vaa'i to return from injury after being ruled out for both games against France in a losing effort during the opening match of the RWC & Namibia through a back spasm)

21 (Reserve half-back): Cam Roigard (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Aaron Smith to cover the halfback position with Smith being elevated to the starting lineup as the starting halfback)

22 (Reserve first-five eighth): Damian McKenzie (Who is making way to replace Richie Mo'unga to cover the first five position with Mo'unga elevated to the starting lineup as the starting first-five)

& 23 (Reserve back): Anton Lienert-Brown (Who has replaced Rieko Ioane to cover the reserve back position with Ioane elevated to the starting lineup as the starting centre)

And Italy led by Michele Lamaro have named their team so here is the starting lineup according to New Zealand born coach Kieran Crowley:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Parma)

2 (Hooker): Giacomo Nicotera (Benetton)

3 (Tight head prop): Marco Riccioni (Saracens)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Dino Lamb (Harlequins)

5 (No.5 lock): Federico Ruzza (Benetton)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Sebastian Negri (Benetton)

7 (Open side flanker): Michele Lamaro (Captain, Benetton)

8 (Number 8): Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Stephen Varney (Gloucester)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Luca Morisi (Unattached)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Monty Ioane (Lyon)

14 (Right wing): Ange Capuozzo (Toulouse)

& 15 (Fullback): Tommaso Allan (Perpignan)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Hame Faiva

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ivan Nemer

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Simone Ferrari

19 (Reserve lock): Niccolo Cannone

20 (Reserve loose forward): Manuel Zuliani

21 (Reserve loose forward): Toa Halafihi

22 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Martin Page-Relo

& 23 (Reserve back): Paolo Odogwu.

Ghost From The Past/Hate Boys: My 43rd blog of the year 2023

Well, the AB's are back to winning ways at the Rugby World Cup after our comprehensive blow out against Namibia during the pool stages for which I was stoked (But shame about the red card given to New Zealand prop forward Ethan de Groot (The first All Black sent off in a Rugby World Cup) after being originally given a yellow & an off-field review by the bunker for failing to wrap his arm around his opponent which was like a terrorist attack since World Rugby is continuing to clamp down on illegal head contact even though the war on dangerous tackles in rugby continues (And the high tackles in rugby is killing the game because I was absolutely livid that de Groot got sent off for foul play), but it could be heartbreaking for the All Blacks in light of de Groot (Who terrorized his opponent by charging without attempt to grasp the opponent which resulted in a sin binning offence & put it on report before upgrading it to red) is found out whether he'll be suspended for at least 2 or 3 games which will take him out of the pool stages as well as the quarterfinal then of course he will be available for the semifinal (Or quarterfinal if he tidies up his act by attending tackle academy run by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, in order to relearn his tackle technique) if the AB's progress, but the Cam Roigard - Damian McKenzie halves combination for New Zealand might have proved to be the difference for our quest of regaining the Rugby World Cup according from the comment from Pops who told me on the 16th of September, but the ploy could work in the knockout stages) to snap a wretched 2 game losing run dating back to the reigning world champs South Africa last month at Twickenham then France in the World Cup opener at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Including a yellow card from Will Jordan for a contact in the air on a French player which cost us the game that evoked memories of 1999 & 2007 for France of winning on that occasion) but what a thrilling turnaround for New Zealand after all that twists & turns as well as the thrills & spills we had during the full 80, so let's relive the live updates of the last 10 minutes of the match according to Newshub (In which I dub my new segment as The Last 10 which is a fast paced, condensed version of a live update):

THE LAST 10 - NZL VS NAM

70TH MINUTE: Whitelock secures the restart and the All Blacks then keep ball in hand on their 22 initially. Mo'unga then exits with a high kick to halfway, which Swanepoel takes. However, the chase is good and the counter earns a turnover. McKenzie opts for another kick though, and sends it dead. Scrum back on halfway.

71ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Namibia are able to clear their scrum, and look to build some phases. Stevens is put under pressure behind the ruck, but he finds Loubser, who goes for a good run. A kick in behind McKenzie runs into the in goal, where he dots for a goal line restart.

72ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Long restart over halfway. Booysen goes for a charge back upfield, and a phase later Namibia are pinged for a cleanout beyond the ball.

TMO REFERRAL: There could be an issue here for de Groot, for a high shot on Booysen.

PENALTY NAMIBIA (HIGH TACKLE), YELLOW CARD ALL BLACKS & OFF-FIELD REVIEW: Off to the bin goes de Groot for the remainder of the game, for high contact on Booysen.

73RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Namibia find touch in the corner, and van der Westhuizen then finds Uanivi once more. It's another attempted drive by the Africans, but they're again forced to clear. Deysel's kick is blocked, and the All Blacks claim...

74TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM FEED NAMIBIA: McKenzie goes on a marauding run, but then has his pass for Vaa'i blocked and Namibia claim. They again put a kick in behind, which Mo'unga ends up spilling at the back. In the follow up, Namibia are claiming a try, but they were illegally playing the ball on the deck. Scrum Namibia 5m out.

75TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Namibia clear the scrum, but Stevens then drops it cold and the All Blacks spring upfield. McKenzie gets away from a tackle and then hacks a kick long upfield, but Namibia get back to tidy up inside their 22.

76TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Stevens clears with a box kick over halfway, which McKenzie claims in the air. The All Blacks look to build from their own side of halfway, as Papali'i and Vaa'i make good carries.

77TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks lose their way as Mo'unga fumbles behind him, but it's tidied up and McKenzie then slings it wide to find Fainga'anuku on the left wing...

TRY ALL BLACKS: 69 - 3, R. IOANE

OUT OF NOTHING! Fainga'anuku is able to go into contact with a good carry, gets the left arm free to find Ioane back on the inside and he weaves past the only defender in his path to run away and score under the sticks.

CONVERSION ALL BLACKS: 71 - 3, D. MCKENZIE

78TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Extras added from near in front.

RED CARD ALL BLACKS: News from the foul play review is that de Groot's yellow card has been upgraded to a red.

79TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY NAMIBIA: The All Blacks look to launch from their own end with ball in hand, and McKenzie sends Havili away towards halfway. However, he's caught and the All Blacks are then pinged at the breakdown.

80TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Namibia make some inroads off the lineout, but the ball is then spilled and the All Blacks are happy kicking it away to touch to finish proceedings.

FULL-TIME: 71 - 3

So New Zealand get the comfortable win as expected, although there were elements of the performance that will no doubt leave Ian Foster less than pleased. Defensively the All Blacks were strong, particularly defending a number of lineout drives in the second half, and there were some fine attacking moments as the power, pace and skill of the All Blacks backs ran rampant in broken play. However, there were also some discipline issues, with a number of needless penalties, and a brain snap moment from Ethan de Groot which saw him red carded late in the game. They also pushed passes at times instead of staying patient, which left a few points on the park.

There were some individual performances from the All Blacks which will have staked claims for the first strength side. Cameron Roigard and Leicester Fainga'anuku were the standouts, while Sam Whitelock, Ardie Savea, Beauden Barrett and Anton Lienert-Brown performed solidly. Damian McKenzie added a different dimension with his play at 10, while there was impact off the bench from Tupou Vaa'i, Rieko Ioane and Scott Barrett.

Namibia battled hard right to the end, but were always overmatched and struggled at set piece. Tijuee Uanivi was strong right across the park, while Cliven Loubser and Johan Deysel had some bright moments. They'll be proud of their effort if not the execution though, as they kept toiling right to the very end.

The result puts the All Blacks' campaign back on track, and they'll be looking ahead to the games against Italy and Uruguay to try and wrap up a quarterfinal berth. Namibia meanwhile will no doubt target Uruguay as their best chance for a win, with France their other remaining game.

And here are the other results from the pool matches of the 2023 Rugby World Cup that have just come in:

France 27 - 12 Uruguay (It was France's night as they had a close shave against Uruguay to remain undefeated in pool play at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, 6 days after becoming the first side to defeat New Zealand in pool play at the Rugby World Cup)

Samoa 43 - 10 Chile (It was Samoa's day as they overcome the challenge of the tournament newcomers Chile at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux in Bordeaux)

Wales 28 - 8 Portugal (And it was Wales's day as they rolled Portugal (Who lost a player through a red card after originally being given a yellow card & an off-field review for an illegal high boot on a Welsh player which was reminiscent to Tevita Nabura did to Cameron Clark during a Super Rugby game between the Highlanders & the Waratahs in Sydney in 2018 as well as Jordie Barrett on Marika Koroibete during Bledisloe III between the All Blacks & Australia in 2021) over with an attacking bonus point win at the Stade de Nice in Nice)

Ireland 59 - 16 Tonga (And it was Ireland's night as they hammered Tonga (Who tasted the Irish curse as well as getting Irish whipped during the tournament along with Romania) to pieces thorugh a standout player of the game performance from the Irish second five of Bundee Aki going into their next most all-important clash against the Springboks (Who had lost one of their first choice players of Malcolm Marx (Who got replaced by Handre Pollard instead of Joseph Dweba after making his successful return from a serious injury after he just started practice with the Leicester Tigers side competing in England's premier club rugby competition which is the Gallagher Premiership after originally not being picked in the initial World Cup squad) during the tournament as a result of a bad knee injury sustained in training meaning that the Irish are on track of taking over as the favourite against the South Africans (Who had retaken the position as the favourites against the Irish since Pollard's call-up to the Springboks side for the most important clash) to win that clash & to top that pool in Pool B) to determine who will face the might of the All Blacks in the quarterfinals at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes)

South Africa 76 - 0 Romania (And it was South Africa's day as the defending world champions record a shut-out/clean sheet thrashing (That's the first in the World Cup this year) against Romania in Bordeaux, just before their first ever meeting at a RWC with the top ranked rugby playing nation in the world of Ireland (Who'll put their incredible 15 game winning streak on the line against the 3 time current holders of the William Webb Ellis cup) at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis including hat-tricks from both World Cup winning players from 2019 such as halfback Cobus Reinach & winger Makazole Mapimpi)

Australia 15 - 22 Fiji (And yes, that game was by far, the biggest boil over in the history of the Rugby World Cup during modern times or should I say during the modern era, in which the Fijians who shocked the world again just like against England before the tournament had even started which turned the rugby world upside down with a memorable as well as an historic upset win of the tournament against the Wallabies (Whose next game is against Wales which is a must win in order to survive from being dumped out of the tournament as they attempt to stave off on the brink of elimination) in which was during the tournament that time, but to steal the game for Fiji in one of the most victories in the history of sport, not just in the game of rugby)

& England 34 - 12 Japan (And it was England's night as they upstage Japan with a bonus point win when they needed to in Nice to follow up with their win against Argentina off the back of a pure George Ford 27 point masterclass in Marseille)

And I hadn't mentioned that there is a deadly 6.8 magnitude earthquake had occurred in Morocco which resulted 2,800 fatalities so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the families of the earthquake victims during that sad & difficult time as the nation is expected to spend $11.7 billion on their 5 year post-quake reconstruction plan.

And finally the latest in Formula One that Ferrari (The iconic Italian racing icon who inspired to many generations when they tasted success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 3 months ago in June during the round of the WEC (World Endurance Championship) as they ended the Japanese manufacturer Toyota's 4 year reign on top of the summit at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France) are on the board in 2023 after Carlos Sainz's epic triumph on the streets of Singapore at the Singaporean Grand Prix, therefore the incredible 10 race winning streak of Max Verstappen dating back from Miami to Italy as well as Red Bull's 15 race winning run dating back to Abu Dhabi last year to Italy this year & their bid of maintaining their perfect season, has finally ended when Sainz (Who is the 3rd different driver to win a race along with Red Bull's Sergio Perez twice & the current 2 time world champion Max Verstappen who did it 12 times during this season) had become the 1st non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix since George Russell in the Mercedes-AMG at the Brazilian Grand Prix last year.

So that is my 519th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 43rd of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the current world champion Springboks side have named a strong team by naming all but one forwards on the bench (That's the 2nd time that they had done that but that ploy worked when they defeated the All Blacks at Twickenham in London in which South Africa used their 7 - 1 split for the first time in history) for their all important clash against the number one ranked Ireland with the winner of pool B is expected to face the All Blacks in the quarterfinal while the runner up of that pool gets to face the host nation of France also in the quarterfinal (The last time both of these sides met was last year which resulted in a famous victory for Ireland (Who have never won a match in the quarterfinals of the RWC before) over the world champions) so here is the starting lineup according to coach Jacques Nienaber (And it's been awhile since 4 years ago where I did a blog involving other rugby teams apart from the All Blacks):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Steven Kitshoff (Ulster)

2 (Hooker): Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks)

3 (Tight head prop): Frans Malherbe (Stormers)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Eben Etzebeth (Sharks)

5 (No.5 lock): Franco Mostert (Mie Honda Heat)

LOOSE FORWARDS

7 (Blind side flanker): Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz)

6 (Open side flanker): Siya Kolisi (Captain, Racing 92)

8 (Number 8): Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Faf de Klerk (Yokohama Canon Eagles)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Manie Libbok (Stormers)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Damian de Allende (Saitama Wild Knights)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Jesse Kriel (Yokohama Canon Eagles)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath)

14 (Right wing): Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls)

& 15 (Fullback): Damian Willemse (Stormers)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Deon Fourie

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ox Nche

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Trevor Nyakane

19 (Reserve lock): Jean Kleyn

20 (Reserve lock): RG Snyman

21 (Reserve loose forward): Marco van Staden

22 (Reserve loose forward): Kwagga Smith

& 23 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Cobus Reinach

And Ireland (Who have never lost a test match since July last year against the All Blacks at the garden of Eden at Eden Park in Auckland compared to the Springboks whose last defeat came against New Zealand as well during an epic Rugby Championship test at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland in July this year, in which the AB's had retained the Freedom Cup) led by their ever-impressive veteran Johnny Sexton (Who is in his last ever Rugby World Cup as he already announces his intentions to retire from all forms of rugby until after the tournament as his rugby career is winding down so he wants to end his career on a high as the Rugby World Cup winning skipper just like Lionel Messi did last year when Argentina won their 3rd Football World Cup championship last year in Qatar) have named their team so here is the starting lineup according to English born coach Andy Farrell:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Andrew Porter (Leinster)

2 (Hooker): Ronan Kelleher (Leinster)

3 (Tight head prop): Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Tadhg Beirne (Munster)

5 (No.5 lock): James Ryan (Leinster)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Peter O'Mahony (Munster)

7 (Open side flanker): Josh van der Flier (Leinster)

8 (Number 8): Caelan Doris (Leinster)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Johnny Sexton (Captain, Unattached)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Bundee Aki (Connacht)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Garry Ringrose (Leinster)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): James Lowe (Leinster)

14 (Right wing): Mack Hansen (Connacht)

& 15 (Fullback): Hugo Keenan (Leinster)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Dan Sheehan

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Dave Kilcoyne

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Finlay Bealham

19 (Reserve lock): Iain Henderson

20 (Reserve loose forward): Ryan Baird

21 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Conor Murray

22 (Reserve first five-eighth/fly-half): Jack Crowley

& 23 (Reserve back): Robbie Henshaw.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger/Robot Rock: My 42nd blog of the year 2023

Well, rugby history was made when Rugby World Cup hosts France became the first side to defeat New Zealand (Who Ian Foster (The father of female New Zealand footballer Michaela who wasn't used as she didn't play all her matches for the Football Ferns at the most recent Football Women's World Cup this year in Australia & New Zealand through injury) should've & could've brought the bench on earlier (Similar to the Blues - Crusaders final from last year in which the Blues should've won if they chose to bring on Luke Romano earlier, but the Crusaders were in fact dominant from start to finish), well that would've made the difference, but how unfortunate that the AB's had lost to France for the first time at a Rugby World Cup since 2007, & in counter point that for the 1st time in the tournament's 36 year history that New Zealand began the Rugby World Cup with a loss) in pool play in which both the Irish & the South Africans are feeling generous about the All Blacks unfortunate defeat against the French (Who played like the Boks in London, England (That was the day before Fiji pulled off the unthinkable as they claim the biggest boilover in international rugby history by claiming the mother of all upsets with a win against England, also in a test match prior to the World Cup (Compared to Japan's upset win over South Africa at the 2015 tournament billed as 'the Miracle of Brighton' then Tonga shocking the rugby world over France in 2011 during the World Cup while also the biggest upset in world rugby before the Brighton Miracle in 1999 as the French torn sky blast New Zealand apart by having an insane amount of rugby as they were on a points scoring spree according to the previous blogs that I did as well as James 'Buster' Douglas who pulled the grandaddy of them all with a win over 'Iron' Mike Tyson in a boxing bout in Tokyo in 1990 just 23 days after his mother passed away when at that moment that Douglas became the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, & the most infamous of them all, the Miracle on Ice as the strictly amateur United States team pulled off a memorable win against the fully professional Soviet Union side during the Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round game at Lake Placid, New York in 1980 (The same year amidst the backdrop of the Iranian hostage crisis & the Soviet Union's war on Afghanistan took place but Al Michaels's thoughts of the Americans beating the Soviets echoed across television sets in America "Do you believe in miracles?!") in one of by far, the greatest moments in sporting history as well as the top sports moments of the 20th century with both sporting stories that I did also according to my blog in 2021) in a pre-Rugby World Cup friendly) in front of a packed Stade de France crowd (And the headlines would probably say: RUGBY WORLD CUP HOSTS TOPPLE ALL BLACKS IN OPENER, or more like: KIWI EXPRESS CRUSHED BY MAGNIFICENT FROGS IN THE RWC) although we still got a better chance according to the comment made from Pops to me, but we fear that we might face the reigning champs South Africa in the quarterfinal after our dismal result from our NZ point of view (And now that we're on a back of a 2 match losing streak (It was the Springboks first at Twickenham (The home of rugby in England) before the tournament had even begun, now France (Who are now on a 4 match winning streak dating back to Scotland (Who last beat the French at Murrayfield in Edinburgh by leaving out their first choice players for France (Who had both defeats this year such as the eventual Six Nations champions Ireland & the aforementioned Scottish in Edinburgh) at home) in Saint-Etienne followed by Fiji in Nantes then the Wallabies of Australia in Saint-Denis & now they stunned the AB's (Who had unfortunately lost our captain Sam Cane in which he had to be pulled out/withdrawn with a back spasm, allowing Ardie Savea to take over the skipper's role then moving Dalton Papali'i to the openside flanker position while Tupou Vaa'i takes Papali'i's place at blindside flanker & Brodie Retallick had to appear on the bench as he returns from injury that he might have an outside chance of playing by being on the pine, & that hurts because this is like 1999 & 2007 all over again (And I mean what went wrong for the AB's to lose a pool game for the first time at a RWC like this? Is that we did not get it right against the hosts because consistency is always the key to success & we were inconsistent that time on that occasion mainly due to a lack of depth (And I mean that was heartbreaking stuff that we suffered our first defeat in pool play for which I was totally gutted about the result I have to say about the 1st time the All Blacks have had back to back losses since the end of 2021, but the standout of the RWC opening game would be one of the designated goal kickers for France of Thomas Ramos of Stade Toulousain who had a blinder of a match but the kicking game from New Zealand was in fact poor as we didn't get it done right at the end, but the standout player of the game went to one of France's loose forwards of Gregory Alldritt), so let's hope that we can turn around against the Namibians in our next pool game, but we would be able to bring back our first choice players such as Sam Cane, Shannon Frizell, Jordie Barrett & Tyrel Lomax for the knockouts), but can we go all the way for New Zealand of becoming the 2nd side to win the tournament after South Africa in 2019 to begin our campaign with defeat in the opening game? I literally think so, but we might have also an outside chance of toppling the world champion Springboks side in the quarters) in the opening match of the tournament) in the Rugby World Cup opener at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis) going into the next game against Namibia in which we have played before in international rugby not once but twice) & there has been sad news as Emoni Narawa is ruled out of the tournament through a broken back meaning that Ethan Blackadder of both the Crusaders & Tasman Mako is called up to the squad as injury replacement to compensate with the depleted loose forward department.

And here are the other results from the pool matches of the 2023 Rugby World Cup that have just come in:

Italy 52 - 8 Namibia (It was Italy's day as they begin their campaign with a hammering over Namibia in Saint-Etienne)

Ireland 82 - 8 Romania (And it was the luck of the Irish (Who haven't lost a test since last year against New Zealand during the 1st test at Eden Park in Auckland) as they begin their chase of their historic first ever RWC championship with a really comprehensive win over the Romanians in Johnny Sexton's comeback game in Bordeaux which was held under sweltering hot conditions over there (And the Irish (Whose 100% winning record in 2023, remains intact) are now on a 13 match winning run going into the next World Cup game against Tonga)

Australia 35 - 15 Georgia (It was the Wallabies joy as they start their hopes of winning their first Rugby World Cup since 1999 with a thrashing against Georgia in their 2nd ever meeting at the tournament between both sides in Saint-Denis)

England 27 - 10 Argentina (It was England's night as they begin their campaign of lifting their 1st William Webb Ellis cup in 20 years with a victory despite shrugging off with 14 players against Argentina in Marseille after a red card being given to Tom Curry (Who originally being given a yellow card then an off field review by the bunker which resulted in a sending off in which there was no mitigating factor about the illegal tackle but he will be suspended (Along with captain Owen Farrell & Billy Vunipola as part of the suspended players list for England) for his actions caused by it regarding foul play) for a high shot with George Ford providing the heroics as he scored all of the team's points at 27 (Including 6 penalty goals & 3 drop goals)

Japan 42 - 12 Chile (And it was Japan's joy as they roll over tournament debutants Chile on that fateful day in Toulouse)

South Africa 18 - 3 Scotland (It was the dominant Springboks (Who are now on a 3 game winning streak since their last defeat against the AB's at Go Media Stadium Mount Smart in Auckland going into the next match against Romania) day as they begin their title defence with a resounding win over Scotland in Marseille)

& Wales 32 - 26 Fiji (It was Wales who cling on by taking victory in Bordeaux against the high flying Fijians who came agonizingly close of beating the Welsh for the first time at a RWC since 2007 in the end)

And the latest on Indycar as New Zealander Scott Dixon who missed out on keeping his hopes of winning his record equalling 7th American open wheel championship (And also with the championship being already decided on that occasion at the previous race in Portland, needless to say), has taken victory in the season finale at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California for his first win at the venue when 'the Iceman' had broken the drought as he claimed 1 million American dollars for his victory after overcoming a double penalty for causing a collision on Dutchman Rinus Veekay while fellow countryman Scott McLaughlin finished in 2nd while the newly crowned twice Indycar champion & one of Dixon's teammates of Alex Palou has rounded out the podium, in one of Indycar's most wildest races that they had this year fuelled with incidents which brought out the full course yellow countless number of times such as collisions as well as drivers going off & getting mad at each other, & it was ridiculous in a drama filled with chaos in which a whopping 8 caution periods came out during the race in a instant knee-jerk reaction (And I mean you are joking about it, but you're absolutely kidding right?), similar to Road America in 1996 according to the previous blogs that I did.

And I hadn't mentioned on my blog that there has been many incidents involving aviation such as close calls & near misses which resulted in an alarming pattern being found of safety lapses in the skies as commercial airlines experienced at least 46 close-call incidents in July with the Biden administration expected to move towards new funding to cut close calls regarding to aviation by introducing improvments to avation safety, focusing on preventing close-call incidents in American airports, but there's also the emphasis of mitigating runway close calls as the FAA (Who'll spend $10 million American dollars to improvements being made on the awareness about controller situations & reduce runway close calls by deploying surface surveillance to added airports) being issued a safety call to action as well as there'll be runway safety meetings at about roughly 90 airports.

And I also haven't mentioned that there's a new study about there are calls for white shorts in women's sports to be eliminated in a bid to emphasize on player comfort (Unlike the PS4/PS5 game of Gran Turismo 7 has gone online exclusive to all modes in a bid to stamp out cheating), especially the match officials in the NPC rugby here in New Zealand being told to wear black shorts according to the research on wearing coloured shorts other than white as well as most Farah Palmer Cup teams ditch the white shorts for coloured ones such as Auckland Storm, Waikato women & others like the Northland Kauri, so too is the Football Ferns wearing all black as their home kit for the Football Women's World Cup this year that they had (While the away kit consists of white shirt & socks, but wear different colour of shorts such as teal), & the Irish women's rugby team in a move of wearing dark blue shorts instead of white.

And in tennis news such as Coco Gauff becomes the first American woman since Sofia Kenin for their achievement of becoming a grand slam winner when she won her home grand slam at the US Tennis Open (For which I haven't mentioned in my blogs which is the last tennis grand slam event of the year as they celebrated 50 years of equal pay regarding to prize money of both the men & women according to Billy Jean King's post match victory speech in 1972 while Gauff is the 1st American to win the US tennis open since Sloane Stephens in 2017 while Andy Roddick is the last male to win the US open which was 20 years ago) at Flushing Meadows in New York City, New York in front of her adoring home fans against the Australian Open women's singles champion & new women's world No.1 of Aryna Sabalenka, but the men's singles crown went to Serbia's Novak Djokovic (In which he takes over from Spain's young sensation of Carlos Alcaraz to be on top of the men's tennis world rankings again) who had dispatched the 2021 US Open men's singles champion Daniil Medvedev in which Djokovic redeemed himself after losing to Alcaraz at Wimbeldon in July, a day later on centre court, but it's been 22 years since the 9/11 attacks had occurred in New York City, New York along with the Pentagon at Arlington county in Virginia & at the wooded area in Pennsylvania in America in a horrific but tragic event being unfolded way back in 2001 (Same year that Kiwi America's Cup hero of the late Sir Peter 'Blakey' Blake (One of the late rally driver Possum Bourne's sporting heroes growing up along with one of New Zealand cricket's all-time greats of Sir Richard 'Paddles' Hadlee) who was tragically killed by Brazilian pirates in Macapa, Brazil a week after the late Beatle of George Harrison passed away in Los Angeles, California in the United States after a short battle with cancer to join with the late John Lennon as the other Beatle to have lost their life in which Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr are both the surviving members of the famous British pop rock band the Beatles according to the previous blogs that I did) which was in fact one of the darkest days in history which shocked the world (And just only 18 have survived in the World Trade Centre tower collapse according to the story that I remember from Carole in which we were on our way to mint Cafe on Friday) in which the war on terror had been declared).

And finally that it's happening that I'm going to Palmerston North during the 1st week of the school holidays with Dad & Raewyn for the 1st time in 10 months (The last time I went was last year with Pops) to go shopping at JB Hi-Fi in the Plaza where we'll have lunch there as well as going to Harvey Norman & me paying my first visit to the New Zealand rugby museum since late 2016.

So that is my 518th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 42nd of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the All Blacks team has been revealed ahead of our next pool game against Namibia (Our 1st meeting between the two sides was in 2015 which resulted in a comprehensive win for New Zealand but the last time we met the Namibians was in 2019 in which we hammered them including an incredible acrobatic try scored in the corner from TJ Perenara, was in fact the try of the tournament as well as being awarded the try of the year in 2019) for our chance to end that wretched 2 match losing streak dating back to the Springboks test at Twickenham in London, England, then against the tournament hosts France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis in the World Cup opener in which we finally lost a game in pool play (Our last win for the AB's was in Dunedin last month in a hard fought battle against the Wallabies in Bledisloe II), so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues/Northland)

2 (Hooker): Samisoni Taukei'aho (Chiefs/Waikato)

3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Blues/Counties Manukau)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Brodie Retallick (Chiefs/Hawke's Bay)

5 (No.5 lock): Sam Whitelock (Crusaders/Canterbury)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Luke Jacobson (Chiefs/Waikato)

7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Captain, Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Cam Roigard (Hurricanes/Counties Manukau)

10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): David Havili (Crusaders/Tasman)

13 (Centre): Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Leicester Fainga'anuku (Crusaders/Tasman)

14 (Right wing): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Dane Coles (Who replaces Samisoni Taukei'aho with Taukei'aho elevated to the starting lineup to replace Codie Taylor to start at hooker)

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Who is dropped to the bench as the reserve loose head prop position with Ofa Tu'ungafasi making way to the starting lineup to start in the loosehead prop position)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell

19 (Reserve lock): Scott Barrett (Who is dropped to the bench with Retallick elevated to the starting lineup to start as the number 4 lock)

20 (Reserve loose forward): Tupou Vaa'i

21 (Reserve half-back): Aaron Smith (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Finlay Christie to cover the halfback position)

22 (Reserve first-five eighth): Richie Mo'unga (Who is making way to replace David Havili to cover the first five position with Havili making way to the starting lineup, taking Anton Lienert-Brown's place at second five with Lienert-Brown moving to his preferred position as the starting centre)

& 23 (Reserve back): Rieko Ioane (Who has replaced Leicester Fainga'anuku to cover the reserve back position with Fainga'anuku elevated to the starting lineup to replace Will Jordan as the starting right winger)

And Namibia led by their veteran Johan Deysel have named their team so here is the starting lineup according to South African born coach Allister Coetzee:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Jason Benade (University of Namibia)

2 (Hooker): Torsten van Jaarsveld (Bayonne)

3 (Tight head prop): Johan Coetzee (Cheetahs)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Johan Retief (Griquas)

5 (No.5 lock): Tjiuee Uanivi (Montauban)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Wian Conradie (New England Free Jacks)

7 (Open side flanker): Prince Gaoseb (Tel Aviv Heat)

8 (Number 8): Richard Hardwick (Melbourne Rebels)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Damian Stevens (New Orleans Gold)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Tiaan Swanepoel (Lions)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Le Roux Malan (New England Free Jacks)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Johan Deysel (Captain, Colomiers)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Divan Rossouw (Krasny Yar)

14 (Right wing): Gerswin Mouton (Wits University)

& 15 (Fullback): Cliven Loubser (Utah Warriors)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Louis van der Westhuizen

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Desiderius Sethie

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Haitembu Shikufa

19 (Reserve lock): PJ van Lill

20 (Reserve loose forward): Adriaan Booysen

21 (Reserve loose forward): Max Katjijeko

22 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Jacques Theron

& 23 (Reserve back): JC Greyling.

Complicated/Are You Happy Now?: My 41st blog of the year 2023 (AKA Breaking Dawn III: The 2023 Rugby World Cup preview)

Well, the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France is almost upon us so let's have a look at the pools, the rugby playing nations & the players to watch (Well this is the third in the series to the 2 highly successful blogs that I did in 2015 called Breaking Dawn: The 2015 Rugby World Cup preview & in 2019 which is Breaking Dawn II: The 2019 Rugby World Cup preview (And yes, the eyes of the rugby world will be in France as the country plays host to the Rugby World Cup):

Pool A:

New Zealand (Jordie Barrett (Midfield)

France (Antoine Dupont (Halfback)

Italy (Paolo Garbisi (First-five eighth)

Uruguay (Tomas Inciarte (Halfback/centre)

Namibia (Cliven Loubser (First-five eighth/fullback)

Pool B:

Ireland (Josh van der Flier (Loose forward)

South Africa (Pieter Steph-du Toit (Loose forward)

Scotland (Duhan van der Merwe (Wing)

Tonga (Malakai Fekitoa (Midfielder)

Romania (Paul Popoaia (Wing/fullback)

Pool C:

Wales (Adam Beard (Lock)

Australia (Mark Nawaqanitawase (Wing)

Fiji (Semi Radradra (Utility)

Georgia (Goram Gogichashvili (Loosehead prop)

Portugal (Mike Tadjer (Hooker)

Pool D:

England (Maro Itoje (Lock)

Japan (Lee Seung Sin (First-five eighth)

Argentina (Pablo Matera (Loose forward)

Chile (Martin Sigren (Flanker)

Samoa (Miracle Fai'ilagi (Loose forward/lock)

And it's been 200 years since the game of rugby was invented in 1823 by none other than the late William Webb Ellis who picked up the ball & ran with it, but the inaugural tournament started in 1987 where New Zealand dominated against France in that epic but memorable final in Auckland (Including the heroics of the 3 stars of the tournament such as Michael Jones, David Kirk & John Kirwan who scored tries during the final that won them the contest & gave the All Blacks the Webb Ellis cup), then Australia took over in 1991 as they ended the All Blacks reign as the world champions after their victory against England in the final in London followed by South Africa in 1995 against the AB's in the final via a drop goal by South African first five Joel Stransky during extra time where they won the tournament on debut at home which united the nation under the leadership of the late South African preisdent of Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg before the Wallabies regained the crown in 1999 after a comprehensive win over France in the final in Cardiff, Wales, then the English took over in 2003 where they had to beat Australia in the final in a rematch of the 1991 final with a match winning drop goal none other than Johnny Wilkinson in Sydney with his right hoof, also during extra time followed by the Springboks 4 years later where the English missed out on defending the title against them in Paris, France in 2007 before New Zealand went on to win the RWC after 24 long years against France in a hard fought final which was a replay of the final in 1987 in Auckland in 2011 including Stephen Donald (The man known as 'Beaver' who was called into the squad to replace Colin Slade who injured his groin similar to Dan Carter (A good mate of captain at the time of Richie McCaw who nursed a foot injury sustained during preseason training with the Crusaders) during the tournament then he replaced the injured Aaron Cruden (Who joined midway through the tournament as injury replacement to one of our best players of Carter who hurt his groin during training in preparation of our last pool game against Canada & was due to captain the side) during the final) who provided the heroics with a match winning penalty goal, then the All Blacks appeared in another final in which we were successful against the Wallabies in London, England of defending the RWC in 2015 (In which was by far, arguably the best final of them all including Beauden Barrett's clinching try that sealed the deal to complete our successful defence of the William Webb Ellis trophy) followed by the Boks who won the RWC in 2019 after 12 years as they hammered England in the final in Yokohama, Japan which was a rematch of 2007.

And my thoughts on who is going to win the tournament? It's a tough one, but it is going to be difficult not only this years tournament is the most competitive in all of the Rugby World Cups being held (Well mine would be New Zealand at this stage because we haven't won since 2015).

And here are my top 10 favourite iconic but legendary Rugby World Cup memories since I was born in 1991 (I once did a top 5 back in 2019, but since has been updated to my top 10 standout moments of the RWC now):

10: Carlos Spencer's through the legs pass to the try scorer of All Black Joe Rokocoko that knocked the Springboks out during the quarters way back in 2003

9: Tonga's extraordinary boil over victory against France in 2011 (In which was a lesser degree than the Japan-South Africa encounter 4 years later)

8: The All Blacks comprehensive hammering over France in the quarterfinal in 2015 which was payback of our ill-fated QF game way back in 2007 (AKA the revenge match, including Julian Savea's heroics in which he scored a hat-trick during the quarters)

7: The late Jerry Collins's massive hit on Thinus Delport during the quarterfinal between New Zealand & South Africa in 2003

6: Brian Lima's thumping tackle on Derick Hougaard during the pool game between Samoa & South Africa in 2003

5: Sam Warburton's red card against France during the semifinal in 2011

4: The late Jonah Lomu running over the top of Mike Catt also during the semifinal in 1995

3: Japan's glorious upset win against the Springboks in 2015

2: The All Blacks winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup against France in the final (Including Stephen 'Beaver' Donald's match winning penalty to win our 2nd Rugby World Cup title & our 1st in 24 years) on home soil

& 1: The AB's winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup against the Wallabies in the final (Including Beauden 'Beaudy' Barrett's try that sealed the deal to clinch our 2nd Rugby World Cup title in a row & our 1st to win 3 Rugby World Cups) on foreign soil

And the latest on F1 as Max Verstappen becomes the first man to win 10 straight races in Formula One as he achieved by breaking the all time record set by Sebastian Vettel with 9 in 2013 after winning an epic Italian Grand Prix at Scuderia Ferrari's home race in which Carlos Sainz finished on the podium in 3rd behind Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who bounced back from disappointment in Holland to finish in 2nd while New Zealander Liam Lawson in the Alphatauri finished in 11th in just his second race in Formula One & he was one place shy of the points scoring position, his best result of his relatively short F1 career, but the fastest lap of the race went to Australian Oscar Piastri in the McLaren who came into the pits to change both the tyres & the front wing after being collided by the former multiple world champion of Sir Lewis Hamilton who got penalized 5 seconds for an avoidable contact while the race was delayed for 20 minutes as Lawson's Alphatauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda who had a DNF after his car's power unit had let go just before the cars had lined up onto the grid in which the start was aborted, but there has been an update in Indycar such as Spain's Alex Palou is champion, again, just like in 2021 (The year after Palou's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate of Kiwi Scott Dixon (Who'll be inducted into the American motorsports hall of fame next year despite not retiring from motor racing altogether & is the longest tenure driver in motor racing driving for Chip Ganassi Racing for 21 years (He joined that team since 2002 from the now defunct PWR Championship Racing in which he joined in 2001 in his rookie American open wheel racing season after coming over from a successful Indy Lights campaign in 2000 until a year later which closed down due to lack of sponsorship) & the year before Scott McLaughlin's Team Penske teammate of Aussie Will Power while McLaughlin is an avid fan of the All Blacks (Along with British quiz master Shaun Wallace from The Chase & famous American Hollywood movie star from the state of Hawaii of Jason Momoa (Who appeared as the main antagonist/villain in the most recent Fast & Furious series movie released this year which is Fast X), but I once heard a story from Kathryn that the French love the All Blacks (And they're both nice & friendly but I have a French mate now which is Clement who is a vegetarian & is an avid rave music follower (I'm mainly into rock & metal (Just like both Zaki & Andy) but I sometimes like rave music as well, just like Clement) who is the son of a Hongkonger Wai-Lam & Wai-Lam's wife Maree Jose, but I haven't seen the French trio since 9 months ago when they stayed there at our place which is 15A Kells Avenue (My home since 2017) since she went to a French restaurant with her partner Ken that she once said she loves the French people which was considered the best despite telling a French person about the All Blacks were robbed on that occasion during the quarterfinal stage against the 2007 hosts France) but he calls the United States as his second home & his main home would be his country of birth of New Zealand) where he first won the championship (And now he has another this year as Palou (Who made his Indycar debut in 2020 a year after crossing over from the Super Formula series in Japan & the year before he etched history when he became the first Spanish driver to win the Indycar Series crown) becomes a 2 time Indycar Series champ (Along with Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Gil de Ferran, Alex Zanardi, Al Unser Jr & 10 others who are twice American open wheel racing champions) as well as becoming Spain's most successful racing car driver since the glory days of his childhood idol of Fernando Alonso where he dominated Formula One 2 years in a row in 2005-06) after clinching the title in style at Portland International Raceway with one race to spare (And it was the first time since 2007 in the Champ Car World Series that the championship had been decided with one race remaining which had gone in the way of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais (The CART (Which stands for Championship Auto Racing Teams which started off from 1979 until 1991 before rebranding it to Indycar in 1992 until 1996 where the CART name was reused due to a tumultous rift between them & the IRL (Which used to be the Indy Racing League before rebranding it to Indycar from 2003 onwards) as a result from 'The American open-wheel racing Split' which lasted for 12 years before reunifying them in 2008 from 1997 until 2003) rookie of the year from 2003) who is a Le Mans native, but currently resides in Saint Pete, Florida) therefore Dixon who narrowly misses out on keeping his title hopes alive just like last year & the year before with the all-time record for most American Open Wheel Racing championships set by the great AJ Foyt, stays intact.

And onto the wrestling stuff such as during WWE Wrestlemania 38 on the same night as Brock Vs Roman: Decider in the Lone Star State (That was the year before Los Angeles played host to Wrestlemania 39 at SoFi Stadium (Venue for last year's Superbowl between the Los Angeles Rams, & the Cincinnati Bengals) in which Roman 'The Big Dog' Reigns had remained the Undisputed WWE Universal champion against 'The American Nightmare' Cody Rhodes (Who was the winner of this years men's Royal Rumble match in late January) in a title match billed as Cody Vs Roman: Decider in Hollywood, that Ric's daughter of Charlotte 'The Queen' Flair had beaten former MMA fighter 'Rowdy' Rhonda Rousey to successfully defend the WWE Smackdown Women's title (That was the year before she was defeated by Australian Rhea Ripley (Who became the new champion at that moment, & has held on to that title since) at WM 39, in easily one of the best women's wrestling matches to be staged at the Grandest Stage of Them All) as well as Bianca Belair (Who beat Asuka to retain the title at Summerslam this year in a rematch of WM 39 which was won by Belair, before being beaten by Japan's Iyo Sky of the villainous tag team stable of Dmage Ctrl (Who is WWE's equivalent of The Outcasts in AEW) who initiated her successful Money In The Bank cash in) defeated Seth Rollins's wife of 'The Man' Becky Lynch to also successfully become the new WWE Raw Women's title & also the star of the Attitude era of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin came away with an unlikely win over Kevin Owens (Who was the main star attraction during the Reality era) in the Texas Rattlesnake's rare, one off appearance as he came out of retirement to wrestle one last time in the WWE in a no holds barred match (Which is in fact no disqualification (DQ), no count-outs...Anything goes), even though at the tender age of 57, 19 years after his last wrestling match in 2003 against the Rock at Wrestlemania XIX which ended in defeat (Although Austin decided to hang up his wrestling boots as a result of a recurring neck injury (From a botched piledriver (In which the manuver has been cracked down since 2000 (Which was during the Attitude era) in the WWE (Back then when it was known as the WWF) as a result of safety issues regarding to the head & neck area) of the late Owen Hart in 1997) that ended his wrestling career, 6 years before going on to be inducted into the WWE hall of fame by his chief rival, Mr McMahon (Who was once the chairman of WWE until last year that he resigned amid reports of hush-money payment according to the previous blogs that I did last year, allowing his daughter & Triple H's wife Stephanie to take over as chairperson) which was during the Ruthless Aggression era.

And the latest on the football that the Football Women's World Cup winning player for Spain of Jennifer 'Jenny' Hermoso is suing anyone like the Spanish Football Federation for kissing someone like the head of the Spanish football federation of Luis Rubiales illegally on the lips without her consent so she's gonna be in big trouble for that (But my thoughts about the outrage towards Hermoso "You know, I, oh god, I hope they get sued...Well, it's such a rip off, it's a shameless rip off, & I mean literally, that is terrible, it is a nice win by Spain when they became the world champions in women's football, but I was like when Hermoso did something to the president of the Spanish Football Federation, oh shameless...Maybe that's a slap on the wrist for that") as well as the Football Women's World Cup winning coach for the Spanish of Jorge Vilda who got fired as a result of Hermoso filing a complaint being handed out for sexual assault towards Rubiales (But she'll ruin her relationship with her partner like that now) & I was like "Ugh! Hate it" when that happened (And you simply cannot do that because not only it's harming to their society), but they hired a female coach in an effort to step up by clearing things up & focus on qualifying for the next tournament in 2027 (And players who play in the La Liga F are lodging a protest on the scandal that shocked Spanish women's football).

And of course it is time to move on from the global pandemic that we had since March 2020 in which every country of the world has lifted their COVID-19 restrictions (Including us Kiwis in which we led the way in terms of response during the global pandemic back in 2020 according to the blog that I did 3 months ago, except in aged & health care facilities that masks are required to wear most of the time) not only we might have managed to survive it in which the number of confirmed cases has been dropped down signifcantly since as well as easing the corona virus shut downs & restrictions because it's no more, but we have to be aware that if someone sneezes, a person would catch it so we have not moved on as of today.

And lastly, back to the rugby that there was once a story about the Rugby World Cup winning captain in 1987 of David Kirk who revealed that he chose not to go to South Africa (Which was under an apartheid regime until in 1990 where the late great Nelson Mandela was released in prison, 2 years before the South Africans had been readmitted to international sport in 1992 (And it was 2 years in the leadup to Mandela being elected as the 1st South African president of African origin in 1994, a year before the rainbow nation would gone on to host the RWC which was eventually won by the hosts over New Zealand at extra time in the final at Ellis Park in Johannesburg which hurts us Kiwis) after being years away from isolation) in 1986 to not be part of the rebel Cavaliers tour in order to avoid getting suspended for both games according to the comment that I remember on TV from veteran New Zealand rugby broadcaster Grant Nisbett, not only because this was a year out until the inaugural Rugby World Cup in which the AB's piled on, of when they raced out first of becoming world beaters on that level (That was Kirk's influence of winning that tournament a year after his beliefs prevented him of going to South Africa & if he did, he would serve a 2 game ban for that as a result (And unlike the late American boxer of Muhammad Ali who back in 1967 that he chose not to be enlisted to the US Army to go to Vietnam due to a war being broken out in the country because of his religious beliefs preventing him from going to that war torn country, & he got a 3 year suspension for that until he returned to boxing once his ban had been expired in 1970, according to the blog that I did last year) after that comprehensive win against France (Who had a memorable win against New Zealand in the semifinal in 1999 in one of the greatest comebacks in international rugby history, compared to South Africa's epic win over England at the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 which was reminiscent/shades of 1995 where Francois Pienaar became the 1st of 3 Springbok skippers to lift the famous William Webb Ellis trophy in front of the late South African president Nelson Mandela who united the nation & the Ellis Park faithful) in that epic final (Which was a replay of the Battle of Nantes a year earlier in 1986 in which New Zealand copped a fearful battering against the French according to the previous blogs that I did) at a packed out Eden Park in Auckland (The try scorers for the All Blacks in that final were Kirk, Michael Jones & John Kirwan), & also the late Jonah Lomu being the GOAT of rugby union (In which he became one of the all time greats of the sport by being rugby's first true global superstar sensation (His place of making the All Blacks Rugby World Cup squad in 1995 was nowhere to be found after a disappointing form against France in Christchurch in 1994 where he made his test debut with his rumours of going to play rugby league in Australia for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, until he had a good performance in the North Vs South game in Dunedin proved him worthy enough to impress the selectors of making the squad to South Africa) where he was rocketing to stardom after his performances in the 1995 RWC, especially in the semi against England in which he bagged in 4 tries including the one who trampled the English player of Mike Catt, in one of the Rugby World Cup's most iconic moments also according to the blog that I did this year, but his life was tragically ruined as he suffered nephrotic syndrome which is a rare & serious kidney disorder that he had in 1997 until he passed away in November 8 years ago due to a heart attack that he had which resulted in his death) compared to the late Pele in Football, Michael Jordan in basketball & Tiger Woods in golf.

So that is my 517th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 41st of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the AB's team (Who are hoping to bounce back after a terrible but horrific test match against the defending world champions South Africa by 28 points in which was the All Blacks worst loss since 1999, & one of New Zealand rugby's grim but darkest days at Twickenham in London, England in which the ever popular national rugby team of New Zealand had been given a reality check ahead of the World Cup) has been named to play against the host nation of France (Who are the slight favourites mainly due to the home field advantage that could favour them so I'm rooting for the AB's side to win by less than 12 points because I expect the French to be competitive, unlike the South Africans who were ultra competitive when we suffered an unfortunate defeat against them that haunted us at Twickers, in which the French were feeling generous about it just like the England cricket team were walloped by the incredible Australians (Who are currently the reigning world test champs, but the Ashes test series in England once again ended in a draw just like in 2019 while the Aussies still remain the holders of the Ashes cricket series, but the next one is in 2025-26 down under in Australia) in the 1st Ashes test this year at Edgbaston in Birmingham) in the highly anticipated 2023 Rugby World Cup opener at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Their most recent meeting between the 2 countries in international rugby was in 2021 where France absolutely smoked them for their 1st win since 2009 in Dunedin as well as their 1st win on home soil since 2000 in Marseille, but the last time both sides met at a Rugby World Cup was in 2015 that New Zealand had a comprehensive win against the French in the quarterfinals at Cardiff dubbed as the revenge game after losing to them in 2007 under controversial circumstances also at the Millennium Stadium, including Ardie's brother Julian Savea who had his heroics after crossing over for a hat-trick of tries, in the biggest hammering at a RWC knockout game in 28 years when New Zealand thrashed 14 man Wales in the semifinal at Ballymore in Brisbane, Australia), so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Blues/Counties Manukau)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)

5 (No.5 lock): Sam Whitelock (Crusaders/Canterbury)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Captain, 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): Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders/Canterbury)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)

14 (Right wing): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Samisoni Taukei'aho

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Who takes Tamaiti Williams's place as the reserve loosehead prop)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Luke Jacobson (Who takes Josh Lord's place to cover at the loose forward position with Lord heading back home to join the Taranaki NPC squad for the remainder of the season)

21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie (Who takes Dalton Papali'i's place to cover the reserve halfback position with Papali'i elevated to the starting lineup to confront the mammoth French pack, replacing Luke Jacobson who is dropped to the bench)

22 (Reserve midfielder): David Havili (Who is making way to replace Cam Roigard to cover at the midfield for his first All Blacks game of the year on the bench)

& 23 (Reserve outside back): Leicester Fainga'anuku (Who has replaced Anton Lienert-Brown to cover the reserve outside back position with Lienert-Brown elevated to the starting lineup to replace the unfortunate Jordie Barrett who is ruled out for this game after injuring his knee)

And the Rugby World Cup hosts France led by Antoine Dupont (AKA the Kylian Mbappe of French rugby) have named their team who fielded their strongest possible lineup when they take to the field in the tournament opener against the former 3 time world champions as well as the current holders of the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks, so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fabien Galthie (A former player who'll will be appearing in his 5th RWC, his first as coach after previously appearing at the World Cup for France 4 times as a player from 1991 until 2003, but it's been 4 years since the last time I did it when I reveal the starting lineup for the AB's opposition which was during the last World Cup in 2019):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Reda Wardi (La Rochelle)

2 (Hooker): Julien Marchand (Toulouse)

3 (Tight head prop): Uini Atonio (La Rochelle)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Cameron Woki (Racing 92)

5 (No.5 lock): Thibaud Flament (Toulouse)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Francois Cros (Toulouse)

7 (Open side flanker): Charles Ollivon (Toulon)

8 (Number 8): Gregory Alldritt (La Rochelle)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Antoine Dupont (Captain, Toulouse)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Begles)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Yoram Moefana (Bordeaux-Begles)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Gael Fickou (Racing 92)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Gabin Villiere (Toulon)

14 (Right wing): Damian Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles)

& 15 (Fullback): Thomas Ramos (Toulouse)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Peato Mauvaka

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Jean-Baptiste Gros

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Dorian Aldegheri

19 (Reserve lock): Romain Taofifenua

20 (Reserve loose forward): Paul Boudehent

21 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Maxime Lucu

22 (Reserve midfielder): Arthur Vincent

& 23 (Reserve outside back): Melvyn Jaminet.