Well, the AB's test schedule has been revealed with our first test of the year begins against England at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin which kicks off the Razor era for our chance to redeem ourselves for our first win against the English in international rugby since 2018 in Twickenham before we lost to them in the semi at the Rugby World Cup in Yokohama in 2019 (Including Samoan born Englishman Manu Tuilagi's try that put them through in the final to set up a showdown with South Africa according to the previous blogs that I did, but following our defeat against the English in the semi during the tournament that I was reminiscing about Aaron 'Nuggy' Smith's comment that New Zealand's changing room had turned into a funeral) & a draw in 2022 at Twickers in which we had blown our opportunity to win the test match after Beauden Barrett had easily been sent to the bin (And both New Zealand & England were expected to meet in the final at last years Rugby World Cup, but the Springboks took England's place as the All Blacks's main opponent in the final) which sparked but roared England back to life as they were on the comeback trail, then we face the same opposition at Eden Park in Auckland in the 2nd test before heading on the plane to San Diego, California in the United States to play Fiji (In which we haven't played since 2021), & after that we play host to Argentina (Who haven't beaten us since 2022 in that fateful test in Christchurch) twice in the 1st 2 rounds of this years Rugby Championship (One in Wellington at Sky Stadium which is a rematch of the Rugby World Cup semifinal in which we blazed past them to go through to the final & the other in Auckland at Eden Park) before we hop on the plane to South Africa to square off against the world champion Springboks side (The most successful rugby playing nation in the world with 4 Rugby World Cups to their name while the All Blacks have never beaten the Boks since last year at Go Media Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland in July) twice, one including a rematch of our ill-fated Rugby World Cup final from last year at Ellis Park in Johannesburg for a chance to end our wretched 2 game skid against the South Africans including both defeats in a pre-Rugby World Cup test at Twickenham Stadium in London, then the final at the Stade de France in which South Africa was still, the best rugby playing nation on the planet in which they were rugby's mentality monsters (Compared to the South Africa cricket team in which they always labelled as chokers when they fell short of reaching the final by losing them in the semi 5 times at a men's Cricket World Cup) led by that iconic sporting figure of Siya Kolisi as well as erasing the scars of '23 that we experienced in which we had painful memories of that fateful day that occurred in Paris (And 6 months have passed since that controversial final that had been fuelled by cards, calamity & devastation in which our New Zealand side cost them dearly a shot of World Cup glory as well as returning the Wiremu back home to Aotearoa that turned into a fighting chance) which was a repeat of the 1995 final, then we play them again at Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town followed by the Joe Schmidt coached Wallabies (Who are in a rebuilding phase after failing to qualify for the knockouts in last years RWC for the first time, but the Aussies have never beaten us since 2020 in Brisbane, but the Wallabies have hired a scrum coach in the form of ex-All Black scrum coach Mike 'Crono' Cron, in a bid to change the fortunes around, restore the side's faith & to save the team's blushes) twice in the last 2 rounds of TRC as well as both Bledisloe Cup tests in which Australia are gunning to wrestle the trophy away from New Zealand after 21 years, one in Sydney at Accor Stadium & the other at Sky Stadium in Wellington then its Japan at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama followed by England at Twickenham in which we haven't won at that ground since 2018, Ireland (Including a replay of the quarterfinal where we upstaged them in one of the standout Rugby World Cup matches from last year in Paris), France (Also including the rematch of the opening pool game where we have the chance to end a 2 match losing run against the French, one in our last test of 2021 & the other last year in September during the Rugby World Cup opener, both at the Stade de France) & Italy (And also including the replay of the pool game where the AB's had a comprehensive win over the Italians during the tournament) to wrap up the 2024 test season (And that's 5 home tests to be dealt with, compared to the 9 away games that we're having).
And I heard that rumors are about to spread with 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist & most recent Football World Cup winning captain for Argentina at Qatar in 2022 of Lionel Messi (The Inter Miami player who is in his quest of winning his 2nd Olympic gold medal unlike Neymar who successfully did it for Brazil at Rio in 2016 where the Brazilians struck gold in the men's under-23 football section for the first time, but they failed to qualify compared to the Canada women's soccer team (The most recent Olympic champions in Tokyo) who made it alongside the Spain women's football team (World champions last year when they triumphed when the tournament was held in Australia & New Zealand, but got fined for an illegal kiss involving Luis Rubiales on Jenny Hermoso in the aftermath of Spain becoming champions of the world in women's football for the first time) confirms he'll play for the Argentina under-23's again, this time as an overaged player (One of 3 allowed in the men's under-23 side squad compared to the women who have no restrictions regarding to their age grade) at the Paris Olympics this year along with Frenchman Kylian Mbappe (Who could be ruled out of playing this year's Euro 2024 in Germany if he chooses to go to Paris to represent his country's under-23 side as one of 3 over aged players in the team) for a possible rematch between the 2 players when Argentina & France (Who are favourites of winning Euro 2024 (With Georgia (Who upstaged the Euro 2004 champions Greece on penalties in which they made history to make the Euros for the 1st time since their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but I thought that Georgia (Which boasts Greco-Roman wrestling as their main sport) is usually a rugby playing nation, & I didn't know that they have a football/soccer team), Poland (Who managed to pull off a win against Wales therefore denying the Welsh of qualifying their 3rd straight European Football Championship following their previous major football tournament appearance was at the Football World Cup in Qatar in 2022) & still the emotional Ukraine (Who had beaten Iceland at a neutral venue in Poland thanks to a winning goal to one of the Ukrainian players who plays for English club Chelsea of Mykhailo Mudryk (And Pops once told me back in 2022 when Ukraine suffered a heartbreak of not making the most recent Football World Cup held in Qatar in 2022 in the aftermath of a defeat against the Welsh (Who failed to qualify for another European Football Championship appearance after being outplayed against the Polish) that Mudryk is a bit of a Aidan Morgan lookalike (Or Mudryk is a bit of a doppelgaenger of Hurricanes & Wellington rugby player Aidan Morgan) since their country is too dangerous to host their home game due to that terrible event had been unfolded which is still going (And it is very similar to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith where the Emperor initiated Darth Vader & the clone troopers to eliminate the majority of the Jedi Order & its members at all costs according to Darth Sidious's new physical indentity as Vader (Formerly Anakin Skywalker) was given a new task: to hunt down and assassinate the remaining Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy by carrying the execution of Order 66 in which was known as the Great Jedi Purge (And both Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda managed to survive from it) along with Israel's invasion against Hamas (It began on the 7th of October last year, & it just keeps going) taking the final spots at the Euros in Germany) mainly due to them being the top ranked European football playing nation, but they suffered a defeat against hosts of the upcoming Euros of Germany most recently in a friendly) squared off in the final of the 2022 Football World Cup at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar where the Argentinians broke a 36 year drought of winning Football World Cups, inspired by their successful Copa America glory in Brazil in 2021 which was during the global pandemic which struck across the rest of the world when it was on pause.
And the New Zealand news service provider of Newshub is shutting its doors of being culled at the end of June with job cuts being expected up to 300, but it could be heartbreaking under a proposal by owner Warner Bros Discovery which upheld their legacy when it kicked off 35 years ago way back in 1989 although with the demise of Newshub would even leave the entirety of our country with only a solitary TV news service (Although Stuff News just announced recently that they'll take over from Newshub as Three's main news programme starting from July this year), but there has been an update as work reductions had been announced by TVNZ making 68 of their staff being redundant mainly bacause of inflation as well as the cost of living crisis that we're currently having.
And finally that I remember a rallying related story about Toyota getting disqualified in 1995 during the World Rally Championship for its Toyota Celica ST205 cars fitted with banned turbo restrictors in a scandal dubbed as turbogate, & as a result they were handed a 1 year suspension by the FIA in which the late president of the sports governing body of Max Mosley labels the banned turbo restrictor as the most ingenious device that he has ever seen in 30 years of motorsports, while Toyota & their drivers of Finland's Juha Kankkunen (Who had been in contention for the WRC crown which gone in the way of the late great British rally driver of Colin McRae who was behind the wheel in a Subaru where he beat his teammate at the time of Spaniard Carlos Sainz Sr (Who was due to move to Toyota for the 1996 season before Toyota's exclusion from the championship) to win at his home event in Britain which hosted the last round of the 1995 championship & the title), Frenchman Didier Auriol (Who was France's first ever world rally champion before both Sebastien's of Loeb (Who is a 9 time champion from 2004 to 2012 (The most successful driver in the history of WRC) & one of my favourite rally idols along with McRae, the late Richard Burns, Petter Solberg, Sebastien Ogier & Kalle Rovanpera) & Ogier (Who is an 8 time champion from 2013 until 2018 & 2020-21 & is one behind fellow countryman Loeb) who was the defending champion at the time & German Armin Schwarz were also had their points that they earned taken away due to their exclusion from the championship, then Mosley said in a statement that "There is no suggestion the drivers aware of what is going on" about the Toyota Celica ST205 rally car that was deemed to be too fast when they were above the 300 bhp limit when the car produced to have an extra 50 bhp which is deemed to be prohibited under the rules at the time so they cheated when Toyota Team Europe were thrown out of the championship for 12 months due to disqualification from the 1995 season (In which Kankkunen was the points leader going into Catalunya in Spain) after they were being caught fitting those banned turbo restrictors.
So that is my 539th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 15th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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