Heathens/Boiler: My 28th blog of the year 2024

Well, what's up guys & girls, this is Whetu here tuning into this Kiwiavenger blog thing, but first it's the Rugby as the Melbourne Rebels are offically out of the competition starting from next year due to a lack of funding according to the announcement from Rugby Australia that they had in late May meaning that the number of teams is reduced to 11 which consists of the 5 NZ franchises such as the Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders & Hurricanes as well as the 4 Australian teams are going to compete from now on of the Brumbies, Force, Reds (Who had suspended both Tate McDermott for 3 weeks for a blatant, deliberate but reckless abuse on a Moana Pasifika player during the match against the Reds during round 8 of Super Rugby Pacific & Fraser McReight for a fortnight for a dangerous high tackle on also a Moana player) & Waratahs then one from Fiji such as the Fijian Drua (Who had already suspended Fijian Drua halfback Frank Lomani before for up to 5 weeks for a cheap shot on Rebels player Josh Canham during the game against the Rebels in Melbourne during round 7 of the competition before Lomani was the victim of a vile racist abuse hurled from a unruly but fraudulent Rebels fan who got tossed & thrown out by security, but the fan should be given a ban for life for spewing racial hate towards Lomani) & one from the Pacific Islands of Moana Pasifika.

And onto tennis as something is bad at the French Tennis Open & Roland Garros when the drunk French fans who were rude & disrespectful towards the opposition player playing against a local French player by abusing them of using foul but colourful language when Carole told me & Pops at The Villa Cafe here in Whanganui on the last day of May when tournament organisers have declared war on alcohol according to the tournament director who is a former women's tennis player of Amelie Mauresmo who says that they enforced the crack down as a result from now on (And it's similar to Indycar introducing a clamp down on 'The Snake' maneuver as well as both the NRL & NFL had successfully made the controversial hip drop prohibited), in which the tennis world is crying ejection so I probably think that the tournament organizers had made the right decision to prohibit alcohol being served to customers (And its similar to the Evin law in France in 1991 where the nation had passed a bill of cracking down alcohol & tobacco advertising at sports events according to the French politican Claude Evin after so many French people have passed away from both perfectly legitimate drugs that they had) at the French Tennis open because of the French fans who were drunk hurled hate towards an opposition tennis player competing against a French player by booing an opposition player were felt like frauds to start with not only it was malicious intent.

And the latest of the Indy 500 such as the 2 time former Indycar champion, & one of the American competitiors of Josef Newgarden is now a twice Indy 500 winning driver (And the first since Brazilian Helio Castroneves who did it in 2002 a year after first winning it in 2001 to win back to back Indy 500s) when the race was delayed for 4 to 5 hours as a result of inclement weather (And the Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco went to their local boy in the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was on pole in his home race (And it looks like there has been a decline to the utter dominance of Max Verstappen & Red Bull with Verstappen's quest of a 4th straight world championship as well as his championship reign could mark the beginning of the end with both Ferrari & McLaren & their drivers of Charles Leclerc & Lando Norris are now catching up), but Shane van Gisbergen has taken victory at a NASCAR Xfinity Series event in the United States, & he celebrated by kicking a rugby ball towards the crowd as Pops told me on the 2nd of June this year), but I didn't watch this year's Indy 500 because of the drivers other than the 3 Kiwis of Scott Dixon (The winner in Long Beach who finished 3rd in that race according to the comment that I heard from Pops before turning it around on the streets of Detroit with a win then taking his championship lead back in which he has known for a reputation of conserving fuel during the race), Scott McLaughlin (Who was the polesitter going into the race & appeared on the Pat McAfee Show in which he became the first New Zealander in history to make an appearance on the show hosted by the ex-gridiron punter) & Marcus Armstrong (Last year's best performing rookie in Indycar just like both McLaughlin did in 2021 & Dixon in 2001 which was during the CART Champ Car era when he finished on the podium in 3rd behind the 2022 Indy 500 winner of Sweden's Marcus Ericsson (Who is an ex-Formula One driver) in Detroit therefore denying a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 finish as Armstrong during the race had been instructed by his race engineer to conserve fuel which allowed Ericsson to go on the maximum attack mode) were always going to win, & they did by managing to pull it off easily yet again just like last year (Then Australia's Will Power (Who I heard that he has a son while his wife Elizabeth is matured now) won the next race in Road America ahead of teammates Josef Newgarden in 2nd & our own Kiwi Scott McLaughlin who was on the podium in 3rd as they provided Team Penske a 1-2-3 finish, & now the defending series champion of Alex Palou would gone on to dominate at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca in the most recent round of the Indycar Series).

And finally in the football department such as the Erik Ten Haag coached Manchester United (The English club that Carole's bro Martin (Marty) always supports) break an 8 year drought of winning the FA Cup (They last did it in 2016 against Crystal Palace) as they ended their club rivals Man City's quest of defending the English Cup as well as completing the league & cup double at Wembley but something almost bad has happened as rival club fans trying to start a scuffle/altercation until security & police intervened to stay clear by distancing themselves between rival supporters, but there is a new club in town that is competing in the A Leagues with Auckland City are now in, being the latest club to accept the offer & become the 2nd New Zealand team to compete in Australia's toughest football soccer/competition after the Wellington Phoenix (Who had their semifinal appearance in the last men's A-League season, but their chances of reaching their first final had been short lived, after a tough game which ended in a loss against a dominant Melbourne Victory side who scored 2 goals to the Phoenix's 1 in the return leg at Sky Stadium).

So that is my 552nd blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 28th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Wreckage: My 27th blog of the year 2024

Well, 9 months have been passed since the All Blacks wrecked our chances of regaining the Rugby World Cup last year which resulted South Africa (Well, they were without their first choice hooker of Malcolm Marx (Along with Makazole Mapimpi who also got injured as well as a result of a fractured eye socket during their final pool match against Tonga in Marseille) whose Rugby World Cup had been cruelly cut short with a tournament ending injury according to the commentary that I remember now from Martin Gillingham prior to the Boks - Wales game at Twickenham last month, & had to witness the final from the stands with the rest of his non-playing teammates, as South Africa had made rugby history of becoming the first to win 4 championships) who remained champions of the world (Our own AB's was the first side to defend the Rugby World Cup in 2015 followed by the Springboks who continued their dominance on the international rugby field as well as their dynasty following their win by a single point against us in the final, moments before the global sporting icon of Siya Kolisi (The Head of the Table & the self-proclaimed rugby god who is affectually known as 'The Bear' according to the comment that I literally remember now from former Springbok rugby player turned sideline commentator Schalk Burger during the South Africa - Ireland test) who hoisted the William Webb Ellis trophy aloft once more when the South Africans had brought the cup to their home shores yet again, but it's been 32 years since South Africa had been readmitted to international sport way back in 1992 (They first competed in the men's Cricket World Cup in 1992 when the South Africans made their debut on the international stage when they made the semi against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, only to be denied for what looks like that wet weather has come around when the South Africans needed 22 runs of 13 deliveries before the rain came, then in all of a sudden after the weather had cleared, they needed 22 off 1 for which was bitterly disappointing stuff for South Africa as they were KO'd by England in the end who progressed through to the final against Pakistan) following the end of apartheid when the late great Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, 4 years before becoming president of South Africa in 1994 (A year before the Springboks would first taste success at a Rugby World Cup in 1995 (That's 12 years before winning their next one in France in 2007 against England in the final at the Stade de France in Paris, 12 years before winning another one in Japan against the same opponent in 2019 at the International Stadium in Yokohama, 4 years before they would gone on to retain the Rugby World Cup, being the 2nd side to do so after the All Blacks in 2015 in England against Australia at Twickenham in London in the final (For which the 2015 one was the greatest rugby match I have ever watched on TV of all time during my whole but entire life) which we followed up to our victory in 2011 on home soil here in our country of NZ against France during the final at Eden Park in Auckland) when they were hosts of that tournament in which Joel Stransky provided the clutch moment in which he nailed that drop goal attempt during extra time & after the World Cup win against New Zealand, the whole nation was united under the leadership of the late Mandela in one of South Africa's most iconic but legendary sporting moments according to the previous blogs that I did), & held on to that position until Thabo Mbeki (Who was president before Kgalema Molanthe then Jacob Zuma & now Cyril Ramaphosa who is currently the South African president as of today) took over in 1999), therefore costing our story billed as the scars of '23 in light of our captain at the time of Sam Cane who became the first player to be shown the red card in a Rugby World Cup final after being given a card under review for what looks to be that Cane's shoulder had illegally made contact to the head of Springbok centre Jesse Kriel before the TMO upgraded it to a send off offence because it was a high degree of force without mitigation in which the whole New Zealand fanbase were livid & fuming, then they trolled the English referee Wayne Barnes after the final on social media that he just cost our country the RWC, in which he was shocked about it being the victim of online hate & discrimination, in which they already introduced a crack down by coming down hard on them with the sport's governing body of World Rugby are asking for respect towards the officials on social media in which the war on online abuse had been declared also according to the blogs that I did back in March this year.

And onto the Olympics stuff as Dame Lisa Carrington (Who was knighted in the aftermath of her success at the most recent Olympics in Tokyo in 2021) will be New Zealand's leading Olympian going into Paris in July-August this year, but I once heard a comment from my close mate of Carole at Rutland Arms Inn on the 23rd of May that Carrington got beaten in a pre-Olympic canoeing trials by that fellow Kiwi opponent, & her form must be dwindling after dominating the last 3 Olympics that she had in London 2012 (That was the first time she had been involved in which she made her Olympic debut which resulted in success first time round), Rio 2016 (In which she was the only golden girl at that games) & Tokyo 2020 which was held in 2021 (Who went on to win 3 more in the K1 200m, the K1 500m & the K2 200m event with her old sparring partner of Caitlin Regal) as a result of the pandemic that they had in 2020 regarding to COVID & stuff.

And returning to the rugby news department that Canada have made women's rugby history as they overpower our very own world champion Black Ferns side by 3 points in a close game for the first time in international women's rugby at the Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch, & claim the Pac 4 championship for the first time after New Zealand dominated the first two in 2022 & last year as well as moving up to 2nd in the world rankings behind the dominant England women's rugby side (Who are the Black Ferns main challengers alongside France & now Canada going into next year's Women's Rugby World Cup in England next year but the next international women's rugby competition is the 2nd season of WXV1 which is going to be held in Canada later in the year with England being the reigning champs going into this years WXV1 competition after dominating last year against the Black Ferns in the decider at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland) who already retained the Women's Six Nations title this year.

And finally I have announced already that I will be heading to The Cobb (Well, the meal prices at The Cobb have been increased due to the winter season that they're just having now so me & Pops always go in a fortnight now with Dad instead) on my birthday on June 7th (That's 2 days after Dad's birthday & 3 days before Aunty Tan's birthday as well, but Pops birthday on July 5th takes place 4 weeks after mine) for my birthday dinner there with our whanau.

So that is my 551st blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 27th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

In The Shadows: My 26th blog of the year 2024

Well, it has been 2 months since I last saw Kathryn (Who I saw on the 11th of May when we had our family dinner at Japanese Takeaway Momiji) when she was with Carole having a big lunch with me & Pops meaning that I had an incredible time with Kathy of course when she left to go back home to Hihi in the Northland province that I've been 7 months ago with both Carole & Pops in late December last year in which was my first post-COVID era holiday (We left Whanganui on Christmas Eve to go to Palmy to catch a flight to Auckland then Kerikeri in which we stayed until the 29th of December in which we saw Kathryn, Ken, Andy, Kelsey (Who is my bestie now along with Paige as part of my power of 3, but Andy could even be in the mix) & the rest of our whanau there), but we did not go to The Cobb (For which I'll be heading for my birthday dinner on June 7th which is my fave time of the year along with Christmas day on the 25th of December) until the 20th of May with Dad (And the prices have gone up for that occasion mainly due to the winter season) due to the fact that me & Pops already had a big lunch.

And how many times that I've mentioned my dear cuzzie Paige Ahearn (Who I would like to meet her again after 8 years next time when I go to Wellington for my next holiday being planned as part of my bucket list (And she was 22 the last time I met her 7 years before giving birth to her daughter Norah while I was 25 back then at the time (And my half bro Jansen was about 19 when Paige gave birth to her daughter Norah who was born last year compared to me when I was about 20 when Huia & Benny's sister, Kathryn's daughter & another one of my 2nd cousins Gemma gave birth to also her daughter Rosalie (Who I once met her in 2016 in the aftermath of Nana Minnie passing away but she's 12 now as of today) in 2011) on my blogs? Mainly countless number of times since I first mentioned her in 2016 when I famously met Paige & Cathey Middelplaats at Cathey's home in Petone the night after me & Pops attended an AB's rugby test against Wales at Westpac Stadium at the time (It is now called Sky Stadium) with John Coburn in Wellington (That was 5 months after the events of the late Nan passing away due to cancer here in Whanganui & 5 months before the late Nana Minnie who was in Waiheke Island also passing away due to a similar terminal illness that Nan got (And I remember one point that both Cathey & Paige thought that they're gonna attend the funeral of Nana Minnie, but in the end, they didn't make it due to an earthquake that struck the Kaikoura town in the South Island meaning that their flights from Wellington to Auckland had eventually been called off), but I didn't know that she was married to her husband Jarrod Ahearn while the married couple have a daughter named Norah (Which is a good name Carole once told me but she could be named possibly after the female American singer Norah Jones according to the previous blogs that I did), but who knows Paige (Who went on a honeymoon to Japan with Jarrod & Norah as I saw a picture from Pops phone) well than I do? Maybe somebody go tell them about her but she is both a millennial (For those who were born between 1981 to 1996) like me & a zillennial (Which is a cross sub generation between millennial & gen Z by those who were born between 1992 to 1998) when I told Kathy (Who is a baby boomer just like Pops, Carole & our whanau mate Don Edmonds (Who came to Rutland Arms Inn with us for a meal on the 17th of May) about it.

And every time I say bye to Pops I say later on instead (Every damn time I go for my morning walk every Monday to Saturday except Sunday which is being a rest day) along with both Dad & Carole inspired by a video game that I used to play from 2012 to 2015/16 until now on the Xbox Series X console which is a secret about New York City when I told Pops about it as well as about both the war & crime stuff that he alluded to me when someone tells the player later on, but I was like "Oi that's my line", & I laughed about it (And I used to say it to both the late Nan & Pops back in 2012/13 when I was living with Dad until I moved in with Pops officially in February 2017 (Or December 2016 unofficially) in the aftermath of Nan passing away on the 6th of January, 2016).

And finally in the football department as Manchester City (Who still have players such as Belgium's Kevin de Bruyne, Norway Erling Haaland, Portugal's Ruben Dias (Who is now Portugal's main talisman as he takes over from his teammate in international level of Cristiano Ronaldo) & both Englishmen of Kyle Walker & Irish born Jack Grealish, but they have a game in hand against club rivals Man United in the FA Cup final which is going to be held at Wembley Stadium in London in their bid of continuing their dominance in the English cup) claim their 4th Premier League title in a row where they still been invincible since 2020-21 (In which they have been on god mode since just like the Samoan American wrestler Roman Reigns who held on to that Undisputed WWE Universal Championship for 1,316 days (And those who held longer than Reigns were the late great Bruno Sammartino, then Bob Backlund & 'The Immortal' Hulk Hogan (Star of the golden era of wrestling during the 80's to early 90's period along with the late Andre the Giant, the late great 'Macho Man' Randy Savage & the late Ultimate Warrior) starting from Payback in 2020, until 'The American Nightmare' of Cody Rhodes had just broken the stranglehold of ending the utter dominance of 'The Big Dog' at Wrestlemania XL this year in April according to the previous blogs that I did this year, but Cody Vs Roman II: Decider in Philly was by far, one of the most incredible matches at Wrestlemania of all time since the Undertaker's encounter against 'HBK' Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XV way back in 2009 when both superstars such as Michaels & Undertaker were future WWE hall of famers (The man known as 'The Heartbreak Kid' was inducted in 2011, while 'The Phenom' was later inducted 11 years later in 2022) as well as both wrestlers from that New Generation era squared off during the PG era (AKA WWE Universe era which featured the likes of superstars such as CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, The Miz & Sheamus) which came after the Ruthless Aggression era (In which John Cena dominated in that era alongside Batista & Randy Orton) & before the Reality era (Which featured the likes of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins as their main superstars in that era), & their 8th overall since the advent of the top flight English league since 1992-93 following their 3 - 1 win over West Ham United during the final week of the EPL football season which lasted in a pregnancy period of 9 months which began from August last year to May this year where the football league season which usually commences in August & runs through until May, but the teams playing in the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley is set between Spanish club Real Madrid (Who are gunning for their unprecedented 16th European Cup championship), & German club Borussia Dortmund, then of course German born Liverpool coach/manager Juergen Klopp announced that he is leaving the club after this football season, & of course in all of a sudden that I thought France were the favourites to win Euro 2024, but it's England (Who have never won a European Football Championship before, 3 years after coming so close in which they fell short on penalties against Italy (Who are the defending champs going into Euro 2024, but placed in a very tough group alongside Spain (Who haven't won since 2012 in which they successfully defended the title against the Italians (Who fell to Germany in the quarterfinals at the next Euros, 5 years before becoming champions 3 years ago) in the final to follow up to their success at Euro 2008 where they broke a 44 year drought of winning European Football Championship tournaments, before losing 2 on the bounce against the same opponent at both Euro 2016 in the round of 16, & the delayed Euro 2020 in 2021 in the semi on spot kicks), Croatia & Albania in the group of death, & are making amends after failing to qualify twice for the Football World Cup, in both 2018 (Where they fell to Sweden first) & 2022 (And then North Macedonia in which they made footballing history before getting easily clobbered by the Portuguese in the UEFA qualifying final) in the final at their home patch in the delayed Euro 2020 which was basically held in 2021, & most people predicted that England could lift the Henri Delaunay trophy come July 14th according to EA Sports who used to have rights to FIFA before changing their series name to EA Sports FC where they now have the licensing rights to Euro 2024 compared to Spain winning the Football World Cup in 2010, followed by Germany in 2014, France in 2018, & Argentina at the most recent global football showpiece event in 2022, but there has been an update as hosts Germany open their Euros account with a comprehensive 5 - 1 win over Scotland, then France overpower Austria in a group game which was marred by Kylian Mbappe leaving the field with a broken nose, as well as the Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal stun Czechia (Formerly Czech Republic) 2 - 1 after being 1 - 0 down for so much of the game & Austria having a win over the Netherlands according to Leon Benbaruk who currently lives in Nottingham in the UK (And then this happened as Georgia (Who are in their historic first ever round of 16, but the only matchup I know is between Belgium & France (Who have never won a round of 16 game at the Euros since 2016 (In which Portugal won against the hosts at the time in the final at the Stade de France in Paris after Eder had scored the winning goal during extra time which was overshadowed by their star talisman Cristiano Ronaldo's injury in which Ronaldo had to be subbed off the pitch) against the Republic of Ireland, 5 years before they fell to Switzerland on penalties during the round of 16 at Euro 2020 which was held in 2021 (In which Italy were the eventual champions after they outplayed England on penalties during the final at Wembley) in a rematch of the 2018 Football World Cup semifinal where the French dominated the match to go through to the final against Croatia) walloped another one of the tournament favourites Portugal as they caused the biggest boilover in Euros history compared to Iceland who outwitted England at Euro 2016 in the round of 16), but the latest on the cricket such as the Black Caps fail to make the Super 8 of the men's T20 World Cup after a pair of defeats to both the Rashid Khan led Afghanistan (Who made history by causing the biggest boil over against powerhouses Australia (The former champions in 2021, but I wasn't following the T20 World Cup until Afghanistan's stunning win over the Aussies) before following up their win against Bangladesh to advance to their first semifinal of an ICC sanctioned tournament against the undefeated South African side while the other semi is between India (Also undefeated just like the South Africans, but their group match against Canada had been abandoned due to a washout) & defending T20 world champions England which is a rematch of the semi in 2022 (And the final of the men's T20 Cricket World Cup 2024 is set, it'll be South Africa playing India (For whom I'm rooting due to the South Africans being our main rivals in the sporting field, especially both the rugby & cricket department (And I was cheering on for England who were playing against India in the 2nd semifinal moments before being stunned, absolutely stunned on that occasion where the Indians had payback over the English by reversing their result from 2022 (And I wonder the headlines would probably say: THE CHAMPS ARE OUT, INDIA MARCH ON TO THE FINAL), & I mean, what a disappointing end for England, what a match for our viewers right around the world, it's all happening as iconic Aussie cricketer & retired cricket commentator Bill Lawry would always say) at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown in Barbados following their semifinal wins respectively against Afghanistan & England) & the tournament hosts the West Indies (Who lost to SA (Who nearly got beaten by Nepal who almost made history during a round-robin game, compared to the United States who had a shock win over Pakistan during the round robin phase to advance to their first Super 8's stage) in a winner takes all match therefore missing out for a place in the semifinal against Afghanistan) now who had taken over ahead of 2 time European Football Champions & the top ranked European football nation of the French, the 3 time champions as well as hosts Germany & last but not least, Euro 2016 champions Portugal (Who'll have the services of wily old veteran Cristiano Ronaldo who is appearing in his record 6th Euros tournament (To go with his 5 Football World Cup appearances along with the Argentinian great who is a World Cup winning captain & player of Lionel Messi, Mexicans Antonio Carbajal & Rafael 'Rafa' Marquez & legendary German player Lothar Matthaeus) after the Portuguese have just submitted their squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 Championship in Germany which is led by Ronaldo himself (And there is a chance of Portugal regaining the Henri Delaunay trophy in the aftermath of getting knocked out by Belgium in the Round of 16 at the most recent Euros of Euro 2020 which was basically held in 2021, the year before the Football World Cup in Qatar where Portugal were outplayed by the surprise package in the tournament from the African continent, Morocco (Who was the very first African side in history to reach the semis of the World Cup) in the quarterfinal) for a tussle of who'll become the new champions of the Euros come on the 14th of July in the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

So that is my 550th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 26th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Long Ago/Wandering Eye: My 25th blog of the year 2024

Well, it looks like that Carole & Pops holiday to the Cook Islands has been officially cancelled so that they can watch the Paris Olympics on TV (And Carole is mainly a tennis watcher as Pops told me, but the crowds are expected to return to the Olympics for the first time since 2016 in Rio after missing out 3 years ago in 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with nobody (And I mean, especially the fans were able to tune in at home) able to watch the athletes in action as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which put the whole world on pause for many of both 2020 & 2021 (And it's mainly the support staff & other athletes who watched the action, but there were less crowds watching in Sapporo for the marathon being held in that city) with the trip to Taupo will instead be taking place between the 14th to the 16th of May so I will be looking after the house when both Carole & Pops are away.

And the mouth watering mid year rugby test schedule which has been confirmed with the AB's (Chance to regroup under new management following the scars of '23 that came to haunt us in last year's RWC due to a red card & the controversial refereeing decisions from an English referee that raised the ire of our All Black rugby fanbase here in our country (And I was totally gutted about it, especially the result of the final last year in which we fell short by a single point), had cost New Zealand its destiny as well as destroying our reputation & legacy of becoming champions of the world (And unlike Wales whose quest of becoming champions of the world in rugby back in 2011 had been ruined by a controversial red card to the Welsh captain in the semi against France for a tip tackle deemed to be illegal on a Frenchman who played on the wing) squaring off against England (Who lost in the semis against the highly successful South Africa side (With Leicester Tigers player Handre Pollard providing a clutch moment of nailing that penalty goal which was reminiscent of 2019 when the South Africans had outperformed Wales in the semi in Yokohama in similar fashion) before finishing 3rd in which they defeated Argentina in the 3rd/4th place playoff) in a 2 match test series for a chance of New Zealand for our elusive first win since 2018 against the English, then last year's RWC quartefinalists Fiji in San Diego, California in the United States in which the AB's will field lesser known players while the Joe Schmidt coached Wallabies side (In a chance to rebound after failing to qualify for the knockouts in last year's Rugby World Cup, & to change the team's fortunes around for the people of Australia right behind them) is expected to face Wales (Who were outplayed by the Argentinians in the quarters) in a bid for payback after losing to them at the World Cup during the pools last year, also in a 2 match test series then Georgia in a one off test in Sydney & of course, 2 of the most fearest/fiercest sides lock horns with the reigning world champs the Springboks (Who'll face Wales at Twickenham in London, in South Africa's first test since they completed their successful defence of rugby's most treasured prize, the Rugby World Cup in France last year led by that iconic sporting figure who played for both South African club sides of the Stormers as well as the Sharks & currently playing for French club Racing 92 of Siya Kolisi who is the man born in the poor but impoverished township of Zwide near Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) when he remained as the Head of the Table as well as keeping his self-proclaimed rugby god status intact according to the previous blogs that I did when at that moment in a story billed as keeping South African rugby great inspired by the former US president Donald Trump according to the previous blogs that I did, became the most successful rugby playing nation in the tournament's history with a record 4 to their name) against the defending Six Nations champions Ireland (They won it last year (Same year that the Irish had been outclassed by the All Blacks in that epic quarterfinal game at the World Cup) before their successful retention of the Six Nations Championship this year despite dropping a game against England in the penultimate round with Marcus Smith also providing the clutch moment to dispatch the Irish at Twickers with the Irish's quest of another grand slam, had been short lived) in a clash of champions including the 1st test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria which is a rematch of the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup in Paris last year in which Ireland became the last side to defeat South Africa (Who won 4 on the bounce against Tonga in the pools, then France in the quarters, England in the semis & New Zealand in that controversial final which resulted in heartbreak/heartache for our beloved All Blacks side who were shattered in a repeat of 1995 when we were playing with 14 players for the remainder of that final after the New Zealand captain became the first man to be sent off in a Rugby World Cup final) in international rugby before taking on Portugal (Who reigned supreme against Fiji during the very last match of the pools last year at the Rugby World Cup) in a one-off test in Bloemfontein & last year's Rugby World Cup semifinalists Argentina play previous RWC hosts France (Who fell short against the Boks in the quarterfinal as they crashed out of their home tournament also according to the previous blogs that I did including Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe's sneaky little move of charging down the attempted conversion from French fullback Thomas Ramos in which South Africa had KO'd the hosts at the time at their home tournament) in a 2 match test series.

And something is going on in Indycar because recently they found that controversy has come about Team Penske's Josef Newgarden being stripped of his race win in the season opening round of the Indycar series due to DQ for the illegal use of push to pass before the restart in order to gain an unfair advantage along with his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin (The winner of the most recent Indycar race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama) who had his podium position been taken away as a result of a disqualification, then the 2 time former champion Will Power had his 10 championship points being deducted for his role in the Team Penske push to pass before restart controversy at St Pete (And man, this is like sandpapergate in the cricket in South Africa 6 years ago back in 2018 where the 3 key players from the Aussie cricket team had to be banned including captain at the time Steve Smith (Who was the modern day iteration of the late Sir Don Bradman got 1 year for it, allowing Tim Paine to take over the captaincy before he relinqushed the role as Paine handed it to Pat Cummins who got the nod in 2021, & has been the skipper of the Aussie cricket team in the test format since), David Warner (Who was one of Australia's best ever modern day cricketers in which he got suspended just like Smith for a year as a result of his actions) & Cameron Bancroft (He got 9 months for it for playing their part in sandpapergate in which he, Smith & Warner copped sanctions for a ball tampering breach in which Bancroft who deliberately changed the condition of a cricket ball by using sandpaper which is against the laws of the game) in light of the controversial ball tampering saga during Australia at the time touring there in the republic, often compared to Bodyline in 1932-33 during England's Ashes tour to Australia where the late Bradman tried to counter so many English fielders who were behind square (That was the introduction of the 2 behind square law following Bodyline (Although the English referred it to as leg theory) & the infamous underarm incident by Trevor Chappell (Who didn't have any children in light of him bowling underarm which tarnished his reputation) in 1981 where New Zealand were desperately trying hard to win against Australia with a match winning six from Brian McKechnie at the MCG in Melbourne in a One Day International cricket match over there which is worse than sandpapergate) with Mexican Pato O'Ward (Who drives for Arrow McLaren SP) being declared the winner in the aftermath of Newgarden & McLaughlin getting themselves disqualified for an infringement regarding to the use of the overtake button prior to the green flag restart when the Indycar season got underway, & there were massive fines being handed out to Team Penske for breaching the rulebook such as the push to pass usage before restarts is disallowed, but there is a rule change as Indycar have enforced a crack down on the highly controversial 'Dragon move' (Just like both the NFL & NRL have successfully implemented a clamp down on the controversial 'Hip drop' maneuver) which enabled Josef Newgarden defending his position from the outside lane on Marcus Ericsson (And it would've caused an accident if they're not careful in which Indycar have now outlawed the controversial 'Snake move' that they used for the last 2 Indy 500's starting from this year) before Newgarden went on to win the most recent Indy 500 which was held last year.

And finally that in Canada & possibly Australia that news outlets such as Sky News being shown on social media such as Facebook, are now prohibited due to the Canadian government passing a controversial law last year that prevents anyone from gaining access to their news stuff on social media, & now Australia is trying to do the same as the Canadians did by passing a controversial law regarding to news outlets that cannot be shown like Facebook from example as well as sharing some stuff like that.

So that is my 549th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 25th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

P.S. And the music fraternity here in New Zealand is in mourning as guitarist & singer of Wiremu 'Willie' Hona from the iconic but legendary New Zealand reggae band of the Herbs, has passed away so all thoughts, prayers & condolences got to the Hona whanau, may you Rest In Peace (RIP).