Well, what's up guys & girls, it's me, Whetu on my Kiwiavenger blog, but first, the AB's team has been named for our highly anticipated first rugby test match of the year against England at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunners (And the most recent test between the 2 countries was in 2022 where England turned it around to seal a draw thanks to Marcus Smith after Beauden Barrett had easily been to the sin bin in which I thought was a penalty try), so here is the starting lineup according to Scott 'Razor' Robertson who is in his first test in charge:
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): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)
SECOND ROW
4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Captain, Crusaders/Taranaki)
5 (No.5 lock): Patrick Tuipulotu (Blues/Auckland)
LOOSE FORWARDS
6 (Blind side flanker): Samipeni Finau (Chiefs/Waikato)
7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)
8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)
BACK LINE
HALVES
9 (Half-back): TJ Perenara (Hurricanes/Wellington)
10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)
13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)
14 (Right wing): Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Southland)
& 15 (Fullback): Stephen Perofeta (Blues/Taranaki)
& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS
16 (Reserve hooker): Asafo Aumua
17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi
18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell
19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i
20 (Reserve loose forward): Luke Jacobson
21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie
22 (Reserve midfielder): Anton Lienert-Brown
& 23 (Reserve back): Beauden Barrett
And the latest on the Euros that I haven't followed since the tournament began such as Spain (The tournament favourites now according to the bookmakers who are missing 3 players, dealt with both injury (Pedri) & suspension (Dani Carvajal & Robin Le Normand) cruising to a 2 - 1 win over hosts Germany in the quarterfinals which was marred by officiating errors (Including one of the German players kicked it into the Spanish player's hands of defender Marc Cucurella (Who plays for the struggling Chelsea side in the Premier League in England) who illegally handled the ball inside the penalty area first time around, but there was no call being made by the referee, the linespersons & the VAR (And it's unbelieveable that has been missed, but no doubt that there was an illegal handball!), then German player Jamal Musiala who was attempting to have a shot a goal, but it had been deflected into Cucurella for the second time in which the Germans who should've been awarded a penalty for an deliberate handball not once but twice (And Cucurella's hands were tied behind his back so that there was no penalty start with but they have made tweaks to the law amendements such as that if a player stops the ball with his or her hand, a penalty will be given (Or a free kick if it's outside the penalty area), & the German fans have been outraged about the decision that went unnoticed by the officials (And since that incident that Cucurella had been booed by the German fans every time he gets possession of the ball, but then after the game that the Germans were robbed of a place in the semi in which they were gutted about the defeat of course, while the Spanish were stoked about the outcome of the result in the quarters in which their bid of a record 4th Euros championship & their 1st since 2012 is still alive & kicking), then France (Who have star talisman Kylian Mbappe in their squad who squared off against his idol Cristiano Ronaldo in what was to be his final Euros tournament before retiring from international football) would able to prevail on penalties against Portugal in a rematch of the Euro 2016 final during quarterfinal 2, then the Netherlands (Who were 1 - 0 down at halftime) posted a 2 - 1 win over Turkiye (Formerly Turkey) in the 3rd quarterfinal before England had triumphed on spot kicks against Switzerland (Who knocked over the holders Italy out in the Round of 16) to advance to another semi of the European Championship during quarterfinal 4.
And here are the confirmed matches being played in the quarterfinal stage in this years Football World Cup tournament:
Spain Vs France (Their most recent meeting at the Euros between both sides was in 2012 in the quarterfinal where the Spanish produced a bit of magic where they had to win against France to appear in another semi to set up a showdown against Iberian rivals Portugal)
& the Netherlands Vs England (Well, their most famous meeting between the two countries was in 1993 during the Football World Cup qualifiers in which Ronald Koeman (The current Dutch coach/manager), should've seen red for a clear & obvious professional foul on David Platt that cost England a huge chance of making the 1994 Football/Soccer World Cup in the United States)
And in the Men's T20 Cricket World Cup department as India (Who had beaten England in the semi which was payback of Adelaide in 2022, but former Aussie cricketer Callum Ferguson was right that the Indians had now become world champions in the T20 form of the game according to him successfully predicting the outcome of the result of the tournament just like me (And I was backing England all the way when they took on the Indians (And I didn't follow the tournament until I saw Australia got beaten by Afghanistan (Whose country's sporting future is uncertain whether they'll continue on or not of competing in the world stage), & with New Zealand already out of the picture of making the Super 8 following a pair of defeats against both Afghanistan & the hosts, the West Indies), but I changed my allegiances to India following England's elimination in the semi due to our country of New Zealand's sporting as well as geopolitical rivalry on South Africa (And Steve Tew was right in 2019 that after South Africa won the 2019 Rugby World Cup that Tew actually fears that the Springboks were going to become champions of the world again at the Rugby World Cup last year in France by successfully pulling it off, & they did when many people predicted before the tournament that last year would be South Africa's year) reign supreme for the second time in the tournament's history, & for the first time since 2007 (To add to their 2 men's Cricket World Cup championships in both 1983 & 2011) with a win against first time finalists South Africa (Who prevailed over Afghanistan who are in their historic first ever appearance in the semifinal of a major cricket tournament in the 1st semi) by 7 runs in the final at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, with Suryakumar Yadav providing the game defining moment as he took a brilliant catch (For which I thought was questionable when the umpires had a look upstairs for a clear but obvious clean catch & whether Surya (SKY) was on the boundary rope when he caught it, but he wasn't when the all-important catch had to be taken with prolonged celebrations had been erupted across New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur & Mohali following India's success on the world stage in the T20 format of the game) to dismiss South African batter David Miller off the bowling of Hardik Pandya which was shades of Kapil Dev taking that running catch to dismiss Sir Vivian Richards off the bowling of Madan Lal that handed India their historic first ever men's Cricket World Cup title in the 1983 final.
And finally that the UK now has a new Prime Minister, in the form of Keir Starmer from the left wing liberal Labour Party UK who had been elected following his victory in the election which was a landslide, as he takes over from Rishi Sunak from the right wing Conserative Party UK who had been the British PM since 2022 where he took over from Liz Truss who resigned as she becomes the shortest serving UK Prime Minister in history (And Truss was the last person to meet the late her majesty the Queen of Queen Elizabeth II before her passing at her royal retreat at Balmoral in Scotland in 2022, allowing her son to take over as his majesty the King of King Charles III in which has held the role since (And there was a coronation of a new king that had taken place last year).
So that is my 557th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 33rd of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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