Well, g'day guys & girls, it's Whetu here on my Kiwiavenger blog but first, news straight out of St Andrew's Golf Course as Olympic Gold medalist of our own Kiwi Lydia Ko (Who already has been inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame following her success at the Olympic Games in Paris) has struck again as she wins the AIG Women's Open (Her 3rd major golf championship as well as her 1st since 2016 in a headline dubbed as: KO-NGRATULATIONS) by a single shot, continuing her form as she carries over from Paris where she left off (And I decided to at least follow golf since the success of Ko that we're having (And I used to follow it when American golfer Tiger Woods was around during the late 1990's/2000's period but I stopped following golf when Tiger's form had been declining).
And the latest in the America's Cup Preliminaries in Barcelona, Spain where Emirates Team New Zealand go 4 - 0 at the end of day 3 (Beating the likes of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, American Magic, INEOS Britannia & Orient Express Team France) but on the 4th & final day that the defender had beaten the Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (There was a protest made by Team New Zealand which resulted in a penalty against the Italians for not keeping clear) in a dramatic race to send a statement to our 5 challengers "We're coming", even though after our failure of winning our maiden Sail GP championship for the Foil Blacks because it went to Spain who ended the utter dominance of Australia who would win SailGP championships from 2019 until last year when they last won in 2022-23 (That was before Spanish just becoming the first nation other than Australia to win the Sail GP championship) just like Man City who were always overwhelmingly dominant since 2020-21, but they kick start their title defence with a win over Chelsea in their opening Premier League fixture.
And in motor racing related stuff in the F1 such as Max Verstappen's points lead had been reduced following his championship rival of Lando Norris (The Jude Bellingham & Marcus Smith of motor racing compared to Sir Lewis Hamilton who is motor racing's equivalent of Harry Kane & Owen Farrell, as well as George Russell sharing the same role as Bukayo Saka & Fin Smith) who won convincingly in Max's home race at the Dutch Grand Prix therefore surging back into championship contention in which Norris & McLaren are willing to end the utter dominance of Verstappen (Who is winless since his last victory came in Spain this year, but his lead in the championship had been slashed after Norris won in Holland) & Red Bull on top of the F1 world once & for all (But it's been 4 years since the last time a British driver had been crowned the world champion, & it was Sir LH (Who was the 10th & most recent one because the 1st was the late Mike Hawthorn (Then it was the late great Graham Hill, also the late great John Surtees, the late great Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart, the late James Hunt, Nigel 'Nige the Lion' Mansell, the late Graham's son Damon Hill, Hamilton & Jenson 'JB' Button) while I fear that Norris could be the 11th if he becomes the world champion, but it looks like that McLaren are adapting to the new rule amendments well by taking over as the quickest constructor in F1 with Red Bull (The constructors championship leader at the time) are in fact a bit slow & are currently struggling in terms of speed) in 2020 which was marred by the global COVID pandemic that the world once had, especially us), but the latest in Indycar as disaster for 'The Iceman' of Scott Dixon (Who I'd say that he should retire given in fact that he's is getting too old to continue racing) as a wreck in the opening lap in the Grand Prix of Portland, has ended his championship quest (Santino Ferrucci was the one who secured a maiden pole, but the race went to an Aussie who drives for Team Penske of Will Power (Who hasn't won a championship since 2022, a year before (Last year) & after (2021) his main championship rival of Spain's Alex Palou who currently races for Chip Ganassi Racing had won the title), therefore keeping his bid for a 3rd Indycar championship alive as well as being able to wind back the clock at the tender age of 43 just like Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (And Power may be Indycar's equivalent of Ronaldo in terms of their current ages), but that there has been an update in Italy as Monaco's Charles Leclerc triumphs at Ferrari's home race in Italy much to the delight of the tifosi which was overshadowed by the debut of Franco Colapinto who drives for Williams by taking over the accident/crash prone American Logan Sargeant's seat as he becomes the first Argentinian to compete in Formula One for 23 years since Gaston Mazzacane in 2001 (And Indycar has an Argentinian already with touring car legend Agustin Canapino driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing) in which he drove for Prost (Established in 1997 by team owner & former world champion Alain Prost as a replacement for the Ligier team until it folded following the 2001 season) at the time with Aussie Oscar Piastri the best of the McLaren's in 2nd then championship contender as well as Max Verstappen's main challenger in terms of the championship (First it was Leclerc in 2022 followed by Max's Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez last year) of Norris (Who is Piastri's teammate) rounds out the podium in 3rd (And there is a young Italian lining up on next year's F1 grid with Andrea Kimi Antonelli set to replace the Ferrari bound Sir Lewis Hamilton to race for Mercedes-AMG to team up with former F2 champion who used to race for Williams of Britain's George Russell (And there is another rookie competing in F1 next year with Alpine securing the services of young Aussie Jack Doohan (Son of motorcycle racing legend who was a 5 time 500cc motorcycle grand prix champion from 1994 to 1998 of Mick) as he replaces the departing Frenchman Esteban Ocon who'll be joining the young Brit of Ollie Bearman (One of 3 rookies in next year's F1 grid alongside both Antonelli & Doohan) at Haas (With their drivers Nico Hulkenberg (Who will be heading to Sauber next year) & Kevin Magnussen set to leave at the end of this year), meanwhile in Australia in the Supercars Championship as defending series champion Brodie Kostecki (Who'll replace the departing Anton de Pasquale to Team18) set to leave Erebus Motorsport as he is prepared to move to the rejuvenated DJR for next year as he teams up with former Bathurst 1000 winning driver Will Davison, but the latest on the Indycar as both Kiwis of the pair of Scott's had been impressed at the Milwaukee Mile with McLaughlin able to take the win ahead of Dixon therefore celebrating a New Zealand 1-2 (And it's a reversal of Texas Motor Speedway in 2021 where Dixon won ahead of McLaughlin, just like in the final race of last year at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca), in one of the 2 double-header races in Milwaukee, Wisconsin before the season concludes at Nashville Speedway which will be an emotional homecoming for local driver Josef Newgarden (A former 2 time Indycar Series champion) who hails from there because of Tennessee being his home state, while the championship will be decided in a 2 man horse race between Spain's Alex Palou (Who is the 2 time defending series champion) & Australia's Will Power (A former 2 time champion just like one of his Team Penske teammates Newgarden) of who'll become champion of the Indycar Series (Both Palou & Power are on 2 American Open Wheel championships each, but who'll claim the 3rd? Because I remember a comment from New Zealand motor racing legend Greg Murphy on the motor racing show Sky Speed who gave his prediction that both Alex & Will are expected to falter, even though with McLaughlin maybe having an outside chance of becoming champion for the very first time come the 15th of September (16th New Zealand time).
And the All Blacks side (Who are missing players that are part of the injury list (IL) such as Ethan de Groot, Luke Jacobson, Stephen Perofeta & Patrick Tuipulotu, but Scott Barrett is healthy again as he recovers from injury to captain the side & play his first test since injuring his finger against Fiji in San Diego, California in the United States, then he missed the last 2 tests against Argentina through injury, meanwhile he is back & raring to go that boosted New Zealand's chances of winning that test against the best in the world of the mighty Boks side in Johannesburg) has been named for round 3 of the Rugby Championship test against the world champion Springboks side on August 31st at Ellis Park (Where South Africa have never beaten New Zealand at that famous rugby ground since a decade ago back in 2014 (That was the year before (2015) & after (2013) the AB's claim victory at that venue against the South Africans) in the city of gold of Joburg in one of the best rivalries of not just of international rugby but of sport as well as the rematch of our ill-fated 2023 Rugby World Cup final, but the most recent test between the 2 countries was on the 29th of October which was last year during the final of the RWC where South Africa made history as they became the second team to retain the heavyweight crown of world rugby which is the William Webb Ellis Cup (Including at that moment when the iconic sporting figure of Siya 'The Bear' Kolisi (Who'll be heading back home to South Africa with the Sharks after spending just one season with Racing 92 in France) became the first Springbok captain to achieve the feat such as lifting the Webb Ellis trophy twice just like Richie McCaw did for the All Blacks in 2015) & the first to win 4 Rugby World Cup championships as they beat 14 man New Zealand (Who fell short just like in 1995 against the South Africans, including a red card to the New Zealand captain at the time of Sam Cane that cost us the story which was colloquially billed as the scars of '23 according to the previous blogs that I did, in a similar ending to Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Wrestlemania 39 last year which was the most shocking result at the Grandest Stage of Them All since the Undertaker's defeat in the hands of Brock Lesnar (Who had to end the streak of 'the Deadman' stretching back to his debut in 1991, but missed both Wrestlemania's in 1994 & 2000) at WM 30 back in 2014 (And then this year at Wrestlemania XL in which Seth Rollins was robbed of losing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (Currently held by an Austrian wrestler, named Gunther, compared to LA Knight (The one who defeated social media superstar sensation Logan Paul to become the United States champion) & Jey Uso (The one who defeated Bronson Reed of becoming the new Intercontinental champion on Raw) being the current title holders of both the WWE United States & Intercontinental championships respectively) against Drew McIntyre, until the injured CM Punk intervened by attacking him in the process which allowed Damian Priest to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase & take the title from McIntyre, many to the delight of his Judgment Day stablemates including the Irish pair of Finn Balor & JD McDonagh, 'Dirty' Dominik Mysterio & the Women's World Champion (Currently held by Liv Morgan as of today) at the time of Aussie Rhea Ripley (Who vacated the title due to a sneak attack from Morgan which injured Ripley's shoulder before Becky Lynch (Who lost to Ripley for the women's world title at WM XL) became the champion in a 6 person Battle Royale on Raw until Morgan defeated Lynch to become the new WWE Women's World Champion, just like Nia Jax (Who failed to beat Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women's World Championship crown at Elimination Chamber in Perth, Australia this year in February) did against Bayley (The one who defeated her former Damage Ctrl tag team stablemate Iyo Sky at Wrestlemania XL in which she became champion of the WWE Women's title) to become the new WWE Women's Champion), with the assist of the Big Dog's Bloodline stablemate Solo Sikoa who provided the sneak assault on Rhodes who was desperately trying to win & end the lengthy but prolonged championship reign of the man known as 'The Head of the Table', therefore the story of the American Nightmare is incomplete/unfinished, but Sunday, April 2nd last year, should've been a great day for Cody in his pursuit of becoming the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion (Although he had to wait for his road to redemption until this year at WM XL in order to beat Roman as well as the title, & he successfully did with the help of his friends including Jey Uso (Who took out his twin brother Jimmy), John Cena (Who took out Solo Sikoa before being beaten by the punch in the hands of the Rock) & the Undertaker (Who would able to take the Rock out of his misery before Rhodes were able to finish off in style against 'The Tribal Chief' of becoming the new champ during the 'Bloodline Rules' match for the title, much to the delight of his loyal WWE supporters as well as finally finishing his story, in hard fought fashion during that amazing sight in which was a true ending culminating the happiest of all endings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Grandest Stage of Them All which was by far, the most incredible ending to the Showcase of the Immortals since the Heist of the Century at Wrestlemania 31 in which Seth Rollins beat the likes of Lesnar & Reigns of becoming the new champ after successfully iniaiting his Money in the Bank contract, despite losing to Randy Orton (Who connected the greatest RKO of his WWE career of all time, on Rollins in which he took the victory before Rollins bounced back to pull off a winning performance against Brock & Roman during the main event) earlier in the day) by a single point at the Stade de France (Venue for much of the Paris Olympics this year) in Paris, so here is the starting lineup according to Razor (Who had a fallout with Leon MacDonald therefore he quit as an assistant coach meaning that the AB's assistant coaching team are down to 4 following Macdonald's departure such as Scott Hansen, Jason 'Alfie' Holland, Scott 'Stormy' McLeod & Jason 'Jase' Ryan):
STARTING XV
FORWARD PACK
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Tamaiti Williams (Crusaders/Canterbury)
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): Tupou Vaa'i (Chiefs/Taranaki)
LOOSE FORWARDS
6 (Blind side flanker): Ethan Blackadder (Crusaders/Tasman)
7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)
8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Moana Pasifika/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): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)
14 (Right wing): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)
& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (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): Sam Darry (Who is dropped to the bench as he takes Josh Lord's place as the reserve lock forward position)
20 (Reserve loose forward): Samipeni Finau (Who returns to the side as he takes Sam Cane's place to cover at the loose forward position)
21 (Reserve half-back): Cortez Ratima
22 (Reserve midfielder): Anton Lienert-Brown
& 23 (Reserve outside back): Mark Tele'a
And finally continuing onto the rugby stuff that there has been an update as the world champion Springboks side brought themselves home in the end to topple the All Blacks (Who had reserve loosehead prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi yellow carded for cynically collapsing the maul that cost us the test (Similar to in July that a senseless 20 year old gunman opened fire that former US president Donald Trump nearly got assassinated during a campaign rally, killing a Trump supporter instantly who saved by stopping Trump from getting shot even though that he was a human shield before the US Secret Service snipers intervened by shooting that idiot dead, then security that protects Trump & his family had been doubled in the aftermath of that serious incident, especially both Trump Tower nationwide & Mar-el-Lago as well as sensitive areas that are associated to Trump that are asking for protection/safeguarding according to the previous blogs that I did, but dreadful news in Gaza such as more than 40,000 casualties have gone up which has been reported in that senseless war made by the Israelis, while in Israel (And I mean why do they want to keep invading Gaza by killing innocent people in a genocide? I mean, wake up Israel! Honestly) that there has been protests everywhere, especially the cops are standing off against the protesters who are demanding the release of their hostages still being kept by Hamas, even if there is a ceasefire, but it's not gonna happen while this could take forever to free the hostages (And CNN reporters were in Israel covering that news, but not Al Jazeera reporters due to an Israeli law prohibiting them of providing coverage about the deadly but malicious genocide invasion in that country (And it's been nearly a year since war began, but this needs to stop, enough's enough! But we want peace, not war, while I'm a pro-Palestine supporter just like Pops due to Carole having Middle Eastern roots, & then all of a sudden that I'm an anti-Israeli type of person, because of the Israeli troops who keep blantantly attacking by threatening & massacring those innocent Palestinian people in Gaza), especially we had blown a 10 point lead which proved to be the turning point, resulting in a famous win for South Africa who hadn't played New Zealand (Who struggled in our kicking game) in international rugby for 308 days since their last meeting which was last years Rugby World Cup final) 31 points to 27 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to assert their dominance on top of the standings, therefore continuing their bid of winning their 1st Rugby Championship crown since 5 years ago back in 2019 (Which was World Cup year), especially both the bomb squad (In which the All Blacks didn't nullify that compared to the RWC final last year) & the boot of Sascha Feinberg-Mngomezulu that made the South Africans (Who had their first win against New Zealand at Ellis Park since 10 years ago back in 2014) the difference which sparked a comeback including that winning try scored by reserve Springbok halfback Grant Williams which resulted in both heartbreak & heartache for the AB's, especially our fanbase over here, but we'll do it all over again as we next meet each other at DHL Stadium (In which the AB's have never played at that venue but they'll be a few ex-pat New Zealand supporters turning up at that ground) in Cape Town (In which New Zealand hasn't played at the city since 2017 when it was at the old Newlands ground (Which has been demolished already) against the South Africans which resulted in a 1 point victory to us) on the 7th of September in our quest of reedeming ourselves by reversing that result from Ellis Park (And there was a bit of controversy according to the comment that I remember from Carole about the pro-South African crowd not respecting the traditional All Black haka war dance by putting them off as they drowned them out & also the famous fly-over which evoked memories of the 1995 Rugby World Cup final that occurred during the haka, but there has been another controversy as the opening try scored by the 2 time Rugby World Cup winning player for the Springboks of hooker Bongi Mbonambi, had not been counted as a result of a knock on in which the pro-Springbok crowd were outraged about the decision that it should've been a no try (And we could've won that test anyway), seconds before Feinberg-Mngomezulu's time on his goal kicking attempt is up because he had taken too long in which the South African fans were aghast & in disbelief about the shot clock which had been expired).
So that is my 568th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 44th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
P.S. And our country of New Zealand is in mourning as the Maori king of King Tuheitia (For who I once met him by giving him a handshake back in 2009 during Jansen's other grandfather Jack Condon's funeral way back in 2009) who recently passed away so our hearts, thoughts, prayers & condolences go to te whanau of Kingi Tuheitia, rest in power.
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