Well, kia ora guys & girls to all our Maori colleagues for Te Reo Maori language week here in New Zealand from the 10th to the 16th of September this year tuning into this Kiwiavenger blog...But first, there is exactly no men's international rugby on the weekend of the 15th to 16th (Except in the Pacific Nations Cup that they're having) due to a week off in the Rugby Championship so that the teams can prepare for their tests on the 21st of September, especially the All Blacks against the host nation of the next Rugby World Cup in 2027 of Wallabies at Accor Stadium in Sydney in the arvo in our bid of defending the Bledisloe Cup after we have blown the opportunity not once but twice against the best in the world of the Springboks (Who are chasing their 5th Southern Hemisphere rugby championship in the aftermath of a 4 & 0 start, but are now on a 5 game winning streak since their last defeat against Ireland in the 2nd & final test during the 2 match test series at Kings Park in Durban), but there is NPC rugby on at the moment with the Ranfurly Shield game scheduled for the 16th of September between new holders the Tasman Mako who is set to square off for their first Log O'Wood defence against challengers Wellington (Who have last held onto the shield since their loss last year against Hawke's Bay who held on until a defeat against Tasman who produced a shock win against the holders at the time on the 7th of September to claim the Ranfurly Shield for the first time via a match winning penalty goal from reserve first five Campbell Parata (A former Western Force player) in front of a sell-out crowd at Lansdowne Park in Blenheim not only because of tickets were popular on demand just like round 3 of the Gran Turismo World Series in Tokyo, Japan as well as the last 2 rounds in both Montreal, Quebec, Canada & Prague, Czechia (And there has been an update as Tasman went on to defend the Log O'Wood against Welly, in an epic shield defence that I've just seen throughout my life when the match was played in Blenheim, but their next shield defence is against Auckland in a mid-week game at Trafalgar Park in Nelson during storm week)...And also the pre-WXV 1 women's international rugby friendly between next year's Women's Rugby World Cup hosts as well as the defending WXV 1 champions & the world number 1 ranked England (Now coached by the former All Black coach John Mitchell who took over from the departing Simon Middleton & led by the best women's rugby player in the world of Marlie Packer) & the current women's rugby world champions the Black Ferns (Led by both Ruahei Demant & Kennedy Tukuafu who returned from injury, then she recently tied the knot to her new husband) in front of a 50,000 crowd at the home of English rugby, Twickenham in London, England in a rematch of last year's WXV 1 decider at Go Media Stadium in Auckland in which the Black Ferns didn't get the result which meant that the English were the champions of the inaugural WXV 1 competition, but the last time New Zealand defeated England in international women's rugby was in 2022 during the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup final at Eden Park in Auckland where Black Ferns lock Joanah Ngan-Woo providing the hand of goddess with that winning lineout steal that won us the WRWC championship again (And there was a try by Stacey Waaka which was the try of the final as well as the 2nd most key pivotal moment of the game, but there has also been an update that England go into their defence of the WXV 1 competition with a win against the Black Ferns who had Katelyn Vaha'akolo socring a double, but it wasn't good enough for New Zealand who were unable to overpower the overwhemingly dominant English side who were far too good & far too superior).
And in rock newswire such as Linkin Park (Who announced that they'll continue making & playing music just like the Foo Fighters last year when they continued operating under a new touring drummer of Josh Freese who took over from the late Taylor Hawkins who passed away in 2022 (Same year that lead singer Dave Grohl's mother Virginia passed), & unlike Led Zeppelin in which in 1980 decided not to continue after one of the most important band members of John Bonham had passed away along with Soundgarden in 2019 that they cannot continue without the late Chris Cornell who passed in 2017 (Same year as Bennington did) begin the post-Chester Bennington era with a new single called 'The Emptiness Machine' in which the song will be part from a new album due to release on November the 15th this year, but they have brought in changes to their personnel such as drummer Colin Brittain for Rob Bourdon who decided to move on from contuing playing with the band, meanwhile the new lead singer is revealed with Emily Armstrong from Dead Sara (Whose vocals remind me of Lzzy Hale, the frontperson of Halestorm according to the previous blogs that I did, but there has been a bit of controversy about the new singer according to the late Chester Bennington's mother who is still alive most recently), takes over from the late great Chester Bennington (Who passed already in 2017 (The year that Linkin Park had last released a studio album, until 7 years later this year in which the new name of the upcoming album will be called: From Zero) as their new band member as their co-lead vocalist with Mike Shinoda (One of the founding members of course), but the biggest headline in the rock music industry would be British rockers Oasis (One of my fave British rock bands now along with Bush, the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Blur & Muse) who are returning after a lengthy hiatus period which lasted about 15 years due to the feud between the Gallagher brothers of Liam & Noel, is ending with the band announced a new tour starting from next year (And I was celebrating of listening to Oasis on the 13th of September with their album (What's the Story) Morning Glory featuring 4 hit songs from that album such as 'Roll With It', 'Wonderwall', 'Don't Look Back In Anger' & 'Champagne Supernova' since the Britpop icons have announced their intentions of making a comeback, in which they successfully did) including a concert at Wembley Stadium which is going to be a sell-out just like any other concerts being scheduled as mentioned in the ACC presents: Game of 2 Halves show on Sky (In which experienced broadcaster Laura McGoldrick (Wife of ex-cricketer Martin Guptill who is a mum of 2) is the host while both Matt Heath & Manaia Stewart (Then James McOnie) from the Alternative Commentary Collective are the team skippers respectively & their celeb guests including dual Olympic gold medalist at both the Tokyo & Paris Olympics in women's rugby sevens of Michaela Blyde (The girl who once met Hollywood A-lister Matthew McConaughey (And don't forget her idol is track athlete from Jamaica of Shelley-Anne Fraser-Price) & took a photo with him & one of Blyde's Black Ferns sevens teammates in Rio for when during the Olympics was on back in 2016, but she is a bit of a lookalike of both British Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley & Greek tennis player Maria Sakkari) & New Zealand rugby player Angus Ta'avao (Who is both an Auckland & Blues player (He once played for the Waratahs in 2018) & once played for the AB's (Including in 2019 during the Rugby World Cup).
And it's just 1 month to go until me & Pops go on a planned holiday to Wellington in January next year to catch up with my biological aunty Cathey Middelplaats, my dear cuzzie Paige Ahearn & Paige's daughter Norah (For which I haven't seen both Cathey & Paige since 2016 & never met Norah before in my whole life, but I have seen pictures of Paige's daughter on social media taken from Pops cellphone), in what would by my first holiday in 13 months since Northland last year (In which was by far, my best holiday to date of all of the other trips that I have been, but I prefer Wellington as my fave holiday destination for which I have not been there since over 8 years ago) where I had to connect with my grand-aunty Kathryn Ngapo, Kathryn's partner Ken Branch, Carole's son Andy Webb & Andy's wife Kelsey Nicolls (And don't forget it was my historic first ever trip post-COVID era (Compared to my last pre-COVID era holiday to the South Island, in 2019 with Pops, Aunty Tan & 'Rej' of Rejean Gatineau), & my first holiday with Carole Webb (Who is one of my most important members of our whanau along with Pops, Aunty Tan, Dad & Raewyn Ngapo since Ben Blain's departure to the Philippines in July 5 months ago) since I went with her & Pops, but I wasn't at Dad's place on Christmas day last year, & I'll be at his place with Pops this year during Christmas time even though Carole is heading to the UAE in the Middle East to link up with her bro Zaki who I haven't seen him since 2020 in a year marred by the global COVID pandemic for which I have never got that disease for my entire life along with Pops, Carole (Whose hopes of travelling to the Middle East could eventually be cancelled due to the rising costs of travel) & Leon Benbaruk).
And finally in the motor racing department in the United States such as Spain's Alex Palou (A Chip Ganassi Racing driver) who is now a 3 time Indycar Series champion (He first did it in 2021, then last year (Including the race in Portland where he clinched it with one race to spare) & now this year in which he retained the Indycar Series crown (First time they had done that since the great Scot of Dario Franchitti was a repeat title winner in 2011) in which Palou becomes Spain's most successful racing car driver as he eases past Fernando Alonso & his 2 Formula One world championships that he won (And I often label Palou as motor racing's equivalent of football's Pedri), but it has been a totally awesome year in Spanish sport, such as young talented tennis sensation of Carlos 'Charlie/Carlito' Alcaraz who triumphed in both the French Open (In which he beat the German competitor of Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev in the men's singles final) & Wimbeldon (In which he defeated the GOAT of Serbian tennis mega star Novak 'Nole/the Djoker/the Serbinator' Djokovic (The one who would gone on to win gold at the Summer Games in Paris, France as he was the one who gained a bit of payback against Alcaraz after losing to him in Wimbeldon as Djokovic became the oldest Olympic champion in singles tournament since 1908 therefore completing a golden slam when an individual is able to complete all 4 grand slam tournament championships as well as getting the gold at the Summer Games) again in the gentlemen's singles final just like last year) grand slam tournaments, then the Spain Sail GP team who triumphed in Sail GP as they ended the lengthy but prolonged reign of Australia who dominated since 2019 by taking the Sail GP title, while the Spain football team side (Led by the mercurial Alvaro Morata) who have successfully have won the Euros this year against the Three Lions of England in the final (On the same day that Alcaraz won at Wimbeldon against Djokovic) at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in July (The 4th time La Furia Roja did that of winning the European Football Championship to become the most successful from the European continent, & their 1st since Euro 2012 where they last won, up until that point), as well as their men's under 23 football team winning gold at the Summer Games for the first time since 1992 against the hosts France during the gold medal match in the men's (Under 23) football at the Parc des Princes in Paris in which the Spain under 23 men's football team spoiled France's party, & now Palou with his 3rd Indycar Series crown that he won most recently, but he has the same number of championships won along with Sam Hornish Jr, Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears, the late great Al Unser & 3 others, & is one behind Franchitti, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais & the very famous Italian American of Mario Andretti) after he managed to beat Aussie Will Power (Who had a faulty seat belt (Or a safety belt that had gone astray/awry, but what happens if he crashes when his seatbelt is loose? Because he might get an involuntary ejection just like in the GTA IV game that I've always got on the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Series X console by getting hurt therefore causing a serious injury just like a rugby player (Although his title rival Palou had been told by his race engineer after Power (Who congratulated Palou after the race by appreciating him) had an issue with his safety belt (Well, that's fine on road courses but it's a no-no on oval tracks) was not to push too hard that the championship is his) during the race in which he finished 4 or 5 laps down the order, therefore derailing/thwarting his chances/aspirations of regaining the Indycar Series title) of Team Penske to remain the champ during the championship decider at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tenessee which was won by an American of Colton Herta (Andretti Global driver who was championship runner up behind the Spaniard after Power's disaster when he had a problem with his seatbelt during lap 12 of the season decider) who celebrated his maiden oval win at his home race where he resides near Nashville now (And originally he was born in his home state of California where he was raised by his famous father Bryan), but one of our Kiwis of Scott McLaughlin (Who finished 3rd (His best result in the Indycar Series in terms of the championship) in the championship behind Herta, but ahead of his Penske teammate Power) narrowly misses out on claiming his maiden Indycar title following a disappointing result, but hopefully he'll be strong next year when the new season commences in March in St Pete, Florida, but there has been an update during the offseason driver market news that one of our own Kiwis of Marcus Armstrong (The Indycar Series rookie of the year from last year) is making the jump to Meyer Shank Racing next year as he leaves Chip Ganassi Racing for good to join a new team (And his best result was a podium finish in 3rd in Detroit this year) mainly because he wanted a change of scenery.
So that is my 570th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 46th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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