Well, what's up guys & girls, welcome to all our audience here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo, & you're tuning in to my Kiwiavenger blog, but first in the rugby as the AB's (Who still have 6 players part of the casualty ward such as Ethan Blackadder, Luke Jacobson, Dalton Papali'i & now Sam Darry as well as new additions to the injury list (IL) such as Sam Cane (Concussion) & Mark Tele'a (Broken hand) who are withdrawn due to injuries + Ethan de Groot who is still missing after sitting out the previous test again against Ireland but is likely to miss the rest of the Northern tour) name our team to play against France (Led by the mercurial Summer Games gold medalist in sevens rugby of Antoine Dupont in which the French have played against Japan recently with a comprehensive win, but we haven't beaten the French since back in 2018 in Dunedin in the 3rd test, but it's been 30 years since against France had last beaten New Zealand at Eden Park as well as the city of Auckland, & it was in 1994 which was during the amateur era at Eden Park courtesy from the try from the end of the world by one of the French players of Jean-Luc Sardouny that famously took victory in the test as well as the series that etched into French rugby folklore according to the previous blogs that I did) at the Stade de France in Paris (Our most recent meeting between the 2 sides was in 2023 at the Rugby World Cup where France managed to ease past the All Blacks to open their account & become the first side to end the All Blacks unbeaten streak in pool play at the RWC (Including that yellow card against Will Jordan for taking a player out like Thomas Ramos in the air that thwarted our chances of remaining unbeaten in pool play at the Rugby World Cup, but I remember a comment on TV by Ardie Savea following our loss against France that defeat sucks, just like Kamala Harris did when she narrowly missed out & fell short on becoming the new President of the United States against the overwhelmingly dominant Donald Trump (Who was the one who was brought back from the abyss as well as surviving a certain assassination attempt, to snatch & seize his chance of resurrecting his political career of successfully returning to the White House (And I reacted about Trump's win in the election that I was like: "America sucks! America sucks!") according to the popular vote during the US election as Aunty Tan alluded to me on the phone on the 12th of November, but Trump is getting tough as he declares war on immigration once he takes office (In a news headline that probably says: ALIENS OUT, AMERICANS ONLY), with the military being sent in therefore triggering a mass deportation of immigrants in New York who are being taken to Texas in order to be sent home to Mexico following Trump's win in the election (And the statement made the Trump (The ex-Apprentice host who hails from Queens in New York, & has both British & German roots) that he wants crazy foreigners, especially Mexicans that they want them out of his country (Just like our own PM Christopher Luxon in the aftermath of his win in the election in 2023 that he was asking that they want gangs out in public places as our country is coming down hard on crime in an effort to keep it safe) according to the comment that I heard from Pops on the 20th of November last year), but we haven't played at that ground since also in 2023 in which we were heartbroken after losing to South Africa led by 'The Bear' of global sporting icon Siya Kolisi (Who is one of by far, my fave rugby players throughout the South African team compared to Pops who used to love Faf de Klerk as one of his favorite South African rugby players) who went on to retain the Rugby World Cup, in that controversial final marred by Sam Cane (Who was the AB's captain at the time before Scott Barrett took over since last year (2024) who got red carded for deliberately taking out Jesse Kriel high in a blatant, malicious but egregious way which was unprovoked in what would be a serious case of foul play (And it was the South Africans were laughing about it, saying that there was justice for Dean Greyling taking out the New Zealand captain at the time of Richie McCaw (A country boy from a small town called Kurow who was once the cult figure of rugby across the globe, as well as our country's favourite sons who would conquer the world once again in 2015 one last time of becoming the first & only All Blacks skipper to win back to back Rugby World Cups) for that infamous cheap shot during an AB's-Springboks test in Dunedin back in 2012 for what I thought was a red card nowadays (Or at least it's a card under review before being upgraded it to red if it's either a Super Rugby Pacific, or an international test match like the Six Nations or the Rugby Championship as of today's legislation interpretations in the game of rugby regarding to the prohibited head contact counter measure review process being always automated) which resulted in a sin binning offence instead, although Greyling would later serve a suspension for a fortnight therefore destroying his international rugby career) that derailed our quest of regaining the William Webb Ellis Cup as well as the 3 yellows, both Springbok players of Kolisi & Cheslin Kolbe for reckless high tackles that was reviewed by the bunker which wasn't upgraded as it stayed that way, & an All Black player of Shannon Frizell for a dangerous clean out to the limb area that injured Bongi Mbonambi similar to Wallaby D'Arcy Swain did on an All Blacks player of Quinn Tupaea during a Bledisloe test a year earlier) in another one of the most difficult, but demanding as well as the toughest rugby test match of our lives since the Ireland test in Dublin on the 8th of November (November 9th back in New Zealand), so here's the starting lineup according to Razor:
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): Samipeni Finau (Chiefs/Waikato)
7 (Open side flanker): Ardie Savea (Moana Pasifika/Wellington)
8 (Number 8): Wallace Sititi (Chiefs/North Harbour)
BACK LINE
HALVES
9 (Half-back): Cam Roigard (Hurricanes/Counties Manukau)
10 (First five-eighth): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)
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): Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Southland)
& 15 (Fullback): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)
& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS
16 (Reserve hooker): Asafo Aumua (Who is dropped to the pine to replace George Bell as the starting hooker)
17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi
18 (Reserve tight head prop): Pasilio Tosi
19 (Reserve lock): Patrick Tuipulotu
20 (Reserve loose forward): Peter Lakai (Who is in line for his 2nd test cap as he replaces Samipeni Finau who is elevated to the run-on team at blindside flanker)
21 (Reserve half-back): Cortez Ratima (Who is dropped to the bench as he makes way for Cam Roigard as he is elevated to the starting lineup to play in the halfback position)
22 (Reserve midfielder): Anton Lienert-Brown
& 23 (Reserve back): Damian McKenzie (Who is also dropped to the pine to replace Stephen Perofeta who didn't feature against Ireland to cover at the reserve back position)
And Dad once alluded to me on the phone that I'll be seeing Cathey, Paige & Norah one day instead which is on an unknown date (And I mean, what is that? That these things takes place just prior to me dying that I get the chance to see them before I die. I don't get it, I don't believe it) since that it's a shame that I had to cancel the proposed Wellington holiday trip altogether.
And news straight out of the motor racing department in Formula One where Kick Sauber have confirmed a race seat for Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (As he joins the 3 other rookies such as Aussie Jack Doohan, Brit Ollie Bearman & Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Bortoleto becomes the first Brazilian to compete in Formula One since Pietro Fittipaldi in 2020) for this year pairing up with a German of Nico Hulkenberg as the pair replace Valtteri Bottas & Zhou Guanyu who will both leave the constructor at the end of this season, but RB haven't decided whether our own New Zealander Liam Lawson or an Argentinian who drives for Williams of Franco Colapinto (The one who replaced the accident prone American Logan Sargeant (Who will sit out this year after missing out on an available Indycar race seat) since the Italian Grand Prix) to team up with Yuki Tsunoda also for this year, but there is a lot to ponder after this situation unfolds during the driver market silly season.
And finally in cricket that Pakistan finally at long last, have won an ODI series in Australia against Australia (Who dominated in Melbourne in the 1st One Day International before Pakistan had to dominate the last two in both Adelaide & Perth before later winning the T20 series against the Pakistanis, but the Aussies have rested their frontline players such as captain Pat Cummins & their usual suspects of Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc, & Josh Hazlewood to prepare for the 5 match Border - Gavaskar test series (AKA the AB - Sunny Trophy) against India (In which the 1st test was won by the Indians who had their stand in captain for Rohit Sharma (Who missed the 1st test to witness the birth of his child) of Jasprit Bumrah who got 8 wickets in the match as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal bagging in his maiden test ton, then the most followed cricketer in India of Virat Kohli who had his form restored when he scored an unbeaten ton when India declared their 2nd innings) for the 1st time in 22 years (And it's been since 2019 that the Aussies had last been defeated in an ODI series, & it was against India) way back in 2002 during the 3rd & deciding ODI at Perth Stadium in Perth.
So that is my 582nd blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 6th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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