Well, hey everyone, welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning into my Kiwiavenger blog but first in rugby, such as the Six Nations is getting ready to begin in late January this year to start the international rugby year (Which lasts until March), with France squaring off against Wales (Who are currently struggling as they are on a 11 game winless streak, but they're now on a rescue mission to save Welsh rugby since their last win against Georgia in 2023 which was during the Rugby World Cup in the pool stages) in a Friday night fixture, then Scotland lock horns with Italy before Ireland kick off their title defence against England in a epic rematch from last year which is the key game of the round when the English won via a match winning drop goal from Filipino born Englishman Marcus Smith which was Ireland's only blemish en route to the championship as they missed out on completing both the Grand Slam & Triple Crown once again, while the Super Rugby Pacific season (Which will be the first full Super Rugby season since 2010 not to feature the Rebels after it went bust last year due to financial woes that stopped them from continuing to participate meaning that the amount of teams is cut to 11 for the start of this historic season, & boy oh boy, this promises to be one of the most exciting Super Rugby Pacific tournaments, in a long, long time) kicks off on Valentine's Day with the two former Super Rugby champions of the Crusaders (Who have taken over as favourites in one of the most cleanly anticipated seasons, in a long, long time & so it should be, as the red & blacks goes about, reclaiming the Super Rugby Pacific championship what is rightfully theirs following the signing of former Wallaby James O'Connor (Who has Kiwi parents, but he originally lived in Auckland for several years as a kid in Te Atatu, while JOC is really looking forward to play for the Crusaders after playing for the Reds until last year, with the red & blacks side thrilled to have him there of course) from the Reds according to former Crusader Justin Marshall after a dreadful season last year through a couple of ludicrous refereeing decisions throughout the course of the previous season, ultimately leading to what was best described as a moral high victory to the Crusaders main rivals of the 4 time defending Super Rugby champions, the Blues (And we can only hope that the referees can get it right this time since the red & blacks had last won a Super Rugby Pacific championship in 2023), but I fear it might be an Aussie team that could win like the Brumbies (Who are still by far, one of the most competitive Aussie Super Rugby Pacific sides against New Zealand opposition) for example according to ex-Wallaby player Drew Mitchell) facing the Hurricanes (Who'll be without one of the key men of Ruben Love as he opts to go under the knife in order to repair the injury that he suffered during pre-season training, just like All Black captain at the time of Richie McCaw in 2011 who nursed a broken foot also sustained during Super Rugby pre-season training for the Crusaders throughout the course of the Rugby World Cup at home here in New Zealand) at the Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch, a day before the defending champion Blues (Who'll have the services of All Black Beauden Barrett back after spending his 2nd season in Japan, to rejoin his All Black teammates like Caleb Clarke, Mark Tele'a, Rieko Ioane, Patrick Tuipulotu & others) take on the Chiefs (With World Rugby breakthrough player of the year of Wallace Sititi being one of the main players to watch & keep an eye out for alongside the star studded All Blacks of Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown, Luke Jacobson, Tupou Vaa'i & others throughout the course of the season) in a rematch of last year's epic final at Eden Park in Auckland in one of the key matchups of the round to open the brand spanking new season in which the season culminates in a final scheduled at an unknown date in June, a month before the mid-year rugby test series (Which is going to be the last before the establishment of the World Rugby Nations Championship next year) begins with the AB's squaring off against France in a 3 match test series for a chance to avenge our demons from last year during a Northern Tour match in which we are now on a wretched 3 game losing skid against the French that began in 2021, then the Andy Farrell coached British & Irish Lions embark on a tour to Australia which includes tour matches & a 3 match test series against the next hosts of the men's Rugby World Cup in 2027 of the Wallabies & of course, the last ever Rugby Championship takes place a fortnight after the 3rd test in Sydney between Australia & the British & Irish Lions with the defending world champions the Springboks (Who were undefeated throughout the Northern tour with wins over Scotland, England & the struggling Wales side coached by Warren Gatland) kick start their title defence against the Wallabies in South Africa then the All Blacks start our quest of winning back the Rugby Championship what's rightfully ours against Los Pumas in Argentina.
And things have still gone wrong in the 2020s decade (Which is easily the worst in history since the 1930's (In which the decade ended in a world war which started with World War II) as it is more likely to be disappointing about it due to in fact that the 2020s is more likely a decade of disruption because of the global COVID pandemic first in 2020) for which has been tumultuous, torrid & turbulent decade that they're currently having (And my reaction about the 2020's decade which is easily the worst since the 1930's that I'm stunned, absolutely stunned, completely), first it was COVID & the lockdowns (We've had 5 in fact here in New Zealand (In which we led the way in terms of COVID response when Jacinda Ardern was in charge of our country according to the previous blogs that I did), including the 4th one was Delta & the 5th & last one was Omicron compared to the 1st 3 was standard), & then the 2 wars that they're still having such as that dreadful prolonged invasion since it started in 2022 on the 24th of February (For which I originally posted about it of mentioning that terrible situation, but Pops told me not to post anymore stuff about it by still managing of keeping it clean to avoid backlash about free speech as well as being offended by the country who started it that is deemed to be objectionable & sensitive) which resulted in inflation meaning that the prices have still gone up as of today during the cost of living crisis that we & the other countries that they're currently having to deal with, then the war in Gaza between Israel & Hamas forces since it started on the 7th of October in 2023 (And there has been an update as the number of casualties has been risen to 46,000 during another horrendous war in Gaza between Israeli & Hamas forces because of the situation being arisen over there at the moment, but I asked Pops on the 13th of January that I'm like Carole that I'm an anti-war activist just like her because of the situations in both that horrendous invasion that has been going since 2022 & the Gaza one between Israel & Hamas, & I totally agree with Carole that we have a terrible gut feeling about the current situations over there), & now the 2nd Trump presidency that many American people are getting fed up about president elect Donald Trump (Who is a convicted criminal & a survivor of an attempted assassination just like the late great Ronald Reagan by a suspected gun person of John Hinckley Jr (One of another one of the assassins along with the late Lee Harvey Oswald (The one who assassinated JFK (Who was the last US President to be assassinated) in 1963) who had tweeted 'Give Peace a Chance' in light of Trump who nearly got shot) who was once an film star before entering politics by becoming president) except his pro-right wing & conservative supporters who heavily favour him.
And that I thought in cricket that the Ashes between Australia & England is the most important test cricket series to start with before the establishment of the World Test Championship which is now test cricket's pinnacle event (They already have the Men's Cricket World Cup as the most important competition in the ODI format, compared to the Men's T20 World Cup as the most important in the T20 format), but now the Border-Gavaskar trophy between Australia & India has now taken over as the most followed test cricket series (And unlike in football/soccer that the Football/Soccer World Cup is the most important international football tournament in the world, compared to the Euros which is the 2nd most important football tournament in the world (And the most important in the European continent), mainly because of the Euros being the most demanding to win than the Football/Soccer World Cup which is exciting, while before Euro 2024 started that England were the favourites to win the tournament followed by France who were the 2nd favourite of winning the Euros, even with Spain who eventually triumphed failing to get a mention in the pre-tournament preview before they took over as the favourites from the English midway through the tournament, & there was once a motor racing related story that after the 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher had his first retirement from Formula One way back in 2006 that there was a new kid on the block who was 16 years his junior of Lewis Hamilton when he finally made his debut a year later also way back in 2007 (And Hamilton was 19 when Schumacher last collected the drivers world championship also way back in 2004, a year before Alonso first became the world champion also way back in 2005 when Hamilton was 20, compared to current 4 time world champion Max Verstappen (Who was 7 when Schumacher became the world champion way back in 2004, for the last time, & 8 when Alonso first became the world champion also way back in 2005) when he was still attending school as a schoolboy at 11 in his home country of the Netherlands when Hamilton first collected the title way back in 2008 while Schumacher was a young 19 year old when Hamilton's idol of the late Ayrton Senna first collected the championship long ago in 1988) + there was a rugby related story that global sporting icon Siya Kolisi (Who is by far, my favourite rugby player throughout the South African team) was 4 when the Springboks first collected the William Webb Ellis trophy way, way back in 1995 with captain at the time of Francois Pienaar hoisted the trophy aloft, then he was 12 whilst attending school when South Africa triumphed at the Rugby World Cup for the 2nd time way back in 2007 when John Smit did the same as Pienaar in '95, compared to current chopper pilot Richie McCaw when he was a young kid at 6 when David Kirk lifted the trophy in front of a packed crowd at Eden Park in Auckland when the AB's went on to win the inaugural Rugby World Cup long ago in 1987, & also that triple America's Cup winning skipper of Peter Burling (The bloke from Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty province who attended Tauranga Boys High along with Sam Cane & Kane Williamson) who was 4 when Team New Zealand won the Auld Mug for the first time in San Diego, California, United States also way, way back in 1995 against Young America led by Dennis Conner & his Stars & Stripes crew according to the previous blogs that I did, then he was 9 when TNZ successfully defended on home waters in Auckland 2000 against the Prada Challenge of Italy who would gone on to beat America One led by former Il Moro de Venezia skipper Paul Cayard in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series in which the 30th America's Cup was the first in history without involvement from the US, & finally onto the cricket stuff that Pat Cummins was 6 as he attended school when Australia won their 2nd men's Cricket World Cup championship in England way, way back in 1999, then he was 9 still attending school when the Aussie cricket team retained it way back in 2003 & 13 when he remained going to school where the Aussies had a successful threepeat also way back in 2007.
And finally I have listed my biological aunty Cathey Middelplaats as my honorary mum compared to Paige Ahearn (My cousin) who is still my honorary sister just like Kelsey Nichols, then Paige's daughter Norah (My first cuzzie once removed) could even be my honorary niece as well (But she could even be my god daughter since Sherylle-Anne who used to be my god cousin), but I told Dad that I would like to still see them one day since I decided to move on from the 3 after originally being planned to go to Wellington with Pops in January this year (Well I wanted to go in September this year before Aunty Tan & Rejean gets here next summer, but only if the weather is decent as Pops told me before on the 2nd of February during our conversation with Ben who came back here to New Zealand before heading back to the Philippines for his main job there) but somehow, I dropped out of it as well as me calling time going on holidays & trips citing fears of Pops old age & Wellington being too far away from here in Whanganui, & especially the cost of living crisis in regards of inflation mainly due to travel costs.
So that is my 590th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 14th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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