Well, hi everyone, & welcome back to another blog, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger, but first in the European football/soccer department such as Portugal led by it's captain of the wily old veteran of Cristiano Ronaldo (Will he make it into the World Cup next year at age 41 if Portugal qualify? I think he might too old to play regardless of his age) & their star man Ruben Dias, has become the first side to win 2 UEFA Nations League titles to become the most successful, as they upstaged the defending champions of both the Nations League & the Euros of Spain which featured the likes of young gun Lamine Yamal, & their star player Pedri, in the final which was held in Muenchen, Germany (And France led by it's star man better known as the Antoine Dupont (The most successful rugby player (An Olympic champion in men's rugby sevens for his country at his home Olympics in Paris last year currently playing for Toulouse who still became champions of the Top 14 after their win against the ill-disciplined European champions Bourdeaux-Begles, while Leinster (Who had Jordie Barrett claim a URC winner's medal before heading back home to New Zealand to be selected for the All Blacks) won the URC against the HB Sharks in the final in Dublin & Bath winning the Gallagher Premiership after their victory against Leicester Tigers in London) who attended the French Open men's singles final, along with British F1 star George Russell (The winner at the most recent Grand Prix race in Canada after both McLaren's of championship contenders Lando Norris (Who won in Monaco therefore surging back into championship contention against his McLaren teammate before managing but consolidating his 3rd victory of the season in Austria where he finished ahead of Piastri while Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium (And there was a 6th place finish by our own Kiwi F1 star of Liam Lawson (There was once a golden generation of F1 drivers here in New Zealand such as the late Denny Hulme, the late Bruce McLaren & the late Chris Amon whose statue was unveiled in front of his families of the 3 (There was Adele Hulme (Daughter of the late Denny), then Amanda McLaren (Daughter of the late Bruce) & the siblings of Georgie & James (Daughter & son of the late Chris), & 17 Ferrari cars at his hometown in Bulls according to the newspaper article that I saw on Whanganui Chronicle (And I was alluding to Pops that next time when I go to Bulls with him that I should pay a visit to the statue honoring the late Amon (And there is a Māori rugby referee who is named after the late Chris Amon of Amon Rimene who is a passionate motor racing fan even if he is not officiating), who managed to achieve his best result in Formula One), going into his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone where he is the favourite to win the Grand Prix & for McLaren in their homecoming in front of his adoring home fans in terms of his form) & Oscar Piastri tangle at each other who is one of 4 Brits lining up on the F1 grid alongside multiple world champion of Hamilton (Currently racing in the Ferrari), McLaren's Norris, & young Ollie Bearman (Haas), & was involved in an avoidable collision during the Spanish Grand Prix with the 4 time defending world champion Max Verstappen who now has got 11 penalty points, 1 more before he gets suspended for one race for the accumulation of penalty points (And either our own Kiwi Liam Lawson could return to Red Bull Racing or one of the Frenchmen of Isack Hadjar who is in line to replace Max if he's found to be banned once he gets 12 penalty points (And the test & reserve driver of Racing Bulls of Japan's Ayumu Iwasa could potentially make his F1 debut for VCARB if either Lawson or Hadjar fills in for the suspended Verstappen (He doesn't want to get one because Kevin Magnussen was the last to be banned for a single race which was last year where he missed the Azerbajian Grand Prix with Bearman (Who made his debut in Formula One for Ferrari (Who successfully won the Le Mans 24 Hours 3 times in a row which was in June this year, but their 4th placed car eventually got disqualified for a flexi-wing part that has gone missing, especially the bolt stuff) in Saudi Arabia last year due to Carlos Sainz being unavailable to race through appendicitis) substituting for him & before that, it was Romain Grosjean who was sidelined in Italy back in 2012 due to a one race suspension for reckless, rough driving during the opening lap in Belgium (Belgian Jerome D'Ambrosio filled in for him), 2 years prior to the penalty points system in Formula One was implemented also back in 2014 as part of changes to the loophole) along with his partner) of French football/soccer of Kylian Mbappe (A former PSG (Who I have not mentioned them winning the UEFA Champions League against Inter Milan in the final even though with the French fans who erupted about their win (Then they fell short against Chelsea who would win the expanded Football/Soccer Club World Cup in the final for their first trophy since the Intercontinental Cup in 2021) meanwhile Crystal Palace became the new FA Cup champions after victory against Man City) player currently playing for Real Madrid whose idol is Cristiano Ronaldo, compared to Yamal's hero growing up is Lionel Messi) finished 3rd after their win against Germany over in Stuttgart).
And secondly in tennis such as Coco Gauff who would gone on to defeat the number 1 ranked Aryna Sabalenka to claim the women's singles crown at Roland Garros during the French Open, just a day before Carlos Alcaraz (Who alluded to Sinner (Who has an Eastern European partner named Anna Kalininskaia who is also a tennis player) after the final saying that he was sorry that he had to beat him, & that's why then, but that's what's happened) who would able to stun number 1 ranked Jannik Sinner to complete the greatest comeback in tennis history to dispatch the Italian opponent after being both sets down just to retain the men's singles title (And the Alcaraz-Sinner encounter is very similar to the Djokovic-Tsitsipas one in 2021, & the Rafa-Meddy matchup in Australia in 2022 that they once had, but there was the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry that lasted from the mid noughties to late 2010s, but now the younger generation of male tennis players have taken over such as the likes of both Alcaraz & Sinner as of today for which they created a new rivalry being forged between them).
And thirdly that I'm a motor racing fanatic because of me mainly playing Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5 daily (My favourite cars of the game would have to be one DTM & the 3 modern Super GT cars, as well as the SF19 & SF23 Super Formula cars (The SF19 one is much quicker than SF23 in terms of grip, while the Honda powered Super Formula car is faster than the Toyota powered ones, on both instances), & my most thing that I always love, which is the Grand Turismo F3500-A car which is inspired by early 90's Formula One & is based of the Williams FW14B Formula One car from 1992, but the recent Forza Motorsport update includes IndyCar to go along with classic Formula One such as Grand Prix Rivals & Formula 70's, as well as NASCAR, Supercars Championship, the Trans-Am Series TA class & GTX Sports Cars), despite that the fact that I'm always mainly a rugby fanatic just like Pops (Who has still slightly got vertigo which is halfway through for which is partially gone, but I mainly play Rugby 25 (PS4 version) on the PS5 console in which the rugby game which came out in February at launch was dreadful of not having enough rave reviews, saying that it was a complete mess), but I like tennis because of Carole who mainly follows the sport, totally (Mainly because of me playing the Tiebreak tennis game on the PS5 console (Well, I play the PS4 version of it for which I've got it on Aunty Tan's birthday on the 10th of June).
And finally the AB's have named their team to play against France for the 2nd test at Sky Stadium in Wellington (Our last meeting between the 2 sides was on July 5th in which in fact we at last beating the French (Who had to come over to NZ to send their B team all along) after 7 long years, but the last time we lost a home test, it was at that same ground against Los Pumas of Argentina during the opening round of the Rugby Championship last year) on Saturday, July 12th (On the same day as AU/NZ Invitational (A team consisting of both Aussie & Kiwi players) play the British & Irish Lions (Who'll have their last hit out before taking on the Wallabies in the 1st test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane scheduled on the 19th of July) at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide), so here is the team naming in its entirety:
STARTING XV (RUN ON)
FORWARD PACK
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)
2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)
3 (Tight head prop): Fletcher Newell (Crusaders/Canterbury)
SECOND ROW
4 (No.4 lock): Patrick Tuipulotu (Blues/Auckland)
5 (No.5 lock): Fabian Holland (Highlanders/Otago)
LOOSE FORWARDS
6 (Blind side flanker): Tupou Vaa'i (Chiefs/Taranaki)
7 (Open side flanker): Ardie Savea (Captain, Moana Pasifika/Wellington)
8 (Number 8): Christian Lio-Willie (Crusaders/Otago)
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): Billy Proctor (Blues/Auckland)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left wing): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)
14 (Right wing): Emoni Narawa (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)
& 15 (Fullback): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)
& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS (IMPACT)
16 (Reserve hooker): Samisoni Taukei'aho
17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ollie Norris
18 (Reserve tight head prop): Pasilio Tosi
19 (Reserve loose forward): Samipeni Finau
20 (Reserve loose forward): Du'Plessis Kirifi
21 (Reserve half-back): Cortez Ratima
22 (Reserve midfielder): Timoci Tavatavanawai (The one that Pops loves the most who is a fan of him in which he'll make his test debut on the pine as he takes Quinn Tupaea's place at the reserve midfield position)
& 23 (Reserve back): Damian McKenzie
So that is my 621st blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 45th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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