Well, welcome to our readers here in New Zealand, & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger, but first there was a rugby related story about Portia Woodman-Wickliffe's aspirations of becoming a rugby player (Who originally started out as a netballer early in her career before making the jump to rugby, just like former Aussie tennis player Ash Barty who also originally started out as a cricketer before she took up tennis) in which she was dubbed as the women's equivalent of the late Jonah Lomu (Who was a colossus back then according to a comment that I remember from Pops who told Carole about it back in September this year during our big lunch) according to the comment that I also remember from Pops, inspired by watching a videotape of her idol as a 9 year old kid of the late Lomu's most dominant but iconic performance in a black jersey as he scored 4 tries against England in the 1995 men's Rugby World Cup semi (And it's 30 years since that fateful test that marked the significant day in New Zealand's sporting history took place at the old Newlands ground in Cape Town, South Africa which marked the legendary impact of the sport, not just for the late Jonah, but the AB's & every avid rugby aficionado or fanatic I should say) in which a performance that cemented his status as a global superstar (In that performance which was considered one of the most dominant in rugby history as he ran over multiple defenders, forever changing the game in which that milestone was marked by retrospectives celebrating the 4 tries that he scored, but unfortunately he had a kidney disease throughout his life for that was both heartbreaking & tragic, meaning that he passed away so young at age 40 for which was a decade ago back in 2015), including the one he barged over on Englishman Mike Catt to score the first try of the game in one of the men's RWC's most iconic moments, according to the previous blogs that I did, & now, she has become a successful women's rugby player as she won both women's Rugby World Cups for the Black Ferns back in 2017, & in 2021 which was played in 2022 due to the COVID pandemic, & was a Summer Games gold medalist for the Black Ferns 7s, in Tokyo 2020 that was held in 2021, & Paris last year.
And secondly that my fave Austin Powers character would always be Scott Evil because it used to be known as the Fat Man/FB, but I remember one point on the Austin Powers in Goldmember movie at a scene where Scott intends of willing to take over his dad Dr Evil's criminal empire as he betrays the entire Powers clan, in the aftermath of Dr Evil (Real name: Douglas 'Dougie' Powers) who embraced the light side (Well, welcome to the light side, eh? In which the Austin Powers in Goldmember movie bears similarities to the Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi where Darth Vader (The one that he became Anakin Skywalker again) who also embraced the light side when he grabbed the Emperor by lifting then throwing him to fall to his original death (Emperor Palpatine managed to survive the impact from it, but his actual death came in the hands of Rey (Who later became Rey Skywalker at the end of the movie in honour of her ancestors past, present & emerging because she was originally a Palpatine therefore she ended up on the desert planet Jakku as a scavenger) in the Last Skywalker movie) in order to save his son Luke Skywalker from dying), as he joined his bro Austin (Who thought he was going to shoot his brother dead) & his dad Nigel (Who was the one who intervened by having to guard his son Dougie from being killed in the hands of Austin Powers, but he tells a story about their mum who took both of them to Belgium, but Dougie tells that both of his parents were tragically passed away in a car crash, but it was no accident when she was killed in an assassination attempt, & the Belgians, they made them so damn evil, & of course, they share a border with Dutch as Nigel Powers was alluding to his son Dougie therefore he rescued him from certain death).
And thirdly that there was once a motor racing story about Alex Zanardi (Who was rookie of the year (His American teammate at the time of Jimmy Vasser (Who could've had his first win in IndyCar way, way back in 1995 where he should've won in Portland after Team Penske's Al Unser Jr who got disqualified for a rear skid block wear that caused erosion (Just like the Ferrari who finished fourth at Le Mans this year, had been given a disqualification for a technical violation related to its rear wing. During post-race inspection, it was found that four bolts were missing from the central rear wing support, causing the wing to deflect more than the allowed 52 mm (Over three times the allowed 15 mm). The other Ferrari cars, including the winning number 83 car, passed inspection and were not affected, meaning that their victory had been counted though) even though with the appeal for overturning Unser Jr's disqualification set to take place after the season had concluded at Laguna Seca where the late Brazilian (And future twice CART Champ Car champion & Indy 500 winner way back in 2003 even before retiring) Gil de Ferran won the race in which he got rookie of the year honours, in Canadian Jacques Villeneuve's last ever race in IndyCar that he won the championship with along with his Indy 500 victory (Despite serving a penalty in which he overcame the odds) in that he became the first Canadian to do so before making the jump to Formula One a year later in 1996 (That was the year before he became the world champion by beating his German rival of Michael Schumacher who would get disqualified in the standings for avoidable contact towards Villeneuve therefore handing 'The Flying Finn' of Mika Hakkinen his first win in Formula One at the 1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez, Spain) for Williams, & after the season had completed that Unser Jr's disqualification had been overturned meaning that his win had counted that eluded Vasser's first win of his career (He had to wait until the season opener at Homestead Miami way, way back in 1996, then added 3 more wins in Australia, Long Beach & the U.S. 500 at Michigan en route to the title) finished on the podium when at that moment, became the IndyCar champion for the first & only time of his illustrious racing career (The last American to do so during the CART era of IndyCar) after one of his rivals of fellow American Michael Andretti had somehow, got a disappointing result in that crucial championship deciding race that went down to the wire, & it could've gone either way), a year before securing back to back CART Champ Car titles in both '97 & '98 with Chip Ganassi Racing (Who would dominate 4 years straight, from 1996 until 1999 with Vasser once, then Zanardi twice, & Juan Pablo Montoya once during his successful rookie season in that he became the 2nd after Brit Nigel Mansell (The one who came over to IndyCar for the 1993 season after becoming Formula One world champion way, way back in 1992 when he won the season opener in Australia (Where he struggled at the start before battling with Emerson Fittipaldi (The eventual Indianapolis 500 winner where Nigel obviously struggled at restarts due to his inexperience that eluded him a certain win) during the race, including the one that he overtook him illegally in that he got a penalty for it before becoming the first rookie to win an IndyCar race since Graham Hill at the Indy 500 long ago in 1966), then notched up 4 more wins in Milwaukee, Michigan (In which the Newman/Haas team rediscovered form after Team Penske dominated 3 in a row from Portland, right through until Toronto where Paul Tracy won his home race), New Hampshire (In that he became neck & neck with Penske's Tracy), & Nazareth (Where Mansell clinched the title, at the home track of the Andretti family), then he was involved in a near fatal crash way back in 2001 during a CART Champ Car race in Germany that he lost both legs in the process in a serious wreck that ended his open wheel racing career) beating Bryan Herta for the win at the season ending Laguna Seca event way, way back in 1996 when he overtook him in the Corkscrew corner (The most demanding corner in the world of motor racing) for which I thought it was prohibited maneuver to start with, thinking that he must hand his position back & if he doesn't, it's a penalty for an illegal move (And I mean that is a dreadful decision to let the stewards not penalize Zanardi like that, oh that's not fair! You gotta be joking!), & after that, the Zanardi loophole had been applied the following season also way, way back in 1997 to stamp out drivers from doing that, such as going off track, then overtake an opponent by gaining an unfair advantage.
And finally in the rugby department as for the 3rd time this year, the All Blacks drop a game, this time against England who had other ideas to snatch a victory meaning that our chances of a grand slam dead & buried (First Argentina in Buenos Aires, then South Africa in Wellington in a record losing margin (For that was the last time we lost a test match, until now), & now, the English at Allianz Stadium Twickenham in London as the Pom squad must've made a difference of winning that test (Well, I thought it was both field goals scored by George Ford to start with, that sent the English rugby fans into a frenzy when they won themselves the game by 14 points) for that was innovative just like the South Africans with the bomb squad as they were able to shut down New Zealand for the entire 80 minutes which was similar to a virtual men's Rugby World Cup semifinal game) as they held on for a 6 point win, gutted (But I'm stunned about the result, & I did not watch the whole game because they English thought that they're going to win, & they delivered as they got their first win against the AB's since the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi in Yokohama, & England's first at Twickenham against New Zealand since 2012, but this is reminiscent to 1993 where the struggling AB's lost to England 2 years before our next meeting in 1995, also in the men's Rugby World Cup semifinal where we smashed them all thanks to the late Jonah Lomu's all-time performance in a black jersey according to this blog that I already did), but don't worry, we've got 1 more game to come for that is our next test is against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff (For that is our virtual men's RWC bronze final game & our last test of 2025), but can we finish the year off with a win? Let's say so.
So that is my 638th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 62nd of this year, viva Ukraine.
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