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 today is ANZAC observed holiday to all their Aussies there, & our Kiwis here as we celebrate the occasion 2 days after ANZAC day that was on Saturday, the 25th of April this year when I posted my blog about the story of Gallipoli during World War I in 1915), but first in the rugby that I was rewatching an old Super Rugby game from the archives or from the vault I should say on the 12th of February (The day before the Highlanders took to the field to take on the Crusaders in Dunedin in the great southern derby to open the season), which was back in 2003 between the battle of the Bombay's clash between Chiefs & the Blues in Hamilton in anticipation of the new Super Rugby Pacific season therefore celebrating a 30 year anniversary of the competition, where Blues player Troy Flavell had been showing the red card as a result of a serious case of foul play such as being involved in an incident that he stamped towards a Fijian hooker playing for the Chiefs of Greg Smith which cost Flavell his All Black selection after being given his marching orders by referee Paddy O'Brien (In which Chiefs halfback of Rhys Duggan got infuriated about that incident), then Chiefs winger of Roger Randle had been shown the yellow card after 'The Bua Bullet' of Fijian Rupeni Caucaunibuca who scored the try for repeated offsides that the Blues who had a player down for the remainder of that match when they overcame a send off offence to take an all-important victory that changed the course of the game that could've gone either way, but in the end, it was a 3 point win for the Blues who would gone on to eventually become champions of the competition.
And secondly in the cricket that last year marked 20 years since the first T20I cricket match took place back in 2005 at Eden Park in Auckland between New Zealand's Black Caps, & the Aussie cricket team who would gone on to win the match with Ricky Ponting being the standout performer as well as the hero of that match with his unbeaten 98 when both sides wore retro clothing which was inspired by the 80's, although the T20 form of the game was influenced by Cricket Max founded by the late Martin Crowe who was the brainchild of that format (And the first T20 World Cup took place in 2007 in South Africa which was won by India, but it's back & better than ever this year when 20 teams compete for world T20 glory, but the reason why that there's 20 teams competing? Because they want to expand the game globally by different countries competing who are not crazy on cricket such as the USA (Who are always crazy on Baseball), Oman, the UAE, Italy (Who'll make their tournament debut as the only debutant to appear in men's T20 cricket's global showpiece event, but the Italian people are crazy on football/soccer), Nepal, Namibia & Canada (It is their first appearance at a major global cricket tournament stage since 2014, while the people of Canada like my friend Rejean are always into ice hockey which is their main winter sport) to join the traditional cricket playing nations such as the defending champions India (Winners at the last tournament that was the year before), Sri Lanka, South Africa, England, Afghanistan, Australia, the West Indies, Pakistan (Who will play most of their matches in Sri Lanka as a result of political tensions of both India & the Pakistanis, & for security reasons), New Zealand, Ireland, Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, & Scotland (Who joined the tournament as the next highest ranked team, & as a replacement for Bangladesh who withdrew as a result of security reasons regarding to player safety, & political tensions between Bangladesh & India since their refusal to move all of their matches to Sri Lanka, just like if Pakistan reach the semis & final, it will be played at Colombo in Sri Lanka after all, just like in the UAE during the Champions Trophy (The mini-World Cup tournament was held in Pakistan) where India took on Australia in the semis, then later New Zealand in the final being staged in the city of Dubai which is in the United Arab Emirates).
And thirdly that there is 4 important weeks of motor racing coming up such as NASCAR's premier event of the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA (Which the state marked 8 years since the tragic Parkland School shooting took place back in 2018 (For that was reminiscent of Columbine way back in 1999, Virginia Tech back in 2007, as well as Aurora then Sandy Hook also back in 2012, & Las Vegas during a music festival back in 2017) where the firearm legislations had been tweaked in that state following that mass shooting incident which resulted in 17 casualties) that is held on the same weekend as the Bathurst 12 Hour in Bathurst, Australia (The premier event of Aussie endurance racing) on the 15th of February, then a week later the Supercars Championship open their season on the weekend of the 21st to the 22nd of February at Sydney Motorsport Park in Sydney, Australia (And Broc Feeney (The man who missed out on securing the title that went to Chaz Mostert last year) cements his joint lead in the championship along with our own Kiwi Matt Payne (Last year's Bathurst 1000 winning driver) with 13 rounds to go after securing one of the race wins for Ampol Red Bull Racing (Triple Eight Race Engineering) who are now racing Fords, meanwhile Anton de Pasquale won race 2 during the night for the homologation Chevrolet team of Charlie Schwerkolt Racing (AKA Team 18) driving a Chevy), as well as the new IndyCar Series season takes place on the streets of St Pete in Florida, United States on the 1st of March (For which will be the historic first race for Sir Scott Dixon since his knighthood back as part of the New Year's honours list board in 2025/26 in our country of New Zealand for his services to motor racing (And being titled was like that it didn't change him unduly but it certainly enhanced the status & profile that was dedicated to putting a structure in place that would help his previous success, just like Dame Lisa Carrington when she was going for gold in Paris the year before 3 times since being knighted following the success in Tokyo at the delayed Olympic Summer Games in 2021 as she was given a loftier reputation just like Dixon (Okay, wow), & finally, the brand new Formula One World Championship season opens with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia due on March 6th to the 8th (And things aren't going well for the Honda powered Aston Martin constructor as they cannot spare any more backup parts therefore going into the opening race down under without a mileage compared to other teams who clocked heaps of kilometres, while RB Racing Bulls & our main man of Kiwi driver Liam Lawson (Well, my heart is at least on him despite of me backing McLaren who is a British sports car & motor racing manufacturer founded by a late Kiwi according to the previous stories on my blog) is attempting & willing to become the 5th quickest constructor this championship season behind the big 4 of reigning constructors champs McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes-AMG & Ferrari).
And lastly that Andy & Kels (Who I haven't seen since February 7th for that is the day after Waitangi day where we had a picnic there at the back of Kowhai Park in my hometown of Whanganui along with Pops & Dad) are in the South Island for their holiday with their 2 dogs of Millie & George according to the text that I saw on Messenger on my phone (And they're due to be back home in Auckland on the weekend of the 21st to the 22nd, but Andy has never heard of the LM Montgomery novel from 1908 called Anne of Green Gables with the famous line of "If you love me as I love you, not even death can part us", according to the text I sent to him on Messenger).
So that is my 680th blog of the year 2026 (MMXXVI) & my 32nd of this year, viva Ukraine.
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