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 onto the rugby stuff that way back in 1995 that South Africa became the best team in the world for the first time out of 4 (Including back in 2007, then also back in 2019 & the most recent one in 2023 where they had successfully gone back to back, the second to do so after New Zealand back in 2015) when they triumphed at the men's Rugby World Cup at home whilst making their tournament debut after not appearing then first 2 in both way back in 1987, & also way back in 1991 as a result of racial segregation policies that they imposed, but our late All Black of Jonah Lomu (Who was the greatest rugby player ever of all-time) would've easily been the player of the tournament for notching up his 7 incredible tries that he scored in which he was the joint top try scorer along with his All Black teammate at the time of Marc Ellis, but what a player, what a World Cup he's having, especially his 4 tries in a match against England (Including one that he trampled Englishman Mike Catt in one of the iconic but legendary moments in the history of the tournament according to the previous stories that I experienced on my blogs) in the semifinal was the most superhuman individual performance that a specimen had ever seen throughout our lifetime (And talk about individual efforts eh?).
And secondly that Dad took me for a ride on his new car on the 24th of January which is the 2008 model Mitsubishi Outlander that cost about NZ$7,000 (And he has not owned that car since 2021 where he sold his red older model Nissan X-Trail in favour of a LDV van that converted into a camper van) meaning that his campervan that he had needed to get patched up due to cracks on the window had been inevitable (And Pops has seen it recently where he took his phone to Dad's place to get it fixed because it had a virus in it, but it's since been patched up & ready to go already).
And thirdly onto the football/soccer related stuff that it's been 60 years since England triumphed at the 1966 Football/Soccer men's World Cup for the first, & only time when they beat West Germany in the final at Wembley in London where their English captain Bobby Moore who lifted the trophy, but it was Geoff Hurst who was the hero of that match where he scored a hat-trick just like Kylian Mbappe in 2022 where he was the first since Hurst to score 3 goals in the final, but it was a losing effort where France (They had to lose the trio of Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante & Karim Benzema through injuries, even before the tournament began where the Argentinians had a big chance of winning that tournament for the first time since 1986 (Which happened about 40 years ago, but that was the year that the late Diego Armando Maradona scored an unusual goal that knocked the English out of the tournament dubbed as 'The Hand of God', although the VAR would've checked as of today whether a goal should've been valid or not (Although the broadcast camera shows that 'El Pibe' scored it with his header), but that would've been a caution for an illegal handball that deflected onto the goal meaning that the goal had scored did not count so it would've been waved off immediately) despite losing the opening match against Saudi Arabia during the group stages where they had became just the 2nd side after Spain back in 2010 to do that) didn't help stop the Argentinian resistance from winning that penalty shootout as well as the World Cup heading back to Argentina after 36 years in one of the greatest ever Football/Soccer men's World Cup final in history of all time (And what was my reaction of that final that I just witnessed on TV? Well, I don't know, I don't give a damn) in a match that made Lionel Messi (The national hero who spearheaded his country to a successful World Cup glory just like his late idol Maradona who propelled to greatness, especially the people of Argentina).
And finally that the Black Caps who dominated the ODI series against India that our chances of winning the T20 series is over as the world champion Indians who were triumphant as they had been in charge of winning the last 3 T20 internationals in which they clinched it with New Zealand (Who had our turn of winning the 4th T20I therefore we ended the Indians chances of a clean sweep, just like England did against Australia during the Boxing Day test in Melbourne late last year) struggling to contain India's top batters (Like Abhishek Sharma for example), & bowlers (Also like Arshdeep Singh for example) that is why the reason that they lost the series in which they are sounding the alarm bells just before the men's T20 Cricket World Cup gets underway in February even though we are drawn in the group of death alongside South Africa & Afghanistan (Who we begin our campaign with) just like in 2024 where we lost to both the host nation at the time of the West Indies & the Afghans (Who had a fairytale run of making the Super 8s, then the semis in that they lost to the South Africans (Who India beat them in the final in which we haven't played against South Africa at a men's T20 Cricket World Cup since 2014) last time out even though we were missing our frontline players, but there has been an update as Bangladesh has pulled out from taking part at this year's men's T20 Cricket World Cup in India & Sri Lanka at the last minute, citing security concerns as their main factor mainly due to political tensions between the 2 countries of both India & Bangladesh so that is the reason why that player safety may be part of their withdrawal from the tournament as a result of political pressure, so they allowed Scotland (Who originally failed to qualify) to take their place in the men's T20 Cricket World Cup as the next ranked best team (And Bangladesh could even return if Pakistan chose to skip the men's T20 World Cup altogether as a result of a political spat between both nations of the Indians (Who go into their title defence of the men's T20 Cricket World Cup against the United States in the opening match with a win against the Black Caps in the 5th & last T20 international) & the Pakistanis).
So that is my 675th blog of the year 2026 (MMXXVI) & my 27th of this year, viva Ukraine.
P.S. And I did not know last year was the year that a famous New Zealand politician from the right wing conservative National Party who was our Prime Minister for 7 years from 1990 where he took over from the late Mike Moore who was PM for just 59 days (He passed away in 2020, a month before the heights of the COVID pandemic began) until 1997 where he resigned allowing Jenny Shipley to take over of Jim Bolger who passed away due to declining health aged 90 on October 15th (And they had their flags being raised to half mast in mourning of him as a mark of respect) so they already sent their thoughts, prayers & heartfelt condolences to him & his family, rest in paradise (RIP).
Jim Bolger
1935 - 2025
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