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 that there was a tragic story way back in 1998 about star American comedian who appeared on the Simpsons, & Saturday Night Live (SNL) of the late Phil Hartman who got shot, & killed by his wife who turned on the firearm herself in Los Angeles, California as her friend showed up therefore calling the police thinking that there was a murder before officers arrived when they responded to a call when she believed that what appears to be trapped inside the closet (And she would've gone to jail for that crime that she committed if she was alive), while their kids had to be escorted out of their home by legislation enforcement officers who ruled it as a murder-suicide (And the whole entertainment world was in shock once it happened, it just had to be), just like that shocking Benoit incident which was worse in the US back in 2007 where the late famous wrestler Chris murdered both his wife Nancy & son Daniel, before ending his own life into matters in a sour note (Oh my word) when the WWE had announced their changes meaning that the Ruthless Aggression era (Which began also back in 2002 as it replaced the Attitude era), had become the PG (WWE Universe) era which lasted until 2014 where the Reality era began as when the World Wrestling Entertainment was changing its logo, therefore signalling a new era (And the WWE is currently into the Renaissance (Triple H) era that is still going since 2022).
And secondly that I was discussing to Pops before we headed to Thai Villa on the 17th of May (That is 3 weeks prior to my 35th birthday on June 7th (That's 2 days following Dad's June 5th & 3 days before Aunty Tan's on the 10th of June, & 4 weeks also prior to Pops on July 5th) about the rivalries of international rugby that New Zealand has ever faced on the international rugby field such as France first that we used to be formidable rivals with them not only we faced them in the men's Rugby World Cup final in both way back in 1987, & back in 2011, so too is Australia even though we took on them once at a men's RWC final before back in 2015, before South Africa since they dominated the last 2 men's Rugby World Cups in both 2019, & 2023, has taken over as by far, our main formidable rival in world rugby, then there's England & Ireland then as our other ones (And the New Zealand-South Africa rivalry in rugby is similar to Argentina against Brazil in football (Soccer), as well as India & Pakistan as their main rivalry in cricket, & Australia Vs England also in cricket as the other rivalry), but what about our women? Because of the Black Ferns main rival would be England, then Australia as our other rival, & do not forget Canada as well since they beat us in the semi last year at the women's RWC.
And thirdly that I was emailing to Aunty Tan on May 17th about me requesting my 2 birthday presents that I'm getting (Such as the F1 Career Challenge, & Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith PlayStation 2 games that are PAL versions of it), then me watching CNN twice on the 16th of May about everything is going on around the world at the moment (And Dad is always into ChatGPT at the moment, because I'm mainly into Google), then about me & Pops were heading to Thai Villa for dinner (Originally we were going to go there for dinner on the 15th of May, but it had got fully booked, so we went to Caroline's instead) in which we did where I had satay sauce stir fried with chicken & me not watching the ice hockey lately that I was mainly tuning into watching the rugby instead with Pops.
And lastly the latest in Super Rugby Pacific such as the Chiefs (Who had Seuseu Naitoa Ah Kuoi bagging in for his 2 tries that he scored in the game, but it was Wallace Sititi who had been standout player of the game for his outstanding performance) gave the Highlanders a pounding in Hamilton when they won at least 30 points (Including a sin bin from Argentinian Tomas Lavanini that cost the Highlanders dearly that resulted in a turning point that the Chiefs capitalised when they were on a points scoring spree until the sin binning offence had been expired) which was marred by the injuries to Damian McKenzie for the Chiefs (Well, the extent of the injury of McKenzie could be long term, just like in 2019 that he got injured in a match against the Blues that took him out of the men's Rugby World Cup in that year, therefore ending his chances of playing in that certain tournament, & is expected to miss the encounter against the defending Super Rugby Pacific champions of the Crusaders in Christchurch), & Caleb Tangitau for the Highlanders (Although he could be out of contention of making the All Blacks with a serious injury like that, similar to McKenzie meaning that his chances of making the All Blacks is over as he is ruled out for the remainder of the season), a day before the Hurricanes remain on top of the table after that emphatic win over the Blues (Who lost Caleb Clarke for what appears to be an injury not too serious after making that try saving tackle on reserve Hurricanes halfback Jordi Viljoen) in an entertaining but thrilling match (Up the Canes!).
And here are the next upcoming games that are coming up are scheduled for the weekend of the 22nd to 23rd of May as we're heading into the penultimate round of the Super Rugby Pacific competition (And there's the A-League football (Soccer) final scheduled on the 23rd of May between Auckland FC coached by former Sydney FC coach Steve Corica, & led by a Japanese import player of Hiroki Sakai (Formerly from Urawa Red Diamonds in the J-League comp who used to play abroad in both Germany & France, & was involved in 3 World Cups for his country of Japan back in 2014 (They didn't progress through to the knockouts as both Colombia & Greece were through), then also back in 2018 (Where they fell short against Belgium at the death when one of their players of Nacer Chadli had scored a match winning goal during stoppage time in one of the greatest comebacks in the tournament's history of all time since West Germany's encounter against England long ago in 1970 where a side had to win at least a match after being both goals down), & in 2022 (Where they also fell short against the Luka Modric led Croatia on penalties) who are into their first final, & the past A-League champions of Sydney FC in front of a sell-out crowd at Go Media Stadium in Auckland for which has a Football (Soccer) men's World Cup final feel, or vibe I should say towards it + the New Zealand Warriors are playing against St George-Illawarra Dragons in Kogarah in the league such as the NRL in round 12 of this year's season (On the same day as the A-League grand final, as well as in the rugby such as the Moana-Reds, as well as the Hurricanes-Highlanders, & the Force-Drua clashes) for which will the last before the State of Origin gets underway with New South Wales Blues looking to regain the crown against the defending holders of the Queensland Maroons on May 27th at Stadium Australia in Sydney (And there has been an update as the Warriors went on to win against the Dragons therefore setting up a top of the table clash against the Panthers at CommBank Stadium in Paramatta, Sydney during round 13 of the competition (And the Wahs have never lost since against the Cronulla Sutherland-Sharks at Endeavour Field in the southern Sydney suburb of Woolooware, New South Wales, for which was round 5 of this NRL Premiership season), but at what cost? Because of our key players suffering injuries in that game, like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who ruptured an ACL in which the Warriors fans are holding their breath as he pulled up sore after tackling Hayden Buchanan & was forced from the field just 11 minutes into his return from a shoulder injury (His career could be over since he got injured again, but he's recently ruled out of the season (And possibly the League World Cup for Samoa) as he departs to join English Super League club of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats), then Eddie Ieremia-Toeava got KO'd following a terrible tackle involving teammate Wayde Egan on a Dragons player of Toby Couchman, & meanwhile that New South Wales had drawn first blood as they go 1-0 up in the series against Queensland during the season opener which was marred by the red card against Maroons fullback of Kalyn 'KP' Ponga for a no arms in the tackle to the head on Tolu Koula which was I label it as a flagrant foul that sparked a comeback for the Blues who were 20-0 down as the Maroons let their lead slip, but the magic moment as NSW were on the last tackle as Nathan Cleary kicked a high ball that James Tedesco caught it as he beat Hamiso 'The Hammer' Tabuai-Fidow who was beaten to the strike when Teddy pounced of scoring that certain try that was infamous when the scores were locked at 20-all with 90 seconds remaining before Cleary ran down the clock, until it was stopped with 5 seconds remaining, before he slotted that winning easy shot at goal right in front of the posts), well, as former Aussie cricketer Bill Lawry would say "It's all happening", & also the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the St Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on the weekend of 22nd to the 24th of May (Same weekend as the Indianapolis 500 mile race (And it's going to take place prior to the Grand Prix in Canada) happening with the reigning champion of Spain's Alex Palou who returns for the first time since his victory last year filled with drama, & there are 3 Kiwis that are involved in the Indy 500 such as both Scott's of Dixon (The winner from back in 2008 who only won it once) & McLaughlin, & Marcus Armstrong) where our own New Zealander racing in the RB Racing Bulls constructor of Liam Lawson who is in action (He had a dreadful race in Miami last time out which was unlucky in that he had to retire) against the 4 world champions (Current & former) on the grid this season of Fernando Alonso (Who currently drives for the unlucky Aston Martin outfit), Lewis Hamilton (Who is in his second season with Ferrari), Max Verstappen (Who competed in the 54th running of the Nürburgring 24 hours, & was the headline act that had drawn a sell out crowd for the first time in history (And multi-day tickets have been sold out long ago since) as he drives a Mercedes-AMG GT3 car along with Gerhard Berger's nephew Lucas Auer, Jean-Marc's son Jules Gounon, & Daniel Juncadella, while YouTubers Steve Alvarez Brown, & Jimmy Broadbent will drive a Porsche 911 Cup Car, & former Gran Turismo World Series champion Takuma Miyazono will in fact drive a Toyota Supra GT4 evo, as he prepares to make his real world debut along with Broadbent & Brown according to the report on sim racing focused website GTPlanet), & Lando Norris (Who is 4th in the championship during his defence of the title after McLaren made significant improvements, but was unable to keep pace towards the Mercedes-AMG cars) + a young Italian of Kimi Antonelli who still remains the world championship leader after 4 rounds of competition, but behind him in terms of the points fight is his Mercedes teammate who is the championship favourite of George Russell, & also there is day 1 of the French tennis Open at Roland-Garros in Paris, France, where American lady Coco Gauff (Whose idol was the Williams sisters where she grew up watching them on television), & Spanish gentleman Carlos Alcaraz (Who was the Laureus sportsman of the year) will be defending their titles respectively (While headlining the women will be world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka (The sportswoman of the year at the Laureus awards, while team of the year had gone to Paris St Germain for their historic but incredible UEFA Champions League run last season, as they became the first French club in history to win a major European football (Soccer) club comp), compared to the men where they have both Italian Jannik Sinner (Who lost to Alcaraz last year after winning the first 2 sets, in one of the infamous but greatest sporting comeback moments of all time, but since the year before that all men's grand slams had been dominated by both Carlos Alcaraz & Sinner (But the last before the Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner era (And there was the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry when both of these tennis players who are now legends had dominated throughout 2004 in their first ever meeting between the two, until their retirements early in this decade when they teamed up with each other in doubles during the Laver Cup in 2022) was indeed Novak Djokovic in 2023 at the US Open where he won the men's title) & wily old Serbian veteran of Djokovic):
Crusaders Vs Chiefs
New South Wales Waratahs Vs ACT Brumbies
Moana Pasifika Vs Reds
Hurricanes Vs Highlanders
& Western Force Vs Fijian Drua
So that is my 726th blog of the year 2026 (MMXXVI) & my 78th of this year, viva Ukraine.
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