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 I was rewatching an old Super Rugby game from the archives between the Hurricanes & the Blues from back in 2007 (And there were players during that era, including Tana Umaga & Ma'a Nonu featuring for the Canes, while for the Blues they had Doug Howlett & Luke McAlister, but back then there was no goal line dropout, no 50-22, no brake foot legislation (In that Pops still cannot understand why even though he played club level rugby during the old days that the brake foot law did not apply way back then), as well as no Dupont legislation, & no escort runner loophole back in the day (And the dangerous tackles like head on head contact for example weren't strict for such measures like that then), in anticipation to Saturday's game as both sides square off against each other at Eden Park in Auckland during the 3rd to last round of this year's Super Rugby Pacific competition.
And secondly in football (Soccer) related news that the All Whites became the 3rd different country to name their 26 player squad for the World Cup according to our coach of Darren Bazeley as we brought on both survivors from back in 2010 in South Africa, such as our captain Chris Wood (The all-time leading goal scorer for our country who currently plays for Nottingham Forest) & English born Tommy Smith (Who plays in the lower leagues in England, & will not play any single minute of a game during the tournament), but the key inclusions in the team were Matt Garbett, Michael Boxall (Who was the stand in captain when Wood was out through injury), Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenic, Liberato Cacace, Kosta Barbarouses (A Greek Kiwi like Leo Bertos who plays for Western Sydney Wanderers), Ryan Thomas (Who plays for a Dutch club), Tyler Bindon (A teammate of Wood ironically at Nottingham Forest), Nando Pijnaker (An Auckland FC (Who is the first New Zealand men's club in history to play in the grand final (They came so close last season after losing to Melbourne City in the semi in just their inaugural season) after their historic 3-0 clean sheet win over Adelaide United in the 2nd leg just to silence the Hindmarsh Stadium crowd in just their 2nd year in the competition in that they'll seek to become the first New Zealand team in a bid to win the A-League Championship) player), Finn Surman, Ben Waine, Eli Just, Francis de Vries (Another one of the Auckland FC players), Jesse Randall (Also another one of the Auckland FC players who'll be heading to Dundee United in the Scottish Premier League next season), Lachlan Bayliss (A Newcastle Jets (Minor premiers this A-League season of 2025-26 who lost in the semi against Sydney FC with New Zealand set to host the A-League grand final for the very first time ever in Auckland between the Black Knights, & the aforementioned Sydney FC at Go Media Stadium in front of a sell out crowd of 28,000 people for which will be a World Cup final like atmosphere) player who was originally from Australia before declaring his allegiance to New Zealand throughout, mainly because of his dad who passed away back in 2018 being from there, & is the least experienced in the squad compared to Wood who is the most experienced player in the team with 88 international caps to his name), Michael Woud (A goalkeeper who plays for the Black Knights who is the 3rd choice goalkeeper in the All Whites side), Alex Paulsen (Who originally was the number 1 goalkeeper), Max Crocombe (Who is expected to be the first choice goalkeeper during the tournament), & Alex Rufer who follows in his famous uncle Wynton's footsteps way back in 1982 in Spain of playing in football/soccer's global showpiece event held in North America.
And thirdly in gaming that I now have all 5 PlayStation 2 rugby games made by EA Sports such as Rugby (That Dad bought it for me on Trade Me, but I had to pay the game as well as the postage & handling like I always do now), Rugby 2004, EA Sports Rugby 2005, EA Sports Rugby 06, & EA Sports Rugby 08 (And then they released Rugby Challenge 4 on the PS4 in 2020, followed by the ill-fated Rugby 25 that came out last year on also both the PS4 & PS5, & Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 4 on the PS4 had to be released in contrast to the poor showing to the Rugby 25 game where the re-release of the game came out as a tribute to the late great New Zealand rugby player Jonah Lomu (And every team in the JLRC4 game is unlicensed except the late Lomu himself with Rugby 25 grabbing the rights to the national teams such as the All Blacks, the Springboks, the Red Roses men, Les Bleus rugby, the men in Green, the Wallabies, & others like Los Pumas, Scotland, Wales, the Azzurri rugby, the Flying Fijians, & the Brave Blossoms, as well as the Gallagher Prem & Super Rugby Pacific competitions to join Top 14, URC, MLR, & Pro D2 championships) so I can finally relive the glory days, but I managed to play Rugby where the PS2 version is similar to the PC port where there was gameplay where you have to use the directional buttons to move the player, then hold O for sprint, compared to Rugby 2004 & later where you have to move the player with the analog stick while holding down R2 results in a run (And I played as New Zealand against France once with a score line of 17 - 0 at Twickenham in where we should've won the semi way back in 1999, then Australia twice 40 - 0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in a would be what if meeting of the 1999 final, & 41 - 0 at Stadium Australia in Sydney in the greatest test of the century back in 2000), but the commentators of that Rugby game was the late Bill McLaren (My fave rugby commentator back in the day, until Grant Nisbett took over for me since), & former England & New Zealand international of Hong Kong born Jamie Salmon.
And finally that everything has been going on in the moment on CNN (The far-left wing pro-liberal news channel that both Aunty Tan & Rejean usually watches for which is about stuff in the United States, & Canada, but we get the international version of it on Sky here in New Zealand) that I watched it twice on the 16th of May such as that shocking invasion since 2022 (Well, there were hardly mentions of it when I saw it on that day), then the Iran war with both countries at war such as the US & the Iranians who are trading gunfire at each other even though the Strait of Hormuz remains closed permanently, as well as news relating to that dreadful American leader (Who met that Chinese leader in Beijing recently about the US who could potentially cut ties with Taiwan if China invades them, as well as tariffs as well that sparked a trade war, & probably easing the US sanctions against Chinese companies who are outraged at each other between them in that infamous meeting that did not go to well), & the hantavirus stuff in which people are urged to self isolate at home once they get it, then try to stay away from people from getting close contact, as well as avoiding travel in many areas, & masks will be required to wear if necessary such as in enclosed spaces (And there had been 10 confirmed cases so far of the Andes virus, because it was originally 11, but one of them tested negative due to an inconclusive reading, so they've got to be far more aware of catching it in order to aid them of preventing the spread (And there was a Kiwi who went on that MV Hondius ship who is in Australia under quarantine measures at the moment when Dad told me that before on May 17th).
So that is my 725th blog of the year 2026 (MMXXVI) & my 77th of this year, viva Ukraine.
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