Peach: 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa final review

Well, the Crusaders (Coached by the master himself, Scott 'Razor' Robertson with Scott 'Scooter' Barrett (You may remember him as Beauden & Jordie's brother) at the helm) have won their 12th title overall (That's 10 Super Rugby championships & now both Super Rugby Aotearoa titles) as they successfully defended the Tu Kotahi Aotearoa trophy & retained the Super Rugby Aotearoa championship after overcoming 2 yellow cards (1st it was Codie Taylor for tackling his All Black teammate Damian McKenzie (Who had a wretched night as a goal kicker just like Stephen Jones for Wales in the 2011 Rugby World Cup semifinal against France) in mid-air in the 53rd minute of the 2nd half then Sevu Reece for a high hit (For what I thought it was a red card offence) on Chiefs fullback Chase Tiatia in the 58th minute of the 2nd half) to dispatch the Clayton McMillan coached Chiefs in the inaugural Super Rugby Aotearoa final at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch so here is the live updates according to Newshub:

Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the Super Rugby Aotearoa between defending champions Crusaders and underdogs Chiefs in Christchurch.

At the start of the season, you would have found pretty long odds on the Chiefs making the championship game, let alone winning the title. They had finished bottom of the inaugural 2020 competition, riding a nine-game losing streak that dated back to pre-COVID-19 play.

After opening the current campaign with two more defeats, they stared down a piece of unwanted history - the longest losing run ever by an NZ Super Rugby side.

Victory over the Hurricanes staved off that ignominy and a five-game winning run was enough to propel them past the Blues (and the Highlanders and Hurricanes) into the final. 

Moreover, they have achieved this without incumbent coach Warren Gatland (on British & Irish Lions duty) and injured All Blacks captain Sam Cane.

One of those victories came against the Crusaders, who have wobbled slightly through this year's schedule, also losing to southern neighbours Highlanders.

After three straight Super Rugby titles and last year's Aotearoa honours - albeit achieved without a Grand Final - they have lost key personnel to injury, namely prop Joe Moody, midfield Jack Goodhue and flanker Tom Christie.

Centre Braydon Ennor also missed the regular season, but will return from a knee injury for a spot on the bench for the final.

Their season has been distracted by speculation over the future of coach Scott Robertson, who has achieved everything possible in Super Rugby, but has missed out on the All Blacks job and must be eyeing opportunities abroad.

Crusaders: 1-George Bower, 2-Codie Taylor, 3-Michael Alaalatoa, 4-Scott Barrett, 5-Sam Whitelock, 6-Ethan Blackadder, 7-Sione Havili Talitui, 8-Cullen Grace, 9-Mitchell Drummond, 10-Richie Mo’unga, 11-George Bridge, 12-David Havili, 13-Leicester Fainga'anuku, 14-Sevu Reece, 15-Will Jordan 

Reserves: 16-Brodie McAlister, 17-Tamaiti Williams, 18-Oliver Jager, 19-Mitchell Dunshea, 20-Tom Sanders, 21-Bryn Hall, 22-Dallas McLeod, 23-Braydon Ennor 

Chiefs: 1-Aidan Ross, 2-Samisoni Taukei'aho, 3-Angus Ta'avao, 4-Tupou Vaa'i, 5-Mitchell Brown, 6-Pita Gus Sowakula, 7-Lachlan Boshier, 8-Luke Jacobson, 9-Brad Weber, 10-Bryn Gatland, 11-Etene Nanai-Seturo, 12-Alex Nankivell, 13-Anton Lienert-Brown, 14-Jonah Lowe, 15-Damian McKenzie 

Reserves: 16-Bradley Slater, 17-Ollie Norris, 18-Sione Mafileo, 19-Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20-Zane Kapeli, 21-Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22-Rameka Poihipi, 23-Chase Tiatia

6:59PM (BREAKING NEWS): Crusaders coach Scott Robertson has made a late change to his starting line-up, with Tom Sanders taking the No.7 jersey off Sione Havili Talitui, who has dropped out of the playing side.

Whetu Douglas comes onto the bench, with Havili Talitui unfortunately suffering a head knock during warm-ups.

KICK OFF (1ST MINUTE): Ben O'Keeffe will referee tonight's big game.

Richie Mo'unga kicks off for the Crusaders, caught by Lienert-Brown and the Chiefs exit through the boot of Gatland.

SCRUM: First lineout won by Grace, but Havili's pass inside to Bridge is ruled forward.

2ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Weber feds to the scrum and he clears under pressure. Chiefs mount an attack, throwing the ball right along the back line.

4TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: Blackadder intercepts the ball and Reece scampers down the right touchline, but Drummond loses it forward in the tackle.

5TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Chiefs scrum in their own 22, trying to clear and Nanai-Seturo kicks long into the Crusaders 22.

6TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Crusaders into Chiefs territory, but are brought back for offside advantage. Mo'unga kicks to the corner.

7TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY CRUSADERS: 7th minute - Try to Reece

Whitelock wins the lineout, Fainga'anuku makes a bust towards the posts and the forwards rumble towards the line. When the ball emerges, it's moved quickly to Reece, who stands up marker McKenzie and lunges at the line.

CONVERSION: Replays show he plants the ball on the line, so the try is awarded. Mo'unga converts from the sideline, Crusaders 7-0

10TH MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER): From the kickoff, Crusaders regain possession and Mo'unga kicks behind the Chiefs defence - out on the full. Mitch Brown receives medical attention.

11TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Whitelock steals the Chiefs lineout throw and Drummond kicks high. Gatland returns the favour towards Jordan, who is flattened in a three-man tackle, but Fainga'anuku runs over the top of Weber. 

14TH MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Chiefs are driving towards the Crusaders line and eventually win a penalty for offside on Whitelock.

SUBSTITUTION: As McKenzie lines up the posts, Weber leaves for a head injury assessment, replaced by Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi.

15TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL CHIEFS: McKenzie slots the penalty to put the Chiefs on the board, Crusaders 7-3.

16TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY CRUSADERS: Try to Jordan

CONVERSION MISS: Fainga'anuku carries a couple of tacklers towards the Chiefs 22 and when the ball emerges, it moves left, where Havili kicks towards the line and Jordan gathers to score. Mo'unga misses the conversion, Crusaders 12-3

18TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: From the kickoff, Crusaders keep the ball in hand, but concede a penalty just inside their own half. Gatland kicks to the corner - perfectly.

20TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY CHIEFS: Try to McKenzie

CONVERSION: Chiefs put 13 men into the lineout and win the throw, but they're mauled backwards. When the ball comes, it's moved right, when Nankivell takes a half-gap and flickes a long backhanded pass for McKenzie to score in the corner. McKenzie brings his conversion back between the posts, Crusaders 12-10

23RD MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM & SUBSTITUTION: Crusaders have a scrum feed inside the Chiefs half. Weber has passed his HIA and will return to the game.

24TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Mo'unga makes a break and finds Fainga'anuku on his shoulder. Mo'unga kicks towards the left corner, and McKenzie and Jordan race for the ball, which bounces cruelly and Jordan is eventually put into touch.

26TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Weber returns, with the Chiefs feeding a lineout on halfway.

27TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Chiefs win lineout at second attempt, but as they move the ball, Havili intercepts and is called back, with one of his forwards called for incorrect entry to a breakdown (Joining ruck incorrectly).

Gatland kicks towards the 22.

28TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM: Crusaders steal another lineout and clear. Nanai-Seturo returns the favour and forces the Crusaders to exit again. They knock on in their own half.

29TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TMO REFERRAL & PENALTY: Officials are looking at the big screen and will penalize Nanai-Seturo for a high tackle (Dangerous tackle) on Jordan.

Mo'unga kicks for touch and an attacking lineout.

30TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM: Crusaders trying to build an attack outside the 22 and Chiefs eventually knock on.

31ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Drummond feeds a scrum inside the 22, but it collapses and is reset.

32ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Crusaders dominate the scrum, but Weber steals the ball and Chiefs clear their 22. Gatland dashes up field, as the Chiefs go on attack.

33RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): McKenzie has the ball inside the 22 and finds Lowe on the right touchline. He lunges at the goal-line, but Jordan's tackle brings him down just short and the ball bounces into touch.

PENALTY: Jordan is penalized for a head high tackle and the Chiefs take an attacking line out.

34TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM: Chiefs win the lineout, but are driven back. The Crusaders have held the ball up and will win the scrum feed from the maul.

Grace bobbles the ball at the back of the scrum and Mo'unga clears his own line, but not to touch.

35TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Reece hack the ball downfield, but the Chiefs control and clear. Mo'unga counterattacks and the Crusaders build phases.

PENALTY: They win a penalty advantage.

36TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Reece puts a little kick over the defensive line, but it's knocked on by the pursuers. O'Keeffe brings them back for a penalty.

37TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER):  Mo'unga lines up a kick for the posts and slots it, Crusaders 15-10

38TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: From the kickoff, Reece receives the ball and a high shot from Nanai-Seturo, who is penalized.

39TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): McKenzie kicks high and Reece takes it well - he's been solid this half.

40TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Chiefs building phases in the Crusaders half and under penalty advantage. Gatland throws an ambitious behind-the-back pass that goes nowhere, but O'Keeffe calls them back for the penalty.

CAPTAIN'S REFERRAL & PENALTY: Barrett lodges a captain's challenge for potential foul play. Attention seems to be on Sowakula's entry to a breakdown, but there's nothing to see - except maybe Reece colliding with the head of Jordan.

40TH MINUTE + 1ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL MISS: McKenzie kicks for goal, but hooks it. Halftime arrives with Crusaders leading 15-10.

1ST HALF

41ST MINUTE, SUBSTITUTION: Ah Kuoi has replaced Mitch Brown at lock for the Chiefs, whose lineout has been pretty terrible so far.

Gatland kicks off and Grace charges forward.

When the back returns to the Chiefs Lienert-Brown chips to the goal-line and the Crusaders scramble the ball dead.

42ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): From the goal-line dropout, McKenzie fields the ball deep in his own half and makes good ground over halfway.

43RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Chiefs are building phases outside the 22 and win a penalty out in front of the posts.

44TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL MISS: McKenzie takes another shot at the posts, but leaves it to the right. Not a great time to lose his kicking touch.

45TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Chiefs make an important tactical change - Tiatia replaces Gatland, with McKenzie moving to first-five.

46TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Mo'unga breaks upfield, but Tiatia turns the ball over in the tackle and the Crusaders have an defensive lineout 10m out from their goal-line.

47TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): McKenzie makes a half break, but when he looks for support, he finds only Reece.

48TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Crusaders building an attack on halfway, Lowe intercepts, but is dragged down quickly by the defence.

49TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Tiatia chips ahead and regathers inside the 22, Jacobson takes the ball within metres of the line, but Crusaders win a clearing penalty.

51ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), SCRUM: Crusaders win the lineout and take the ball to halfway, Mo'unga kicks high, and Jordan chases and catches. Mo'unga knocks on to end the attack.

52ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Bryn Hall preparing to replace Drummond at halfback for Crusaders.

53RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Jacobson runs the ball of the back of a scrum and earns a relieving penalty for the Chiefs. Hall replaces Drummond.

PENALTY: Chiefs throw long to the lineout and McKenzie leaps to catch the ball, but is taken out in midair by Codie Taylor - what was the hooker even doing there?

YELLOW CARD: Taylor is shown a yellow card and apologizes to his All Blacks teammate - big moment in the game.

54TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL MISS: McKenzie lines up another penalty, but misses again. That three misses tonight for the guy that has kicked them to victory so many times this season.

55TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Ollie Norris replaces Aidan Ross in the Chiefs front row.

Havili kicks deep, but too deep, as the ball dribbles dead. Chiefs have a scrum inside Crusaders half and the champions must bring on a replacement hooker, sending Sanders to the sideline.

56TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Chiefs tries to launch an attack, ALB finds Lowe with a long pass and the winger chips ahead, escorted into touch by Jordan.

57TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Chiefs attack breaks down, but they win a penalty. Decision time for Weber and McKenzie, do they kick for goal?

CAPTAINS REFERRAL: Weber lodges a captain's challenge for foul play by Reece on Tiatia, seeking to reduce the Crusaders to 13 men.

58TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Replays show Reece hit Tiatia high and video official insists it's directly to the head - it looked marginal though.

PENALTY & YELLOW CARD: Reece cops a yellow card and the Crusaders are two men short for the next five minutes.

59TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL CHIEFS: McKenzie finally finds his target and brings the Chiefs within two points, Crusaders 15-13

60TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Crusaders maul towards the Chiefs 22 from a lineout, but can't release - turnover to the Chiefs.

62ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Chiefs lose control of a defensive scrum on their 22, but win a clearing penalty. Boshier is the man who saved the day, but he's in pain with a knee injury.

SUBSTITUTION: Multiple replacements for each team, with Braydon Ennor returning for the Chiefs. Taylor's sin-binning is about to end and Oli Jager is injected into the front row.

63RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Whetu Douglas replaces Sanders, who won't return from his enforced sideline stint. 

SUBSTITUTION: Mafileo replaces Ta'avao in the Chiefs front row.

Chiefs are still a man up, but Mo'unga fields a McKenzie kick and makes a break up the left touchline.

64TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), DROP GOAL CRUSADERS: Crusaders are pouring onto attack and win a penalty advantage, but Mo'unga kicks his first-ever Super Rugby drop goal to extend the lead, Crusaders 18-13

65TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): From the kickoff, Mo'unga kicks on an angle and finds touch on the Chiefs 22. It's raining now, but Crusaders fans sense their team is coming home.

66TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Hall is penalized for running interference for Bridge. McKenzie kicks deep into the Crusaders half.

PENALTY: Chiefs win the lineout, but Blackadder gets over the ball and wins a relieving penalty.

SUBSTITUTION: Bower is replaced by Williams at prop for the Crusaders, Kapeli replaces Boshier for the Chiefs and Poihipi is on for Nankivell.

Blackadder is having a dislocated finger snapped back into place - ouch!

67TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Crusaders win an attacking lineout and maul towards the 22.

68TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Crusaders win a penalty for offside (Player never onside) and Mo'unga will burn up some time with a kick at goal. If he's successful, it will put them more than a converted try ahead.

69TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL CRUSADERS: Mo'unga slots the penalty to extend the lead, Chiefs now need to score twice. Crusaders 21-13

70TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Weber is off for good now, replaced by Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Who is back on).

71ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Heavy rain now, as the Crusaders seek to extend their lead. Havili puts up a high kick, but a streaker has invaded the pitch and O'Keeffe halts play.

72ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Dunshea replaces Grace, so Barrett will move from lock into the loose forwards.

McKenzie kicks high, Jordan is safe, but his pass to Ennor is loose.

73RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): McKenzie darts left and finds ALB, but the ball is knocked on and a Chiefs player recovers it from offside.

74TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Crusaders win a penalty from their defensive scrum and will clear.

75TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY & PENALTY GOAL CRUSADERS: Mo'unga kicks deep from the penalty and Tiatia tries to counterattack, but is tackled (by Mo'unga) and doesn't release. Mo'unga soaks up some time with a shot at goal and slots it, Crusaders 24-13

76TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Taylor is replaced by McAlister.

77TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Crusaders steal the ball on halfway and Havili kicks to the corner, but overcooks it.

78TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Tiatia runs onto a pass and breaks towards halfway. Crusaders are deemed offside and McKenzie must kick to touch.

79TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: From the lineout, the ball goes right, but the Chiefs get tangled and are offside, as they try to conjure up a late score.

80TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Crusaders win the scrum and a clearing penalty. Coach Scott Robertson heads to the sideline for his break dance celebration.

The siren goes, but there's one last line out - Crusaders feed. They win the throw and Hall kicks to touch.

Well done, Crusaders - that's your five-peat! (''The Tu Kotahi Aotearoa Trophy is Crusaders country again'' (Or more like ''New Zealand rugby's most treasured prize, the Super Rugby Aotearoa championship, stays in Crusader land'' But I wonder the headlines would probably say: THE SRA TITLE REMAINS CRUSADERS CUP! And of course in the famous words of Sky Sport rugby commentator Grant Nisbett in commentary (Along with fellow commentators Justin Marshall (A former Southland, Canterbury, Crusaders & All Blacks player) & Ian Smith (Ex-test & one day international cricketer for New Zealand (Before in late 1998 when it is now known as the Black Caps): ''They've done it again! The Crusaders win Super Rugby Aotearoa 2021'')

2ND HALF

CRUSADERS 24 CHIEFS 13

CRUSADERS: Reece & Jordan tries; Mo'unga drop goal, conversion & 3 penalties

CHIEFS: McKenzie try, conversion & 2 penalties

And we have just heard reports across the ditch where the Reds (Coached by former Canterbury, Crusader & All Black Brad Thorn) win their 2nd overall title (And 1st in 10 years) as they win their 1st Super Rugby AU title where they redeemed themselves after missing out last year by defeating the defending SRAU champions the Brumbies at the time in the final (With Reds first five James O'Connor scoring the try that won the game & the Super Rugby AU championship but I thought that Taniela 'Tongan Thor' Tupou knocked the ball on in the lead up to JOC's match winning try (Referee Nic Berry had to look upstairs first but there was no clear evidence of Tupou losing the ball forward so the try was good but the spider cam wasn't available to the TMO) at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane (And bring on Super Rugby Trans Tasman after New Zealand's travel ban with Australia lifted (And there are no confirmed cases in Australia since the country lifted its travel ban with New Zealand compared to India which is now getting worse with over 20 million confirmed cases in the country (And the corona virus is now a modern day iteration of the bubonic plague) out of the 1 billion population (And you can't go to India like now due to the travel ban but if anyone including Indians living abroad is caught attempting to go home like for family reasons, they'll issue a behind bars sentence by sending some would be criminal to the slammer to curb that ongoing problem that they just had (And they want to avoid getting COVID-19 but the Indian Premier League season has been postponed allowing their front line Indian test cricketers (But 1st they will have to spend a fortnight in hard isolation when they arrive in England along with the New Zealand cricket team which will tour England) including captain Virat Kohli (1st it was Kapil Dev as the most popular figure in Indian cricket followed by Sachin 'The Little Master' Tendulkar & now Kohli) to prepare for the historic 1st ever World Test Championship final in Southampton against New Zealand (Twice they have been to the last 2 50 over Cricket World Cup finals, all of them ended in failure (1st it was Australia (Who were co-hosts along with NZ & were favourites going into the final based on their experience of winning Cricket World Cup titles as well as their home field advantage) in 2015 (Including one of the greatest game changers in the history of cricket when Aussie pace bowler Mitchell Starc easily knocked Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum over at the MCG in Melbourne during the 1st over) in what was New Zealand's 1st ever appearance at a CWC final followed by England (Previous hosts along with Wales (Which is part of the England cricket team) who had to win their 1st Cricket World Cup title by scoring the most boundaries than us in their 4th ever Cricket World Cup final (They went down to the West Indies in 1979 followed by Australia in 1987 (Including Mike Gatting's attempt of a reverse sweep gone wrong which proved to be the turning point after he was out caught behind by Aussie wicket-keeper Greg Dyer who took a remarkable catch which cost England a chance of winning the Cricket World Cup) & Pakistan in 1992 (Also including Wasim Akram's winning spell for his all round performance of 3 wickets for 49 runs with the ball & 33 runs off 18 deliveries with the bat before legendary skipper Imran Khan's last ever wicket in his cricket career when he dismissed Richard Illingworth handing Pakistan their 1st & only CWC crown) & they were also favourites going into the match because of their home ground advantage as well as being ranked number 1 in the ODI world at the time) at the last Cricket World Cup in 2019 (Including West Indian born English fast bowler Jofra Archer bowling a yorker to Martin Guptill preventing him from scoring the winning runs before South African born Englishman Jason Roy's incredible throw to English wicket-keeper Jos Buttler to run Guptill out off the last ball of the dramatic 1st ever CWC final super over at Lord's in London (And in the famous words of former cricket player turned commentator Ian Smith (Who is in fact New Zealand's equivalent of the late Richie Benaud of Australia because he was once the voice of New Zealand cricket when Sky Sport had the broadcasting rights of cricket here in New Zealand before Spark Sport had taken over since April last year) ''He's got it, England have won the World Cup!'') in which was the Black Caps most recent appearance at a Cricket World Cup final) with the Trans-Tasman travel bubble now open) by 3 points.

And finally before I wrap this blog up in style that my thoughts to Scott Robertson (He should've taken over from Steve Hansen as the new All Black coach but it wasn't to be as he missed out on the job in 2019 after the last Rugby World Cup because it went to current coach Ian Foster instead) will be after the Crusaders success in Super Rugby Aotearoa this year:

''There is nothing for you down that path, you know that, right?''

So that is my 415th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 35th of this year.

Rules Of The Game Of Thrones (2021 special)

Well, it has been 9 years (I was going to do it last year to commemorate the 8 year anniversary of my 1st ever blog before the pandemic had been happened) since my 1st blog dubbed as Rules Of The Game Of Thrones (Which is a portmanteau of the words Rules Of The Game (My all time favourite book as a young kid but I used to laugh about the fouls section which I found it was hilarious) & the HBO TV series which ran from 2011 until 2019 called Game Of Thrones (There were famous characters appearing in the TV show such as Jon Snow, Daenerys Tagaryen & the Stark sisters of Arya & Sansa) that I did way back in 2012 but we have just heard reports that ex-Wellington, Hurricanes & All Black halfback TJ Perenara (Who currently plays for the NTT Docomo Hurricanes in the Japan Top League & is a distant relative of twice Rugby World Cup winning player for the AB's in 2011 & 2015 as well as being a former Toulon, Canterbury, Crusaders, Chiefs, Counties-Manukau, Blues & All Blacks rugby union player, Sonny Bill Williams (A former Bulldogs, Roosters & Kiwis rugby league player), may be considering a move to rugby league to play for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL a couple of weeks ago but the champion Crusaders side (Who'll put their Tu Kotahi Aotearoa trophy as well as a Super Rugby Aotearoa title on the line in which they face the Chiefs in the big dance which is the 1st ever Super Rugby Aotearoa final at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch tonight on the 8th of May (The day before mother's day here in our beautiful little country of New Zealand) but trust me, the Crusaders have never been defeated in a home playoff match especially a home final) have bolstered their squad by signing Argentina loose forward Pablo Matera for next year's Super Rugby season & we have just confirmed reports that the British & Irish Lions squad to tour to South Africa (I thought the tour was going to be cancelled due to the corona virus but they had been given the green light) had been announced so here is the list of players selected for the team (I also thought that they were going to name 36 players in the squad but they instead chose 37 according to head coach Warren Gatland) in it's entirety:

FORWARDS (FORWARD PACK)

HOOKERS

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England)

Jamie George (Saracens, England)

Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales)

PROP FORWARDS

Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland)

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster, Ireland)

Wyn Jones (Scarlets, Wales)

Andrew Porter (Leinster, Ireland) *1

Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) *2

Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland)

Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England)

SECOND ROWERS

Adam Beard (Ospreys, Wales) *3

Tadhg Beirne (Munster, Ireland)

Iain Henderson (Ulster, Ireland)

Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, England)

Maro Itoje (Saracens, England)

Alun Wyn Jones (Captain, Ospreys, Wales) *1

Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, England)

BACK ROWERS

Jack Conan (Leinster, Ireland)

Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England)

Taulupe Faletau (Bath (England), Wales)

Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues, Wales) *4

Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England)

Justin Tipuric (Ospreys, Wales) *1

Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland)

BACKS (BACK LINE)

HALFBACKS (SCRUM-HALVES)

Gareth Davies (Scarlets, Wales)

Conor Murray (Munster, Ireland)

Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland)

FIRST-FIVE EIGHTHS (FLY HALVES)

Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints (England), Wales) *1

Owen Farrell (Saracens, England)

Finn Russell (Racing 92 (France), Scotland)

Marcus Smith (Harlequins, England) *5

MIDFIELDERS

Bundee Aki (Connacht, Ireland)

Elliot Daly (Saracens, England)

Chris Harris (Gloucester (England), Scotland)

Robbie Henshaw (Leinster, Ireland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues, Wales)

Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs (England), Scotland)

Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester (England), Wales)

Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland)

Anthony Watson (Bath, England)

Liam Williams (Scarlets, Wales)

*1: Withdrawn due to injury

*2: Called up as injury replacement for Andrew Porter

*3: Called up as injury replacement for Alun Wyn-Jones

*4: Called up as injury replacement for Justin Tipuric

*5: Called up as injury replacement for Dan Biggar

And here are the list of matches being played in the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa (Well, the Springboks (For which I label the toughest national rugby team in the universe because of their forward pack being overwhelmingly dominant) hadn't played test rugby since they conquered the last Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 (And so too is Japan because they haven't played international rugby since the quarterfinal defeat where the previous tournament hosts went down against the eventual world champions South Africa (And it was revenge of the miracle of Brighton in 2015 that the Japanese famously beat the South Africans in an historic upset victory for the ages of all time in the history of the Rugby World Cup (20 years after the Japanese were completely annihilated or should I say thumped in the hands of the All Blacks (Who had Marc Ellis scoring 6 tries, the most in a RWC match along with Simon Culhane who scored in a world record 45 points on test debut for the AB's (He scored a try then made 20 successful conversion attempts out of 21) in a record Rugby World Cup score in which New Zealand famously won by 128 points during a pool match at Bloemfontein in South Africa in 1995) after they famously prevailed over England (The nation that ended the All Blacks hopes of an historic three peat in the semifinal after New Zealand won both Rugby World Cups in a row in 2011 & 2015 to go with our triumph in 1987) in the final (It was Springbok Number 8 Duane Vermeulen who was the standout player who performed well by getting his man of the match award when he exhibited the mastery of a veteran during the final which was a rematch of the 2007 final just like Victor Matfield did when South Africa dominated to win their 2nd Rugby World Cup title against England at the Stade de France (Which will host the opening match between the hosts France & the All Blacks as well as the final of the 2023 tournament) in the final (And it was the 1st time these two teams met in the final although both sides (Their 1st meeting at a RWC was in 1999 that South Africa defeated England in the quarterfinal with Jannie de Beer scoring a couple of drop goals then the next time they met it was in 2003 that England would turn the tables on the Springboks with a victory to top the pool (That was their title winning year for the English (The last time that they won a Rugby World Cup way back in 2003) when they defeated the defending champions & hosts at the time, Australia in the final after England (The only northern hemisphere country to win a RWC title) first five Jonny Wilkinson provided that clutch moment by scoring the match winning drop goal with his weaker right foot) in Pool C then South Africa would win the next 3 matches against England including a pool match in 2007 & both finals in the same year in 2007 & most recently in 2019 by winning both Rugby World Cup titles to add to their success in 1995) would meet again in the final at the last Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019) which was a rematch of a pool game that the Springboks single handedly crushed the English at the same ground) at the International Stadium in Yokohama to win their 3rd RWC crown (To go with their previous titles in 1995 & 2007 but the Springboks resounding success of the 2019 tournament marked the revival of South African rugby by growing the game so much nowadays which drew interest to the sport (And when Allister Coetzee left as South Africa rugby coach in 2017, many South Africans thought that Rassie Erasmus may be the right man for the Springboks coaching job back in 2018 (And when Erasmus was being interviewed on TV in 2018 that he can actually think that South Africa would win the 2019 Rugby World Cup & he agreed when he said yes) & they did, they had a famous win against the All Blacks in Wellington in 2018 a year before completing a rare double, the Rugby Championship (Wins over Australia & Argentina as well as a draw against New Zealand) & the Rugby World Cup (They opened their campaign in defeat against the All Blacks (The defending world champions at the time) before winning all 6 games against neighbors Namibia, Italy & Canada in the pool games, previous hosts Japan in the quarterfinal (Despite Tendai Mtawarira had been shown the yellow card instead of a sending off for a tip tackle on Japanese prop forward Keita Inagaki during the game by English referee Wayne Barnes), Wales (Defending Six Nations champions at the time) in the semifinal & England (AB's conquerors in the semifinal) in the final en route to world glory (And in the famous words of Australian rugby commentator Sean Maloney (Who now works for Stan Sports) in the world feed commentary after the Spingboks triumphed to win their 3rd Rugby World Cup: ''South Africa! Are World Cup winners in 2019!'') before stepping down as coach of the South Africa national rugby team after their success at the last RWC in Japan in 2019 allowing their current coach Jacques Nienaber to take over) but they thought that they were going to play in the Rugby Championship last year before they had to pull out instead citing fears of COVID-19 meaning that the Rugby Championship had become the Tri Nations with Argentina, Australia & New Zealand participating (And the 1st minus South African involvement) but there has been an update that the British & Irish Lions will play in just 4 venues in 3 cities throughout South Africa to cut the teams travel threshold:

June 26th: B&I Lions Vs Japan at Murrayfield, Edinburgh

July 3rd: Lions Vs B&I Lions at Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

July 7th: Sharks Vs B&I Lions at Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

July 10th: Sharks Vs B&I Lions at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

July 14th: South Africa A Vs B&I Lions at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

July 17th: Stormers Vs B&I Lions at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

July 24th: South Africa Vs B&I Lions at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

July 31st: South Africa Vs B&I Lions at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

August 7th: South Africa Vs B&I Lions at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

So that is my 414th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 34th of this year.

P.S. And there is something interesting going on as the nickname of the former Canterbury, Crusaders & All Blacks rugby union player Greg Somerville is named after the famous Star Wars character of Yoda mainly because of the facial structure.

Super Rugby Aotearoa round 10 wrap (2021 edition) + 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa final preview & my biggest Star Wars theory

Well, the last round of this years Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign has just come in as our beloved Hurricanes managed to get our 2nd win of the season against Jona Nareki's Highlanders side at Westpac Stadium in Wellington (Although both players such as Hurricanes veteran Dane Coles & live wire Highlanders first-five Mitch Hunt (A former Crusaders player) from each side had been sent to the sin bin for foul play during the 1st half) then the Clayton McMillan coached Chiefs lost the match against the Blues (Who had AJ Lam getting a double after coming on from the bench but the match will always be remembered when Chiefs flanker & Tongan international Zane Kapeli (Who is the son of former Auckland player & Tongan international Rudi as well as he represented Tonga at the 2019 Rugby World Cup & was with the Highlanders squad last year but didn't play a single game before being called up to the Chiefs as a short-term player this year) put on a monstrous hit on Blues first-five Otere Black during the 1st half (At 1st I thought this was something illegal but it was in fact a perfectly legitimate tackle being made) but the Blues had been given a penalty for a high shot by Chiefs first-five Bryn Gatland on Blues halfback Finlay Christie earlier before Kapeli's hit on Black which shocked the whole Eden Park crowd including the commentators I heard on TV) at Eden Park in Auckland but they are through to the final against the Crusaders at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday, May 8th (Well I can't wait for it but why did the Chiefs elected to rest some big guns such as Anton Lienert-Brown, Damian McKenzie, Tupou Vaa'i & Brad Weber? Is mainly because they don't want to get injured in the final round robin match against the Blues (But the results doesn't matter because they have maximum points to go through to the final) so they can play in the final of Super Rugby Aotearoa).

So it's the Crusaders to play the Chiefs in the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa final (Their most recent meeting between the 2 teams (Although both sides have never met in a final which is the 1st in the relatively short history of SRA) was this year in which the Chiefs won at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton in round 8 but will it be Crusaders captain Scott Barrett or Chiefs skipper Brad Weber (Filling in for the injured All Blacks & Chiefs captain Sam Cane) to become the next Super Rugby Aotearoa winning captain to lift the Tu Kotahi Aotearoa trophy this year? (Last year it was New Zealand's premier hooker of Codie Taylor who filled in for Barrett who got injured during a SRA match against the Hurricanes) We will find it out in 3 days time but will the Crusaders continue their dynasty & win their 2nd consecutive Super Rugby Aotearoa title as well as their 12th overall (They 1st did it in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019 & last year (They did not win the Super Rugby title because it was cancelled due to COVID-19 after 7 rounds but won the Super Rugby Aotearoa title instead) or will the Chiefs win their 1st SRA title in order to restore their faith? (And their 3rd overall since they won back to back Super Rugby titles in 2012 & 2013) at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch this Saturday night to decide who will become champions of Super Rugby Aotearoa (It is going to be New Zealand's biggest sporting day this year on Saturday night since the 10th & final race of the 36th America's Cup match which happened 2 months & 7 weeks ago on the 17th of March on St Paddy's Day in which Emirates Team New Zealand triumphed to retain the Auld Mug against the Italian syndicate of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli).

And finally I did not know that it was Star Wars (One of my favourite movie franchises along with The Matrix & The Lord Of The Rings but George Lucas is my favourite movie director along with our very own Sir Peter Jackson & the Wachowski brothers (Now the Wachowski sisters) day yesterday of May the 4th so I played the 2005 version of Star Wars Battlefront II (My favourite part of the game was the Jedi heroes & the Sith villains (Well, my favourite Jedi heroes are in fact both Luke Skywalker (Son of Anakin (Who would later become Darth Vader) & Padme & twin brother of Leia) & Obi-Wan Kenobi (Qui-Gon Jinn's apprentice & Anakin's master) compared to my favourite villains of the Sith are Darth Maul (An apprentice of Darth Sidious) & Darth Vader but the 2005 version of Battlefront II includes content from the pre-Disney era of Star Wars (Both the original (It includes the 1st Star Wars movie (Known as A New Hope) then the Empire Strikes Back & Return Of The Jedi) & prequel trilogies (Featuring Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode II: Attack Of The Clones & Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith) take place but it does not include content from the Disney era which features the sequel trilogy (Which features The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi & The Rise Of Skywalker) on my new Xbox One console which is in fact an original Xbox game in honor of Star Wars day (My love affair of Star Wars began when I found an old VHS tape of Return Of The Jedi that had been recorded on the old video recorder).

So that is my 413th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 33rd of this year.

Super Rugby Aotearoa round 9 wrap (2021 edition) + my interest on the Forza 7 Xbox One game & NZ struggles in opening SailGP round

Well, news of the penultimate round of this years Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign has just come in as the Chiefs (Who are 2nd on the table behind the Crusaders (Who are the Chiefs main challengers in this years Super Rugby Aotearoa competition) but their next game is against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland which is like a semifinal game with the winner advancing to the final against the Crusaders at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch) win 5 on the bounce when they beat the Hurricanes with a match winning penalty goal at the death by Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie (Who had provided the match winner for the 3rd time this season (He scored the winning try against the Blues in Hamilton then nailed a penalty goal during golden point against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin & now he's done it against the Hurricanes with a penalty goal in the dying seconds) which proved to be the game changer (Well, remind me of Springbok first-five Handre Pollard (Who had a clutch moment) nailing that penalty goal against Wales before the end in the 2019 Rugby World Cup semifinal in which the Boks had won a scrum penalty in the dying seconds to put South Africa through to the final against England (The nation that stunned the AB's in the other semifinal) then yesterday on ANZAC day, the Crusaders recorded a dominant win against the Blues (Including Crusaders (Who have a midfielder short ahead of the Super Rugby Aotearoa final with Jack Goodhue out of the season after suffering a terrible injury against the Hurricanes in Wellington) with fullback Will Jordan getting a double of tries (Including his 2nd try which proved to be the turning point (But when Jordan scored, referee James Doleman had gone upstairs to the TMO to have a look but the try is fine after the ball came off the thigh) & secure a place in the 1st ever final of Super Rugby Aotearoa in Christchurch on the 8th of May.

And here is the list of round 10 matches being played in Super Rugby Aotearoa of 2021:

Hurricanes Vs Highlanders (Their most recent meeting was this year in which the Hurricanes won at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin against the Highlanders in round 5 including a hat-trick of tries by Hurricanes fullback Jordie Barrett who scored all the teams points but the last time the Highlanders beat the Hurricanes was in the last round of round 10 of last year's Super Rugby Aotearoa season at the same ground where it was held without spectators due to the corona virus)

& Blues Vs Chiefs (The last time both of these sides met during the battle of the Bombays was this year in which the Chiefs took top honors against the Blues at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton in round 4 including that match winning try by Damian McKenzie but it's been a year since the Blues had last beaten the Chiefs & it was in round 7 of last years Super Rugby Aotearoa season at Eden Park in Auckland).

And I'll tell you something interesting about the Forza Motorsport 7 game (Which is my only favourite game on the Xbox One along with the 2005 version of Star Wars Battlefront II which is backwards compatible with the Xbox One console) that I've got on the Xbox One & it includes the 2017 Renault Formula 1 car famously driven by former German A1GP star Nico Hulkenberg which is featured in the game along with the 1988 McLaren (Famously driven by the late 3 time F1 world champion, Brazilian Ayrton Senna) & 1990 Ferrari (Famously driven by the late Ayrton Senna's great rival & 4 time F1 world champion along with Sebastian Vettel, Frenchman Alain Prost) Formula 1 cars & other racing cars ranging from IndyCar (2017 & 2019 spec), NASCAR (America's most popular racing series), Supercars Championship (Australia's premier motor racing series), Forza GT (Racing vehicles taken from the GT3/GT500/LM GTE/Super Trofeo class) & Forza P1 (Racing cars taken from the LMP1 class) that I always love (Compared to Gran Turismo Sport (Which is believed to by my favourite PS4 game of the 34 that I own both physically & digitally) which features the 2017 Mercedes Formula 1 car famously driven by Lewis Hamilton (The 7 time F1 world champion from Britain along with the legendary German Michael Schumacher) along with the fictional 1980s classic Formula 1 car based on the 1985 Lotus (Famously driven by Senna as I mentioned before) as well as racing cars from Super Formula (Japan's premier open wheel single seater racing series compared to F1 which is held worldwide but the constructors are based in Europe (There is only one Formula 1 constructor based outside of Europe) & Indycar in North America (Both America & Canada), Super GT (With racing cars ranging from the 2008 & 2016 seasons), the Red Bull X2014 Standard, the Red Bull X2019 Competition, Group 1 (Racing vehicles taken from the Group C/LMP1/Vision GT class), Group 3 (Racing vehicles taken from the GT3/LM GTE/Vision GT class) & Group B).

And finally the New Zealand Sail GP team led by Peter Burling & Blair Tuke is struggling to come into terms with their new multi-hull in Bermuda after our success for Emirates Team New Zealand of the America's Cup in Auckland last month as the Tom Slingsby led Australia won 3 races in a row on Saturday afternoon against the likes of the Jimmy Spithill (Formerly of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli) led Team USA, the Ben Ainslie (Who was a 4 time Olympic gold medalist) led Team UK & the Japanese team led by Aussie Nathan Outteridge (Who once provided world feed commentary along with broadcaster Stephen McIvor, ex-America's Cup sailor Ken Read & former Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson for this years America's Cup), Italian Francesco Bruni (Who was the co helmsman aboard the Luna Rossa yacht along with Spithill in this years America's Cup) & New Zealand born Japanese sailor Leo Takahashi based on their experience.

So that is my 412th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 32nd of this year.

P.S. And don't forget that ANZAC day was yesterday commemorating the ANZAC's invasion of the Turkish town of Gallipoli way back in 1915 on the 25th of April (And we once worked together with Australia 106 years ago but we're bitter rivals on the sporting field because Australia always beat us in every sport except rugby union in which we always win) during the 1st world war which lasted from 1914 until 1918.

Super Rugby Aotearoa round 8 wrap (2021 edition) + The Chauvin verdict, my AC/DC song picks, in memory of HRH Prince Philip & the breakaway America's Cup

Well, we are nearing the end of the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition with only 2 rounds to go but here are the results of round 8 as the Highlanders have taken a well deserved victory against the Blues (Who had reserve prop forward Alex Hodgman sent off for a cheap shot on Highlanders player James Lentjes which proved to be the game changer/turning point but Hodgman has now handed a 3 week ban after a red card in Friday's loss against the Highlanders) at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin last Friday then the Chiefs move up to 2nd on the table after becoming the 2nd team after the Highlanders in Super Rugby Aotearoa this year to outsmart the champion Crusaders side at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton.

And here is the list of round 9 matches being played in Super Rugby Aotearoa of 2021:

Chiefs Vs Hurricanes (Their most recent meeting was this year in which the Chiefs won at Sky Stadium in Wellington against the Hurricanes in round 4 but the last time the Hurricanes beat the Chiefs was in round 8 of last year's Super Rugby Aotearoa season at Sky Stadium in Wellington)

& Crusaders Vs Blues (The last time both of these sides met was this year in which the Crusaders took top honors against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland in round 4 but it's been 7 years since the Blues had last beaten the Crusaders & it was in round 3 of the 2014 Super Rugby season at the same ground).

And former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all 3 charges related to both the murder & manslaughter of George Floyd which happened in America in June last year (There was a racial injustice with protests being scaled regarding to the Black Lives Matter movement) during the verdict hearing amid heavy security & law enforcement presence throughout the country & many people in the African American community are celebrating because of Chauvin not being acquitted of all the charges but the sentencing for all 3 charges commences in 8 weeks with Derek Chauvin likely to be sentenced from a range carrying of a minimum 10 to maximum 40 years behind bars for the shocking crime that Chauvin committed (The late George Floyd's last words were 'I can't breathe' just moments before he got murdered but US president Joe Biden & US vice president Kamala Harris addressed to the nation about the verdict that had taken place with American policing reforms likely to be introduced in wake of the murder & manslaughter of Floyd regarding to racial profiling as well as police in America looking to introduce a ban on the choke hold technique).

And I've been talking to both Aunty Tania & Dad on the phone but I asked Dad during the phone conversation that my name, Whetu was named after one of my relatives of Whetu Gray but I forgot to ask Dad that I have 2 favourite AC/DC (My 3rd favourite Aussie rock band behind INXS but I prefer Silverchair as my favourite Australian rock band) songs which is both Thunderstruck (During the Brian Johnson era) & TNT (During the late Bon Scott era).

And His Royal Highness Prince Philip (Husband of Her Majesty the Queen) has passed away at 99 due to declining, ailing health so all thoughts, condolences & prayers go out to the royal family & there was a scaled down version of the funeral was held a few days ago (But because of the outbreak, only 30 people including members of the royal family are allowed in but they have to maintain socially distanced).

And finally, there is the breakaway America's Cup (Which concluded 5 weeks ago with Emirates Team New Zealand (1st non-American syndicate to win the America's Cup then defending it twice) crossing the line to win the series 7 - 3 against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to achieve sporting immortality by defending the Auld Mug once again just like in 2000 in the city of sails in Auckland) series called SailGP which features F50 multi hulls but season 2 will feature the New Zealand SailGP team featuring twice America's Cup champions Peter Burling & Blair Tuke to compete against the likes of the Jimmy Spithill (A father of both sons with his wife who was the co-helmsman of Luna Rossa in this years America's Cup with Francesco Bruni) led Team USA as well as Team UK led by INEOS Team UK's Ben Ainslie & the defending champions Australia led by ex-Oracle sailor Tom Slingsby but the 1st race is in Bermuda on ANZAC Day morning New Zealand time.

So that is my 411th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 31st of this year.

Super Rugby Aotearoa round 7 wrap (2021 edition)

Well, sorry guys about me playing a heap of my new Forza Motorsport 7 (I got it from The Warehouse anyway) game on the Xbox One S (The reason why I got the new Xbox One S console was because of the Forza Motorsport 7 game that I now got despite that I'm a hardcore PS4 gamer) that I just got from EB Games here in Whanganui to go with my PS4 on Sunday as we have just heard reports from the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition as both games between the Highlanders & the Chiefs as well as the Hurricanes & The Crusaders went the distance but only one will come out on top as the Chiefs win the game at golden point with a match winning penalty at golden point extra time from Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie which broke Highlanders hearts after his Chiefs teammate Anton Lienert-Brown managed to win a penalty when he legitimately turned the ball over (He was on his feet & did manage to support his body weight to make the pilfer) then the Crusaders have bounced back as they stay on top of the Super Rugby Aotearoa standings against the Hurricanes with a match winning drop goal at golden point by Crusaders player David Havili which broke Hurricanes hearts.

And here is the list of round 8 matches being played in Super Rugby Aotearoa of 2021:

Highlanders Vs Blues (Their most recent meeting was this year in which the Blues won at Eden Park in Auckland against the Highlanders in round 3 but the last time the Highlanders beat the Blues was in round 10 of the 2019 Super Rugby season at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin)

& Chiefs Vs Crusaders (The last time both of these sides met was this year in which the Crusaders took top honors against the Chiefs at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch in round 3 but it's been a year since the Chiefs had last beaten the Crusaders & it was in round 2 of Super Rugby at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton).

So that is my 410th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 30th of this year.

The Easter Sunday blog special

Well...Kia ora, good morning & happy Easter to you all today in this Easter weekend special (I went to Caroline's for brunch & Japanese Takeaway Momiji for dinner with Pops (Who has got a brand new car called the Ford Fiesta which is a older 2005 model to go with the Ssanyong truck that he's got since last year & is a 2 car person again just like last year where he used to own both the Citroen & Nissan & is the son of the late Hemi/James/Jim & the late Nana Minnie, the brother of the late Andy, Wal & Kathryn (Mother of Gemma, Huia & Ben (Partner of Robina), the father of my Dad (Husband of Raewyn, father of me, the late Wiremu & my half brother Jansen) & Aunty Tania (Partner of Rejean) & Carole (Sister of Zaki (Husband of Aysha & father of Yasser) & Martin (Husband of Leyla & father of Marat) & mother of Andy (Husband of Kelsey) yesterday but we have a visitor named Jennifer Morgan (Sister of Marnie & Paul & daughter of the late Aunty Vera & Uncle Reg) who is staying here (She now lives in Wellington (Although I haven't been to Wellington since 2016 but next time Pops, Carole & I are going to Wellington, we should stay at Jennifer's) with her mothers house after spending many years in Los Angeles, California before COVID-19 had happened last year) & just came here yesterday until tomorrow to see her niece playing in a school basketball tournament which is called HoopNation) but Super Rugby Aotearoa news just come in last night as the Blues (Led by 'Big Red' of Tom Robinson who is filling in for regular Blues skipper Patrick 'Paddy' Tuipulotu who is ruled out with a broken shoulder) own the Hurricanes (Who had lost both Du Plessis Kirifi (For a cheap shot on Blues first five Otere Black) & captain Ardie Savea (For going through the middle which should had not deemed both a penalty try & a yellow card (And I mean that officiating was dreadful because it was one of the most controversial decisions in the relatively short history of Super Rugby Aotearoa (That was a marginal call but you label it as controversy corner) to the sin bin) by 10 points at Eden Park in Auckland a night after the Highlanders (No longer bottom of the table as well as the 1st team to outsmart the champion Crusaders side in Super Rugby Aotearoa since the Hurricanes last year & there was one player that Pops told me who was having a blinder, & it was Highlanders centre Scott 'Scotty' Gregory (The Northlander who once played sevens rugby for the All Blacks sevens) as well as the Highlanders & Hawke's Bay halfback named Folau (Which I cannot say his surname because it sounds like an expletive or should I say profanity/foul language) who could be the All Black in waiting (And he is one of several players fighting for a spot at the All Blacks as the 3rd choice halfback to join both Aaron Smith (One of Folau's Highlanders teammates who plays for Manawatu in the newly named Bunnings Warehouse NPC (Formerly known as the Mitre 10 Cup) competition) & Brad Weber (One of Folau's Hawke's Bay teammates) along with Chiefs halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Of Bay of Plenty) & both Crusaders halfbacks Mitchell Drummond (Canterbury) & Bryn Hall (North Harbour) but Pops told me that Folau has injured his knee meaning that he is gone for the season) & Highlanders first five Mitchell 'Mitch Hunty' Hunt (Well, he could be close of becoming an All Black) who had a great game as well & don't forget there is Connor 'CGB' Garden-Bachop (Brother of injured Hurricane Jackson & the son of former Highlander, Hurricane, All Black player & Samoan international Stephen Bachop & the late Sue Garden as well as nephew of former Canterbury, All Black player & Japanese international Graeme, cousin of the Mauger brothers of Aaron & Nathan & the great nephew of speedway legend Ivan) as well because he scored the last try of the match off a Crusaders mistake) but I wonder the headlines would probably say: CHAMPION CRUSADERS STRUGGLE AGAINST HIGHLANDERS) completed the biggest boil over in Super Rugby Aotearoa as they knocked over top of the table & now previously undefeated Crusaders in an upset win (1st time since 2015 (Which was World Cup year in which the last time the All Blacks triumphed at the Rugby World Cup) that the Highlanders upstaged the 10 time Super Rugby & once defending Super Rugby Aotearoa champions, the Crusaders in Christchurch & it was their title winning year for the Highlanders who in all of a sudden appeared their 2nd Super Rugby final (The 1st time that the Highlanders appeared in the Super Rugby final was in 1999 during the Super 12 era where they hosted a home final against the Crusaders at the old Carisbrook (Known as the House of Pain) in Dunedin but they were unable to overcome the long haul flight from South Africa to lose on their 1st attempt of winning the Super 12 title against their southern rivals because there was no party at Tony Brown's place (Including Afato So'oalo's winning try by making a chip kick over the top as he outsmarted the Highlanders defence which proved to be the game changer) & won their 1st Super Rugby title by outwitting the Hurricanes in the last all New Zealand final at Sky Stadium (Known as Westpac Stadium at the time) in Wellington (Including a winning drop goal by Marty Banks to put the Hurricanes out of reach which proved to be the turning point) as well as the biggest winning margin for the Highlanders (Although it featured the return from a hip injury of the hat-trick hero against the Chiefs in Hamilton & live wire winger, Jona Nareki (One of Pops old students along with Vilimoni Koroi at the old Aramoho School in Whanganui which is now a defunct school) against the Crusaders in a epic great southern derby clash at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch to begin the 2nd half of the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa championship season.

And here is the list of round 7 matches being played in Super Rugby Aotearoa of 2021:

Highlanders Vs Chiefs (Their most recent meeting was this year in which the Highlanders won at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton against the Chiefs with Highlanders winger Jona Nareki scoring a hat-trick of tries during the game (And what a performance from him) but the last time the Chiefs beat the Highlanders was in round 17 of the 2018 Super Rugby season at ANZ National Stadium in Suva, Fiji)

& Hurricanes Vs Crusaders (The last time both of these sides met was this year in which the Crusaders took top honors against the Hurricanes at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch in round 2 but it's been 9 months since the Hurricanes had last beaten the Crusaders & it was in round 7 at the same ground).

And finally in other rugby news such as Hurricanes midfielder & ex-rugby league player Ngani Laumape has signed (Although he has not yet officially signed) with a French club which is rumored to be Stade Francais because he might miss an opportunity to play for the All Blacks (New Zealand's shot at redemption (After losing against England (Who missed out on claiming rugby's most treasured prize, the Rugby World Cup, as they lost to South Africa (Who will begin their title defence against Scotland in Pool B) in the final) at the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 (Well, the AB's disappointing defeat against England at the semifinal of the Rugby World Cup in 2019 is like the fine margins of 2007, the disaster in 2003 & the desperate disappointment in 1999 as well as past failures in 1995 & 1991) begins against the host nation & opponents in Pool A, France, in the opening match of the tournament) at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

So that is my 409th blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 29th of this year.

P.S. And there are some rugby players who tried out in other sports such as Fijian born Wallaby Filipo Daugunu who originally tried out at a soccer goalkeeper who wanted to follow the footsteps of current world class elite international soccer goalkeepers such as Manuel Neuer of Germany & Hugo Lloris of France as well as Pita Gus Sowakula who was once a basketball player (He once played for the Otago Nuggets in the New Zealand NBL in 2014 & went to college in the American state of Iowa) & tried to follow in the footsteps of the big 3 superstars who played in the NBA, Michael Jordan (The Chicago Bull), the late Kobe Bryant (The LA Laker) & LeBron James (The Cleveland Cavalier (Formerly), Miami Heat (Formerly) & LA Laker) & there was a New Zealand cricketer who once played rugby during his 1st XV schoolboy days, Daryl Mitchell (Son of former All Black coach & current England assistant/defence coach John) because he wanted to follow the footsteps of world class cricketers such as India's Virat Kohli, England's Joe Root & Ben Stokes, Australia's Steve Smith & David Warner & New Zealand's Kane Williamson & he took up cricket because cricket was a safer sport than rugby & a few others who are now rugby players including Jordie Barrett (Who once played cricket as a pace bowler during his secondary school days), Kaylum Boshier (Former New Zealand under 19 cricket captain at the 2018 Under 19 Cricket World Cup) & Salesi Rayasi (Filipe's son who originally played basketball in secondary school level before eventually becoming a rugby player) but don't forget that there is Russell Coutts who was a Olympic gold medalist in the Finn class over in Los Angeles, California (Known as LA &/or the City of Angels) in 1984 & a 3 time America's Cup winning skipper (Twice for Team New Zealand in 1995 (When it was held in San Diego, California against the Dennis Conner led Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht) & 2000 (When it was held in Auckland against the Prada Luna Rossa Challenge of Italy) & once with Alinghi in 2003 (When it was also held in Auckland against the Dean Barker led Team New Zealand) who once played rugby union at junior age grade level.

And just to let you know it's my cousin Paige Williams (You may remember her as the beautiful daughter of my biological aunty Cathey Middelplaats (The Arlo worker who is with the other John Mitchell & mother of Paige as I mentioned before as well as Nico & Luca (Cathey & John's sons as well as Paige's younger brothers) who is having her birthday is tomorrow as she turns 27 because I haven't seen her along with Cathey (Who just had her 54th birthday last month on the 16th of March (It was the day that the Peter Burling (Who was influential & inspirational leader of the syndicate during the regatta) led Emirates Team New Zealand (Who had appeared in all but one America's Cup appearances since 1995) won race 9 (Considered known to be as the best race of the 36th America's Cup match which hailed to be one of the greatest, classic America's Cup races of all time) of the America's Cup against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Which featured the likes of Jimmy Spithill, Francesco Bruni & co in when they became the challenger of America's Cup 36 (They completely outperformed American Magic (Who was the best of the 3 challengers in the America's Cup World Series in December last year) in the semifinal of the Prada Cup before they stunned INEOS Team UK (Who had their biggest turnaround when they won every race in the round robin emerging as the top qualifier & had gone through to the Prada Cup final) in the final of the Prada Cup in which they won, repeating their feat in 2000 when they won the Louis Vuitton Cup against AmericaOne before they unsuccessfully went on to challenge for the Auld Mug against Team New Zealand to be on match point at 6 - 3 (Just like in race 4 of the 30th America's Cup on Russell Coutts 38th birthday (The day before the America's Cup was still New Zealand's cup after the Kiwis took victory in race 5 to complete the 1st successful defence of the Auld Mug outside of the US) on the 1st of March, the Prada Challenge of Italy actually led on the 3rd cross (They could've picked up their 1st win of America's Cup 2000 should they chose to tack) but had chosen not to tack as the New Zealanders went on to win the race in style with Coutts equaling the late Charlie Barr's all time record of 9 straight America's Cup wins (Coutts (Who had left Team New Zealand along with Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney, Murray Jones & Dean Phipps (And 4 other New Zealanders) after the success of 2000 to join Alinghi which had been part of that successful campaign in 2003 (Billed as a loyal defeat to Team New Zealand led by Dean Barker who took over from Coutts until he left in 2015) had elected not to compete in the next race (So he missed out an opportunity of breaking the all time record of 9 consecutive victories in the America's Cup set by Barr), therefore handing the reins of the helmsman duties to the young back up trial horse skipper Dean Barker in race 5), the day after ETNZ won both races (Including race 8 which was arguably the worst race of America's Cup 36 & the weirdest, bizarre race in the history of the Auld Mug after Luna Rossa copped a boundary penalty 4 times whilst off their foils meaning that Emirates Team New Zealand (Who went off our foils whilst going for the lead then we were speeding up again when Prada was leading & were on the cusp of something special before they came off their foils & got pinged by the umpires 4 times for sailing outside the boundary line) would take the lead at mark 3 whilst Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were still off their foils & win the race (Although the race was originally going to have 6 legs but it was shortened to 5 because of the time limit according to the race committee) after coming from behind to complete an unbelievable comeback or should I say an incomparable turnaround) to go 5 - 3 up against Luna Rossa & the day before Team New Zealand crossed the line to win race 10 (It was before the race that the Auld Mug was on the line) in the best of 13 first to 7 against Prada by winning the series 7 - 3, & went on to retain sailing's holy grail as well as the Everest of sailing, the America's Cup on St Patrick's Day last month), John, Nico & Luca since 4 years & 10 months ago (The last time she sent me an email was 3 or 4 years ago before she left to go to London with her partner Jarrod Ahearn for a job but last year, Pops told me about Paige & Jarrod who are both safely back home in New Zealand before the corona virus had happened & I heard a comment from Pops that the couple has now got a flat) when we went to see both of them a day after Me, Pops & John Coburn (Who nearly suffered a cardiac arrest a couple of months ago but how did he manage to survive?) went to an All Blacks test match (My only AB's rugby test that I've once been before) against Wales at Westpac Stadium (Now Sky Stadium) in Wellington but I would really like a big shout out to her wishing her a happy 27th tomorrow.

And my best friend from Malaysia, Sophia Ong (Who I have not seen since 2017 when Pops (Who is with Carole) & Sherylle-Anne took me to Leon & Hanne's place (Although the soccer mad Leon Benbaruk (Who I haven't seen last year along with Hanne) is no longer together with Hanne (Their marriage had ended after their rocky road relationship had been going downhill but Hanne still lives here in my hometown of Whanganui (Who I have been living there since 2007 after spending 16 years in Raetihi) & is now living in Auckland with his new partner Michelle (Whom I never met) & she is the daughter of Alex & Evelyn & the elder sister of Amelia & Jason & loves rap & rock music (Sophia's favourite rock bands are 3 Doors Down, Korn, Linkin Park & Nickelback) & has been to China in 1999 & Japan in 2001) sent me a reply on her email that she sent to me about that she is pregnant & is due to give birth to her son named Shaia next month on the 28th of May (And I know that she's married to some kind of Welsh dude back in 2018 (A year before Dad was married again with his new wife Raewyn & Andy married his new wife Kelsey).

And finally there is something that teachers train their kids & teens at schools in order to avoid becoming outlaws unlike a world leader like a president or a prime minister is in fact the law enforcer.