Creepin' Up Slowly/My Happiness: My 35th blog of the year 2023

Well, the AB's team has been named to play against the Wallabies of Australia for our highly anticipated Rugby Championship decider which is sorta like a simulated Rugby World Cup final game as well as the opening Bledisloe Cup test between the two rugby heavyweights of the world (The green & gold of Australia, against the All Black of New Zealand, but there is 3 tests remaining for the AB's (Who have never lost a test match since against Argentina in Christchurch last year during round 3 of the Rugby Championship) before the Rugby World Cup takes place in France this year, such as this one in Melbourne followed by the next one against the Aussies in Dunedin & the world champions South Africa in part 2 of international rugby's most storied rivalry in a pre-Rugby World Cup friendly at Twickenham in London, England) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (Which will host their 1st Bledisloe Cup rugby test in 16 years) in Melbourne so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

PLAYING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Brodie Retallick (Chiefs/Hawke's Bay)

5 (No.5 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)

7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Captain, Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)

10 (First five-eighth): Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders/Canterbury)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)

14 (Right wing): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Samisoni Taukei'aho

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Who returns to take Tamaiti Williams place as the reserve loose head prop)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Nepo Laulala

19 (Reserve lock): Sam Whitelock (Who makes way for Tupou Vaa'i to be on the bench as the reserve lock forward position)

20 (Reserve loose forward): Luke Jacobson (Who takes Dalton Papali'i's place with Papali'i elevated to the starting lineup to replace the injured captain Sam Cane)

21 (Reserve half-back): Cam Roigard (Who is in line to make his test debut off the bench as he replaces Finlay Christie)

22 (Reserve midfielder): Anton Lienert-Brown (Who returns to the fold after serving a 2 week suspension (And also attended tackle academy in order to fine tune his tackle technique to avoid getting a ban again) from the Super Rugby Pacific final for the Chiefs to replace Braydon Ennor as the reserve midfielder)

& 23 (Reserve winger): Caleb Clarke.

And the Football Women's World Cup held in Australia & New Zealand is under way as New Zealand claim the unlikely upset win over Norway at Eden Park in Auckland with a delicate screamer by star striker Hannah Wilkinson, but we were narrowly fell short against the Philippines who scored their 1st win in just their 2nd Football Women's World Cup match whilst on tournament debut at Sky Stadium in Wellington 5 days later (And the match tying goal scored by Wilkinson didn't count as she was adjudged to be in an offside position which proved ourselves costly) so here are the other results from the tournament so far:

Australia 1 - 0 Canada

Nigeria 0 - 0 Canada

Philippines 0 - 2 Switzerland

Spain 3 - 0 Costa Rica

United States 3 - 0 Vietnam

Zambia 0 - 5 Japan

England 1 - 0 Haiti

Denmark 1 - 0 People's Republic of China

Sweden 2 - 1 South Africa

Netherlands 1 - 0 Portugal

France 0 - 0 Jamaica

Italy 1 - 0 Argentina

Germany 6 - 0 Morocco

Brazil 4 - 0 Panama

Colombia 2 - 0 Korea Republic

Switzerland 0 - 0 Norway

Japan 2 - 0 Costa Rica

Spain 5 - 0 Zambia

Canada 2 - 1 Republic of Ireland

& United States 1 - 1 Netherlands

And finally in motor racing related news such as Max Verstappen in the Red Bull has taken victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, in Daniel 'Danny Ricc' Riccardo's return to Formula One since last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which the last time that Riccardo competed, in a McLaren before Australian Oscar Piastri replaced him & took his place, then he had to sit out for the 1st 10 races of the season even though he was a test & reserve driver for Red Bull before he replaced Dutchman Nyck de Vries in the Alphatauri for the 1st time since 2013 whose form has been dwindling, to cement his quest of retaining his world championship title as he won 7 races in a row (His winning streak began in Miami at the Miami Grand Prix which is located at the Miami Autodrome, right up until that point) despite not starting on pole because it went to the multiple world champion of Sir Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, his 9th of the season at the Hungaroring which is located in Budapest, Hungary when the championship moves to Stavelot in Belgium for the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit prior to the summer break (McLaren's Lando Norris was 2nd (His 2nd podium finish in a row) while Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez rounds out the podium in 3rd place).

So that is my 511th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 35th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And there is sad but sombre news as Leon told me in July that the famous Irish singer of Sinead O'Connor has passed away a few weeks ago, but all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the family, friends & colleagues of her in this sad but difficult time.

Sinead O'Connor

1966 - 2023

Why Can't We Be Friends: My 34th blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest on the Rugby Championship competition as the results of the 2nd round of the competition are in:

New Zealand 35 - 20 South Africa (It was the All Blacks (Who had lost captain Sam Cane who suffered a neck injury & took no further part in the test when he was replaced at halftime by Dalton Papali'i but is likely to be ruled out for the 1st Bledisloe Cup test of the year as well as the Rugby Championship decider against Australia, in which New Zealand has never won a Southern Hemisphere rugby title in a World Cup year since 2007 which was during the Tri Nations era (It went to Australia in both 2011 & 2015 followed by the South Africans in 2019 where they became the only side to claim a rare double which is both the Rugby Championship & the Rugby World Cup in the same year) night with a complete masterclass in the 1st half as they downed the Springboks at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland but there is one standout player above them all of Shannon Frizell who had a wonderful performance as he charged a Springbok defender of Willie le Roux before scoring a decisive but match defining try during the test in which he is an apparent heir of the late Jonah Lomu (In which the headline will obviously sum up by saying: JONAH WHO? AB'S STUN SOUTH AFRICANS IN EPIC TRC TEST, not only it obviously being about the unlikely heroic performance of Frizell (And is he Jerome Kaino's successor? Yeah definitely) who had a monster of a game in that outstanding test for which I was stoked about the result)

& Australia 31 - 34 Argentina (And yes that game was by far the biggest boilover in this years Rugby Championship as the Argy Bargies of Argentina who tore the Wallabies & stunned them to bits to claim the unlikely upset of the southern hemisphere tournament at Commbank Stadium in Sydney (And what has steady Eddie got to do going into the 1st Bledisloe Cup test of the year is to improve their consistency in order to get better of a chance of toppling the AB's (But this is like in a situation back in 2019 where New Zealand missed out on claiming southern hemisphere's most treasured prize after defeat against them in Perth which was overshadowed by the red card of one of the All Blacks lock forwards for a dangerous foul play incident, therefore handing the South Africans the championship after a bonus point win over Argentina in Mendoza)

And here are the confirmed matches being played in the final round of this years Rugby Championship tournament:

Australia Vs New Zealand (Their most recent meeting in international rugby between both sides was last year where the All Blacks would gone on to win the test against the Wallabies at the garden of Eden at Eden Park in Auckland but the last time Australia tasted victory against New Zealand in international rugby, it was in 2020 in the 4th Bledisloe Cup test in Brisbane where an All Black & a Wallaby got sent off for dangerous foul play respectively but a late yellow card by one of the AB's players cost them a chance of winning the test)

& South Africa Vs Argentina (The last time both of these sides met in international rugby was in the final round of the Rugby Championship where South Africa (Who missed out both on a chance of winning the Rugby Championship & failing to get an attacking bonus point because it went to none other than the All Blacks) came away with a win against the Argy Bargies of Argentina at Kings Park in Durban, but it's been 5 years since the Argentinians had last beaten the Boks, & it was in Mendoza on that fateful day back in 2018)

And in tennis related news such as unseeded female Czech player Marketa Vondrousova (Who has moved her into the top 10 following her successful Wimbeldon glory) has ended Tunisian Ons Jabeur's quest of a maiden grand slam at Wimbeldon therefore claiming the ladies singles title, but the biggest headline has gone to a young 20 year old world number 1 men's player from Spain of Carlos Alcaraz claming his 2nd grand slam, his maiden Wimbeldon gentlemen's singles title as he dispatched defending champion Novak Djokovic in an intense 5 set thriller in the final (And it was payback for Alcaraz (Who redeemed himself as he triumphed in Wimbeldon as he remains the top male tennis player in the world) after losing to him during the semifinal of the French Open but there were no cramps that time on his way to success at Wimbeldon) which was the greatest in tennis history (And it would have to be one of my standouts throughout the tennis side of it) because no one wanted like most people, that the gentlemen's singles final is expected to be both incredible & slick (In which I labelled the General Electric album from 1999 by Shihad (Still one of by far, my favourite New Zealand rock bands) that I've now got from the Vinyl Room here in town that I purchased (And Pops did get me the Lenny Kravitz greatest hits album since Kravitz (Who is an American of Bahamian origin) is one of my favourite solo rock singers but I also like Duran Duran as my favourite 80's new wave band & of course Black Sabbath is in fact, my favourite 70's heavy metal band) is my new number 1 favourite rock album, therefore taking over from Killjoy not only because its better than the 1995 Shihad album being released) according to rave reviews of a special advanced screening of the new Gran Turismo movie (In which was widely regarded as the greatest video game movie adaptation ever that I'm going to see in August, but I didn't see the movie last month after I thought that I was going to that movie & I chose not to on that occasion) as well as the greatest but classic tennis contests of all time.

And back onto the rugby as the All Blacks XV end their successful Japan tour after their famous win against Japan in Kumamoto then the world champion Black Ferns had done it again to retain the Pacific Four series title after their wins against Canada & the United States (Who New Zealand beat them after trailing despite being played with 14 players when halfback Iritana Hohaia had been ejected for dangerous play (And there was foul play involved (And also that there was a degree of danger & there was no mitigating factor) so the referee I believe, have made the right decision to go for the red card & had no choice but to send Hohaia off the field in which I was gutted) & is likely to face a 3 week ban for her actions caused by it, but it was the Black Ferns (Led by the best name in women's rugby of Maiakawanakaulani 'Maia' Roos (Compared to the best motor racing name in the world of twice defending Indycar Series champion & former Indy 500 winning driver of Australian Will Power) who became the youngest ever Black Ferns skipper for that match against the United States) bench that made the difference during the 2nd half which contributed to our victory in the womens test) respectively in Ottawa in which I was also stoked.

And the Black Caps (Who'll be without all-rounder Michael Bracewell through a serious Achilles injury sustained during a domestic cricket game in England as he joins Kane Williamson as part of the injured players list which still haunts us but now I don't think we going to win the men's Cricket World Cup not only because it's impossible with both Bracewell & Williamson out) first match of the men's Cricket World Cup this year will be against the defending champions England on the 5th of October in Ahmedabad (Compared to the All Blacks opening match of this years Rugby World Cup against hosts France on the 8th of September at the Stade de France, a fortnight after the AB's play our last test before the RWC, against the reigning champs South Africa at Twickenham in a pre-World Cup friendly) in a replay of the dramatic final in 2019 at Lord's in London, won by England as a result of the boundary count back regulation which cost New Zealand dear (But it's been 8 years since the Black Caps last beat England at a men's Cricket World Cup in which Tim Southee picked up 7 wickets which resulted in an 8 wicket win in Wellington), then hosts India begin their campaign against 5 time champions Australia (The defending world test champions who'll be seeking payback against the Indians after losing to them in 2019 at the Oval in London, England with their last win for the Aussies against the Indians at a men's CWC came in 2015 in a semifinal in Sydney) over in Chennai but here are the key fixtures such as the match between the Aussies & South Africa will take place on the 13th of October in Lucknow hoping for a change of fortunes as a dramatic meeting in the last edition ended in the Proteas’ favour (And Australia's last win at a men's CWC against South Africa was in the semifinal in 2007), while the much-anticipated India-Pakistan clash is scheduled for Sunday October 15 in Ahmedabad (Which is going to be held under a heightened security presence, but the Pakistanis have hired a sports psychologist as well as a security delegation system to protect/safeguard the team who are gunning for their elusive 1st win against the Indians at a tournament). Their last encounter in the 2019 World Cup was a high-scoring affair with India (Who have never been beaten before against the Pakistanis at a men's Cricket World Cup) achieving a huge victory in Manchester. Then Pakistan (Who have never beaten the Aussies since 2011 in which the Pakistanis had snapped the Australians 34 game winning run at a men's CWC) will face Australia in Bengaluru on October 20, while England clash against South Africa (Whose last win against the English at a men's CWC was in 1999 thanks to a glittering performance from Allan Donald when he picked up 4 for 17 during the match) the next day in Mumbai before India (Who had never beaten the Black Caps at a men's Cricket World Cup since 2003) will go up against New Zealand (Who'll face Trans Tasman rivals Australia on the 28th of October in Dharamsala in which New Zealand have never won against the Aussies since that fateful Eden Park encounter back in 2015) to try and avenge their 2019 semi-final defeat on October 22 at the picturesque Dharamsala venue and Australia face their arch-rivals England on November 4 in Ahmedabad. The defending champions had thrashed the Aussies (Who had last beaten England at a men's Cricket World Cup in 2019 at Lord's in London before facing them again & they were on the losing side against the hosts at the time as well as eventual champions in the semi) to storm into the final four years ago, then India will be waiting for England on October 29 in Lucknow, who defeated them in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup just last year (Their most recent meeting between the 2 countries at a men's Cricket World Cup where the English dominated the match, but the last time the Indians beat England during the tournament was in 2003 which was exactly 20 years ago) & the final group stage match will be England up against Pakistan (The last time Pakistan had lost a men's Cricket World Cup match against England was in 2003 where during the match when Shoaib 'The Rawalpindi express' Akhtar bowled the fastest delivery in the world of cricket as he clocked up a whopping 161.3 km/h) in Kolkata on November 12, but the The first semi-final will be held on Wednesday November 15 in Mumbai and the second semi-final will be held the following day in Kolkata. Both semi-finals will have a reserve day, as the Final will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19 with November 20 slated as the reserve day, when all three knock-out fixtures will be day-night affairs, with the matches beginning at 14:00 local time.

And finally I remember that the Shihad song of Comfort Me came out in 2002 when they released under the name Pacifier (In which they were known way back in the aftermath of the band had decided to change their name due to backlash surrounding the September 11th tragedy in 2001 when they were touring in the United States (Which was run by the Bush administration under the leadership of the US president George W Bush) in which the band sounded too similar to jihad (Which is the Arabic word for holy war) according to the story that I remember from my Moroccan Jewish mate Leon in July), well that was when the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) also changed their name to the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) to avoid confusion with the World Widlife Fund, where it marked the end of the Attitude era (Which featured it's main stars such as The Rock, Triple H, Kane & Stone Cold Steve Austin (The star wrestler who dominated from that level during the Attitude era (Which had taken over from the New Generation era which featured big names such as the likes of Shawn Michaels, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, the Undertaker & Diesel, & it lasted for 5 years ranging from 1992 until 1997) which lasted from 1997, & welcomed the Ruthless Aggression era where it had emerging & rising stars such as John Cena (The current movie star who was the main star attraction in which he excelled during that era), Batista, Brock Lesnar & Randy Orton that came out on top & lasted until 2008 where the PG Era was introduced & then in Formula One that there was 3 litre V10 engines (They originally used 3.5 litre V10's which lasted from 1989 until 1994 then the introduction of those 3 litre V10s which lasted from 1995 until 2006) being used dubbed as the Schumi era (Which lasted from 1989 (Same year that the Golden era had taken place (They used to have those screaming 3.5 liter V12 engines around) & lasted until 1995) until 2006) inspired by Michael Schumacher's dominance in F1 where he won 7 world championships (Twice with Benetton & 5 times with Ferrari), took place in that year, but 20 years later, the 1.6 litre V6 turbo hybrid era, AKA the silent era, has since taken over by storm when the sport had decided to go green in 2014, & has been there since (Sir Lewis 'LH' Hamilton dominated in that era where he won 6 world championships with Mercedes (To add to his title that he won in 2008 with McLaren which was during the modern era where that had 2.4 litre V8 powered engines around which lasted from 2006 until 2013), then it was German Nico Rosberg who did it in 2016 before retiring from the sport altogether, & now Dutchman Max Verstappen had dominated the last 2 years in Formula One with Red Bull (It was in 2021 that Verstappen brought Hamilton's bid for a record breaking 8th world championship to cement Hamilton's status as a GOAT to a halt in the title decider in Abu Dhabi, AKA Lewis Vs Max: Decider in the Desert, where he emerged as a new star being born in the making where he won the race as well as his 1st of his 2 world championships & being the 1st Dutch driver to do so to win the world championship (Same year that Alex Palou who became Spain's historic first ever Indycar champion, 16 years after Palou's childhood hero of Fernando Alonso who had became the 1st & only Spaniard to win the F1 crown) in which he labelled as the new master).

So that is my 510th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 34th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And I have revealed that 20 years ago that I was into toy cars when I was young during my period as a kid & as especially a teen before converting myself to a gamer since I got older as Pops told me during the month of July (And I have 7 favourite PS5/PS4 games on my PS5 console, ranging from Gran Turismo 7 (PS5), F1 23 (PS5), Assetto Corsa Competizione (PS5), Soulcalibur VI (PS4), WWE 2K23 (PS4), FIFA 23 (PS4) & Rugby Challenge 4 (PS4), but I have 3 favourite Xbox games that I play on my Xbox Series X console ranging from Forza Motorsport 7 (Xbox One), the 2005 version of Star Wars Battlefront II (Xbox) & Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown (Xbox 360).

L.S.F.: My 33rd blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest on F1 as championship leader Max Verstappen in the Red Bull has won his 1st British Grand Prix, his 2nd at Silverstone to add to his win at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020 after a commanding victory at the Grand Prix where he got eclipsed by McLaren's Lando Norris at the start then Verstappen recovered well to overtake Norris (Who had his best result of 2nd after he nearly took pole until Verstappen had nailed him by beating Norris for the pole for Sunday's race) a few laps later & held on right through to the end to lead the drivers championship by 89 points ahead of his nearest rival & teammate of Mexican Sergio Perez.

And the latest on the Rugby Championship competition as the results of the 1st round of the competition are in:

South Africa 43 - 12 Australia (It was the defending world champions the Springboks night who begin their road to the Rugby World Cup with a comprehensive hammering over the disclipline ridden Wallabies (Who conceded both penalty tries & yellow cards for collapsing the maul therefore preventing a try scoring opportunity that proved costly) at home which is Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria)

& New Zealand 41 - 12 Argentina (And it was the All Blacks day as they thrash Argentina at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, but it's the South Africans who are leading on points difference going into the next test against New Zealand (Led by Sam Cane who is in doubt for the South African test as he faces a possible suspension as a result of a direct incident for a foot trip on a pitch invader, but he could join his Chiefs & All Blacks teammate of Anton Lienert-Brown as part of the suspended players list) at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland in the first part of international rugby's most storied rivalry where the AB's haven't beaten the South Africans on New Zealand soil since 2017)

And here are the confirmed matches being played in round 2 of this years Rugby Championship tournament:

New Zealand Vs South Africa (Their most recent meeting in international rugby between both sides was last year where the All Blacks (Who had prop forward Fletcher Newell made his test debut) would gone on to win the test against the Springboks (Who had Frans Malherbe earn his 50th test cap while Joseph Dweba was called up to the starting line up after Bongi Mbonambi had to withdraw through injury) at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to retain the coveted Freedom Cup after they were down & out in Nelspruit in last year's opening Rugby Championship test)

& Australia Vs Argentina (The last time both of these sides met in international rugby was in round 2 of the Rugby Championship where Argentina came away with a win against the Wallabies (Who had both Pone Fa'amausili & Billy Pollard (Who wasn't originally in the matchday 23, but was in after Lachlan Lonergan was elevated to the starting lineup following the injury to Folau Fainga'a) made their international debuts) at Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario in San Juan to claim their biggest win over Australia; surpassing their 18 - 3 win in 1983)

And in tennis news such as the results of semifinals at Wimbeldon are in, but first in the ladies singles as unseeded Czech player Marketa Vondrousova is the 1st player through to the final after her win against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina then Tunisian Ons Jabeur is in the Wimbeldon ladies singles final yet again after outlasting her opponent & champion of the Australian open this year of Aryna Sabalenka but in the gentlemen's singles section as Serbia's Novak Djokovic has reached another final after a dominant performance against Italian Jannik Sinner before young Spanish sensation & world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz who prevailed over Danill Medvedev in the other semi in which the match was exhilirating but the ladies & gentlemen's singles finals are set as Vondrousova will play Jabbeur on the 15th of July followed by Djokovic against Alcaraz a day later (And I told Carole before that the women's singles final at a grand slam is usually played on a Saturday while the men's singles final at a grand slam is always played on a Sunday).

And finally further rugby news such as the All Blacks XV enjoy their win over Japan XV at the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo but the world champion Black Ferns side play against Canada (And both sides were expected to meet in the Women's Rugby World Cup final, but it wasn't to be as England denied the Canadians a chance of advancing through to the final) in the 2nd match of the Pacific Four series after their overwhemingly dominant victory against the Wallaroos in Redcliffe in New Zealand's first test since becoming world champions.

So that is my 509th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 33rd of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the AB's team has been named to play against the reigning world champs of South Africa (Who have their danger man which is Faf de Klerk who is a box kick specialist as part of their team's aerial bombardment when they unleashed, & they were successful by employing the kicking game that won themselves the Rugby World Cup at the most recent one in 2019 against the English in the final (And it was supposed to be a New Zealand - Japan final that they thought they're going to be, but it turned out to be an England - South Africa final instead, just like as it was in 2007 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France) in Japan, despite defeat in the opening pool game against us (Just like Spain did at the Football World Cup in 2010 after beginning their campaign with defeat against Switzerland then they had to win all the remaining games to win the tournament, including the final against the Netherlands in the final with that winning goal scored by none other than Andres Iniesta during extra time, followed by Argentina late last year who did the same as the Spanish, lose the opening game to none other than Saudi Arabia who shocked the world, then win all of their next matches en route to the World Cup including that memorable, action packed but dramatic World Cup final which was decided on penalties against the defending champions at the time of France with Gonzalo Montiel who did a Fabio Grosso moment when he did that as he booted the ball that gone past French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris & had managed to find the back of the net when the Argentinians pulled off & captured their 3rd World Cup championship in Lionel Messi's fairytale farewell as huge celebrations had erupted right across Argentina for their success in football's global showpiece event) right behind them for our highly anticipated test match in part 1 of international rugby's most storied rivalry at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

PLAYING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Brodie Retallick (Chiefs/Hawke's Bay)

5 (No.5 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)

7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)

10 (First five-eighth): Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders/Canterbury)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)

14 (Right wing): Will Jordan (Crusaders/Tasman)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Samisoni Taukei'aho (Who takes Codie Taylor's place as the reserve hooker role with Taylor being elevated to the starting lineup to replace Dane Coles)

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Tamaiti Williams (Who is in line for his test debut off the bench at reserve loose head prop as he replaces Ofa Tu'ungafasi)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Nepo Laulala

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Dalton Papali'i

21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie

22 (Reserve midfielder): Braydon Ennor (Who is expected to wear the number 22 jersey as he makes way for Richie Mo'unga who assumes the starting first five position by taking Damian McKenzie's place)

& 23 (Reserve winger): Caleb Clarke (Who is dropped to the bench to give Mark Telea a run for his 3rd test cap as well as playing his first test match of the year).

Lonely Boy: My 32nd blog of the year 2023

Well, the National Party is getting tough on crime in which most Kiwis are getting worried even if they win the election this year such as the restoration of law & order as they will back the cops by giving them a range of new legislative powers to disrupt & clamp down crime which is their plan as well as they'll crack down gang patches in public & prevent any gang members gathering in public places & also going to fight youth crime too, but a National government will make New Zealand a safe place to live, work & raise a family through effective policies that fight crime as well as implementing a Young Serious Offender category to raise consequences for repeat offenders like ram-raiders while more Kiwis are now victims of crime which shows Labour is lacking leadership & out of ideas when it comes to law & order then National is the party of law & order & they propose by doubling the sentences of those convicted whether it's theft or burglary in an area (But there's an expert has slammed National's propsed law & order reforms, saying the party's policy is "retrograde" which deemed to be 'Ineffective, expensive & inequitable' then new data released by National shows retail crime is increased by almost 40% compared with last year which had been skyrocketed while their is now been an average of 292 retail crimes being reported but there's a National goverment are expected to tackle gangs as well as crime).

And something terrible has happened in France as there were riots all over the place in places like Paris, Marseille & around the country about a shooting by police on a 17 year old regarding to police brutality while 1,300 people had been detained for it overnight as 45,000 cops had been dispatched/sent according to the minister with France's mayors even calling out for a mass mobilization just 2 months out until this years Rugby World Cup which has raised concerns about their preparation of hosting a global rugby tournament (And is it safe just in case if there's protests with security required to be heightened on that occasion? I hope so unlike the tackle height law from the shoulders to the sternum area in rugby that they're introducing in time for this years Rugby World Cup in an effort to make the game safer & a bid to end the war on dangerous contact regarding to the head & neck area is very similar to gun control in real life (In which Australia, New Zealand (Who leads the way of gun control reforms in 2019), Norway & the UK have already introduced in light of those devastating, horrible events that have been unfolded, compared to World War II in 1939 to 1945 & of course, the worst year in human history which circulated around 536 AD regarding to both eruptions & plagues that wiped the human race out) that they're trying to introduce in the United States (Whose northern part of America as well as Canada being blighted by the toxic smoke that they had from the wildfires in Canada which resulted air quality being poor on that occasion) regarding to those pretty terrible shootings that happened on the 4th of July on Independence Day but life is still a bit messed up mainly due to the cost of living crisis that they're having around the world as a result of high prices such as food & fuel are skyrocketing since last year).

And news coming straight out of rugby that there is going to be a global rugby competition called the World League which is expected to commence in 2026 a year out until the Rugby World Cup being held in Australia with the new competition has signalled the new era for both the July & November international rugby windows with SANZAAR and Six Nations Rugby are working in partnership to establish a new international rugby competition due to start in 2026 although the new competition will take place in the existing July and November international rugby windows while each of the four SANZAAR nations of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand (Who'll be without their key Crusaders stalwarts of Leicester Fainga'anuku (Who is nursing a calf problem that he suffered during the Super Rugby Pacific final against the Chiefs) & Will Jordan (Mainly as a result of concussion symptoms prevented him from travelling so Shaun Stevenson takes his place for the time being) for the test against Argentina on the 8th of July (That's the 9th New Zealand time which I'm always looking forward to) & South Africa and all of the Six Nations Rugby Unions such as England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales and federations will compete in the competition, with two invitational Unions such as Fiji & Japan for example, to join the SANZAAR nations then SANZAAR and Six Nations Rugby will own and operate the elite competition & World Rugby will create a newly formed second-tier competition, to facilitate promotion and relegation from 2030, & I think both Ma'a Nonu & Conrad Smith were the best midfield pairing for the All Blacks during our run for success in the early to mid 2010s, but Walter Little & Frank Bunce were by far the better midfield combination for New Zealand during the 1990's period according to antoher story that I remember from Dad but I prefer Nonu & Smith as my preferred all-time AB's midfield pairing.

And in Formula 1 related news such as Max Verstappen (The son of 'The Flying Dutchman' & 'The Boss' of Jos (The most hated man in Formula 1 as well as a former A1GP driver for the Netherlands), who said that the number of races in next year's F1 calendar was revealed (It remains the same but there was notable additions such as the return of China at the Shanghai International Circuit after a 5 year absence which is due to be held from next year onwards since the nation had eased its corona virus restrictions back in March or April (And it was during the pandemic that our country of New Zealand led the way in terms of COVID-19 response back in 2020 until last year where we opened our borders up in April, then eased our border restrictions back in December) & the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix being confirmed also for next year after the event had been called off this year due to flooding in the region) that it was too many) according to the blog that I did 3 months ago who dominated the sprint race qualifying to be on pole for the race) has won the Austrian GP, his 7th of the season in a Grand Prix marred by incidents involving multiple drivers such as 8 like Alpine's Esteban Ocon for example as well as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Sir Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, Alphatauri's Yuki Tsunoda & Logan Sargeant in the Williams had copped penalties for infringements such as going off track by failing to observe/comply the white line which is the field of play a lot in which further action had to be taken by the race stewards in a bid to stamp out drivers who go off the circuit for which was deemed to be harsh with the extreme but sheer number of laps being deleted for offences being taken too seriously to account (But I'm looking forward to Britain which is the home race of 3 British drivers such as Hamilton, Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell & McLaren's Lando Norris (And can anyone stop Red Bull maintaining their perfect record this year? That is the question but will find out in the race on Sunday (And I just heard that Max Verstappen has dominated the 1st 2 official practice sessions on Friday) but the most recent grand prix held in Britain was last year in which Sainz won for the 1st time in Formula 1, but it was filled with drama as chaos erupted in the very 1st lap of the race where China's Zhou Guanyu (Along with Russell who also crashed) in the Alfa Romeo flipped his car over in an unfortunate crash, although he did survive the impact mainly because of the halo (Which was introduced in 2018 for safety purposes regarding to the driver's head area) which is the accepted form as part of safety in F1 along with the HANS device which was mandated in 2003 as also an accepted part of the safety features in motor racing regarding to the head & neck area, while the most memorable F1 race at Silverstone was at the British Grand Prix in 2020 where Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes won his home race on 3 wheels even though he picked up a flattie on the last lap (And that was obviously unfortunate that the crowd wasn't there as they remained in their homes due to the global COVID-19 pandemic in which the grand prix had being staged during that most difficult but tough time in that year) but guess what, the 3 time defending Supercars champion of Shane van Gisbergen (Who has struggled recently in defence of his title this year with Erebus Motorsport now taken over as the top team in the Supercars Championship since the start of the Gen 3 era with their driver Brodie Kostecki (Teammate of Will Brown who is obviously playing the supporting role of Brodie Kostecki's bid of winning his maiden Supercars Championship title) is currently the points leader going into the next event at Reid Park at Townsville) becomes the 1st New Zealander to win a NASCAR race in the streets of Chicago, Illnois which played host to its historic first ever NASCAR street race whilst making his NASCAR Cup Series debut over there as van Gisbergen also becomes the 1st New Zealander to compete in NASCAR.

And back to the rugby stuff that the AB's team had been named to play against Argentina for our always highly anticipated 1st rugby test of the year as well as the Rugby Championship opener (Along with the world champion Springboks (Who had left out their front line players such as Damian de Allende, Lood de Jager, Faf de Klerk, Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi & Malcolm Marx to prepare for the All Blacks in international rugby's most storied rivalry at Mount Smart Stadium in South Auckland to play their 1st test against the AB's in New Zealand since 2019 where it ended in a draw in Wellington before going on to win their last Rugby Championship with a bonus point win against Argentina, 3 months before successfully carrying the hopes of the entire country on their shoulders when they triumphed at the most recent Rugby World Cup in Japan against England in the final in the same year where the skipper Siya Kolisi (Who was one of the really decent rugby players that they had) hoisted the William Webb Ellis cup aloft in front of 70,000 people who are passionate rugby supporters therefore Kolisi played a key but crucial role of bringing the famous William Webb Ellis trophy back to South Africa after 12 years where they ended the utter dominance of the AB's according to the blog that I did last year who had our successful RWC glory at home in 2011 after 24 years before becoming the first & only side to defend the title in 2015 as well as the only time we won the tournament, outside of our home country) hosting the Wallabies (Who is Eddie Jones's 1st game back in charge for the 1st time since 2006 (It was in 2001 that the 1st match that Jones coached for the Aussies was against the South Africans on that ground at Loftus), & has named both Michael Hooper & James Slipper as co-captains in which Australia has never won against South Africa in Pretoria, but will history be made I reckon? I hope not) at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria) at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina (I wonder how the Super Rugby Pacific law interpretations will work by crossing over to the Rugby Championship in which they'll work the best in favour against the All Blacks (Who have the reputation for our worst discipline as we conceded too many penalties as well as yellow & red cards as well) so here is the starting lineup according to head coach Ian 'Fozzy' Foster (Who is in his final year as coach of New Zealand but it's has been 2 years since the last time I did the All Blacks team naming thing & it has been a while so I'm definitely making a comeback):

PLAYING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Hurricanes/Wellington)

3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Crusaders/Taranaki)

5 (No.5 lock): Josh Lord (Chiefs/Taranaki)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Shannon Frizell (Highlanders/Tasman)

7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Highlanders/Manawatu)

10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)

14 (Right wing): Emoni Narawa (Chiefs/Bay of Plenty)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Codie Taylor

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Nepo Laulala

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Dalton Papali'i

21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie

22 (Reserve first-five eighth): Richie Mo'unga

& 23 (Reserve back): Braydon Ennor

So that is my 508th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 32nd of this year, viva Ukraine.

Lo/Hi: My 31st blog of the year 2023

Well, there is hope for an A1GP (The series known as the World Cup of Motorsport for which I was a huge fan of which once ran from 2005 until 2009 in which drivers competed for their country instead of racing against each other where it stopped as a result of the global financial economic recession (And France (Their drivers were both future DTM & Supercars Championship driver who would gone on to win the Bathurst 1000 in 2019 with Scott McLaughlin of Alexandre Premat & future World Endurance Championship competitor Nicolas Lapierre) were the champions in the inaugural season in 2005-06 followed by Germany (Which featured a young, promising future F1 star of Nico Hulkenberg & future DTM driver Christian Vietoris) in 2006-07, then Switzerland (Which also featured former F1 test driver of Indian origin of Neel Jani who competed in Champ Cars at the time as well as a future competitor of the WEC) in 2007-08 & finally, Ireland (Who had future Formula E competitor Adam Carroll as their main driver) were the most recent champions in A1GP in 2008-09 in which was the one & only season to be powered by the Italian motor racing icon Ferrari) revival as 100 million dollars needed to be required to resurrect the series with British billionaire Keith Mills setting it up as well as having ex-Alpine F1 team principal Marcin Budkowski being involved in the project & if it happens, the series would commence from December next year until July 2025 but it must take place during the Formula 1 winter off season while 20 countries are expected to compete with both drivers in one team will represent their country (One who is experienced & the other who is a young prospect) with FIA Grade 2 circuits in the Asia-Pacific region needed to be held but here is the list of the dream grid for an A1GP return:

Australia: Will Power (Indycar) & Daniel Ricciardo (Formula 1 (Test & reserve driver)

Belgium: Stoffel Vandoorne (Formula E) & Laurens Vanthoor (World Endurance Championship)

Brazil: Helio Castroneves (Indycar) & Felipe Drugovich (F1 (Test & reserve driver)

Canada: Lance Stroll (F1) & Jacques Villeneuve (WEC)

Denmark: Christian Lundgaard (Indycar) & Kevin Magnussen (F1)

Finland: Valtteri Bottas (F1) & Kimi Raikkonen (NASCAR (Part time (Road courses only)

France: Romain Grosjean (Indycar) & Sebastien Ogier (Endurance racing)

Germany: Nico Hulkenberg (F1) & Mick Schumacher (F1 (Test & reseve driver)

Great Britain: Lewis Hamilton (F1) & George Russell (F1)

India: Jehan Daruvala (Formula 2) & Kush Maini (F2)

Italy: Raffaele Marciello (GT3 racing) & Valentino Rossi (GT3 racing)

Japan: Kamui Kobayashi (Super Formula) & Yuki Tsunoda (F1)

Mexico: Pato O'Ward (Indycar) & Sergio Perez (F1)

The Netherlands: Nyck de Vries (F1) & Max Verstappen (F1)

New Zealand: Scott McLaughlin (Indycar) & Shane van Gisbergen (Supercars Championship & NASCAR (Part time (Road courses only)

South Africa: Kelvin (FE (Substitute driver) & Sheldon van der Linde (DTM)

Spain: Fernando Alonso (F1) & Alex Palou (Indycar)

Sweden: Mattias Ekstrom (World Rallycross Championship) & Marcus Ericsson (Indycar)

Switzerland: Sebastien Buemi (FE) & Simona de Silvestro (Porsche factory driver)

& United States: Kyle Larson (NASCAR) & Josef Newgarden (Indycar)

And I tried setting up an international table hockey competition in 2006 in a similar fashion to A1GP as well as the cricket, football & rugby world cups, but there was only one Table Hockey World Cup unofficially in which my country of New Zealand, Denmark & Canada (Who my mate & old mentor Leon represented instead of Morocco) competed in which was known as the Table Hockey Tri Nations, but I'm setting up an Air Hockey World Cup even if I both purchase an mini air hockey table & a sports trophy to go along that awards the winner of which I will name it as the Wiremu Ngapo Memorial Trophy in memory of my late brother Wiremu (But I didn't want it engraved by the way), but I wanted least 3 countries to compete in the Air Hockey World Cup in order to grow a success (I will always be playing for my country which is New Zealand while Leon is from Morocco now but Carole could represent Great Britain even though she is a New Zealander despite holding a British passport but there is a New Zealand Air Hockey provincial championship that I'm trying to establish with me representing Wanganui while Pops could be playing for Thames Valley & Dad is from Tasman (Despite originally being born there).

And news coming straight out of America that retired American pop star of Britney Spears who is in Las Vegas as she lodges a complaint to Las Vegas police about attempting to meet the rookie NBA player who was the number 1 draft pick in this year's NBA draft of Victor 'Wemby' Wembanyama to wish him good luck by tapping him on the shoulder but one of Wembanyama's bodyguards who are in fact, silly hypocrites had grabbed her, therefore triggering an incident which alerted them (And the bodyguards of Wembanyama had warned to Spears afterwards in a stern message that Victor is not to be approached unlike the footballers who are playing in the German Bundesliga are not to be approached, security warn when the pandemic began in 2020) but American sports news that I've missed such as the Denver Nuggets led by Serbian of Nikola 'the Joker' Jokic winning their maiden NBA championship after winning 4 - 1 in the NBA finals best of 7 first to 4 series against Jimmy Butler & the Miami Heat + the Vegas Golden Knights have celebrated their historic first ever NHL Stanley Cup after their hard fought finals series win against the Florida Panthers 4 - 1 in the best of seven first to four series.

So that is my 507th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 31st of this year, viva Ukraine.

Polly: My 30th blog of the year 2023

Well, the All Blacks squad has just been announced so here is the list of 36 (Or 37) players being included in the 2023 Rugby Championship squad (And it is the 1st time I'll be doing the squad naming since 2 years ago in 2021):

Hookers:

Codie Taylor (32, Crusaders / Canterbury, 76)

Dane Coles (36, Hurricanes / Wellington, 84)

Samisoni Taukei’aho (25, Chiefs / Waikato, 24)

Props:

Ethan de Groot (24, Highlanders / Southland, 13)

Fletcher Newell (23, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)

Nepo Laulala (31, Blues / Counties Manukau, 45)

Ofa Tu’ungafasi (31, Blues / Northland, 50)

Tamaiti Williams (22, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)

Tyrel Lomax (27, Hurricanes / Tasman, 23)

Locks:

Brodie Retallick (32, Chiefs / Hawkes Bay, 100)

Josh Lord (22, Chiefs / Taranaki, 2)

Samuel Whitelock (34, Crusaders / Canterbury, 143)

Scott Barrett (29, Crusaders / Taranaki, 58)

Tupou Vaa’i (23, Chiefs / Taranaki, 18)

Loose forwards:

Ardie Savea (29, Hurricanes / Wellington, 70)

Dalton Papali’i (25, Blues / Counties Manukau, 22)

Luke Jacobson (26, Chiefs / Waikato, 12)

Sam Cane (captain) (31, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, 86)

Samipeni Finau (24, Chiefs / Waikato, *)

Shannon Frizell (29, Highlanders / Tasman, 25)

Halfbacks:

Aaron Smith (34, Highlanders / Manawatu, 114)

Finlay Christie (27, Blues / Tasman, 14)

Cam Roigard (22, Hurricanes / Counties Manukau, *)

First-five eighths:

Beauden Barrett (32, Blues / Taranaki, 112)

Damian McKenzie (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 40)

Richie Mo’unga (29, Crusaders / Canterbury, 44)

Midfielders:

Anton Lienert-Brown (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 60)

Jordie Barrett (26, Hurricanes / Taranaki, 48)

Rieko Ioane (26, Blues / Auckland, 59)

Braydon Ennor (25, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)

Dallas McLeod (24, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)

Outside backs:

Caleb Clarke (24, Blues / Auckland, 15)

Emoni Narawa (23, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, *)

Leicester Fainga’anuku (23, Crusaders / Tasman, 2)

Mark Telea (26, Blues / North Harbour, 2)

Will Jordan (25, Crusaders / Tasman, 21)

Shaun Stevenson (26, Chiefs / North Harbour, *) *

*: Called in as injury cover for Mark Telea

Unavailable through injury:

Angus Ta’avao, Ethan Blackadder, Cullen Grace, David Havili, Joe Moody, George Bower, Patrick Tuipulotu, Quinn Tupaea, Sevu Reece and TJ Perenara.

And what do I think of the squad naming? Five new faces, including Samipeni Finau, Dallas McLeod, Emoni Narawa, Cam Roigard & Tamaiti Williams have at least made it as on of the rookies in the squad, but no Brad Weber who didn't get in as well as Asafo Aumua, Folau, Jack Goodhue, Akira Ioane as well as Stephen Perofeta (And we have one player in the All Blacks XV squad which is one of Pops old students of Jona Nareki but 3 years of hard work has come down to all of this of making the AB's XV squad) & Hoskins Sotutu who has been dropped from the squad after his miserable Super Rugby Pacific form this year as he wasn't been selected in both the AB's & the All Blacks XV, well, that is a shame.

And tragedy has struck on the Titan sub near the wreckage of the Titanic as all 5 of them had been killed as a result of an implosion in Nova Scotia in Canada with flags being flown at half-mast & I mean that is totally shocking, absolutely shocking that Canada is in mourning about the disaster so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the families, friends & colleagues of the 5 victims who lost their lives during that sad & difficult time.

And in football related news such as Spain featuring its main player from Manchester City of Aymeric Laporte (Who was born in France but opted to play for Spain mainly because of him being of Spanish origin) have won the UEFA Nations League for the 1st time on penalties against the Luka Modric led Croatia (Who have yet to win a major football trophy after appearing in the 2018 Football World Cup final against France (Who appeared in another final at a Football World Cup last year against Argentina led by its mercurial skipper of Lionel Messi in which they went down & missed out on successfully defending the World Cup which was decided on penalties) which ended in defeat) in the final over in Rotterdam in the Netherlands (And they also won against Italy with a match winning goal provided by Joselu in the 88th minute in the semifinal) to capture their 1st major trophy since their triumph at Euro 2012 & to join the likes of both Portugal (The Euro 2016 champions who won the inaugural edition in 2019) & France (The twice European & twice World champions who won it in 2021 (The same year that the Italians won the Euros where they had to win on spot kicks against England (Who had their home crowd right behind them at Wembley, but fell short on that occasion) in the final while the French were outlasted by Switzerland on spot kicks in the Round of 16 during the tournament) ironically against Spain (Who redeemed themselves of winning this years edition 2 years after losing to the French) as the other champions of the UEFA Nations League.

And it has been one full year since the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe V Wade which introduced a clamp down on abortion throughout America where most Americans disagreed that they were unhappy about the full abortion ban which was focused ahead of next year's general election in the United States between the US president & the Republican presidental candidates.

And finally in the Super Rugby Pacific final as poor discipline cost the Chiefs a crack at the SRP title after losing to the Crusaders who were in overwhemingly dominant fashion after 3 yellow cards being handed out by referee Ben O'Keefe (Who is now facing death threats directed at him for online abuse in a similar fashion to dumb idiots who are supporters of AS Roma who assaulted the English football referee Anthony Taylor at an airport in Budapest, Hungary for his bad decisions which gifted Sevilla the UEFA Europa League title (And action needs to be taken in a bid to stamp out online hate, but Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Sonny Bill Williams & Sam Cane expressed support & solidarity towards O'Keefe who was the victim of threats being spread online by those disgruntled clowns related to both bullying & harassment for which I label it as shocking as well as diabolical & volatile, but they need to introduce a crack down of online hate being spread on social media such as fines or suspensions being handed out to merciless cowards who are absolutely despicable & stupid, but the treatment of O'Keefe by some Chiefs fans who are scumbags following the Super Rugby Pacific final is unacceptable) to Anton Lienert-Brown for a dangerous tackle on Dallas McLeod (Even though the All Black fans are hoping to see him wearing in black for the first time, but he might be ruled out of the 1st test of the year against Argentina as he is experiencing possible head injury symptoms but now Anton Lienert-Brown has been given a 3 week suspension for his sanctions in the final for a reckless high tackle with malicious intent on McLeod (Or 2 if you will if he cleans up his act by choosing to attend tackle academy which is run by World Rugby) as well as recalled All Black Luke Jacobson for not supporting his own body weight (The laws state that when you're going to the pilfer, you must at least support your own weight, but Jacobson didn't as he copped a sin binning for that during the final in which the Chiefs fans are gutted about the result, especially me) at a ruck & one of the Chiefs co-captains of Sam Cane who came in from the side of the ruck (In which in fact the ball wasn't out but O'Keefe had to be booed from the Chiefs fans who were in disbelief at a post match presentation for his poor decisions that he had similar to Anthony Taylor did in the Europa League final but one of the decisions O'Keefe had missed was a clear & obvious forward pass by the Crusaders in which the Chiefs (Whose fans had less charitable memories in front of the referee during the final which was the strangest in Super Rugby history since 2006 in which the Super 14 final between the Crusaders & the Hurricanes was played in the fog in which the fans, the commentators & the TV cameras were unable to see properly as a result of poor visibility dubbed as gorillas in the mist (But this is like a year after in Formula One at the 2005 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (The home of the world famous Indy 500 which hosted its first grand prix in 2000 (A year before the 9/11 tragedy has struck America when 4 planes were hijacked. Both brought down the towers of New York City's World Trade Center; another crashed into the Pentagon at Washington, DC; & the fourth was forced down into a wooded area in Pennsylvania as the world was stunned when F1 played a huge part of America's healing process for their slow recovery after a tragedy occurred like that when the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, 19 days later, was the largest public gathering in the shattered nation since that fateful day (And security had to be heightened for that memorable occasion (And before 9/11, it was easier to get on a plane in the United States, but since that horrific tragic event, it was incredibly difficult as airport officers search for something illegal inside such as a bomb, knife, or a gun, & if it's not a explosive or a weapon, the status of the all clear would be given) during the event where Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (Who won the last race of the 2001 season in Japan which was Hakkinen's farewell race in Formula One) of Germany took on pole, but the race went to Mika Hakkinen (Who was Schumacher's main rival during the late 90's to early 2000's period & had taken over from Damon Hill who was Michael Schumacher's first rival) in the McLaren for his last ever victory in Formula One, his 20th of his decorated career) & on that weekend, however, the Grand Prix acted as a statement of national resolve in the aftermath of such tragedy) where Michael Schumacher won that famous grand prix despite spinning out during the race until 2007 where Lewis Hamilton took his 2nd win of his F1 career as he followed up his success in Canada where he scored his maiden win in Formula One) in Speedway, Indiana in which the constructors fitted with Michelin tyres opted not to take further part in the 73 lap race allowing the constructors fitted with Bridgestone tyres participated in which most fans were livid as they gave them raspberries by booing the 6 cars fitted with Bridgestones during the race as well as they threw beer cans & plastic water bottles, mainly because of Toyota's Ralf Schumacher (Whose brother & defending 7 time world champion at the time of Michael in the Ferrari won the race (I remember watching that race before going to Ruapehu College back in 2005 where someone told me at a library that only 6 drivers took part in the Grand Prix which is sorta like a race on the Gran Turismo video game from the first one until the 4th), his only win in 2005 (In which the championship was won by Spain's Fernando Alonso in the Renault) but the Michelin tyre company did send full refunds to the unhappy fans post race in which the F1 community was stunned) who crashed on an oval banked part of the area due to tyre failure during practice on Friday, resulting with an injury (And the FIA suggested that they should introduce a chicane to slow the cars down but eventually they had chose not to on that occasion by defying it) then Brazilian Ricardo Zonta filled in for the injured German of Ralf Schumacher before he was one of the 14 competitors alongside the eventual world champion of Alonso pulled out at the last minute regarding to Michelin's tyre debacle which was deemed to be a backlash from the disappointing fans who supported the teams that are associated with the famous French tyre company according to the blog that I did in January last year) were unhappy about that they should've awarded the scrum that cost them dearly, in a similar fashion to Wayne Barnes in which he missed a blatant forward pass by the French to go for the try with a match winning conversion to come against the All Blacks in the quarterfinal of the Rugby World Cup in 2007 which was always disappointing for the people of our country of New Zealand (And what went wrong for the Chiefs to lose the final like this? It must've been the discipline which hurt them a bit in which they cost a big opportunity to win their 3rd championship & their 1st since 2013 but hopefully they will be better next year (And will they about to change? Well, I hope so) in the dying seconds which cost them dear as the Crusaders (The Manchester City or the Kansas City Chiefs of SRP) win their unprecedented but record extending 12th Super Rugby title as well as retaining it in style (They first did it in 1998 against the Blues at a packed Eden Park in Auckland then they did it again in 1999 followed by 2000, 2002, 2005-06, 2008, 2017-19, last year & now this year) in 'Razor' Robertson's fairytale farewell (And is this his last breakdance before taking over from Foster as the new AB's coach starting from next year? You betcha) when he won his 7th out of the 8 trophies in the last 6 years that he won as coach (And he is the Pep Guardiola or Andy Reid of Super Rugby Pacific while Richie Mo'unga is in fact the definite equivalent of both Kevin de Bruyne & Patrick Mahomes & of course Codie Taylor is like sharing the same role as both Erling Haaland & Travis Kelce) to add to his 4 Super 12 titles that he won as a player in his 7th & final year of coaching the Crusaders (Who unveiled a mystery playbook by containing the Chiefs both on attack & defence, but it was a good call by the Crusaders of bringing back wily old veteran Sam Whitelock (Who played his last game for his beloved club as he seeks a new chapter of joining Pau in the French Top 14 competition after this years Rugby World Cup in order to get rich) from injury for the final which ended in glory as they successfully defended that Super Rugby Pacific title to follow up that they won last year) before taking over the All Blacks head coaching role from Ian Foster (Who is in his final year as the All Blacks coach) starting from 2024 (And I wonder the headlines would say: CRUSADERS REMAIN SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC CHAMPIONS or more like: CHIEFS MISS OUT ON SRP CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST DOMINANT CRUSADERS or especially: HEY REF, DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT, but what a disappointing end for the Chiefs, what a match for our viewers right around the world (As the retired Australian cricket broadcaster Bill Lawry used to say along with "It's all happening!").

So that is my 506th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 30th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Tumble & Fall: My 29th blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest in Formula 1 as the defending 2 time world champion Max Verstappen has won the Canadian Grand Prix in an epic race from the pole as he moves to 41 race wins if you will, matching the late Brazilian of Ayrton Senna (Although Sir Lewis Hamilton leads the all-time list with 103 ahead of Michael Schumacher with 91 then Sebastian Vettel who notched up 53 & Alain Prost who had done it 51 times) while Red Bull is celebrating its 100th race win in Formula 1 since their debut in 2005 when they took over from Jaguar (Who were once known as Stewart F1 from 1997 until 1999, but their 1st win for Red Bull came in 2009 in China were Sebastian Vettel (A year after his first win in F1 with Toro Rosso in Italy & a year before he celebrated his first of 4 world championships) won an action packed grand prix) & only the fifth to record a century of wins in F1 along with 4 others such as Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes & Williams.

And I revealed that I have added Jackie Chan (Who is one of by far, my favourite Asian film stars as well as my favourite martial arts actors) as one of my favourite film stars list along with the likes of 6 others like Schwarzenegger, Cruise, Jackson, Reeves, Morrison & Urban.

And in cricket related news that the 1st Ashes test had been won by the defending world test champions of Australia (Who unveiled their mystery playbook by countering the Baz ball effect with some wicked piece of bowling by a star studded bowling attack consisting of veterans Mitchell Starc & captain Pat Cummins) at Edgbaston in Birmingham against the kings of limited overs cricket of England (Who declared 393 for 6 in the first innings) after a revival by easily one of Australia's best batters along with Steve Smith of David Warner (Who is set to retire after the Sydney test next year).

And I fear that there is going to be a war between China & Taiwan, but they haven't been yet confirmed just like the terrible events unfolded that happened since February last year that I can't show you guys on my blog so it doesn't offend the people of the country led by that lunatic who started it (And another country has supported their main country's role into that horrible event) because Pops warned me not to post stuff about it (But is it OK about posting stuff about another terrible stuff last year in another country? But not the horrific event being unfolded), & it has been going since as tensions mount between the two (And I originally posted stuff about it last year but Pops told me to get rid of that stuff which deemed to be illegal while Dad always posts stuff about the horrendous events being occurred on Twitter).

And I literally found something in my bedroom yesterday such as my old birthday ring (I'm keeping my birthday ring from now on) that I bought in 2008, but I decided to give my old jade green dragon necklace that the late Nan & Pops bought it for me in 2010 to my cousin as well as my honorary sister of Paige Williams (Best known as Cathey's daughter & Norah's mother) next time when I go to Wellington with possibly Dad along with my old Linkin Park Meteora album from 2003 since I got that remastered Linkin Park Meteora album which came out earlier this year that I'm giving it to her.

And finally here are the results of the semifinals of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Crusaders 52 - 15 Blues (It was the Crusaders night as they easily annhiliated the Blues (Who had Hoskins Sotutu sin binned for a side entry of a promising Crusaders maul which proved costly & that proved to be the game changer) to make another appearance in the final in their quest for their record extending 12th Super Rugby title at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch)

& Chiefs 19 - 6 Brumbies (And it was the Chiefs who stole the show to win that 2nd semi against the Brumbies to advance to their first final since 2013 for which I was stoked about it when veteran lock forward for the Chiefs of Brodie Retallick scored a sensational try before the death which put the semi beyond doubt which proved to be the turning point at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton)

So it's the Chiefs (Who is the Crusaders main challengers in this year's Super Rugby Pacific competition (It was the Blues last year, then the Chiefs took over this year) to play the defending champions the Crusaders in the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific final (Their last meeting between the 2 sides at in SRP was in round 10 in which the Chiefs won the match by 10 points at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton for their 2nd consecutive win against the Crusaders) at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton on Saturday local time (And it's Scott Robertson's last game in charge of the Crusaders as he is set to take over as head coach of the AB's from next year onwards but I once told Pops that there is going to be an Chiefs-Crusaders final, but it's happening as dreams are about to become reality that there will be a dream final between both franchises) to decide who will become Super Rugby Pacific champions (Well, who is it going to be? Whether it's Chiefs mana to party like it's both 2012 & 2013 or will the Crusaders continue to crusade on to defend their title? We'll see but I don't think so), but will it be Chiefs co-captains of Sam Cane & Brad Weber (It was both Craig Clarke & Liam Messam who did it in 2012 against the Sharks in the final then a year later against the Brumbies in the final) or Crusaders captain Scott Barrett to become the SRP winning captain to lift the Super Rugby Pacific trophy?.

So that is my 505th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 29th of this year, viva Ukraine.