Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger/Robot Rock: My 42nd blog of the year 2023

Well, rugby history was made when Rugby World Cup hosts France became the first side to defeat New Zealand (Who Ian Foster (The father of female New Zealand footballer Michaela who wasn't used as she didn't play all her matches for the Football Ferns at the most recent Football Women's World Cup this year in Australia & New Zealand through injury) should've & could've brought the bench on earlier (Similar to the Blues - Crusaders final from last year in which the Blues should've won if they chose to bring on Luke Romano earlier, but the Crusaders were in fact dominant from start to finish), well that would've made the difference, but how unfortunate that the AB's had lost to France for the first time at a Rugby World Cup since 2007, & in counter point that for the 1st time in the tournament's 36 year history that New Zealand began the Rugby World Cup with a loss) in pool play in which both the Irish & the South Africans are feeling generous about the All Blacks unfortunate defeat against the French (Who played like the Boks in London, England (That was the day before Fiji pulled off the unthinkable as they claim the biggest boilover in international rugby history by claiming the mother of all upsets with a win against England, also in a test match prior to the World Cup (Compared to Japan's upset win over South Africa at the 2015 tournament billed as 'the Miracle of Brighton' then Tonga shocking the rugby world over France in 2011 during the World Cup while also the biggest upset in world rugby before the Brighton Miracle in 1999 as the French torn sky blast New Zealand apart by having an insane amount of rugby as they were on a points scoring spree according to the previous blogs that I did as well as James 'Buster' Douglas who pulled the grandaddy of them all with a win over 'Iron' Mike Tyson in a boxing bout in Tokyo in 1990 just 23 days after his mother passed away when at that moment that Douglas became the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, & the most infamous of them all, the Miracle on Ice as the strictly amateur United States team pulled off a memorable win against the fully professional Soviet Union side during the Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round game at Lake Placid, New York in 1980 (The same year amidst the backdrop of the Iranian hostage crisis & the Soviet Union's war on Afghanistan took place but Al Michaels's thoughts of the Americans beating the Soviets echoed across television sets in America "Do you believe in miracles?!") in one of by far, the greatest moments in sporting history as well as the top sports moments of the 20th century with both sporting stories that I did also according to my blog in 2021) in a pre-Rugby World Cup friendly) in front of a packed Stade de France crowd (And the headlines would probably say: RUGBY WORLD CUP HOSTS TOPPLE ALL BLACKS IN OPENER, or more like: KIWI EXPRESS CRUSHED BY MAGNIFICENT FROGS IN THE RWC) although we still got a better chance according to the comment made from Pops to me, but we fear that we might face the reigning champs South Africa in the quarterfinal after our dismal result from our NZ point of view (And now that we're on a back of a 2 match losing streak (It was the Springboks first at Twickenham (The home of rugby in England) before the tournament had even begun, now France (Who are now on a 4 match winning streak dating back to Scotland (Who last beat the French at Murrayfield in Edinburgh by leaving out their first choice players for France (Who had both defeats this year such as the eventual Six Nations champions Ireland & the aforementioned Scottish in Edinburgh) at home) in Saint-Etienne followed by Fiji in Nantes then the Wallabies of Australia in Saint-Denis & now they stunned the AB's (Who had unfortunately lost our captain Sam Cane in which he had to be pulled out/withdrawn with a back spasm, allowing Ardie Savea to take over the skipper's role then moving Dalton Papali'i to the openside flanker position while Tupou Vaa'i takes Papali'i's place at blindside flanker & Brodie Retallick had to appear on the bench as he returns from injury that he might have an outside chance of playing by being on the pine, & that hurts because this is like 1999 & 2007 all over again (And I mean what went wrong for the AB's to lose a pool game for the first time at a RWC like this? Is that we did not get it right against the hosts because consistency is always the key to success & we were inconsistent that time on that occasion mainly due to a lack of depth (And I mean that was heartbreaking stuff that we suffered our first defeat in pool play for which I was totally gutted about the result I have to say about the 1st time the All Blacks have had back to back losses since the end of 2021, but the standout of the RWC opening game would be one of the designated goal kickers for France of Thomas Ramos of Stade Toulousain who had a blinder of a match but the kicking game from New Zealand was in fact poor as we didn't get it done right at the end, but the standout player of the game went to one of France's loose forwards of Gregory Alldritt), so let's hope that we can turn around against the Namibians in our next pool game, but we would be able to bring back our first choice players such as Sam Cane, Shannon Frizell, Jordie Barrett & Tyrel Lomax for the knockouts), but can we go all the way for New Zealand of becoming the 2nd side to win the tournament after South Africa in 2019 to begin our campaign with defeat in the opening game? I literally think so, but we might have also an outside chance of toppling the world champion Springboks side in the quarters) in the opening match of the tournament) in the Rugby World Cup opener at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis) going into the next game against Namibia in which we have played before in international rugby not once but twice) & there has been sad news as Emoni Narawa is ruled out of the tournament through a broken back meaning that Ethan Blackadder of both the Crusaders & Tasman Mako is called up to the squad as injury replacement to compensate with the depleted loose forward department.

And here are the other results from the pool matches of the 2023 Rugby World Cup that have just come in:

Italy 52 - 8 Namibia (It was Italy's day as they begin their campaign with a hammering over Namibia in Saint-Etienne)

Ireland 82 - 8 Romania (And it was the luck of the Irish (Who haven't lost a test since last year against New Zealand during the 1st test at Eden Park in Auckland) as they begin their chase of their historic first ever RWC championship with a really comprehensive win over the Romanians in Johnny Sexton's comeback game in Bordeaux which was held under sweltering hot conditions over there (And the Irish (Whose 100% winning record in 2023, remains intact) are now on a 13 match winning run going into the next World Cup game against Tonga)

Australia 35 - 15 Georgia (It was the Wallabies joy as they start their hopes of winning their first Rugby World Cup since 1999 with a thrashing against Georgia in their 2nd ever meeting at the tournament between both sides in Saint-Denis)

England 27 - 10 Argentina (It was England's night as they begin their campaign of lifting their 1st William Webb Ellis cup in 20 years with a victory despite shrugging off with 14 players against Argentina in Marseille after a red card being given to Tom Curry (Who originally being given a yellow card then an off field review by the bunker which resulted in a sending off in which there was no mitigating factor about the illegal tackle but he will be suspended (Along with captain Owen Farrell & Billy Vunipola as part of the suspended players list for England) for his actions caused by it regarding foul play) for a high shot with George Ford providing the heroics as he scored all of the team's points at 27 (Including 6 penalty goals & 3 drop goals)

Japan 42 - 12 Chile (And it was Japan's joy as they roll over tournament debutants Chile on that fateful day in Toulouse)

South Africa 18 - 3 Scotland (It was the dominant Springboks (Who are now on a 3 game winning streak since their last defeat against the AB's at Go Media Stadium Mount Smart in Auckland going into the next match against Romania) day as they begin their title defence with a resounding win over Scotland in Marseille)

& Wales 32 - 26 Fiji (It was Wales who cling on by taking victory in Bordeaux against the high flying Fijians who came agonizingly close of beating the Welsh for the first time at a RWC since 2007 in the end)

And the latest on Indycar as New Zealander Scott Dixon who missed out on keeping his hopes of winning his record equalling 7th American open wheel championship (And also with the championship being already decided on that occasion at the previous race in Portland, needless to say), has taken victory in the season finale at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California for his first win at the venue when 'the Iceman' had broken the drought as he claimed 1 million American dollars for his victory after overcoming a double penalty for causing a collision on Dutchman Rinus Veekay while fellow countryman Scott McLaughlin finished in 2nd while the newly crowned twice Indycar champion & one of Dixon's teammates of Alex Palou has rounded out the podium, in one of Indycar's most wildest races that they had this year fuelled with incidents which brought out the full course yellow countless number of times such as collisions as well as drivers going off & getting mad at each other, & it was ridiculous in a drama filled with chaos in which a whopping 8 caution periods came out during the race in a instant knee-jerk reaction (And I mean you are joking about it, but you're absolutely kidding right?), similar to Road America in 1996 according to the previous blogs that I did.

And I hadn't mentioned on my blog that there has been many incidents involving aviation such as close calls & near misses which resulted in an alarming pattern being found of safety lapses in the skies as commercial airlines experienced at least 46 close-call incidents in July with the Biden administration expected to move towards new funding to cut close calls regarding to aviation by introducing improvments to avation safety, focusing on preventing close-call incidents in American airports, but there's also the emphasis of mitigating runway close calls as the FAA (Who'll spend $10 million American dollars to improvements being made on the awareness about controller situations & reduce runway close calls by deploying surface surveillance to added airports) being issued a safety call to action as well as there'll be runway safety meetings at about roughly 90 airports.

And I also haven't mentioned that there's a new study about there are calls for white shorts in women's sports to be eliminated in a bid to emphasize on player comfort (Unlike the PS4/PS5 game of Gran Turismo 7 has gone online exclusive to all modes in a bid to stamp out cheating), especially the match officials in the NPC rugby here in New Zealand being told to wear black shorts according to the research on wearing coloured shorts other than white as well as most Farah Palmer Cup teams ditch the white shorts for coloured ones such as Auckland Storm, Waikato women & others like the Northland Kauri, so too is the Football Ferns wearing all black as their home kit for the Football Women's World Cup this year that they had (While the away kit consists of white shirt & socks, but wear different colour of shorts such as teal), & the Irish women's rugby team in a move of wearing dark blue shorts instead of white.

And in tennis news such as Coco Gauff becomes the first American woman since Sofia Kenin for their achievement of becoming a grand slam winner when she won her home grand slam at the US Tennis Open (For which I haven't mentioned in my blogs which is the last tennis grand slam event of the year as they celebrated 50 years of equal pay regarding to prize money of both the men & women according to Billy Jean King's post match victory speech in 1972 while Gauff is the 1st American to win the US tennis open since Sloane Stephens in 2017 while Andy Roddick is the last male to win the US open which was 20 years ago) at Flushing Meadows in New York City, New York in front of her adoring home fans against the Australian Open women's singles champion & new women's world No.1 of Aryna Sabalenka, but the men's singles crown went to Serbia's Novak Djokovic (In which he takes over from Spain's young sensation of Carlos Alcaraz to be on top of the men's tennis world rankings again) who had dispatched the 2021 US Open men's singles champion Daniil Medvedev in which Djokovic redeemed himself after losing to Alcaraz at Wimbeldon in July, a day later on centre court, but it's been 22 years since the 9/11 attacks had occurred in New York City, New York along with the Pentagon at Arlington county in Virginia & at the wooded area in Pennsylvania in America in a horrific but tragic event being unfolded way back in 2001 (Same year that Kiwi America's Cup hero of the late Sir Peter 'Blakey' Blake (One of the late rally driver Possum Bourne's sporting heroes growing up along with one of New Zealand cricket's all-time greats of Sir Richard 'Paddles' Hadlee) who was tragically killed by Brazilian pirates in Macapa, Brazil a week after the late Beatle of George Harrison passed away in Los Angeles, California in the United States after a short battle with cancer to join with the late John Lennon as the other Beatle to have lost their life in which Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr are both the surviving members of the famous British pop rock band the Beatles according to the previous blogs that I did) which was in fact one of the darkest days in history which shocked the world (And just only 18 have survived in the World Trade Centre tower collapse according to the story that I remember from Carole in which we were on our way to mint Cafe on Friday) in which the war on terror had been declared).

And finally that it's happening that I'm going to Palmerston North during the 1st week of the school holidays with Dad & Raewyn for the 1st time in 10 months (The last time I went was last year with Pops) to go shopping at JB Hi-Fi in the Plaza where we'll have lunch there as well as going to Harvey Norman & me paying my first visit to the New Zealand rugby museum since late 2016.

So that is my 518th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 42nd of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the All Blacks team has been revealed ahead of our next pool game against Namibia (Our 1st meeting between the two sides was in 2015 which resulted in a comprehensive win for New Zealand but the last time we met the Namibians was in 2019 in which we hammered them including an incredible acrobatic try scored in the corner from TJ Perenara, was in fact the try of the tournament as well as being awarded the try of the year in 2019) for our chance to end that wretched 2 match losing streak dating back to the Springboks test at Twickenham in London, England, then against the tournament hosts France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis in the World Cup opener in which we finally lost a game in pool play (Our last win for the AB's was in Dunedin last month in a hard fought battle against the Wallabies in Bledisloe II), so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues/Northland)

2 (Hooker): Samisoni Taukei'aho (Chiefs/Waikato)

3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Blues/Counties Manukau)

SECOND ROW

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

5 (No.5 lock): Sam Whitelock (Crusaders/Canterbury)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Luke Jacobson (Chiefs/Waikato)

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

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

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Cam Roigard (Hurricanes/Counties Manukau)

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

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): David Havili (Crusaders/Tasman)

13 (Centre): Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Leicester Fainga'anuku (Crusaders/Tasman)

14 (Right wing): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)

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

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Dane Coles (Who replaces Samisoni Taukei'aho with Taukei'aho elevated to the starting lineup to replace Codie Taylor to start at hooker)

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Who is dropped to the bench as the reserve loose head prop position with Ofa Tu'ungafasi making way to the starting lineup to start in the loosehead prop position)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell

19 (Reserve lock): Scott Barrett (Who is dropped to the bench with Retallick elevated to the starting lineup to start as the number 4 lock)

20 (Reserve loose forward): Tupou Vaa'i

21 (Reserve half-back): Aaron Smith (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Finlay Christie to cover the halfback position)

22 (Reserve first-five eighth): Richie Mo'unga (Who is making way to replace David Havili to cover the first five position with Havili making way to the starting lineup, taking Anton Lienert-Brown's place at second five with Lienert-Brown moving to his preferred position as the starting centre)

& 23 (Reserve back): Rieko Ioane (Who has replaced Leicester Fainga'anuku to cover the reserve back position with Fainga'anuku elevated to the starting lineup to replace Will Jordan as the starting right winger)

And Namibia led by their veteran Johan Deysel have named their team so here is the starting lineup according to South African born coach Allister Coetzee:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Jason Benade (University of Namibia)

2 (Hooker): Torsten van Jaarsveld (Bayonne)

3 (Tight head prop): Johan Coetzee (Cheetahs)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Johan Retief (Griquas)

5 (No.5 lock): Tjiuee Uanivi (Montauban)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Wian Conradie (New England Free Jacks)

7 (Open side flanker): Prince Gaoseb (Tel Aviv Heat)

8 (Number 8): Richard Hardwick (Melbourne Rebels)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Damian Stevens (New Orleans Gold)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Tiaan Swanepoel (Lions)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Le Roux Malan (New England Free Jacks)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Johan Deysel (Captain, Colomiers)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Divan Rossouw (Krasny Yar)

14 (Right wing): Gerswin Mouton (Wits University)

& 15 (Fullback): Cliven Loubser (Utah Warriors)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Louis van der Westhuizen

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Desiderius Sethie

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Haitembu Shikufa

19 (Reserve lock): PJ van Lill

20 (Reserve loose forward): Adriaan Booysen

21 (Reserve loose forward): Max Katjijeko

22 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Jacques Theron

& 23 (Reserve back): JC Greyling.

Complicated/Are You Happy Now?: My 41st blog of the year 2023 (AKA Breaking Dawn III: The 2023 Rugby World Cup preview)

Well, the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France is almost upon us so let's have a look at the pools, the rugby playing nations & the players to watch (Well this is the third in the series to the 2 highly successful blogs that I did in 2015 called Breaking Dawn: The 2015 Rugby World Cup preview & in 2019 which is Breaking Dawn II: The 2019 Rugby World Cup preview (And yes, the eyes of the rugby world will be in France as the country plays host to the Rugby World Cup):

Pool A:

New Zealand (Jordie Barrett (Midfield)

France (Antoine Dupont (Halfback)

Italy (Paolo Garbisi (First-five eighth)

Uruguay (Tomas Inciarte (Halfback/centre)

Namibia (Cliven Loubser (First-five eighth/fullback)

Pool B:

Ireland (Josh van der Flier (Loose forward)

South Africa (Pieter Steph-du Toit (Loose forward)

Scotland (Duhan van der Merwe (Wing)

Tonga (Malakai Fekitoa (Midfielder)

Romania (Paul Popoaia (Wing/fullback)

Pool C:

Wales (Adam Beard (Lock)

Australia (Mark Nawaqanitawase (Wing)

Fiji (Semi Radradra (Utility)

Georgia (Goram Gogichashvili (Loosehead prop)

Portugal (Mike Tadjer (Hooker)

Pool D:

England (Maro Itoje (Lock)

Japan (Lee Seung Sin (First-five eighth)

Argentina (Pablo Matera (Loose forward)

Chile (Martin Sigren (Flanker)

Samoa (Miracle Fai'ilagi (Loose forward/lock)

And it's been 200 years since the game of rugby was invented in 1823 by none other than the late William Webb Ellis who picked up the ball & ran with it, but the inaugural tournament started in 1987 where New Zealand dominated against France in that epic but memorable final in Auckland (Including the heroics of the 3 stars of the tournament such as Michael Jones, David Kirk & John Kirwan who scored tries during the final that won them the contest & gave the All Blacks the Webb Ellis cup), then Australia took over in 1991 as they ended the All Blacks reign as the world champions after their victory against England in the final in London followed by South Africa in 1995 against the AB's in the final via a drop goal by South African first five Joel Stransky during extra time where they won the tournament on debut at home which united the nation under the leadership of the late South African preisdent of Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg before the Wallabies regained the crown in 1999 after a comprehensive win over France in the final in Cardiff, Wales, then the English took over in 2003 where they had to beat Australia in the final in a rematch of the 1991 final with a match winning drop goal none other than Johnny Wilkinson in Sydney with his right hoof, also during extra time followed by the Springboks 4 years later where the English missed out on defending the title against them in Paris, France in 2007 before New Zealand went on to win the RWC after 24 long years against France in a hard fought final which was a replay of the final in 1987 in Auckland in 2011 including Stephen Donald (The man known as 'Beaver' who was called into the squad to replace Colin Slade who injured his groin similar to Dan Carter (A good mate of captain at the time of Richie McCaw who nursed a foot injury sustained during preseason training with the Crusaders) during the tournament then he replaced the injured Aaron Cruden (Who joined midway through the tournament as injury replacement to one of our best players of Carter who hurt his groin during training in preparation of our last pool game against Canada & was due to captain the side) during the final) who provided the heroics with a match winning penalty goal, then the All Blacks appeared in another final in which we were successful against the Wallabies in London, England of defending the RWC in 2015 (In which was by far, arguably the best final of them all including Beauden Barrett's clinching try that sealed the deal to complete our successful defence of the William Webb Ellis trophy) followed by the Boks who won the RWC in 2019 after 12 years as they hammered England in the final in Yokohama, Japan which was a rematch of 2007.

And my thoughts on who is going to win the tournament? It's a tough one, but it is going to be difficult not only this years tournament is the most competitive in all of the Rugby World Cups being held (Well mine would be New Zealand at this stage because we haven't won since 2015).

And here are my top 10 favourite iconic but legendary Rugby World Cup memories since I was born in 1991 (I once did a top 5 back in 2019, but since has been updated to my top 10 standout moments of the RWC now):

10: Carlos Spencer's through the legs pass to the try scorer of All Black Joe Rokocoko that knocked the Springboks out during the quarters way back in 2003

9: Tonga's extraordinary boil over victory against France in 2011 (In which was a lesser degree than the Japan-South Africa encounter 4 years later)

8: The All Blacks comprehensive hammering over France in the quarterfinal in 2015 which was payback of our ill-fated QF game way back in 2007 (AKA the revenge match, including Julian Savea's heroics in which he scored a hat-trick during the quarters)

7: The late Jerry Collins's massive hit on Thinus Delport during the quarterfinal between New Zealand & South Africa in 2003

6: Brian Lima's thumping tackle on Derick Hougaard during the pool game between Samoa & South Africa in 2003

5: Sam Warburton's red card against France during the semifinal in 2011

4: The late Jonah Lomu running over the top of Mike Catt also during the semifinal in 1995

3: Japan's glorious upset win against the Springboks in 2015

2: The All Blacks winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup against France in the final (Including Stephen 'Beaver' Donald's match winning penalty to win our 2nd Rugby World Cup title & our 1st in 24 years) on home soil

& 1: The AB's winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup against the Wallabies in the final (Including Beauden 'Beaudy' Barrett's try that sealed the deal to clinch our 2nd Rugby World Cup title in a row & our 1st to win 3 Rugby World Cups) on foreign soil

And the latest on F1 as Max Verstappen becomes the first man to win 10 straight races in Formula One as he achieved by breaking the all time record set by Sebastian Vettel with 9 in 2013 after winning an epic Italian Grand Prix at Scuderia Ferrari's home race in which Carlos Sainz finished on the podium in 3rd behind Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who bounced back from disappointment in Holland to finish in 2nd while New Zealander Liam Lawson in the Alphatauri finished in 11th in just his second race in Formula One & he was one place shy of the points scoring position, his best result of his relatively short F1 career, but the fastest lap of the race went to Australian Oscar Piastri in the McLaren who came into the pits to change both the tyres & the front wing after being collided by the former multiple world champion of Sir Lewis Hamilton who got penalized 5 seconds for an avoidable contact while the race was delayed for 20 minutes as Lawson's Alphatauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda who had a DNF after his car's power unit had let go just before the cars had lined up onto the grid in which the start was aborted, but there has been an update in Indycar such as Spain's Alex Palou is champion, again, just like in 2021 (The year after Palou's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate of Kiwi Scott Dixon (Who'll be inducted into the American motorsports hall of fame next year despite not retiring from motor racing altogether & is the longest tenure driver in motor racing driving for Chip Ganassi Racing for 21 years (He joined that team since 2002 from the now defunct PWR Championship Racing in which he joined in 2001 in his rookie American open wheel racing season after coming over from a successful Indy Lights campaign in 2000 until a year later which closed down due to lack of sponsorship) & the year before Scott McLaughlin's Team Penske teammate of Aussie Will Power while McLaughlin is an avid fan of the All Blacks (Along with British quiz master Shaun Wallace from The Chase & famous American Hollywood movie star from the state of Hawaii of Jason Momoa (Who appeared as the main antagonist/villain in the most recent Fast & Furious series movie released this year which is Fast X), but I once heard a story from Kathryn that the French love the All Blacks (And they're both nice & friendly but I have a French mate now which is Clement who is a vegetarian & is an avid rave music follower (I'm mainly into rock & metal (Just like both Zaki & Andy) but I sometimes like rave music as well, just like Clement) who is the son of a Hongkonger Wai-Lam & Wai-Lam's wife Maree Jose, but I haven't seen the French trio since 9 months ago when they stayed there at our place which is 15A Kells Avenue (My home since 2017) since she went to a French restaurant with her partner Ken that she once said she loves the French people which was considered the best despite telling a French person about the All Blacks were robbed on that occasion during the quarterfinal stage against the 2007 hosts France) but he calls the United States as his second home & his main home would be his country of birth of New Zealand) where he first won the championship (And now he has another this year as Palou (Who made his Indycar debut in 2020 a year after crossing over from the Super Formula series in Japan & the year before he etched history when he became the first Spanish driver to win the Indycar Series crown) becomes a 2 time Indycar Series champ (Along with Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Gil de Ferran, Alex Zanardi, Al Unser Jr & 10 others who are twice American open wheel racing champions) as well as becoming Spain's most successful racing car driver since the glory days of his childhood idol of Fernando Alonso where he dominated Formula One 2 years in a row in 2005-06) after clinching the title in style at Portland International Raceway with one race to spare (And it was the first time since 2007 in the Champ Car World Series that the championship had been decided with one race remaining which had gone in the way of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais (The CART (Which stands for Championship Auto Racing Teams which started off from 1979 until 1991 before rebranding it to Indycar in 1992 until 1996 where the CART name was reused due to a tumultous rift between them & the IRL (Which used to be the Indy Racing League before rebranding it to Indycar from 2003 onwards) as a result from 'The American open-wheel racing Split' which lasted for 12 years before reunifying them in 2008 from 1997 until 2003) rookie of the year from 2003) who is a Le Mans native, but currently resides in Saint Pete, Florida) therefore Dixon who narrowly misses out on keeping his title hopes alive just like last year & the year before with the all-time record for most American Open Wheel Racing championships set by the great AJ Foyt, stays intact.

And onto the wrestling stuff such as during WWE Wrestlemania 38 on the same night as Brock Vs Roman: Decider in the Lone Star State (That was the year before Los Angeles played host to Wrestlemania 39 at SoFi Stadium (Venue for last year's Superbowl between the Los Angeles Rams, & the Cincinnati Bengals) in which Roman 'The Big Dog' Reigns had remained the Undisputed WWE Universal champion against 'The American Nightmare' Cody Rhodes (Who was the winner of this years men's Royal Rumble match in late January) in a title match billed as Cody Vs Roman: Decider in Hollywood, that Ric's daughter of Charlotte 'The Queen' Flair had beaten former MMA fighter 'Rowdy' Rhonda Rousey to successfully defend the WWE Smackdown Women's title (That was the year before she was defeated by Australian Rhea Ripley (Who became the new champion at that moment, & has held on to that title since) at WM 39, in easily one of the best women's wrestling matches to be staged at the Grandest Stage of Them All) as well as Bianca Belair (Who beat Asuka to retain the title at Summerslam this year in a rematch of WM 39 which was won by Belair, before being beaten by Japan's Iyo Sky of the villainous tag team stable of Dmage Ctrl (Who is WWE's equivalent of The Outcasts in AEW) who initiated her successful Money In The Bank cash in) defeated Seth Rollins's wife of 'The Man' Becky Lynch to also successfully become the new WWE Raw Women's title & also the star of the Attitude era of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin came away with an unlikely win over Kevin Owens (Who was the main star attraction during the Reality era) in the Texas Rattlesnake's rare, one off appearance as he came out of retirement to wrestle one last time in the WWE in a no holds barred match (Which is in fact no disqualification (DQ), no count-outs...Anything goes), even though at the tender age of 57, 19 years after his last wrestling match in 2003 against the Rock at Wrestlemania XIX which ended in defeat (Although Austin decided to hang up his wrestling boots as a result of a recurring neck injury (From a botched piledriver (In which the manuver has been cracked down since 2000 (Which was during the Attitude era) in the WWE (Back then when it was known as the WWF) as a result of safety issues regarding to the head & neck area) of the late Owen Hart in 1997) that ended his wrestling career, 6 years before going on to be inducted into the WWE hall of fame by his chief rival, Mr McMahon (Who was once the chairman of WWE until last year that he resigned amid reports of hush-money payment according to the previous blogs that I did last year, allowing his daughter & Triple H's wife Stephanie to take over as chairperson) which was during the Ruthless Aggression era.

And the latest on the football that the Football Women's World Cup winning player for Spain of Jennifer 'Jenny' Hermoso is suing anyone like the Spanish Football Federation for kissing someone like the head of the Spanish football federation of Luis Rubiales illegally on the lips without her consent so she's gonna be in big trouble for that (But my thoughts about the outrage towards Hermoso "You know, I, oh god, I hope they get sued...Well, it's such a rip off, it's a shameless rip off, & I mean literally, that is terrible, it is a nice win by Spain when they became the world champions in women's football, but I was like when Hermoso did something to the president of the Spanish Football Federation, oh shameless...Maybe that's a slap on the wrist for that") as well as the Football Women's World Cup winning coach for the Spanish of Jorge Vilda who got fired as a result of Hermoso filing a complaint being handed out for sexual assault towards Rubiales (But she'll ruin her relationship with her partner like that now) & I was like "Ugh! Hate it" when that happened (And you simply cannot do that because not only it's harming to their society), but they hired a female coach in an effort to step up by clearing things up & focus on qualifying for the next tournament in 2027 (And players who play in the La Liga F are lodging a protest on the scandal that shocked Spanish women's football).

And of course it is time to move on from the global pandemic that we had since March 2020 in which every country of the world has lifted their COVID-19 restrictions (Including us Kiwis in which we led the way in terms of response during the global pandemic back in 2020 according to the blog that I did 3 months ago, except in aged & health care facilities that masks are required to wear most of the time) not only we might have managed to survive it in which the number of confirmed cases has been dropped down signifcantly since as well as easing the corona virus shut downs & restrictions because it's no more, but we have to be aware that if someone sneezes, a person would catch it so we have not moved on as of today.

And lastly, back to the rugby that there was once a story about the Rugby World Cup winning captain in 1987 of David Kirk who revealed that he chose not to go to South Africa (Which was under an apartheid regime until in 1990 where the late great Nelson Mandela was released in prison, 2 years before the South Africans had been readmitted to international sport in 1992 (And it was 2 years in the leadup to Mandela being elected as the 1st South African president of African origin in 1994, a year before the rainbow nation would gone on to host the RWC which was eventually won by the hosts over New Zealand at extra time in the final at Ellis Park in Johannesburg which hurts us Kiwis) after being years away from isolation) in 1986 to not be part of the rebel Cavaliers tour in order to avoid getting suspended for both games according to the comment that I remember on TV from veteran New Zealand rugby broadcaster Grant Nisbett, not only because this was a year out until the inaugural Rugby World Cup in which the AB's piled on, of when they raced out first of becoming world beaters on that level (That was Kirk's influence of winning that tournament a year after his beliefs prevented him of going to South Africa & if he did, he would serve a 2 game ban for that as a result (And unlike the late American boxer of Muhammad Ali who back in 1967 that he chose not to be enlisted to the US Army to go to Vietnam due to a war being broken out in the country because of his religious beliefs preventing him from going to that war torn country, & he got a 3 year suspension for that until he returned to boxing once his ban had been expired in 1970, according to the blog that I did last year) after that comprehensive win against France (Who had a memorable win against New Zealand in the semifinal in 1999 in one of the greatest comebacks in international rugby history, compared to South Africa's epic win over England at the last Rugby World Cup in 2019 which was reminiscent/shades of 1995 where Francois Pienaar became the 1st of 3 Springbok skippers to lift the famous William Webb Ellis trophy in front of the late South African president Nelson Mandela who united the nation & the Ellis Park faithful) in that epic final (Which was a replay of the Battle of Nantes a year earlier in 1986 in which New Zealand copped a fearful battering against the French according to the previous blogs that I did) at a packed out Eden Park in Auckland (The try scorers for the All Blacks in that final were Kirk, Michael Jones & John Kirwan), & also the late Jonah Lomu being the GOAT of rugby union (In which he became one of the all time greats of the sport by being rugby's first true global superstar sensation (His place of making the All Blacks Rugby World Cup squad in 1995 was nowhere to be found after a disappointing form against France in Christchurch in 1994 where he made his test debut with his rumours of going to play rugby league in Australia for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, until he had a good performance in the North Vs South game in Dunedin proved him worthy enough to impress the selectors of making the squad to South Africa) where he was rocketing to stardom after his performances in the 1995 RWC, especially in the semi against England in which he bagged in 4 tries including the one who trampled the English player of Mike Catt, in one of the Rugby World Cup's most iconic moments also according to the blog that I did this year, but his life was tragically ruined as he suffered nephrotic syndrome which is a rare & serious kidney disorder that he had in 1997 until he passed away in November 8 years ago due to a heart attack that he had which resulted in his death) compared to the late Pele in Football, Michael Jordan in basketball & Tiger Woods in golf.

So that is my 517th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 41st of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the AB's team (Who are hoping to bounce back after a terrible but horrific test match against the defending world champions South Africa by 28 points in which was the All Blacks worst loss since 1999, & one of New Zealand rugby's grim but darkest days at Twickenham in London, England in which the ever popular national rugby team of New Zealand had been given a reality check ahead of the World Cup) has been named to play against the host nation of France (Who are the slight favourites mainly due to the home field advantage that could favour them so I'm rooting for the AB's side to win by less than 12 points because I expect the French to be competitive, unlike the South Africans who were ultra competitive when we suffered an unfortunate defeat against them that haunted us at Twickers, in which the French were feeling generous about it just like the England cricket team were walloped by the incredible Australians (Who are currently the reigning world test champs, but the Ashes test series in England once again ended in a draw just like in 2019 while the Aussies still remain the holders of the Ashes cricket series, but the next one is in 2025-26 down under in Australia) in the 1st Ashes test this year at Edgbaston in Birmingham) in the highly anticipated 2023 Rugby World Cup opener at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Their most recent meeting between the 2 countries in international rugby was in 2021 where France absolutely smoked them for their 1st win since 2009 in Dunedin as well as their 1st win on home soil since 2000 in Marseille, but the last time both sides met at a Rugby World Cup was in 2015 that New Zealand had a comprehensive win against the French in the quarterfinals at Cardiff dubbed as the revenge game after losing to them in 2007 under controversial circumstances also at the Millennium Stadium, including Ardie's brother Julian Savea who had his heroics after crossing over for a hat-trick of tries, in the biggest hammering at a RWC knockout game in 28 years when New Zealand thrashed 14 man Wales in the semifinal at Ballymore in Brisbane, Australia), so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fozzy (Ian Foster):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

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

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

3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Blues/Counties Manukau)

SECOND ROW

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

5 (No.5 lock): Sam Whitelock (Crusaders/Canterbury)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Captain, 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): Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)

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 takes Tamaiti Williams's place as the reserve loosehead prop)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Luke Jacobson (Who takes Josh Lord's place to cover at the loose forward position with Lord heading back home to join the Taranaki NPC squad for the remainder of the season)

21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie (Who takes Dalton Papali'i's place to cover the reserve halfback position with Papali'i elevated to the starting lineup to confront the mammoth French pack, replacing Luke Jacobson who is dropped to the bench)

22 (Reserve midfielder): David Havili (Who is making way to replace Cam Roigard to cover at the midfield for his first All Blacks game of the year on the bench)

& 23 (Reserve outside back): Leicester Fainga'anuku (Who has replaced Anton Lienert-Brown to cover the reserve outside back position with Lienert-Brown elevated to the starting lineup to replace the unfortunate Jordie Barrett who is ruled out for this game after injuring his knee)

And the Rugby World Cup hosts France led by Antoine Dupont (AKA the Kylian Mbappe of French rugby) have named their team who fielded their strongest possible lineup when they take to the field in the tournament opener against the former 3 time world champions as well as the current holders of the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks, so here is the starting lineup according to coach Fabien Galthie (A former player who'll will be appearing in his 5th RWC, his first as coach after previously appearing at the World Cup for France 4 times as a player from 1991 until 2003, but it's been 4 years since the last time I did it when I reveal the starting lineup for the AB's opposition which was during the last World Cup in 2019):

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Reda Wardi (La Rochelle)

2 (Hooker): Julien Marchand (Toulouse)

3 (Tight head prop): Uini Atonio (La Rochelle)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Cameron Woki (Racing 92)

5 (No.5 lock): Thibaud Flament (Toulouse)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Francois Cros (Toulouse)

7 (Open side flanker): Charles Ollivon (Toulon)

8 (Number 8): Gregory Alldritt (La Rochelle)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back/Scrum-half): Antoine Dupont (Captain, Toulouse)

10 (First five-eighth/Fly-half): Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Begles)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth/Inside centre): Yoram Moefana (Bordeaux-Begles)

13 (Centre/Outside centre): Gael Fickou (Racing 92)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Gabin Villiere (Toulon)

14 (Right wing): Damian Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles)

& 15 (Fullback): Thomas Ramos (Toulouse)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Peato Mauvaka

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Jean-Baptiste Gros

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Dorian Aldegheri

19 (Reserve lock): Romain Taofifenua

20 (Reserve loose forward): Paul Boudehent

21 (Reserve half-back/scrum-half): Maxime Lucu

22 (Reserve midfielder): Arthur Vincent

& 23 (Reserve outside back): Melvyn Jaminet.

The Gift/No Reason: My 40th blog of the year 2023 (AKA my last blog pre-Rugby World Cup preview)

Well, the All Blacks (Who are now 4 & 1 since the South Africans (Champions of the most recent Rugby World Cup in 2019 which evoked memories of the events in 1995 where the nation played host then won the tournament in their debut appearance at the RWC) became the 1st side to defeat New Zealand this year by snapping our 11 game unbeaten stretch, & it was payback of Mt Smart in Auckland in which they got beaten against us in an epic Rugby Championship test) will go into the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with defeat against the defending world champion Springboks (Who have now taken over as the favourites to retain the prestigious William Webb Ellis Cup while both hosts France (Who will be so relieved when their World Cup rivals had tasted defeat like that then against the reigning champs) & Ireland are the other contenders of winning their 1st Rugby World Cup championship, but I wonder the headlines would say: AB'S MANHANDLED BY OVERWHELMINGLY DOMINANT SPRINGBOKS SIDE or more like: SOUTH AFRICA GO INTO THE RWC WITH A WIN AGAINST NEW ZEALAND) who overpowered them in a comprehensive thrashing at Twickenham in London by 28 points (And what went wrong for New Zealand (Who for the 1st time since 2011 to go into the World Cup with a loss like that) to lose a test like this? It hurts not only we were so gutted about the result in which we were inconsistent that time around since we lost both Shannon Frizell & Brodie Retallick to injuries the reason why we lost the pre-RWC test (Including 2 yellow cards to Scott Barrett which resulted in a costly red card meaning that New Zealand will go into the opening game of the Rugby World Cup against France, without 3 first choice players such as Frizell & Retallick who succumbed to injuries & now Scott Barrett who has yet to be suspended after a red card which was in fact the 2nd yellow card for a tackle gone wrong on a South African player of Malcolm Marx which slipped up high as he becomes the 9th different All Black player to be sent off in a test in a match billed as the Twickenham horror show according to the All Blacks fans, but there has been an update as Scott Barrett is not suspended (But he's been cleared on any wrongdoing where it did not even meet the red card threshold) meaning that he is free to play in the World Cup opener against the hosts France who swept Australia aside in Saint-Denis), but they could meet us in either the quarterfinal or in the final) which is the AB's worst defeat in 24 years way back in 1999 after the Wallabies dismantled them by 21 points to retain the Bledisloe before they would gone on to win the World Cup later that year, but the main highlight throughout the last of the pre-RWC tests would have to be Fiji slaying England in an incredible match (Compared to Ireland having a close shave against Samoa who came so close & nearly made history by pulling it off, in Bayonne) at Twickenham which I was stoked where history had to be made as the Fijians (Who gave them belief going into their opening game against Wales scheduled on the 10th of September) become the 1st tier 2 side to defeat England in international rugby (But I also wonder the headlines would say: FIJI EXPRESS STUN ENGLAND IN HISTORIC BOILOVER or more like: ENGLAND RUGBY TEAM MESMERIZED BY INCREDIBLE FIJIANS, but it's the best international rugby test I have ever seen on TV not involving the All Blacks) so let's relive the last 8 minutes of that epic test that you have just seen (And that's the 2nd time I'll be doing the last minutes of the game, this time in rugby since I did the last one which is the final of the Football Women's World Cup):

72ND MINUTE: England immediately make a hash of taking the restart, granting Fiji advanced possession. The Pacific Island side don’t make the most of it, losing control of a ruck, but when George Ford missees touch, back they will come...

TRY ENGLAND: England 22-30 Fiji (Simione Kuruvoli try, 73 minutes)

Is this a famous Fijian day?

The travelling fans go wild as Fiji open that advantage up again. The irrepressible Selestino Ravutaumada is the architect, his mad sketchings decipherable only by his teammates with England lost in a whirl of limbs. Ravutaumada lofts an offload which Simoine Kuruvoli collects - Caleb Muntz’s kick is true, too!

75TH MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER): England have already had one great escape at Twickenham during this Summer Nations Series - they need another here. Danny Care is on to try and spark it, with Fiji flying out of the line at every England carrier.

76TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the Pacific Islanders! The Fijian flags wave as their side defend with aggression and accuracy and turn England over five metres out from their own line. England’s players look to the heavens.

78TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Another penalty Fiji’s way. They are two minutes away.

79TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Fiji’s attack is aimless, but it doesn’t really matter with the clock ticking ever closer to 80 minutes. They won’t much mind a knock-on, either - there are fewer than 50 seconds to play as the two front rows pack down.

80TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Fiji are going to beat England! Fiji are going to beat England. Danny Care explores the blindside but Max Malins runs out of room after the scrum half tries to set him away up the touchline. The clock is dead!

FULL TIME! ENGLAND 22-30 FIJI: For the first time in their history, Fiji have beaten England! (And the game is over! Rugby history! Fiji, beat England, for the first time!)

Steve Borthwick’s side sink to a new low, but how about that performance from the Pacific Islanders? England were thoroughly out-fought, out-fought, and out-played. (Outstanding achievement for Fiji)

Where do England go from here? Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse for Steve Borthwick and his side, well, that happens. (I don't know England could muster)

It is, strictly, only a warm-up, but it is hard to convey the enormity of that result. This was a close to full strength England side, and Fiji were missing a couple of genuine stars - it mattered not! (But Fiji are all over them)

England’s dismal build-up to the World Cup reached its lowest ebb as they collapsed to their first defeat to a current tier-two nation by losing 30-22 to Fiji at Twickenham. (Tremendous game that the Fijians have had)

Jonny May raced over to seize an early lead but what followed will have shaken head coach Steve Borthwick as England were outplayed by a side they had dispatched in all seven previous meetings. (Not so super glad for the English just before the World Cup had even begun)

Waisea Nayacalevu and Vinaya Habosi touched down to propel Fiji in front and, although tries by Marcus Smith and Joe Marchant hinted that a seismic upset might be avoided, the Islanders had other ideas. (And I mean what a ripper of a match that they just had, especially from the Fijian point of view)

The leaky home defence cracked one final time in the 73rd minute, with Simione Kuruvoli delivering the decisive blow to wrap up a historic victory that will create shockwaves ahead of the World Cup. (It's been a cracking game, look forward to seeing you next time, bye from us)

And in motor racing news straight out of Formula One such as twice world champion Max Verstappen has won his Grand Prix in front of his adoring home fans in Holland to go 3 & 0 at his home venue in Zandvoort on New Zealander Liam Lawson's debut in F1 (In which Lawson (Who became the first Kiwi to compete in F1 since Brendon Hartley in 2018) finished a creditable 13th in the race in his first appearance in F1 driving for Alphatauri as an injury replacement for Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Who was ruled out of the grand prix with a broken hand) at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, but Liam Lawson is 2nd in the championship in the Japanese Super Formula competition) as he ties the record for most straight wins at 9 alongside Sebastian Vettel back in 2013 as well as he claimed his 11th win of the season but finishing behind Verstappen is Fernando Alonso (The elder statesman in F1 at the age of 42 (Compared to the young gun of Australian Oscar Piastri who is the youngest in the F1 grid at 21 or 22 (Before Lawson joined F1 as a replacement for Piastri's fellow countryman Ricciardo) as well as being the 1st Formula One driver to be born in the 21st century in 2001 followed by the Kiwi of Liam Lawson who was born a year after Piastri in 2002) who topped it off with a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race & is 12 points ahead of Sir Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes going into the next Grand Prix in Italy) in the Aston Martin who finished in 2nd while Pierre Gasly (Who hasn't been on a podium since Azerbaijan in 2021) has rounded out the podium in 3rd (He picked up a 5 second penalty for a pit lane speeding infringement (In which has been cleared) along with Sergio Perez who narrowly missed out on the podium after copping a penalty for going too fast in the pit lane just before the red flag came out which lasted 10 minutes before the race got back underway when the rain was cleared & also Lawson who did the same as Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda (One of Lawson's Alphatauri teammates who got penalized for an avoidable contact during the Grand Prix) & Perez (Who didn't clear the penalty as he'd been given a post-race penalty for that but the next race on the F1 calendar is in Italy at the Parco di Monza circuit where they will have an emotional homecoming for 3 Italian teams such as Ferrari (In which the passionate tifosi will be cheering them on as they're gunning to end Red Bull's incredible winning streak dating back to Abu Dhabi last year in which Verstappen won the season ending Grand Prix as well as ending Red Bull's quest of maintaining their perfect record in Formula One this year, but the last non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix was also last year in Brazil with George Russell behind the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG team (Although pole for the sprint race went to Denmark's Kevin Magnussen in the Haas to secure the American constructor's one & only pole position in Formula One), Alfa Romeo (In it's final year before reverting back to Sauber) & Alphatauri (The Italian constructor once known as Scuderia Toro Rosso who hadn't won a Grand Prix since Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Who is with Alpine now) took that famous win in 2020 which was a year impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic), but also news straight out of the Indycar as New Zealander Scott Dixon has won another race, this time at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illnois in which he had a better fuel consumption than the rest of the field as he keeps his title aspirations alive (Although the weekend was overshadowed by defending Indycar series champion Will Power who wrecked his car when he avoided his Penske racing teammate Scott McLaughlin (Who took pole but he had recieved a grid penalty for changing the engine which resulted him in starting 10th on the grid for the race) when Power (Who collided with Dixon during a practice in Road America this year was shades of 1996 when the late Andre Ribeiro who clipped the late Greg Moore during the race going into Canada corner in one of Indycar's most memorable but dramatic moments) went into the wall then he crashed into former Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson (Who'll be heading to Andretti Autosport next year with fellow Swede Linus Lundqvist taking over Ericsson's ride at Chip Ganassi Racing) who had to switch to a back-up car for the remainder of the weekend), but there are only 2 races still left to go in which the man known as 'The Iceman', has an outside chance of winning his record tying 7th Indycar championship, & he's trailing behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate of Spain's Alex Palou (Who is gunning for his 2nd Indycar Series title 2 years after winning his first in 2021 (That was the year after Dixon won his 6th & most recent crown (To add to his titles won in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 & the aforementioned 2020 season as well as his victory in the Indy 500 in 2008) & the year before Will Power went on to win his 2nd Indycar championship to go with his title that he first won in 2014 as well as winning his only Indy 500 in 2018) in which he picked both Alonso & none other than Dixon as his childhood idols growing up (And there was Danny Sullivan who was a great racing car driver but was a terrible commentator when he once worked for ESPN in the mid to late 1990's after his racing days were over after he crashed in 1995 during a Indycar event in Brooklyn, Michigan at Michigan Motor Speedway which resulted in injuries that ended his career (That was the year before Emerson Fittipaldi who did the same thing as his racing career came to an abrupt halt due to injuries sustained in the crash) by 74 points going into the next race at Portland International Raceway which is located in Portland, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, then Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California, plays host to the Indycar season finale this year before the streets of Nashville in Tennessee takes over of hosting the final round of the NTT Indycar Series starting from next year in 2024.

And the latest on the Donald Trump saga (For which I haven't being doing on my blogs about Trump getting charged since May of this year but this is like Watergate all over again where the late US president of Richard Nixon had to resign in 1974 over the scandal involving illegal activites including the robbery to the HQ of the Democratic National Committee on June 17th, 1972 which was the worst in American history, dealt with corruption at the highest level and office of the government) as the former US president from 2017 until 2021 as well as the man who ruined every American people when he got elected as the president of the United States in 2016 (And after Trump got elected that some American people are trying to flee from their homeland to other countries, such as New Zealand because of him), turned up in Georgia handing himself in to law enforcements in Fulton County under heightened security to appear in court for his latest criminal charges regarding to his time during the presidency, but he has pleaded not guilty about attempting to overturn the result of the US election in 2020 therefore staging a riot on the US Capitol buildings on January 6th 2021 with the trial of the former US president set to get under way on the 4th of March next year at the peak of the primary season therefore stopping him from campaigning, & I mean that is terrible that Trump is gonna pay for what he did for interfering the election in 2020 like that as he has been charged with election related crimes in the run-up to the January 6th attack in the US Capitol which counted as a felony, oh shameless (But my thoughts about Trump are "Then you're out of your damn head, & also that I just whooped your back side"), then it's such a rip off, it's a shameless rip off about election related issues in the United States going on there, but oh god I hope they get sued, you know I, maybe that's a slap on the wrist for that (And by the way that Trump will spend more time locked up behind bars as Pops told me before if he's sentenced with a severe punishment like that (Holy hell), then Trump is now obviously in a dark place now, & he does not know what to do about his latest criminal charges that he's had).

And I hadn't mentioned about that the state of Victoria in Australia will not host the Commonwealth Games in 2026 as a result of a budget blowout regarding to inflation (And Auckland has since been ruled out of hosting the next Commonwealth Games as well following the news that the Australian state of Victoria who pulled out as hosting rights for the next Commonwealth Games in 3 years time, but this is like Durban in South Africa pulling out of hosting last years Commonwealth Games after originally being awarded as the English city of Birmingham got the nod instead) according to the comment I remember from my Moroccan Jewish mate for 19 years of Leon (Who I haven't seen him since the last day of July when he left Whanganui, & has now settled in the UK in Nottingham to be with his fiance Michelle Johansson who is a Kiwi of Swedish origin who I have not seen her since last year before she left right on cue) in July.

And it's been one full year since Her Majesty the Queen of Queen Elizabeth II (The longest regining monarch in history for 70 years from 1952 (The year that His Majesty the King of King George VI had passed away) until last year) who passed away as a result of natural causes according to the death report from a royal observer, allowing her son His Majesty the King of King Charles III to take over as the current head of state of the Commonwealth (The 2 events have occurred was the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II also last year in which was held under heightened security & the coronation of a new King in May this year while the UK national anthem had to change from God Save the Queen to now God Save the King).

And finally my thoughts before I wrap this blog up? It is going to be probably my last blog before I start work on my new one which is something special, & it's about the preview of Rugby World Cup 2023 featuring all the 20 teams competing as well as the history of the tournament so far which is called: My 40th blog of the year 2023 (AKA Breaking Dawn III: The 2023 Rugby World Cup preview).

So that is my 516th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 40th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Perhaps/Meeting The Master: My 39th blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest on the Football Women's World Cup as here are the results of the semifinals that just come in:

Spain 2 - 1 Sweden

& Australia 1 - 3 England

So it's Spain to play England in the 2023 Football Women's World Cup final at Stadium Australia in Sydney on late Sunday night New Zealand time to decide who will become the new World Champion.

And onto the rugby stuff as Wales were totally humiliated by the world champion South Africa (Who have their pre-Rugby World Cup friendly match in hand against the All Blacks (Who'll be without Shannon Frizell (Who pulled a hammy during training before they jumped on the plane to France) for the opening World Cup game against host France (Who had already lost Romain Ntamack of what looks like to be a serious knee injury in which the hosts have a star player injury crisis ahead of the World Cup) through injury sustained during training & is expected to return during the tournament as he joins lock forward Brodie Retallick as part of the list of injured players for New Zealand who are without their first choice lock & blindside flanker for the upcoming matches against South Africa & France (Who I think are the slight favourites due to the home field advantage & the AB's are without 2 first choice players through injury) but it's one full year since the last time New Zealand had lost a test in international rugby in which we went down to Argentina at Orangetheory Stadium (Now called Apollo Projects Stadium) in Christchurch courtesy of our poor discipline which cost us (And we are unbeaten in 11 games since our last defeat in international rugby last year (And now we're on a 4 game winning streak going into the next test against South Africa in our last test before the World Cup) side which featured the return of their most recent RWC winning skipper of the self-proclaimed rugby god of Siya Kolisi (The inspirational leader who is one of by far the best players for the South Africans) from a knee injury at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff that resulted in a comprehensive win for the South Africans going into the next test against the AB's at the home of rugby at Twickenham in London, England, but the latest on the Owen Farrell saga as he is cleared from the judiciary after his red card against the Welsh at Twickenham for a dangerous high shot (But the high tackles in rugby, is similar to someone going out with a gun just to shoot & kill people) after originally being given a yellow card which was reviewed by the bunker, has been overturned in which the rugby community were outraged that Farrell (Who which I label him as a liar, but now he's gonna pay for what he did for an illegal, dangerous tackle on Taine Beasham which resulted in a yellow card & a off field review which they changed it to a red card in which there was no mitigating factor but the latest as England suffer a defeat against the undefeated Ireland side which resulted in a red card to English number 8 Billy Vunipola as he joins his England teammate Farrell & now Tongan George Moala (Who got sent off for an old school tackle during the test against Canada) as well as part of the suspended players list) didn't get a 6 week ban for his sanctions as there were bonkers all over the place (And then all of a sudden, he cops a 4 week ban meaning that he missed the game against Ireland then he'll miss another game against Fiji as well as the first 2 matches during the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup against both Argentina & Japan), therefore a war has broken out on head contact in rugby & was due to end at this years tournament because of the sweeping law changes such as the alteration of the tackle height set to change from the shoulders to the sternum area (And unlike Lappies Labuschagne (I now pronounce his surname similar to South African born Australian cricketer Marnus in a universal way, but most people pronounce in a South African way) who recieved a red card for a serious foul play incident during the game against Fiji which took him out of contention of making the Japan Rugby World Cup squad on the plane to France, but Michael Leitch was the one who got sent off in a game against Samoa, the first time he had been red carded during his rugby career & he had to serve a 3 week suspension for his actions due to his decent disciplinary record).

And back onto the football stuff as there has been an update that Spain are the new world champions of women's football after their successful World Cup glory against England (Who were without they key trio through ACL injuries such as regular captain Leah Williamson, Fran Kirby & Beth Mead which opened the door of Spain who triumphed in the end compared to Spain before Women's Euro 2022 that they were missing Alexia Putellas through a serious injury which allowed England to win at their home tournament against rivals Germany in the final with Chloe Kelly providing the heroics of scoring that winning goal during extra time) in a final filled with drama & excitement at Stadium Australia in Sydney (But I wonder the headlines would say? SPAIN WOMEN EDGE ENGLAND WOMEN TO BECOME CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD or more like: ENGLAND MISS OUT ON FOOTBALL WOMEN'S WORLD CUP CROWN, & I mean what a way to finish for Spain but what a disappointing end to England, what a match for our viewers right around the world, it's all happening) so let's relive throughout the last 15 minutes of the match according to the live updates on Newshub:

90TH MINUTE + 1ST MINUTE: Corner scratched clear, as we head into a whopping 13 minutes of stoppage time - thanks largely to the lengthy VAR review and the stoppage for Alex Greenwood's cut.

90TH MINUTE + 2ND MINUTE, SAVE!: Spain with a good spell on the ball, having absorbed a decent period of English. A fantastic ball from Bonmati releases Batlle in behind on the right, and she bears down on goal. Her shot takes a deflection off Carter, but Earps reacts well to turn it behind for a corner.

90TH MINUTE + 3RD MINUTE: A hurry up given to Spain as they make a late change to the corner taker, with Paralluelo taking instead of Abelleira. The corner is headed away, and England then win a relieving free kick.

90TH MINUTE + 4TH MINUTE: CHANCE! Massive moment for the youngster! Putellas wins the ball in midfield and Spain spring forward again. A wonderful low cross comes from the right flank, and Bronze fails to deal with it. Paralluelo though can't get a touch, when it looked like she might finish this final off!

90TH MINUTE + 5TH MINUTE: England are finally able to get up the other end, but Kelly's cross is stabbed clear. Spain then win the ball back in midfield, and Putellas dinks the ball up into the arm of Bronze to win a free kick.

90TH MINUTE + 6TH MINUTE: Spain doing things nicely at the moment, as a rather needless shove from Stanway on Putellas gives away another free kick. Spain will slow this down before delivering from just outside the left corner of the box.

Far post delivery, but the header back across the box is then scratched clear. England can then try surge upfield, as James and Hemp link up. However, Hermoso gets back to break things up and they have to settle for a throw.

90TH MINUTE + 7TH MINUTE: James heads towards the right corner flag, but Paralluelo is back on defensive duties and is able to nick it away. Spain then earn a defensive throw, soaking up a few extra seconds and releasing some of the pressure.

90TH MINUTE + 8TH MINUTE: Corner for Spain. They win the ball off Stanway in the middle of the park and then surge forward through Bonmati. Bonmati's shot is blocked on the edge of the area, but it's then picked up by Abelleira. She finds Paralluelo on the left, but her shot is deflected behind.

90TH MINUTE + 9TH MINUTE: Another corner, as Carter gets the last touch on the delivery and it bobbles behind yet again.

90TH MINUTE + 10TH MINUTE: There's only three Spanish players in the area as Paralluelo bends it to the back post, with Paredes making the run. She gets the last touch, and the ball bobbles out for a goal kick.

90TH MINUTE + 11TH MINUTE: England win a throw inside the Spanish half, and are quick to get on with it. However, Hemp's ball across the park is seized on by Hernandez. She charges off down the right flank, but Greenwood gets back and manages to end the run with a sliding challenge inside the area! Great defending, especially at this stage of the game against the fresh legs of the substitute.

90TH MINUTE + 12TH MINUTE: Kelly lunges in to try win the ball off Hermoso, but trods on the foot and gives away a free kick. Time ticking away on England's dream...

The free kick is launched forward and very nearly finds Paralluelo in space on the left corner of the box. She can't control though, and then fouls Carter.

90TH MINUTE + 13TH MINUTE: England launch the ball forward, but Hemp gives away another free kick as she tries to win the loose ball.

90TH MINUTE + 14TH MINUTE: The sideline are riding every kick as Hemp goes bursting forward down the right wing. She whips in a dangerous looking cross too, but Batlle is there with a good header, and Spain then hack it clear.

Late corner, as England send a long throw in, which is then helped towards the back left post. Deflected behind, and up comes Earps...

90TH MINUTE + 15TH MINUTE: Coll claims the corner above the pack, and that is that! (Oh what a catch! What a catch!...And the game is over!)

FULL-TIME: 1-0

SPAIN ARE THE CHAMPIONS! They hang on to win a thrilling, entertaining final, and have their first ever World Cup title - at just their third visit to the finals. It was a fantastic game, with the 1-0 scoreline not reflecting the open, attacking nature of the contest. Olga Carmona's first half strike proved the difference, as Mary Earps kept England in the contest with a number of key saves, including denying Jennifer 'Jenny' Hermoso from the spot midway through the second half. (For the 1st time in the tournament's 32 year history; Spain have won the women's World Cup! By the barest of margins! By the barest of all margins! (World Cup for Spain!...A hard fought win here by 1 point)

Spain are well deserving of the victory given the balance of things tonight, with their midfield quality proving key. Aitana Bonmati was phenomenal for Spain along with Hermoso and Teresa Abelleira, while the width on attack provided by the likes of Ona Batlle, Olga Carmona (Whose father passed away back home in Spain moments after the final whistle so she has to travel back home to attend a funeral rather than remaining with the team for their homecoming celebrations), Alba Redondo and Salma Paralluelo (Who the 19 year old thought that she was going to make it to the Paris Olympics as a track & field athlete, but however took up football instead) made Spain a constant threat going forward. They went close on a number of occasions to adding to their lead, but with Earps in fine form and some desperation English defending, it kept the Lionesses in with a sniff throughout. (Absolute ecstasy for Spain! Agony! Agony for England! (Spain win the women's World Cup; It's a hard fought win, they win by 1 point)

England had their opportunities too, despite being overwhelmed in midfield for much of the game. When they were able to break down the Spanish press and make their way onto attack, they looked likely, with Lauren Hemp in fine form, and impact off the bench coming from Chloe Kelly and Lauren James. Hemp went closes with her effort off the bar in the first half, and probably should have levelled things up with a far post finish that fizzed wide of the left post. James also forced Catalina 'Cata' Coll into a fine save, but ultimately they couldn't come up with the telling moment to peg back the lone goal. (And has there ever been a finish to a women's World Cup final quite like this?! (The game is over; Spain have won, by 1 to nil, it's a 1 point victory to Spain, in the Football Women's World Cup final of 2023)

It's a phenomenal win for Spain given the controversies that have surrounded their team and coach Jorge Vida. Fifteen players had protested against his coaching of the team, with only three of those fifteen (Bonmati, Caldentey and Batlle) travelling to the tournament. However, Vida remained in charge, and will feel vindicated now that he's steered his team to the World Cup title, with that trio somewhat ironically playing starring roles in the final. (But their name will now be on the Football Women's World Cup trophy; And it's a group of women, that emphasize team first (And Spain! Are the world champions! For the first time!)

For England, they'll be disappointed to come up short and not pull off the European Championship - World Cup double, but should be proud of their tournament despite falling at the last hurdle. They didn't always find peak form in the group stages, but warmed to their task through the knockout stages and certainly gave a good account of themselves in the final. (And I've got to stop; Because I've got a lump in my throat (And it's going Spanish! In 2023! Spain! For the first time ever! Is champion, of the world!)

It's been a fantastic tournament all around, with Australia and New Zealand both proving themselves capable hosts and getting right in behind not only their own teams, but the visitors as well. The attendances and television ratings have been record breaking, and it was capped off with a truly memorable final. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage here, but for now it's adios! (VAMOS! COME ON! (Bring on the next one in 2027)

And finally in motor racing that there has once been a story about my most memorable Indycar moment which was in 1996 at the Texaco/Havoline 200 (In which during the week that Robby Gordon is departing Indycar to join the NASCAR Cup Series in the following season in 1997, but he retired with an alternator problem during the race) in a action packed race filled with drama as it was full of contact, drivers mad at each other, huge accidents, and one of the wildest last laps IndyCar has ever seen which was action packed from the drop of the green flag, in which the race was won by 'Mikey Mike' of Michael Andretti (Who had a close call in the pits, but that would've been a penalty for an unsafe release nowadays which ruin racing, & that was absolutely careless/reckless) in the Newman/Haas team after 'Little Al/Al Jr' of Al Unser Jr (Who drives for Team Penske (Who the team had a winless season in 1996) back in the day in which he should've won that race if his engine hadn't been expired) had to retire from the race during the final lap in which his engine let go after Parker Johnstone was involved in a huge wreck in which Unser Jr's teammate at the time of Paul 'PT/The Thrill from West Hill' Tracy took him out but he had recieved a fine for his actions along with the late Brazilian driver Andre Ribeiro (Well, I was kinda confused with the American actor who appeared alongside Will Smith in the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air of Alfonso Ribeiro, just like my accusations of the American rock band of Vertical Horizon being sounded like the Xbox video game series of Forza Horizon, funny that) who took Greg Moore out going into Canada corner before Davy Jones had his car flipped upside down then Ribeiro collided with both PacWest drivers of Mauricio 'Big Mo' Gugelmin (Who lost his son Giuliano in 2001 who was a CP sufferer) & Mark 'Billy' Blundell in which Ribeiro had to retire, & also the pole sitter Alessandro 'Alex' Zanardi, who later got fined US$20,000 for taking out Gil de Ferran on the opening lap coming into turn 2 (And compared in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada that Alex Zanardi took out Bryan Herta (Father of Colton who became the youngest winner in Indycar Series history in 2019 at age 18 in the series only venture to COTA (A current Grand Prix venue which is home to the United States Grand Prix from 2012 until 2019 & since 2021) where he made history by shattering the previous all-time record set by Graham Rahal (Son of famous racer & current team owner Bobby) at 19 where he won at St Pete in 2008) during the race, then he had been given a fine post race for the incident involving him when he caused a collision which created a friction/rivalry between both drivers, but the race went to 'Big Mo' Gugelmin who won in which the race in the end was in fact wild & in 2002 during the Indy 500 when Helio 'The Spiderman' Castroneves had been officially declared the winner after PT overtook him illegally during the yellow flag had came out in which was the most controversial Indianapolis 500 ever), but there has been an update that it's official! SVG will make a move to America to compete in NASCAR racing next year but Triple Eight Race Engineering have found an ideal driver to replace Shane van Gisbergen in 2024, as Australian Will Brown who is currently contracted to the top team dominating during the Gen 3 era of Erebus Motorsport, is in, as his replacement for the NASCAR bound van Gisbergen, & also that it's been confirmed that the former A1GP venue of the Tony 'TQ' Quinn (A Scotsman who revealed that he has a son who used to be a race car driver named Klark & he now has a grandson who is a race car driver who competed in CTFROC 2023 named Ryder) owned Taupo International Motorsport Park (Which is located in Taupo (Where the main rugby ground of Owen Delany Park is) in the King Country area of New Zealand which had been chosen ahead of Hampton Downs) will host the New Zealand round of the Supercars Championship for the next 3 years starting from next year (In which the New Zealanders & Australians will obviously get hooked into V8 car racing at that venue, according to the Taupo International Motorsport Park owner Tony Quinn), replacing the now defunct Pukekohe Park Raceway which has since been closed from April this year, was recently held last year (The 1st time the New Zealand round of the Supercars Championship took place in 2001 at Pukekohe which was during the V8 Supercars era known as the Shell Championship series, with local hero Greg Murphy taking out all 3 races before it was moved to Hamilton in 2008 until in 2012 where they made the decision to head back to Pukekohe (In the aftermath of the Hamilton Street Circuit forced its closure) which had been upgraded from 2013 until 2019 & last year (In which the Aucklander of van Gisbergen won the last ever Supercars race at the venue in September last year as they sent Pukekohe off with a roar) before a decision by owner Auckland Thorougbred Racing to focus on horse racing only that Pukekohe followed the footsteps of Hamilton by closing its circuit).

So that is my 515th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 39th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And the AB's team has been named to play against the defending world champion Springboks of South Africa (Who are out for revenge after their loss against them in Auckland at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart in which they haven't beaten New Zealand since last year in the very opening round of the Rugby Championship) for part 2 of international rugby's most storied rivalry (My standout memory between the 2 countries of NZ & South Africa in international rugby would be in both 1996 (Including we at last finally won a test series against the Boks in South Africa after countless attempts of winning the test series at their home patch including Goldie's heroics when he scored a double then 'JP the cleaner' who came on for the injured Simon Culhane nailing both long range penalty goals & of course Zinny's drop goal that proved to be the difference) & in 2013 (In which it was the greatest rugby test match in modern day history in which Bryan Habana bagged in a double for the South Africans before leaving the field with an injury then young Beauden Barrett scoring a try for New Zealand that secured the attacking bonus point as well as the championship then Kieran Read's try that put the game beyond doubt even though we played with 14 players, & of course Barrett's try saving chase down tackle on Willie le Roux denying the Boks of a would be try, & the rest was history) as well as our last international rugby test before the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France gets underway (And whoever wins that pre-RWC test will claim the tag as the favourites to win the tournament in a match billed as the last 2 champions of the Rugby World Cup where both sides square off one last time in a grudge match before the tournament begins a fortnight out until the real thing (And 4 years of hard work has all come down to this) at Twickenham Stadium in London in a replay of the semi final of the tournament in 2015, 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): 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): Sam Whitelock (Crusaders/Canterbury)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Luke Jacobson (Chiefs/Waikato)

7 (Open side flanker): Sam Cane (Captain, 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 Dane Coles's place with Coles elevated to the starting lineup to replace Samisoni Taukei'aho who is dropped to the bench)

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Tamaiti Williams (Who takes Ofa Tu'ungafasi's place as the reserve loosehead prop to try & counter the big South African forwards)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve lock): Josh Lord (Who takes Luke Jacobson's place to cover at lock with Jacobson elevated to the starting lineup to make way for Samipeni Finau)

21 (Reserve loose forward): Dalton Papali'i (Who takes Aaron Smith's place to cover the reserve loose forward position)

22 (Reserve half-back): Cam Roigard (Who is making way to replace Richie Mo'unga to cover at halfback with Mo'unga elevated to the starting lineup to start at first five to replace Damian McKenzie)

& 23 (Reserve back): Anton Lienert-Brown (Who has replaced Dallas McLeod to cover the reserve back position).

Under You: My 38th blog of the year 2023

Well, the latest on the Football Women's World Cup as here are the results of the quarterfinals that just come in:

Spain 2 - 1 Netherlands

Japan 1 - 2 Sweden

Australia 0 (7) - 0 (6) France

& England 2 - 1 Colombia

And finally here are the confirmed matches being played in the semi finals in this years Football Women's World Cup tournament:

Spain Vs Sweden

& Australia Vs England

And in motor racing related news in Indycar such as Scott Dixon has claimed his 54th win of his American open wheel racing career after dominating at the Indianapolis road course (He held off his nearest rival of American driver Graham Rahal (Who hasn't won in Indycar since 2017) in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team during that race as Dixon has moved up to 2nd in the championship in his quest of capturing his record tying 7th American open wheel racing title along with the great AJ Foyt behind his Spanish teammate of Palou while Newgarden (Who had a disappointing race for Team Penske in the Gallagher Grand Prix of Indianapolis event) is dropped to 3rd behind Dixon) as part of its Indycar/NASCAR double-header but he is already out of championship contention as Scott McLaughlin's Penske teammate & twice Indycar champion Josef Newgarden (Who is the most recent Indy 500 winner this year) is all over Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate of 2021 champion of Spain's Alex Palou (Who is currently the points leader) in terms of the championship but there are rumors about New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen heading over to America next year of competing in NASCAR despite his intentions of remaining in Australia to compete in the Supercars Championship (In which he has struggled to adapt with Gen 3 although Erebus Motorsport & their driver of Australian Brodie Kostecki are currently the top team & driver excelling in that era).

And news related to the rugby such as the world champion Springboks side have announced their 2023 Rugby World Cup squad as they brought 21 survivors from their winning campaign in 2019 (Compared to the All Blacks who brought on 7 survivors from our success in 2015 such as current captain Sam Cane, Beauden Barrett, Dane Coles, Brodie Retallick, Aaron Smith, Codie Taylor & Sam Whitelock) such as captain Siya Kolisi as well as Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk (One of 4 halfbacks in the squad along with Jaden Hendrikse, Reinach & Grant Williams but why have they chosen to take 4 halfbacks on the plane to France? So that de Klerk can cover at first five while Williams could cover on the wing position & there was an interesting selection of Deon Fourie who used to play at hooker, is now playing in the loose forward position to compensate the 2 hookers being picked by coach Jacques Nienaber such as Marx (A hooker who can cover the loose forward position) & Mbonambi), Pieter-Steph du Toit (The 2019 World Rugby player of the year who is the main star attraction of the Springbok team), Eben Etzebeth, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Willie le Roux, Frans Malherbe, Makazole Mapimpi, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Franco Mostert, Trevor Nyakane, Cobus Reinach, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Duane Vermeulen & Damian Willemse but they didn't include Handre Pollard as he misses the tournament through injury along with England's Jack van Poortvliet (Who will miss the tournament altogether along with New Zealand's Sevu Reece, George Bower & Braydon Ennor, Ken Owens of Wales, Lukhanyo Am of South Africa & France's Romain Ntamack now have joined the casualty ward along with Paul Willemse (Who is ruled out of the World Cup altogether with a bad injury so Bastien Chalureau who was originally not in the squad, gets the call up by French coach Fabien Galthie) now, but Ntamack will be sorely missed after that in which they made New Zealand as the clear but slight favourites to win the tournament following Ntamack's injury) after their win against Wales (In which England where down to 12 players from that point) therefore they bounced back from defeat in Cardiff (Alex Mitchell has been called into the squad immediately as an injury replacement, for van Poortvliet, followed by Jonny May who replaced the unfortunate Anthony Watson who will miss the tournament through injury), while coach Eddie Jones has revealed Australia's World Cup squad by naming both Tate McDermott & Will Skelton (Who is in fact an skipper desperately light on experience) as their co-captains instead of James Slipper, but they have included the man known as 'The Tongan Thor' of Taniela Tupou (Who got injured in the ill-fated Rugby Championship decider in Melbourne & has not played since but they didn't include Allan Ala'alatoa through a serious injury sustained in Bledisloe I) as well as a surprise selection of young 19-year old winger Max Jorgensen into the squad (And there is no Quade Cooper in the World Cup squad, but they have chosen both young Carter Gordon & Ben Donaldson who can cover at fullback as their first fives while the Wallabies had to fire their assistant coach prior to the tournament, & they had to bring that one in as his replacement).

And something terrible has occurred at the island of Maui in the American state of Hawaii as wildfires burst through killing 106 people in the process in this terrible & shocking event according to the news conference as being said by the Hawaii governor so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the family of the victims during that sad & difficult time in which they made the deadliest wildfires had happened in America since 1918.

And finally in cricket that I have revealed my favourite men's Cricket World Cup memory is in fact 2015 where the New Zealand Black Caps played against South Africa (Well to start with that in 2015 that both sides of NZ & SA have never reached the final before with New Zealand fell at the last hurdle against eventual champions Pakistan led by that great player of Imran Khan in 1992 after the late NZ captain Martin 'Marty' Crowe got injured during the match by pulling a hamstring & also South Africa missed out on a place in the final in the same year as England denied them a chance due to the wet weather conditions that ruined them at the SCG in Sydney according to my previous blogs) in the semifinal at the garden of Eden of Eden Park in Auckland where we won the match with South African born player playing for the Black Caps of Grant 'The Hairy Javelin' Elliott hitting the winning six with 2 deliveries remaining just like Kane Williamson did against Australia at the same ground where he hit a six down the ground to win the match, to advance to our 1st ever men's CWC final in history (In which we fell short against the dominant Australia side including New Zealand captain at the time of Brendon McCullum got bowled by an incredible bowler of Australia's Mitchell Starc earlier in the match in which we continued to lose wickets which resulted in defeat), & it was better than 2019 that New Zealand had booked a place in appearing in another final (In which we should've won against the hosts at the time of England (Who had to win their 1st men's Cricket World Cup title by virtue of the most boundaries being scored which resulted heartbreak for New Zealand after Guptill got run out by England's Jos Buttler off a brilliant throw from his English teammate of Jason Roy, 2 years before we redeemed ourselves by winning the inaugural World Test Championship against India in the final in Southampton, England, which was during the COVID-19 age period) in one of the greatest finals in sports history) after our win in the semi against India (Including Martin 'Guppy' Guptill's run out on 'Captain Cool' Mahendra Singh 'MS' Dhoni in which was deemed to be a no ball for an illegal field that went unnoticed by the umpires was in fact, the memorable but defining moment of the game).

So that is my 514th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 38th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Derail/Semi-Normal: My 37th blog of the year 2023

Well, another great win by the AB's over the Wallabies under the roof in Bledisloe II at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin with that match winning penalty goal scored by none other than Richie Mo'unga (The departing All Black along with 7 others like Beauden Barrett, Dane Coles, Shannon Frizell, Brodie Retallick (Who is nursing an injury which keeps him out for 4 to 6 weeks including both the South Africa & France game), Aaron Smith, Codie Taylor & Sam Whitelock with tons of experience that will be sorely missed by next year) in our last Aotearoa test of 2023 (Including Australia who led at 17 - 3 at halftime) then we play the world champion Springboks side again at Twickenham in London, England, in part 2 of international rugby's most storied rivalry as well as our last test before the Rugby World Cup, but New Zealand's 33 man squad for RWC 2023 has been revealed over at Napier in Hawke's Bay, in which the region had been impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle 6 months ago so here is the squad that had been announced in full:

Hookers:

Dane Coles (Hurricanes / Wellington)

Codie Taylor (Crusaders / Canterbury)

Samisoni Taukei’aho (Chiefs / Waikato)

Props:

Ethan de Groot (Highlanders / Southland)

Nepo Laulala (Blues / Counties Manukau)

Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes / Tasman)

Fletcher Newell (Crusaders / Canterbury)

Ofa Tu’ungafasi (Blues / Northland)

Tamaiti Williams (Crusaders / Canterbury)

Locks:

Scott Barrett (Crusaders / Taranaki)

Brodie Retallick (Chiefs / Hawkes Bay)

Tupou Vaa’i (Chiefs / Taranaki)

Sam Whitelock (Crusaders / Canterbury)

Loose forwards:

Sam Cane (Captain, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty)

Shannon Frizell (Highlanders / Tasman)

Luke Jacobson (Chiefs / Waikato)

Dalton Papali’i (Blues / Counties Manukau)

Ardie Savea (Hurricanes / Wellington)

Halfbacks:

Finlay Christie (Blues / Tasman)

Cam Roigard (Hurricanes / Counties Manukau)

Aaron Smith (Highlanders / Manawatu)

First-five eighths:

Beauden Barrett (Blues / Taranaki)

Damian McKenzie (Chiefs / Waikato)

Richie Mo’unga (Crusaders / Canterbury)

Midfielders:

Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes / Taranaki)

David Havili (Crusaders / Tasman)

Rieko Ioane (Blues / Auckland)

Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs / Waikato)

Outside backs:

Caleb Clarke (Blues / Auckland)

Leicester Fainga’anuku (Crusaders / Tasman)

Will Jordan (Crusaders / Tasman)

Emoni Narawa (Chiefs / Bay of Plenty)

Mark Telea (Blues / North Harbour)

And the latest on the Football Women's World Cup as here are the results of the round of 16 that just come in:

Switzerland 1 - 5 Spain

Japan 3 - 1 Norway

Netherlands 2 - 0 South Africa

Sweden 0 (5) - 0 (4) United States

England 0 (4) - 0 (2) Nigeria

Australia 2 - 0 Denmark

Colombia 1 - 0 Jamaica

& France 4 - 0 Morocco

And finally here are the confirmed matches being played in the quarter finals in this years Football Women's World Cup tournament:

Spain Vs Netherlands

Japan Vs Sweden

Australia Vs France

& England Vs Colombia

So that is my 513th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 37th of this year, viva Ukraine.