It was this morning of the Euros in Lyon during the Semifinal stages when the Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal (Well, Portugal has been to a final before so it was 2004 (The same year that Athens hosted the Summer Olympics) that the last time Portugal (Who had hosted a tournament which featured the likes of the great Luis Figo) had played in the final and lost against Greece which is a miracle for the Greeks because they were doing the Leicester City way back then) beat his Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale's Wales (Who made their successful tournament debut by topping Group B ahead of England and Slovakia before beating Kyle Lafferty's Northern Ireland in the round of 16 & Belgium featuring Kevin de Bruyne in the Quarterfinals) to go through to the final of UEFA Euro 2016 after winning the match by 2 goals to nil (Ronaldo scored the 1st goal while he created the 2nd goal for his former team-mate of Manchester United, Nani) but who will take on Portugal whether it's the world champions Germany (Led by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer permanently for Bastian Schweinsteiger) or the hosts France (Led by Spurs goalie Hugo Lloris) at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
It has been a rocky road start for Thomas Muller's Germany as they beat Ukraine in the opener before settling for the draw against the Robert Lewandowski (Who plays for German champions Bayern Munich) led Poland (Who beat Xherdan Shaqiri's Switzerland in the Round of 16 and lost to Portugal in the quarterfinals on penalties) then beating Northern Ireland (Who lost to Wales in the round of 16 match) to top Group C and qualified by taking on the Marek Hamsik's Slovakia in which they won in a convincing fashion then they had to take on Daniele de Rossi's Italy (Who knocked out holders Spain which featured Manchester City's David Silva in the Round of 16 after losing to Robbie Keane's Republic of Ireland in the final game of Group E) in the Quarterfinals but during the match, Arsenal's Mesut Ozil scored the 1st goal of the game before the Italians awarded a penalty through a Jerome Boateng (Who is Robert Lewandowski's team-mate) handball as defender Leonardo Bonucci equalized and after 90 minutes, the game went into extra time and both teams didn't get their 2nd goals so they went into penalties but in the end, Germany proved too strong against Italy to progress through to the semifinals taking on Paul Pogba's France which began their campaign with wins against Romania in the opener and Albania before drawing with Switzerland (Who lost to Poland on penalties in the Round of 16 & during the match against the hosts, the ball did however burst during a challenge between Griezmann and Valon Behrami) to top Group A to take on Republic of Ireland in the Round of 16 as they beat them by 2 goals scored by Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann to 1 before facing debutants Iceland who caused the big upset in the Round of 16 dismantling the Wayne Rooney (Who plays for Manchester United) led England 2-1 in the Quarterfinals and they thrashed them 5-2 with goals scored by Ozil's team-mate of Arsenal, Olivier Giroud who netted in twice, Paul Pogba of Juventus, Dimitri Payet and Griezmann for the hosts to advance through to the Semifinal stages of Euro 2016 as well as Kolbeinn Sigporsson and Birkir Bjarnsson for Iceland who are out of the competition.
And it's been 12 days since my cousin Paige sent me an email so she wrote about that she is great to hear from me and she is actually watching test match rugby at the moment so fingers crossed that they will win and she also wrote that she is a faculty administrator at open polytechnic and she is loving it which is good and she also wrote that she will read my blog when she gets the chance but she also wrote that she must bring her boyfriend Jarrod up to meet me in a couple of months and see my Dad and also the All Blacks 3rd and final test match against Wales under the roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium as Wales slumped to their heaviest defeat to New Zealand in 13 years as Beauden Barrett inspired the All Blacks to a 46-6 victory in the 3rd Test in Dunedin. First five eighth Barrett scored 26 points, including two 2nd-half tries, as the world champions swept aside the tired tourists to secure a 3-0 series whitewash. Dan Biggar kicked two penalties to give Wales an early lead at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, but it was all New Zealand thereafter as they blitzed the visitors with six tries. Ben Smith and George Moala scored in the first half before Dane Coles, Barrett twice and Israel Dagg in stoppage time completed the rout. The All Blacks showed 5 changes, including a debut for Highlanders blindside flanker Elliot Dixon at his home stadium. Biggar twice kicked Wales ahead in the opening quarter with penalties, the first inside three minutes and the second just seconds after Barrett briefly levelled. Barrett controlled the hosts' play but Ben Smith proved the danger. The pair combined for a counter-attack but Smith was held up by Rhys Patchell. Kieran Read attacked from the resulting scrum before halfback Aaron Smith, winning his 50th cap, switched direction to Ben Smith on the right wing. He rode the tackle of Hallam Amos to touch down for the opening try on 23 minutes. Barrett missed the conversion but swiftly kicked a penalty for an 11-6 lead. Wales' kicking game continued to hand the All Blacks plenty of possession and new centre Moala went close to a second. Dagg and Ben Smith burst clear but Moala was ruled to have lost the ball under the challenge of Liam Williams, who was injured in the process. Wales thought they had cleared the danger only for Dagg to mount another swift attack as he brushed past opposite number Patchell with ease. Brodie Retallick, Julian Savea and Aaron Smith kept the move going and Moala picked up and drove over from close range for the second try on 33 minutes. Barrett converted for an 18-6 lead that they held until half-time despite a strong Wales surge just before the break. Luke Charteris, Sam Warburton and Jamie Roberts all went close but, unlike in the final stages in Wellington last week, Wales could not find the scoring pass. New Zealand began the 2nd half at the same blistering pace, while Welsh errors meant they struggled to clear the danger. A forward pass by Jonathan Davies behind his own try line handed New Zealand an attacking scrum and Barrett crashed through for a try that he converted himself. Wales were given a glimmer of light when New Zealand were reduced to 14 men after Sam Cane was shown a yellow card early in the 2nd half. But Wales could not capitalise and the All Blacks struck next just moments after Cane returned. Barrett, now playing at fullback, raced onto Lima Sopoaga's long pass to beat Amos and Biggar to his second try. Hooker Coles burst through for the All Blacks' 5th try on 62 minutes but Sopoaga saw his effort ruled out for failing to ground the ball after Welsh replacement Ellis Jenkins spilled a lose-ball. Wales kept searching for a try but were caught in the third minute of stoppage time when Dagg raced upfield to complete a big win.
And in other international rugby news such as 6 Nations Grand Chelem champions England getting a clean sweep against the Rugby Championship champions the Wallabies at Allianz Stadium in Sydney as well as the Springboks in all of a sudden won the test series 2 - 1 against Ireland over in Port Elizabeth but the Super Rugby season is back in full swing (The matches were held in 6 different countries including Argentina, Australia, Fiji, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa) as the Chiefs moved top of the Super Rugby standings on Friday after they beat the Crusaders 23 - 13 in Suva (Ni sa Bula Vinaka eh? Which means greetings in Fijian) in a gripping New Zealand derby. 3 points adrift of their rivals before kick-off and with a worse points differential, the outfit from Waikato knew they had to deprive their opponents of any points if they could not claim the try bonus. And the former is what they managed thanks to a late penalty goal. James Lowe and Brad Weber scored the Chiefs' tries while Damian McKenzie kicked 13 points. Jone Macilai crossed for the Crusaders. The weather was atrocious in Suva for expansive rugby but such is the quality of the sides that the skill sets were outstanding, as the Fijian crowd enjoyed its first taste of Super Rugby. ANZ National Stadium was packed in what is hopefully their first of many matches. It was all the Crusaders for the opening 15 minutes but credit to the Chiefs who held firm on their own line before eventually an offence was spotted by referee Andrew Lees. Richie Mo'unga sent over the simple penalty on 19 minutes and the Crusaders deservedly led. Such is the class of this Chiefs outfit though that they only need a sniff and that was all it took when centre Seta Tamanivalu's lovely grubber through saw Lowe ground in the rain. McKenzie judged the wind perfectly to knock over the extras as suddenly the it was 7-3. The lead became 7 on the half-hour mark when Crusaders hooker Codie Taylor was penalised at the ruck and McKenzie did the rest. High class rugby kept coming until the break and it was the Chiefs who would increase their lead when a moment of magic from McKenzie saw him break and offload to Weber, who showed pace to score. At 17 - 3 this result would be enough to take them above the Crusaders. But credit to the pre-game Super Rugby leaders as they were not to be outdone late in the half, when a move started by Nemani Nadolo went out to the right where Jordan Taufua put the ball inside to Macilai for the finish. That made it a 17-10 deficit to cap an excellent half. The Chiefs thought they had their third try of the game in the 46th minute when Anton Lienert-Brown crossed after a breakout that involved replacement Sam McNicol and McKenzie. However the latter's foot was in touch so it was chalked off. In truth it deserved five points. Both sides continued to try their hand and refused to go into their shell as the contest reached a key period coming up to the hour, with only three points from the boot of McKenzie troubling the scorers. That meant it was 20-10, this after Aaron Cruden had been introduced. So with time ticking on the Chiefs knew their objective was to keep the Crusaders outside the seven-point zone. It looked they hadn't managed it when Mo'unga made it 20-13 from 25 metres out with six minutes remaining but when McKenzie responded with the last kick of the game, the result and top spot was secured with just two rounds to play.
The Brumbies made a winning return to Super Rugby after securing a deserved 43-24 victory over the Reds in Canberra (G'day eh?) & The Waratahs kept their play-off hopes alive when they cruised to a convincing 57-12 victory over the Sunwolves in Tokyo (Konnichi wa eh?).
The Hurricanes fought back from a seven-point half-time deficit to claim a 37-27 victory over the Blues in Wellington (Kia Ora eh?). In yet another superb advert for New Zealand rugby, both sides stayed true to their attacking roots, running the ball from all areas of the field and the result means the Hurricanes moved into second place in the New Zealand Conference standings, above the Crusaders who lost against the Chiefs in Suva on Friday. The Blues, meanwhile, are still at the bottom on the New Zealand Conference and look set for another season without play-off rugby. The opening half was a thrilling affair with both sides attacking at every opportunity and after Beauden Barrett and Piers Francis traded early penalties, it was the Blues who drew first blood via a Kara Pryor try in the 12th minute. This after Male Sa'u set him up with a strong run in the build-up, in which he showed great strength in shrugging off the attentions of Vaea Fifita before getting a pass out to the on-rushing Kara Pryor, who outpaced the cover defence before diving over. The Hurricanes didn't take long to reply, and five minutes later Reg Goodes burrowed his way over the whitewash from close quarters for his side's opening try. The home side replied with the first of two tries from Jerome Kaino. The All Blacks enforcer displaying great determination as he powered his way through a Barrett tackle close to the Hurricanes' try-line. 2 minutes later, an Ihaia West fumble inside his 22 was pounced on by Dane Coles, who kicked the ball ahead before diving on it and Barrett's conversion meant the sides were level at 17-17 by the 20th minute. Kaino then showed great pace as he burst through a ruck and set off on a 25 metre run before crossing for a deserved try. Piers Francis slotted the conversion which meant the visitors led 24-17 at half-time. Francis extended his side's lead with a three-pointer from the kicking tee, three minutes after the restart, but Barrett narrowed the gap with two penalties of his own which meant the deficit was reduced to four points by the 50 minute mark. Shortly afterwards, the hosts regained the lead when Vaea Fifita got over after Coles, Victor Vito and Vince Aso were prominent in the build-up. The next 15 minutes saw both sides giving their all in a bid to secure the result. It was the Hurricanes who managed to do that however when Fifita breached the visitors' defence in the 70th minute with a strong run, before going over for his second try which secured a crucial victory for his side.
The Stormers recorded a bonus point win as they beat the Rebels 57-31 in Melbourne as the visitors dominated the set pieces while the Cheetahs won 30-29 against the Force in Bloemfontein (Hallo daar eh?) after fighting off a courageous comeback from the Perth side and the Jaguares picked up only their third victory of the Super Rugby season on Saturday as they beat the Bulls 29-11 in Buenos Aires (Hola eh?).
The Highlanders kept in touch with New Zealand's high-flying teams with a 48-18 win over the Kings at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. It wasn't pretty but the visitors got the job done with the try bonus point also secured thanks to a late onslaught that saw them cross at will. Earlier Matt Faddes had gone over for two tries while Dan Pryor and Jack Wilson also crossed before Patrick Osborne went over and Faddes added his third, with Aki Seiuli scoring at the death to add the gloss. Wandile Mjekevu and Steven Sykes replied for the Kings, who were spirited in defeat as the scoreline did not reflect how the game played out. It was an error-strewn first half in Port Elizabeth as only two tries were claimed, despite numerous chances especially for the visitors. Jamie Joseph had opted to name a largely second-string side for the fixture but he was forced to bring Lima Sopoaga into his starting XV after Marty Banks was injured in the week. They were still however without the likes of stars Aaron Smith, Waisake Naholo and Ben Smith. The Kings could have been in front in the seventh minute when Highlanders second-row Mark Reddish, making his 50th Super Rugby appearance, took out halfback Ntando Kebe at the base of a ruck. But Elgar Watts missed with his attempt as it remained 0-0 after a scrappy opening. Sopoaga made no such mistake in the 14th minute after Kings hooker Edgar Marutlulle was penalised for making a high tackle and then came a contentious moment as centre Shane Gates was yellow carded for dropping Tom Franklin on his shoulder at a ruck. It could have been a red. The Highlanders though made the most of their man advantage as sustained pressure led to Faddes going over from a standing start for 10-0. However, the Kings then had something to cling to in the closing stages of the half when Watts landed three points before Mjekevu crossed from a flat pass from Kebe. Unfortunately for the hosts, Watts could not add the conversion that would have levelled matters at the break. The Highlanders were forced into a change at half-time as Shane Christie suffered an injury with Dan Pryor replacing the skipper on the flank. And he was a tireless worker in the second period, but not before Faddes had claimed his brace on the left, making it 15-8 after 46 minutes. The aforementioned Dan Pryor was next to cross on 54 minutes from the back of a maul as suddenly the Highlanders were hunting the bonus point. But those hopes of a maximum looked to have been quashed when the Kings went over through Sykes, capping a lovely move that made it 20-18. Such is the quality of the defending champions though that they regrouped and launched a late onslaught, with tries from wing duo Wilson and Osborne wrapping up not only the victory but also the bonus point before Faddes raced over for a treble and Seiuli made it 48-18.
And of course the Lions (Which includes 2 danger men including captain Warren Whiteley as well as Springbok winger Ruan Combrinck) secured top spot in Africa 2 on Saturday after they beat the Sharks 37-10 in a one-sided clash at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
So that was Round 15 of the 2016 Super Rugby season and here are the matches for Round 16 (Which is the penultimate round):
Blues Vs Brumbies: Eden Park, Auckland
Reds Vs Chiefs: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Lions Vs Kings: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Crusaders Vs Rebels: AMI Stadium (Rugby League Park), Christchurch
Waratahs Vs Hurricanes: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Force Vs Stormers: nib Stadium, Perth
Bulls Vs Sunwolves: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Sharks Vs Cheetahs: Kings Park Stadium, Durban
& the Jaguares Vs Highlanders at Jose Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires to end Round 16 of Super Rugby 2016.
And finally I also went to the unveiling on Saturday which is about both Nan's grave and garden but 2 days ago it was Poppa's birthday and we had dinner there as well as dessert then we had a chat to him but today Me & Pops went to the garden centre to pick up some stuff for the garden splash centre to go on a warm pool then a cold pool before I went on a rowing machine and after that we went to 15A kells avenue to do our jobs before we went to Caroline's for lunch because I had a steak there with chips and salad and after that we went back to 15a Kells Avenue to do our jobs for Nan's garden for several minutes before we had our last card challenge which I always win and then after that, we had a dessert there before we went to New World to get the meal deal which is pasta as well as the cold meat and Clausthaler's and guess who I saw, I saw Leon Benbaruk my good old mentor and we had a short chat to him about the Euros as well as Sophie (That Malaysian chick straight outta Penang) coming here next week because I will be seeing him and Hanne (That good old Danish Terminator) next week when we have dinner x lunch before heading back home to do my blog which I am writing right now.
P.S. And I would like to say Hi to Poppa's sister Kathryn as well as her partner from between Bristol and Portsmouth Ken + Kathryn's children Gemma, Huia & Ben as well as Gemma's daughter Rosalie (She was named after a character from the movie Twilight). And it is only 30 days til the Rio Olympics so I am looking forward to this but let's hope that all water events including kayaking, rowing & sailing could be cancelled because of water pollution being caused from it.
Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Thursday, 23 June 2016
My 50th Blog: The best of 2012 - 2016 (Greatest Hits + Another longest blog ever made)
Well today I was with Poppa so we went to the hot pool (Well I watched the Euros with Robbie Keane's Republic of Ireland beating Daniele de Rossi's Italy 1 - 0 as well as Kevin de Bruyne's Belgium defeated the Zlatan Ibrahimovic led Sweden with a 1 - 0 victory) at the Splash Centre before we went to his home (I was trying to find the old photos of my aunty Cathey Middelplaats and my cousin Paige Williams but I couldn't find one so Poppa could find the old photos tomorrow once he finishes work) and played Last Card and won 5 - 2 just before we got the meal deal (Which is tacos or tortillas which I'm kinda confused) at New World and went to the Japanese Takeaway Momiji place where we had a miso soup as well as a chicken teriyaki bento box and it tasted very nice because I rated the restaurant 5 stars but Pops just scored a 9 out of 10 just before we went to the Rutland where we had something sweet (I had a chocolate cheesecake while Pops had a oaty caramel slice but he did not eat all of it because I finished off all of it).
And so on to my 50th blog which I will celebrate the best bits of 2012 - 2016 so here it is starting in 2012 (That was 4 years ago when I 1st started blogging) which is Jansen's Birthday Blog (London 2012 Olympics Report) is about Jansen turning 9 years old as well as the review of the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, England, United Kingdom & the final of the 2012 Super Rugby season between the Chiefs & the Sharks:
Today is Jansen's birthday & I have not been doing a blog ever since Nan & Pops went away to Vanuatu.
Almost 2 weeks ago, the 30th Summer Olympic Games in London, Great Britain already started then a week later, we picked up our 1st gold medal of London 2012 (After already winning Bronze medals) with the rowing double sculls duo of Nathan Cohen & Joseph Sullivan, then a day later, another gold was won by Hamish Bond & Eric Murray in the pairs, then nek minnit, Mahe Drysdale picked up his 1st gold medal ever (And 3rd for New Zealand at the games) in the single sculls 4 years after settling for the bronze medal due to being plagued by a stomach problem which cost him his chance of getting his 1st gold medal in Beijing, China. But after the Beijing nightmare, Drysdale does what he now does best in London.
Then on Saturday after the Kiwis golden hour in London, we cross over to Hamilton (AKA 'the Tron') for the Super Rugby final between the Chiefs (Hosts) & Sharks (Away team), The start of the game did not go well when the Frenchman playing for the Sharks of Frederic Michalak nailed the 1st penalty kick of the final until according to plan when Tim-Nanai Williams (SBW's cousin because they are related) scored the 1st try of the final with Aaron Cruden successfully took the conversion before nailing 2 penalties before halftime when the Chiefs were leading 13 - 3, but in the 2nd half, another Chiefs try was scored by Kane Thompson with the assistance of a TMO (TV Match Offical) then Michalak scored another successful penalty which put the Sharks to 6 despite being down by 13 points & in the 61st minute, Sonny Bill Williams (Who is having his last Super Rugby match here) made a great tackle, allowing the Sharks player to lose the ball before Lelia Masaga picked the ball up & scored the Chiefs their 3rd try of the final, moments before SBW was embraced by his loyal fans after scoring his famous farewell try in the 77th minute but 3 minutes later, the match was over when the Chiefs made history of taking the Super Rugby title honours for the 1st time ever with the final score of 37 - 6 as well as 2 commanders in chief (Co-captains Craig Clarke & Liam Messam), grab their 1st taste by lifting the Super Rugby trophy.
Then now a week later on Friday (Yesterday we did have a birthday dinner for Jansen, as we asian/chinese food for dinner that we got at the chinese takeaway shop in Victoria Avenue & dessert is blue jelly, cream & yoghurt before having Jansen's birthday cake), another gold medal was won by the women's sailing duo of 'Team Jolly' consisting of Jo 'Jox' Aleh & Olivia 'Polly' Powrie (New Zealand's 1st golden girls of London 2012), not only because I watched these ladies win, then next morning, went off to Palmy and rode on a go-kart at the Daytona Indoor Raceway before having Macca's for lunch and went for a swim at the Lido Aquatic Centre moments before we left Palmy hours before tuning in to the Olympics & the women's kayaking final was on as Lisa Carrington competed for the gold medal & she did because it was a success so she was good now that Carrington won (However, she too joined the London 2012 NZ Olympic golden girls ranks as Aleh & Powrie did), bringing the gold medal tally to 5 (Now 6 since Val Adams handed the gold medal when Nadzeya Ostapchuk was stripped of her Olympic women's shot put title crown).
And on Monday, London 2012 Olympics was now officially finished but nek minnit on Tuesday, there was big news about Valerie Adams (Formerly Valerie Vili), in Switzerland after leaving London post Olympics & now disappointed and devastated about losing the Olympic women's shot-put title to Nadezya Ostapchuk by getting a silver medal, Chef de mission Dave Currie made a decision to call Adams and he also had to say: ''Valerie Adams....and I quote, you are now & still, once again, the Olympic women's shot put champion because of your Belrussian rival, Ostapchuk, had been disqualified after failing a drug test so congrats Val, good on ya MATEY!!!'' And this moment was changed when Adams had been awarded the gold when Ostapchuk is stripped of gold medal following her drug testing scandal failure then a day later, the 4 of the 6 gold medalists arrived back home at Auckland International Airport as well as all the 2 Silver medalists (Not Adams since she got the gold from Ostapchuk) including Sarah Walker (BMX) & the men's sailing duo of Pete Burling & Blair Tuke plus the 3 of the 5 bronze medalists came home with Peter Taylor & Storm Uru (Men's lightweight rowing), the ladies rowing pair of Juliette Haigh & Wanganui's own Rebecca Scown who was born in Hawera which is located in the Taranaki (AKA 'the Naki') region (She has a brother named Sam who plays rugby for the Wanganui Heartland Rugby Championship team) & of course, Simon Van Velthoven in the keirin cycling because he was a joint bronze medalist (British cycling great Sir Chris Hoy got the gold medal) & finally last night as of today, I finally went to Vision's for the 1st time ever by having dinner over there plus a free dessert before me & my father went home to wrap up Thursday, the 16th of August 2012 (4 days post Olympics).
And now onto 2013 featuring Rush Movie Review (+ Other News Including the All Black & Indycar Spirit):
This one is about seeing the Formula 1 movie Rush (A movie about the rivalry of 2 Formula 1 legends James Hunt and Niki Lauda back in 1976 (The same year that Montreal (Which is Aunty Tania & her French Canadian partner Raejean/Giuseppe's hometown) hosted the summer Olympics when New Zealand took home 2 gold medals including 1500 metre runner John Walker as well as the New Zealand men's hockey team) back in 2013 as well as the All Blacks retaining the Rugby Championship in Johannesburg against South Africa as well as beating the Wallabies in the 3rd Bledisloe Cup encounter at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin and Scott Dixon winning his 3rd of his 4 elusive Indycar Series titles because this one is called Rush Movie Review (+ Other News Including the All Black & Indycar Spirit)
Well, it has been a great but terrible/wayward day of setbacks such as Emirates Team NZ missing out on bringing the America's Cup home by losing to Oracle Team USA who went down to win all 8 races to defend the Auld Mug & truimphs such as the All Blacks winning the Rugby Championship...again (Just like last year + Brilliant super All Black tries scored by Ben Smith, Liam Messam (Twice), Beauden Barrett & Kieran Read), beating South Africa in Johannesburg by 38 points to 27 for only the 4th time at Ellis Park as well as maintaining the AB's Rugby Championship record to still 100% (A record total of 12 out of 12 victories so far in the history) + SBW's Sydney Roosters claim the NRL Premiership in 11 years, beating the Sea Eagles of Manly-Warringah 26 to 18.
But last week, me & Poppa finally went to see the movie about the ultimate rivalry in Formula 1 between James Simon Wallis Hunt (Played by Chris Hemsworth who appeared on the Avengers as Thor, Norse God of Thunder) & Andreas Nikolaus ''Niki'' Lauda (Played by Daniel Brühl) called Rush which is set during the 1976 Formula 1 Season but the movie starts when both highly skilled racing drivers who first develop a fierce rivalry (Although they were close friends off the track) in 1970 at a Formula 3 race at the Crystal Palace circuit in England, when both their cars spin out before Hunt eventually wins the race.
James Hunt AKA Hunt The Shunt is a brash young Briton with a tendency to vomit before every race, while Niki Lauda (The Austrian) is a cool, calculating technical genius who relies on precision. After a fallout with his father, Lauda takes a large bank loan and buys his way into the BRM Formula 1 team, meeting teammate & friend from Switzerland, Gianclaudio ''Clay'' Regazzoni for the first time.
Meanwhile, Hesketh, the fledgling racing team Hunt drives for, enters Formula 1 as well when Lauda then joins Ferrari (One of the best teams in the F1 business) with Regazzoni and wins his first of his 3 F1 world championships in 1975 but Hesketh closes down shop after failing to secure sponsorship, but Hunt makes a decision to go to McLaren (However, I did react in the movie that after James Hunt left Hesketh because I was explaining that Hunt is going to McLaren) after Emerson ''Emmo'' Fittipaldi departs the team. During this time, Hunt marries supermodel Susie Miller, while Lauda begins his relationship with socialite Marlene Knaus.
The 1976 F1 World Championship begins with Lauda dominating the first two races while Hunt struggles to catch up before Hunt wins the Spanish Grand Prix, but is immediately disqualified following a post-race inspection rules that his McLaren was illegal & too wide. Struggling to comply with F1 rules & regulations, McLaren suffers a series of setbacks on the next few races, and Hunt's situation is further investigated (Dealt with) when Suzy is discovered to have a relationship with movie director Richard Burton. Following his divorce, he regains his competitive spirit and his disqualification in Spain is overturned, reinstating the points he lost and putting him back into championship contention. Meanwhile, Lauda marries Marlene in a private ceremony but starts to have fears about the concerns of both, his marriage & on his racing career which put him up like a lightning bolt.
At the Großer Preis auf Deutschland, Lauda requests the sports governing body FIA to boycott the race due to wet weather conditions on a race track which is considered very dangerous at the Nürburgring (AKA The Green Hell by Sir Jackie Stewart) containing a total of 160 corners (According to the stats that the Nürburgring is considered be the most challenging and demanding circuit in the entire universe); the urgency is revoked by majority of the racers after Hunt convinces them that Lauda fears losing the points race meaning that the event would go ahead despite dangerous conditions. Both Hunt and Lauda start the race with wet tires, which proves a costly disadvantage due to most of the circuit becoming dry, but on lap 2, both drivers pit for a tyre change, but halfway through lap 3, Lauda's Ferrari (Which had a suspension arm issue), snapped to the right and spun through the fencing into an enbankment when the car bounced back onto the track, before the Ferrari managed to burst into flames and is further struck by other cars on the circuit, resulting a serious accident. After being pulled out of the flaming wreckage, he is airlifted to the Bundeswehr hospital in Koblenz with 3rd-degree burns to his head and toxic fumes in his lungs but from there, he was flown to the Trauma Clinic in Ludwigshafen, home to Germany's most advanced burn ward at the time, where he fought for his life for the next few days & for the next 6 weeks, Lauda is treated for his injuries while he watches his rival Hunt dominate the races in Austria (At the Österreichring) & the Netherlands (At Zandvoort) in his absence, but Lauda had to wait against his doctor's orders that he returned to the sport as World Championship leader behind the wheel of his Ferrari and after his near fatal accident in Germany at the Gran Premio D'Italia to finish fourth upon his return while Hunt fails to finish the race.
But well, it all has come down to this as the championship deciding 1976 season cliffhanger closes in the land of the rising sun, Japan, as Niki Lauda has a 3 point lead ahead of James Hunt when the race is held at Fuji Speedway near Mount Fuji, in wet weather conditions after organisers agreed to run the race, but at the start, James Hunt took the lead with John Watson and Mario Andretti behind but Nek Minnit, at the end of the 2nd lap, Lauda returns to the pits by retiring from the race (Although there's nothing wrong about his Ferrari as he believed the weather conditions made the track way too dangerous), electing to stay with his wife Marlene instead of risking his life again on the circuit just like his near fatal crash in Germany last time; But now with Lauda withdrawn, James Hunt just needed to win the F1 World Driver's crown by finishing on the podium, but after facing stiff competition under grueling conditions (Hunt began to drop positions once the circuit began to dry out) and overcoming tyre issues (When Hunt's left rear tyre began to wear and he managed to pit), Hunt ended up 3rd on the podium, giving him enough points required to beat Lauda by a single point and win the World Driver's championship (Hunt was the last British F1 World Champion before Nigel Mansell in 1992 and McLaren's 1st British F1 World Champion), to his surprise, in all of a sudden.
After claming his 1st & only F1 WDC, James Hunt spends the rest of the year with fame, sex, and drugs, while Lauda (Who lost the F1 driver's crown but would eventually regain the championship from Hunt in 1977 & claim his last in '84), begins an interest in flying private planes but at a private airfield in Bologna, Lauda suggests Hunt to focus on the next racing season, but later on realizes that Hunt no longer has anything to prove, as Hunt continues to race until his retirement in 1979, and becomes a motorsport broadcast commentator with the legendary Murray Walker until he died in 1993 at 45 after drinking & smoking too much which caused the death.
And the end result: A fine absolute movie ending on a high note like a swashbuckling chapter because it wasn't even bad, it felt good after all (The beginning was like the start of a actual classic Grand Prix when Niki Lauda tried to risk his own life before the crash had happened, but moving on to the next scene 6 years earlier where James Hunt had been involved in an accident when she met his future wife, who was a medic off the track before becoming a supermodel).
+ Here is some other news such as the reigning champion No.1 ranked All Blacks of New Zealand (According to Temuera ''Tem'' Morrison (AKA Dr Hone Ropata (A guy who is not in Guatemala anymore), Jake 'Da Muss' Heke, Jango Fett & the Galactic Republic Clone Troopers) that the AB's are like a Clone Army in a bid for Galactic dominance but of course he said that New Zealand was Once Were Warriors...nah brother...still warriors but he also said that they never lost a rugby game, because they just ran out of time) played their final test match in Aotearoa, deep in the heart of the south in Dunedin, in an indoor venue (Which is Forsyth Barr Stadium), against the Wallabies of Australia, beating them 41 - 33 (Including gr8 tries from Julian Savea, Sam Cane, Aaron Cruden & Kieran Read who is the Captain filling in for Richie McCaw for the 6th time this year) by absolutely roadkilling them 1...last...time...of...2013...but, this my friends, this...is...All...Black...Rugby & for...Scott...Dixon, for claiming his 3rd...Indycar...title, but Scott Dixon's Indycar Championship contention started when he took victory in Pocono + both victories in the streets of Toronto (Which is in Ontario, Canada), motivating his chances of grabbing a 3rd Indycar title (Although, he did not win in Lexington, Ohio as his winning run ended) but however, he thought he was going to take victory in Sonoma, California, moments before the officials have given Dixon a drive-through penalty after hitting one of Will Power's pit crew members, ending his chances of both, a win & his 3rd Indycar Championship, by ending up in 15th after rejoining 21st after serving a drive-through penalty then another setback in Baltimore, Maryland came when Power collided with Dixon and was sent spinning into the wall just before Dixon was later also penalized for interference and after the race, Dixon was 49 points behind with his nearest rival from Brazil, Helio Castroneves, but however, Dixon managed to come back with a victory in Houston, Texas (1st of 2 races) when Castroneves was in trouble by suffering mechanical issues as well as Dixon closed the championship deficit to 8 points with 2 races remaining but a day later, as the 2nd race of the doubleheader was marred by a huge crash involving Dario Franchitti (One of Scott Dixon's Teammates), Takuma Sato & Ernesto ''E.J.'' Viso. On the final lap (Moments before Scott Dixon finished 2nd behind the winner Will Power as well as taking the points lead for the 1st time, managing a 25 point advantage ahead of Castroneves (Who had another bad day by suffering gearbox problems, dropping him down to 23rd) with only 1 round remaining), Franchitti made contact by touching wheels with Sato, and his car was launched up into the catch fence, as debris on the track may have injured 13 spectators, while Franchitti was injured & taken to hospital (Like Niki Lauda did in the movie & real life) with a concussion, fractured ankle, and two spinal fractures while both Sato and Viso were uninjured by managing to walk away the impact and that Indycar crash reminds me straight out of a movie (Not like Rush where the huge accident was entirely different like there was no fire getting caught because there was no clear evidence of a Niki Lauda esque crash).
But well, it all has come down to this as the championship deciding 2013 Indycar Series season cliffhanger closes in Fontana, California at the Auto Club Speedway (Where the late Canadian Indycar racer, Greg Moore was killed in a fatal crash which sent the car into the wall way back in 1999 during a CART/Champ Car event) as Scott Dixon has a 25 point lead ahead of Helio Castroneves, but only Scott Dixon just needed to win the Indycar Series crown by finishing 5th or above, but in the end, Dixon not only ended up finishing 5th, collecting enough points required to defeat Castroneves by 27 points and win the Indycar Series title for only the 3rd time (He previously did that before in 2003 (When he entered the series after spending 2 years in CART/Champ Car as well as taking his rookie of the year honours way back in 2001, his debut year after claiming the Indy Lights title (Which is America's answer to Formula 3000 (Now GP2) in 2000) & 08 (When Champ Car got folded post re-unification, effectively ending the 12 year split which began in 1996 + Dixon also won the Indy 500 during his last, successful championship season) to his surprise, in all of a sudden.
And so, there it is, the end of an unforgettable but lengthy blog about the Rush movie + the All Black rugby & Scott Dixon stuff.
P.S. Oh, hang on, there is a late addition about the German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel being crowned Formula 1 World Champion of 2013 for the 4th consecutive time (Vettel is indeed a record breaker, meaning that he is the sport's youngest ever, quadruple F1 World Driver's Champion, so that's how a driver feels) after winning the race in India (He was the pole man for that race but not only wanting to score another title by finishing 5th or above), only to get pinged by the stewards for a celebratory doughnut which is deemed to be illegal under the rules by repremanding him (Failing to go straight to Parc Ferme) as well as a fine worth $40k, but a week later, he won again in Abu Dhabi (He did not take pole position cause the poleman for that race was his teammate, retirement bound Australian, Mark Webber (Who had a fallout in Round 2 back at Lim/Sophie's home country in Malaysia following that Multi-21 Affair (Much more like the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang sexual scandal and of course, the highly controversial Roastbusters group), where Vettel took the victory by passing his teammate & ignoring team orders), equalling the number of consecutive victories set by Vettel's worthy predecessor, the great Michael Schumacher, of 7, but was once again celebrating by doing a burnout again before putting his Red Bull back to Parc Ferme to avoid getting penalised again.
And onto 2014 about the review of the FIFA World Cup final with Germany (Who coincidentally crushed hosts Brazil 7 goals to 1 in the semifinal) winning their 4th title with a match winning goal scored by Mario Gotze during extra time against the Lionel Messi (Best footballer/soccer player in the world) led Argentina because this one is called #2014FIFAWorldCupFinal, #GermanyVsArgentina: THE REVIEW:
The #2014FIFAWorldCup ended in a final at the Maracana in #Rio, #Brazil/#Brasil (Host nation) which #Germany/#Deutschland prevailed over @LeoMessi (The wonder boy from Rosario) & Co of #Argentina in a 1 - 0 extra time victory scored by another super-sub by the name of @MarioGötze to lift their 4th World Cup trophy along with #Italy/#Italia (Eliminated in the group stage along with #England), but allow me to introduce myself auf deutsch in honor of the victory, meine name ist Whetu Ngapo, ich bin dreiundzwanzig (23) jahre alt und ich komme aus Neuseeland, glauben sie das!
It was before Sunday night when I had to leave my apartment (after having chilli con carne on my own for late lunch) when Nan & Pops have just arrived, so we were on our way to go to Stellar but nek minnit, the restaurant was so full so I had to go with my decision whether we go to Thai Villa, and we had accepted our offer so off we went for dinner & I had some awesome appetizers like spring rolls & satay chicken skewers + the main course was: satay chicken noodles & for dessert was a caramel, ice-cream sundae, and after our memorable pre-world cup sunday night dinner, we headed to 15A Kells Avenue to spend the night here but at 6:00am Monday morning on Bastille day, I was all fired up! By having a shower & getting prepared before going to the embassy for the final & for breakfast, Pops & I had both brekkie muffins & a hot chocolate + an apple each that we took, & here we go! As we are about to approach the movie theatre as dozens of fans took to the stage (And Ja, there are dozens of German fans are in attendence, so ist gunter glieben glauten globen, vorsprung durch technik (Advance/progress through technology, according to car maker Audi, but Mercedes-Benz is Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft's official vehicle sponsor), but before the game started, the head coach/manager of Germany, @JoachimLoew has made an unchanged lineup of personnels (The Goalkeeper is @ManuelNeuer, then the right back: Philipp Lahm (the team captain), the centre backs: @JérômeBoateng & @MatsHummels, the left back is @BenediktHoewedes, then the midfielders: @ChristophKramer (Originally Sami Khedira) & @BastianSchweinsteiger (He's no pig farmer, eh?), the left wing is Thomas Müller, the attacking midfielder is Toni Kroos, then the right wing: Mesut Özil & finally, the centre forward: Miroslav Klose & the subs are: Großkreutz (Defender), Ginter (DF), Schürrle (Forward), Podolski (FW), Zieler (GK), Draxler (Midfielder), Durm (DF), Mertesacker (DF), Götze (MF) & Weidenfeller (GK) with Khedira & Mustafi (DF) being unavailable due to injuries + Germany are playing in the 4-2-3-1 formation which could usually work) which humiliated Brazil, but they put Christoph Kramer in the starting XI instead of Sami Khedira because he can't play because of an injury, with Italian Nicola Rizzoli in charge of the final (The last Italian to take charge of the final was Pierluigi Collina in 2002 when Brazil beat Germany & won).
And yes, after the teams came out onto the venue & the national anthems are played, it is time to get the match underway, with a kick-off by Germany so let's see how it unfolds the World Cup Final in Brazil to remember as the stage is set once more:
29th minute: Schweinsteiger commits a yellow card
31st minute: Christoph Kramer, not looking in good shape as he gets replaced by the almighty super-sub of André Schürrle
34th minute: Hoewedes cops a yellow from the referee Rizzoli, 11 minutes before half-time
But during the 1st half, Argentina had got some good chances like @GonzaloHiguaín having to miss an opportunity by dragging his shot wide after being put through on goal by a misjudged header from Kroos, then he scored a goal, only to be denied by the assistant referee as he was ruled offside after tapping in a cross by @EzequielLavezzi from the right wing, then Germany came so close on different occasions: including a including a header by Hoewedes that struck the Argentine goalpost just before halftime as we tell you the analysis of the 2nd half:
46th minute: Sergio 'Kun' Agüero, comes on for Lavezzi.
64th minute: @JavierMascherano gets booked by the referee
65th minute: So too is Agüero, as he gets yellow carded
78th minute: Argentina is about to make a replacement with @RodrigoPalacio is on for Higuaín
86th minute: And another change for Argentina as @FernandoGago makes his way for @EnzoPérez
88th minute: Then it is Germany's turn to make a 2nd substitution 2 minutes before full-time as Miroslav Josef Klose (Born in Poland but that was Klose) bids his FIFA World Cup career farewell when he is about to be replaced by the match-winning goalscorer of 'Super' Mario (Never mind Balotelli as he failed to adapt) Götze
And during the 2nd half, Messi wasted a chance early, firing wide of the German goal from inside the penalty area after receiving a through pass, so both teams have no score to settle as they enter into extra-time as Schürrle later struck a close-range shot straight at Argentine goalkeeper Romero early in the first half of extra time, after a pass from Götze, then during extra time, when the lob of Palacio went across Neuer by just getting it wide after the forward received a cross, missed by Hummels, in the German penalty area (Moments before Schweinsteiger was summoned off the field by the referee, forcing Germany to play with 10 men after he was lacerated from in the line of fire challenge from Agüero), and now (Wait for it), presenting the here it comes, here it comes, here it comes (Formerly the balls of steel) moment in the 113th minute: and IT IS A GOAL!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!! FROM SUPER MARIO GOETZE OUTTA NOWHERE!!!!! AND HE GOT IT!!! AS GERMANY GO 1 - 0 UP AGAINST ARGENTINA WITH 8 MINUTES LEFT ON THE CLOCK!!! WOW!! STUNNER, ABSOLUTE STUNNER!!! WHAT A SPECIAL GOAL THAT IS!!! FINALLY! The breakthrough at last has come for Die Mannschaft but poor Albiceleste, they have now conceded a goal at extra time for the 1st time in a World Cup (They were once the experts/masters of extra time, but they have now fallen in German hands), but it was a great assist from Schürrle anyway.
And then the 120th & last minute: Final sub of the tournament from the would-be, eventual, champions of the football world as Mertesacker, brought on for Mesut Özil, as 2 minutes of time being added as oh dear! Schweinsteiger commits a foul so Argentina may have to brace themselves for the equaliser to go into penalties, but step up to Leo, as he is about to take the free kick but however, fails to fire moments before the final whistle as THE REFEREE SAYS THAT'S IT!!! IT'S OVER!!! GERMANY/DEUTSCHLAND ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!! FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!! (EINS, ZWEI, DREI UND VIER, DAS IST FANTASTISCHE, EH!!)
And now, onto the awards ceremony as the best goalkeeper/goalie award goes to: Manuel Neuer & the golden ball tournament goes to Messi (Although James Rodriguez of Colombia is the tournament's top-scorer with 6), then after Argentina recieve their runner-up medals, it is Germany's time to shine as they collect the prize winning medals before the President of Brazil, Dilma Roussef to present the trophy to Philipp Lahm as he is about to lift the World Cup Trophy, and THE WORLD CUP!! IS NOW IN GERMANY'S HANDS!!! But so many players in the squad (All 23 of them including the head coach/manager Loew) have the opportunity of a lifetime to touch the trophy, but now on behalf of all to you, es ist der Abschied für uns, as Germany/Deustchland will defend the cup in Russia 2018.
And I like to pay tribute, to the list of World Cup winners spanning from 1930 - 1938 & 1950 - 2014
1930: Uruguay
1934: Italy
1938: Italy
1950: Uruguay
1954: West Germany
1958: Brazil
1962: Brazil
1966: England
1970: Brazil
1974: West Germany
1978: Argentina
1982: Italy
1986: Argentina
1990: West Germany
1994: Brazil
1998: France
2002: Brazil
2006: Italy
2010: Spain
& last but not least, 2014: Germany
And I would like to say apologies for the German because I never speak that language fluently.
And so we fast forward to last year such as Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview but this one is about the preview of the 2015 Rugby World Cup (Won by the All Blacks who had a great but excellent campaign compared to the 1987 & 2011 ones by beating Argentina (Who advanced through to the quarterfinal after finishing runner up in Pool C with victories after losing to New Zealand against Georgia, Tonga & Namibia by beating Ireland (Who topped Pool D with wins against Canada in the opener, Romania, Italy & France (Who took on the AB's in the quarterfinal after losing to Ireland to finish runner up in Pool D after victories against Italy in the opener, Romania & Canada & lost) before losing both to the Wallabies (Who topped the pool of death in Pool A with wins against Fiji in the opener, Uruguay, hosts England (Who got knocked out of their own home turf) & Wales (Who took on South Africa in the quarterfinals after finishing the pool of death in Pool A with victories against Uruguay, hosts England (Who won the World Cup back in 2003) & Fiji before losing to Australia & lost) to advance through to the quarterfinal to take on Scotland (Who beat both Japan & Samoa & losing to the Springboks to finish runner up in Pool B) in which they won (In which the game should've & could've gone to the Scottish under controversial circumstances, they were livid) before beating Argentina in the semifinal & facing the All Blacks in the final in which they missed out by losing to them) in the semifinal & South Africa (Who famously lost to Japan in the opener in one of the greatest upsets & famous wins in the history of the World Cup before topping Pool B with victories against Samoa, Scotland & the United States before advancing through to the quarterfinal by beating Wales before losing to New Zealand in the semifinal & winning against Argentina to claim 3rd place) to determine who will claim 3rd place) in the opener then wins against Namibia, Georgia & Tonga by topping Pool C to advance through to the quarterfinal to take on France in which they won before beating the Boks (Winners in 1995 & 2007) in the semifinal & facing Australia (World Champions in 1991 & 99) in the final in which they won in a convincing fashion because they became the 1st team to go back to back, the 1st to win 3 titles & the 1st time that the All Blacks have won the Rugby World Cup on foreign soil because they have never achieved that before because they finally deserved it by earning our right) held in England (With some matches being played in Wales) which is called Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview.
Well, it is finally here after 4 long years, the 2015 Rugby World Cup...now in this blog, I'll preview about the upcoming 2015 Rugby World Cup being held in England as well as telling the history of both Rugby and previous World Cups.
But 1st off, it is #rugbyworldcup fever time in #england as it plays host to this years tournament so I will give you the full rundown on all the 20 teams competing in the Pools:
Pool A: Australia/Wallabies (Rugby Championship champions of 2015 led by the incomparable hooker Stephen Moore and coached by the highly controversial Michael Cheika), England (The hosts captained by Chris Robshaw with Stuart Lancaster being the coach), Wales (Sam Warburton is the captain, while New Zealander Warren Gatland is the coach), Fiji (Crusaders star player Nemani Nadolo is the danger man) & Uruguay (Who hasn't been competing at the World Cup since 2003)
Pool B: South Africa/Springboks (Led by the influential Jean de Villiers, coached by Heyneke Meyer), Samoa (Featuring Chiefs player & Sonny Bill Williams cousin, Tim Nanai-Williams), Scotland (also featuring NZ born player Sean Maitland coached by Big Vern Cotter), Japan (And also featuring halfback Fumiaki Tanaka who plays for the Highlanders as well as the team being coached by Australian Eddie Jones because he is of Japanese descent) & the United States (Chris Wyles is the skipper)
Pool C: New Zealand/All Blacks (Defending world champions led by World Cup Winner Richie McCaw and coached by Steve Hansen who took over from Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry), Argentina (Captained by Agustin Creevy), Tonga (Nili Latu is the captain), Georgia (Led by Mamuka Gorgodze) & Namibia (Jacques Burger is the skipper)
Pool D: France (Led by Thierry Dusautoir and coached by Philippe Saint-Andre), Ireland (Six Nations Champions captained by Paul O'Connell with another New Zealander Joe Schmidt being the coach), Italy (Sergio Parisse is the captain), Canada (Led by Tyler Ardron and coached by ex All Black Kieran Crowley) & Romania (Mihai Macovei is the skipper).
And who is going to win it, we will find it out, once the tournament's over before we know it, but all will be revealed.
And yes the game was indeed invented by William Webb Ellis the great who invented the game by picking up and ran the ball with it because it was against the rules in football/soccer so a new sport was created way back then.
The 1st World Cup was held back in 1987 with the All Blacks dominated the tournament in which they beat Italy (Including that all time great try from John Kirwan as well as Michael Jones scoring the 1st genuine try of the World Cup because the very 1st try of the World Cup was a penalty try), Fiji and Argentina in the pool games before taking on Scotland in the quarterfinals in which they won and Wales in the semifinals (Huw Richards got sent off for throwing that punch before Wayne 'Buck' Shelford threw a punch on Richards which went unpunished) before clashing with traditional rivals France (Who beat Australia with a desperate last minute try scored by Serge Blanco) in the final moments before New Zealand beat France 29 - 9 (With some great tries being scored by captain David Kirk as well as Kirwan) to win the very 1st ever Rugby World Cup title with Kirk lifting the World Cup title as seen on national television.
And then in 1991 (The year that I was born), the All Blacks world cup curse had begun, losing to eventual champions Australia in the semifinal who beat hosts England in the final...then in 1995, disaster struck as New Zealand (Which featured rugby's 1st global superstar, Jonah Lomu) failed to regain the crown (With several players fell victim to food poisoning with the exception of captain Sean Fitzpatrick and the Brooke brothers of Robin & Zinzan), losing to debutants and hosts South Africa in the final in which united the host country as well as their leader Nelson Mandela, but in 1999, the All Blacks took on rivals and eventual runners up France (Who lost to the eventual champions Australia) in the semifinal but nek minute, they were torn sky blast apart from the French who enjoyed an insane amount of rugby during the 2nd half and then in 2003, something went wrong for the All Blacks during the semifinals as Stirling Mortlock's intercept try for the Wallabies ended New Zealand's hopes of reaching the World Cup final, which was won by England and in 2007 during the quarterfinals, France terminated the All Blacks dream of winning the World Cup just like as it was repeating the heroics way back in '99 through a blatant forward pass not seen by English referee Wayne Barnes (Although South Africa won the tourney beating England in the final).
And so on in 2011, the All Blacks opened with a win over the kingdom of Tonga (Who hijacked us at the start) at Eden Park in Auckland (41 - 10) followed by Japan at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton 83 - 7 (The night before the mighty green throng of Ireland turned the tables on Australia, causing an upset), then France in Auckland (37 - 17) with captain Richie McCaw becoming the 1st All Black to reach 100 test caps followed by beating Canada at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington 79 - 15 (The day after Tonga providing another upset victory over France as well as Dan Carter, who was ruled out of the tournament altogether with a groin injury), then it is quarter final time as we scraped Argentina 33 - 10 in Auckland (Although Colin Slade suffered an injury similar to Dan Carter's), then finally beating against our traditional Trans Tasman rivals Australia (Who defeated South Africa in the quarter final which was better off forgotten) in the semifinal 20 - 6 (It was the night after the French flair titans (Who gave England the chop in the quarterfinal) defeated the Welsh (Who had beaten the mighty green throng in the quarters) in the other semifinal in which Sam Warburton got sent off for that famous spear tackle) before we once again took on France in the final, just as it was back in 1987, with the weight of the nation above our shoulders (Although Stephen 'Beaver' Donald was called up in the last minute whilst he was white baiting, YA GOT THAT!! WHITEBAITING), we have won us the CUP!!! HAIL TO THE KING BABY!!! I'VE GOT BALLS OF STEEL!!! And yeah, not only that we have ended our Rugby World Cup curse after 24 years of agony and pain, as if, not ONLY we beat France 8 - 7, we have managed to lift the World Cup trophy, not only because it is the greatest moment of my life.
P.S. England has just opened up their RWC campaign with a win over Fiji 35 - 11 with fullback Mike Brown claiming man of the match honours as well as the All Blacks had already named their team to play against Argentina in our bid to retain the William Webb Ellis trophy with several players making their World Cup debut in the starting lineup including hooker Dane Coles, lock Brodie Retallick, halfback Aaron Smith, wingers Julian Savea & Nehe Milner-Skudder & fullback Ben Smith. And on the bench is props Wyatt Crockett & Charlie Faumuina, openside flanker Sam Cane, halfback TJ Perenara & 1st five eighth Beauden Barrett.
And finally, now onto this year about the preview of the Euros as well as the best international rugby team in the world, the All Blacks taking on Wales in a 3 match test series because this one is called Euro 2016 & All Blacks vs Wales preview:
Well, today I will be previewing both Euro 2016 (Which is held in France) and the All Blacks versus Wales test series so let's get started on Euro 2016 because I am still looking forward to it so let's have a look at the teams:
Group A
France (Hosts & 2 time winners in 1984 and 2000 (The last time they won with the likes of Patrick Vieira, Didier Deschamps (Who is the current coach/manager of France), Zinedine Zidane (Future Real Madrid coach/manager) & Thierry Henry). Led by Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris + Paul Pogba of Italian champions Juventus is the key player for Les Bleus)
Romania (Featuring Vlad Chichires as a less familiar star player)
Albania (Tournament debutants featuring Lorik Cana as the key player)
Switzerland (Led by Stephan Lichtsteiner while Xherdan Shaqiri is the star player)
Group B
England (Led by key player from FA Cup champions Manchester United, Wayne Rooney)
Russia (Winner of the 1st European Championship in 1960 (under the Soviet Union name) led by Roman Shirokov while the star player of that team is Aleksandr Kokorin)
Wales (Tournament debutants featuring key man Gareth Bale of European champions Real Madrid (Who beat Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final in Milan, Italy) who is the world's most expensive footballer/soccer player)
Slovakia (Fellow tournament debutants led by Martin Skrtel who has taken over the captaincy from star man Marek Hamsik)
Group C
Germany (Reigning world champions & 3 time winners in 1972, 1980 & 1996, captained by Manchester United's Bastian Schweinsteiger while Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller is the star man of Die Mannschaft)
Ukraine (Anatoliy Tymoschuk cpatains the side while the key player for the Ukrainians is Yehven Konoplyanka)
Poland (Led by star man for Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski)
Northern Ireland (Tournament debutants featuring key player Kyle Lafferty)
Group D
Spain (3 time winners in 1964, 2008 & 2012 & defending champions led by Iker Casillas of Porto while David Silva is the star man for La Furia Roja along with the likes of Alvaro Morata, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Thiago Alcantara and Sergio Ramos (Who captained Real Madrid to UEFA Champions League glory (#undecima)
Czech Republic (Winners in 1976 under the Czechoslovakia name to be led by Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal while his teammate is goalie Petr Cech who is the key player)
Turkey (Led by the influential star player of FC Barcelona (Champions of the Club World Cup, the La Liga and the Copa Del Rey), Arda Turan)
Croatia (Led by Darijo Srna with Luka Modric from the UEFA Champions League winning side Real Madrid as it's star player)
Group E
Belgium (Led by Chelsea's Eden Hazard with Kevin de Bruyne as it's star player)
Italy (Winners in 1968 with World Cup winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon leading the side and also featuring is Daniele de Rossi who won the FIFA World Cup for his country a decade ago)
Republic of Ireland (Led by the ageing key player from LA Galaxy in the MLS (Major League Soccer) Robbie Keane)
Sweden (Led by Paris Saint Germain's star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic)
& last but not least, Group F
Portugal (Led by Real Madrid's star player, Cristiano Ronaldo)
Iceland (Tournament debutants led by Aron Gunarsson but the key player for Iceland is Gylfi Sigurdsson)
Austria (Led by Leicester City's Christian Fuchs while David Alaba of German champions Bayern Munich is the star man)
Hungary (Led by key player Balasz Dzsudzak who is trying to emulate Ferenc Puskas's hopes)
And of course the All Blacks will go into the test series against Wales (Led by Gareth Bale's answer to rugby Sam Warburton & featuring the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau, Rhys Webb (Who missed the 2015 Rugby World Cup due to injury), Dan Biggar, Jamie Roberts and George North) as World Champions but the team has been named so here is the starting lineup for the 1st test match at Eden Park (Remember folks that Poppa and I are going to the Wellington one in 9 days time):
1 (Loose head prop): Joe Moody (Canterbury/Crusaders)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Owen Franks (Canterbury/Crusaders)
4 (Lock): Luke Romano (Canterbury/Crusaders)
5 (Lock): Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay/Chiefs)
6 (Blindside Flanker): Jerome Kaino (Auckland/Blues)
7 (Openside Flanker): Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders)
10 (First five eighth): Aaron Cruden (Manawatu/Chiefs)
11 (Left Wing): Julian Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
12 (Second five eighth): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
13 (Centre): Malakai Fekitoa (Auckland/Highlanders)
14 (Right Wing): Waisake Naholo (Taranaki/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Ben Smith (Otago/Highlanders)
And in the reserves are Nathan Harris (Who had won his place ahead of Codie Taylor), Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea (Who makes his debut on the bench), TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett & Seta Tamanivalu (Who also makes his debut on the bench).
So that is my 50th blog for today, look forward to seeing you next time, bye from us.
P.S. (SPOILER ALERT BOYS AND GIRLS, DON'T YA FORGET IT!!! REPEAT AFTER ME FELLAS, SPOILER ALERT!!!) The All Blacks have named their team for the 3rd and final test against Wales at Forsyth Barr Stadium with 12 changes being confirmed with Julian Savea after his poor performance in the 1st test is back at left wing replacing Waisake Naholo who goes to the bench replacing Seta Tamanivalu as well as Highlander Elliot Dixon making his test debut replacing Jerome Kaino who is rested along with Liam Squire who gets his 1st opportunity on the reserves bench replacing ''the Pineapple'' or should I say ''the Pineapple Express'' Ardie Savea with Lima Sopoaga replacing Beauden Barrett in the reserves with Beaudy starting at first-five eighth replacing Aaron Cruden who had a neck injury during the last test match in Wellington (Although Cruden is fine because he was cleared of any serious injury) then Ofa Tu'ungafasi gets his chance by also making his test debut on the bench replacing Charlie Faumuina who will start a tight-head prop effectively replacing Owen Franks as well as George Moala replacing Malakai Fekitoa at centre + the return of the 2nd choice All Black halfback of Tawera Kerr-Barlow replacing TJ Perenara and Codie Taylor returns by replacing Nathan Harris in the reserve bench as well as Luke Romano returns by replacing Patrick Tuipulotu in the reserves so here's the All Blacks team lineup against Wales in Dunedin at the Glass House:
1 (Loose head prop): Joe Moody (Canterbury/Crusaders)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Charlie Faumuina (Auckland/Blues)
4 (Lock): Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay/Chiefs)
5 (Lock): Sam Whitelock (Canterbury/Crusaders)
6 (Blindside Flanker): Elliot Dixon (Southland/Highlanders)
7 (Openside Flanker): Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
11 (Left Wing): Julian Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
12 (Second five eighth): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
13 (Centre): George Moala (Auckland/Blues)
14 (Right Wing): Ben Smith (Otago/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay/Crusaders)
And in the reserves are Codie Taylor (Who had finally rewarded his place ahead of Nathan Harris), Wyatt Crockett, Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Who makes his debut on the bench), Luke Romano, Liam Squire (Who also makes his debut on the bench), Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Lima Sopoaga & Waisake Naholo.
And guess what, my cousin Paige (AKA The Female Revenant) has sent me an email writing that she had a great morning meeting me and having breakfast with me also, she also wrote that they sent the photo they took to my Dad and that is how he would have seen it so I can get the copy of it from him also because she also wrote to me that my lunch sounded very yummy that she must go there for lunch one day if she drives up that way and she has got lots of favourite actors! Don't think that can pick a favourite. And finally she wrote to me that she must stay in touch and hopefully that she will be able to come up and visit me soon.
And finally also my aunty Cathey (The Sorceress) managed to send me an email writing about that she is going to print the selfie and put it on the photo board in the kitchen because my Dad is her brother although she did not grow up together because that is another story because she also wrote that it was great to see me and Poppa because I am welcome whenever I like as well as I was the highlight of the visit because Paige enjoyed getting to know me better and the boys know who, I am, when she was writing about me because I am our oldest cousin and they liked it that I know about Star Wars. And she also said that they liked Indian food a lot but they liked Thai food better because they must try spice guru in Wanganui when they visit and she does not know her favorite actor was but she likes British comedian James Corden (Not Corben because he was the one who does the carpool karaoke segment with famous celebrities such as Justin Bieber, One Direction, Gwen Stefani, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, Elton John, Iggy Azalea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Jennifer Lopez, Rod Stewart, A$ap Rocky and Sia as well as most recently, Selena Gomez) and Irish talk back host Graham Norton and finally she said that she does not know the band Stone Sour, but she will listen to their music on Spotify.
And so on to my 50th blog which I will celebrate the best bits of 2012 - 2016 so here it is starting in 2012 (That was 4 years ago when I 1st started blogging) which is Jansen's Birthday Blog (London 2012 Olympics Report) is about Jansen turning 9 years old as well as the review of the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, England, United Kingdom & the final of the 2012 Super Rugby season between the Chiefs & the Sharks:
Today is Jansen's birthday & I have not been doing a blog ever since Nan & Pops went away to Vanuatu.
Almost 2 weeks ago, the 30th Summer Olympic Games in London, Great Britain already started then a week later, we picked up our 1st gold medal of London 2012 (After already winning Bronze medals) with the rowing double sculls duo of Nathan Cohen & Joseph Sullivan, then a day later, another gold was won by Hamish Bond & Eric Murray in the pairs, then nek minnit, Mahe Drysdale picked up his 1st gold medal ever (And 3rd for New Zealand at the games) in the single sculls 4 years after settling for the bronze medal due to being plagued by a stomach problem which cost him his chance of getting his 1st gold medal in Beijing, China. But after the Beijing nightmare, Drysdale does what he now does best in London.
Then on Saturday after the Kiwis golden hour in London, we cross over to Hamilton (AKA 'the Tron') for the Super Rugby final between the Chiefs (Hosts) & Sharks (Away team), The start of the game did not go well when the Frenchman playing for the Sharks of Frederic Michalak nailed the 1st penalty kick of the final until according to plan when Tim-Nanai Williams (SBW's cousin because they are related) scored the 1st try of the final with Aaron Cruden successfully took the conversion before nailing 2 penalties before halftime when the Chiefs were leading 13 - 3, but in the 2nd half, another Chiefs try was scored by Kane Thompson with the assistance of a TMO (TV Match Offical) then Michalak scored another successful penalty which put the Sharks to 6 despite being down by 13 points & in the 61st minute, Sonny Bill Williams (Who is having his last Super Rugby match here) made a great tackle, allowing the Sharks player to lose the ball before Lelia Masaga picked the ball up & scored the Chiefs their 3rd try of the final, moments before SBW was embraced by his loyal fans after scoring his famous farewell try in the 77th minute but 3 minutes later, the match was over when the Chiefs made history of taking the Super Rugby title honours for the 1st time ever with the final score of 37 - 6 as well as 2 commanders in chief (Co-captains Craig Clarke & Liam Messam), grab their 1st taste by lifting the Super Rugby trophy.
Then now a week later on Friday (Yesterday we did have a birthday dinner for Jansen, as we asian/chinese food for dinner that we got at the chinese takeaway shop in Victoria Avenue & dessert is blue jelly, cream & yoghurt before having Jansen's birthday cake), another gold medal was won by the women's sailing duo of 'Team Jolly' consisting of Jo 'Jox' Aleh & Olivia 'Polly' Powrie (New Zealand's 1st golden girls of London 2012), not only because I watched these ladies win, then next morning, went off to Palmy and rode on a go-kart at the Daytona Indoor Raceway before having Macca's for lunch and went for a swim at the Lido Aquatic Centre moments before we left Palmy hours before tuning in to the Olympics & the women's kayaking final was on as Lisa Carrington competed for the gold medal & she did because it was a success so she was good now that Carrington won (However, she too joined the London 2012 NZ Olympic golden girls ranks as Aleh & Powrie did), bringing the gold medal tally to 5 (Now 6 since Val Adams handed the gold medal when Nadzeya Ostapchuk was stripped of her Olympic women's shot put title crown).
And on Monday, London 2012 Olympics was now officially finished but nek minnit on Tuesday, there was big news about Valerie Adams (Formerly Valerie Vili), in Switzerland after leaving London post Olympics & now disappointed and devastated about losing the Olympic women's shot-put title to Nadezya Ostapchuk by getting a silver medal, Chef de mission Dave Currie made a decision to call Adams and he also had to say: ''Valerie Adams....and I quote, you are now & still, once again, the Olympic women's shot put champion because of your Belrussian rival, Ostapchuk, had been disqualified after failing a drug test so congrats Val, good on ya MATEY!!!'' And this moment was changed when Adams had been awarded the gold when Ostapchuk is stripped of gold medal following her drug testing scandal failure then a day later, the 4 of the 6 gold medalists arrived back home at Auckland International Airport as well as all the 2 Silver medalists (Not Adams since she got the gold from Ostapchuk) including Sarah Walker (BMX) & the men's sailing duo of Pete Burling & Blair Tuke plus the 3 of the 5 bronze medalists came home with Peter Taylor & Storm Uru (Men's lightweight rowing), the ladies rowing pair of Juliette Haigh & Wanganui's own Rebecca Scown who was born in Hawera which is located in the Taranaki (AKA 'the Naki') region (She has a brother named Sam who plays rugby for the Wanganui Heartland Rugby Championship team) & of course, Simon Van Velthoven in the keirin cycling because he was a joint bronze medalist (British cycling great Sir Chris Hoy got the gold medal) & finally last night as of today, I finally went to Vision's for the 1st time ever by having dinner over there plus a free dessert before me & my father went home to wrap up Thursday, the 16th of August 2012 (4 days post Olympics).
And now onto 2013 featuring Rush Movie Review (+ Other News Including the All Black & Indycar Spirit):
This one is about seeing the Formula 1 movie Rush (A movie about the rivalry of 2 Formula 1 legends James Hunt and Niki Lauda back in 1976 (The same year that Montreal (Which is Aunty Tania & her French Canadian partner Raejean/Giuseppe's hometown) hosted the summer Olympics when New Zealand took home 2 gold medals including 1500 metre runner John Walker as well as the New Zealand men's hockey team) back in 2013 as well as the All Blacks retaining the Rugby Championship in Johannesburg against South Africa as well as beating the Wallabies in the 3rd Bledisloe Cup encounter at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin and Scott Dixon winning his 3rd of his 4 elusive Indycar Series titles because this one is called Rush Movie Review (+ Other News Including the All Black & Indycar Spirit)
Well, it has been a great but terrible/wayward day of setbacks such as Emirates Team NZ missing out on bringing the America's Cup home by losing to Oracle Team USA who went down to win all 8 races to defend the Auld Mug & truimphs such as the All Blacks winning the Rugby Championship...again (Just like last year + Brilliant super All Black tries scored by Ben Smith, Liam Messam (Twice), Beauden Barrett & Kieran Read), beating South Africa in Johannesburg by 38 points to 27 for only the 4th time at Ellis Park as well as maintaining the AB's Rugby Championship record to still 100% (A record total of 12 out of 12 victories so far in the history) + SBW's Sydney Roosters claim the NRL Premiership in 11 years, beating the Sea Eagles of Manly-Warringah 26 to 18.
But last week, me & Poppa finally went to see the movie about the ultimate rivalry in Formula 1 between James Simon Wallis Hunt (Played by Chris Hemsworth who appeared on the Avengers as Thor, Norse God of Thunder) & Andreas Nikolaus ''Niki'' Lauda (Played by Daniel Brühl) called Rush which is set during the 1976 Formula 1 Season but the movie starts when both highly skilled racing drivers who first develop a fierce rivalry (Although they were close friends off the track) in 1970 at a Formula 3 race at the Crystal Palace circuit in England, when both their cars spin out before Hunt eventually wins the race.
James Hunt AKA Hunt The Shunt is a brash young Briton with a tendency to vomit before every race, while Niki Lauda (The Austrian) is a cool, calculating technical genius who relies on precision. After a fallout with his father, Lauda takes a large bank loan and buys his way into the BRM Formula 1 team, meeting teammate & friend from Switzerland, Gianclaudio ''Clay'' Regazzoni for the first time.
Meanwhile, Hesketh, the fledgling racing team Hunt drives for, enters Formula 1 as well when Lauda then joins Ferrari (One of the best teams in the F1 business) with Regazzoni and wins his first of his 3 F1 world championships in 1975 but Hesketh closes down shop after failing to secure sponsorship, but Hunt makes a decision to go to McLaren (However, I did react in the movie that after James Hunt left Hesketh because I was explaining that Hunt is going to McLaren) after Emerson ''Emmo'' Fittipaldi departs the team. During this time, Hunt marries supermodel Susie Miller, while Lauda begins his relationship with socialite Marlene Knaus.
The 1976 F1 World Championship begins with Lauda dominating the first two races while Hunt struggles to catch up before Hunt wins the Spanish Grand Prix, but is immediately disqualified following a post-race inspection rules that his McLaren was illegal & too wide. Struggling to comply with F1 rules & regulations, McLaren suffers a series of setbacks on the next few races, and Hunt's situation is further investigated (Dealt with) when Suzy is discovered to have a relationship with movie director Richard Burton. Following his divorce, he regains his competitive spirit and his disqualification in Spain is overturned, reinstating the points he lost and putting him back into championship contention. Meanwhile, Lauda marries Marlene in a private ceremony but starts to have fears about the concerns of both, his marriage & on his racing career which put him up like a lightning bolt.
At the Großer Preis auf Deutschland, Lauda requests the sports governing body FIA to boycott the race due to wet weather conditions on a race track which is considered very dangerous at the Nürburgring (AKA The Green Hell by Sir Jackie Stewart) containing a total of 160 corners (According to the stats that the Nürburgring is considered be the most challenging and demanding circuit in the entire universe); the urgency is revoked by majority of the racers after Hunt convinces them that Lauda fears losing the points race meaning that the event would go ahead despite dangerous conditions. Both Hunt and Lauda start the race with wet tires, which proves a costly disadvantage due to most of the circuit becoming dry, but on lap 2, both drivers pit for a tyre change, but halfway through lap 3, Lauda's Ferrari (Which had a suspension arm issue), snapped to the right and spun through the fencing into an enbankment when the car bounced back onto the track, before the Ferrari managed to burst into flames and is further struck by other cars on the circuit, resulting a serious accident. After being pulled out of the flaming wreckage, he is airlifted to the Bundeswehr hospital in Koblenz with 3rd-degree burns to his head and toxic fumes in his lungs but from there, he was flown to the Trauma Clinic in Ludwigshafen, home to Germany's most advanced burn ward at the time, where he fought for his life for the next few days & for the next 6 weeks, Lauda is treated for his injuries while he watches his rival Hunt dominate the races in Austria (At the Österreichring) & the Netherlands (At Zandvoort) in his absence, but Lauda had to wait against his doctor's orders that he returned to the sport as World Championship leader behind the wheel of his Ferrari and after his near fatal accident in Germany at the Gran Premio D'Italia to finish fourth upon his return while Hunt fails to finish the race.
But well, it all has come down to this as the championship deciding 1976 season cliffhanger closes in the land of the rising sun, Japan, as Niki Lauda has a 3 point lead ahead of James Hunt when the race is held at Fuji Speedway near Mount Fuji, in wet weather conditions after organisers agreed to run the race, but at the start, James Hunt took the lead with John Watson and Mario Andretti behind but Nek Minnit, at the end of the 2nd lap, Lauda returns to the pits by retiring from the race (Although there's nothing wrong about his Ferrari as he believed the weather conditions made the track way too dangerous), electing to stay with his wife Marlene instead of risking his life again on the circuit just like his near fatal crash in Germany last time; But now with Lauda withdrawn, James Hunt just needed to win the F1 World Driver's crown by finishing on the podium, but after facing stiff competition under grueling conditions (Hunt began to drop positions once the circuit began to dry out) and overcoming tyre issues (When Hunt's left rear tyre began to wear and he managed to pit), Hunt ended up 3rd on the podium, giving him enough points required to beat Lauda by a single point and win the World Driver's championship (Hunt was the last British F1 World Champion before Nigel Mansell in 1992 and McLaren's 1st British F1 World Champion), to his surprise, in all of a sudden.
After claming his 1st & only F1 WDC, James Hunt spends the rest of the year with fame, sex, and drugs, while Lauda (Who lost the F1 driver's crown but would eventually regain the championship from Hunt in 1977 & claim his last in '84), begins an interest in flying private planes but at a private airfield in Bologna, Lauda suggests Hunt to focus on the next racing season, but later on realizes that Hunt no longer has anything to prove, as Hunt continues to race until his retirement in 1979, and becomes a motorsport broadcast commentator with the legendary Murray Walker until he died in 1993 at 45 after drinking & smoking too much which caused the death.
And the end result: A fine absolute movie ending on a high note like a swashbuckling chapter because it wasn't even bad, it felt good after all (The beginning was like the start of a actual classic Grand Prix when Niki Lauda tried to risk his own life before the crash had happened, but moving on to the next scene 6 years earlier where James Hunt had been involved in an accident when she met his future wife, who was a medic off the track before becoming a supermodel).
+ Here is some other news such as the reigning champion No.1 ranked All Blacks of New Zealand (According to Temuera ''Tem'' Morrison (AKA Dr Hone Ropata (A guy who is not in Guatemala anymore), Jake 'Da Muss' Heke, Jango Fett & the Galactic Republic Clone Troopers) that the AB's are like a Clone Army in a bid for Galactic dominance but of course he said that New Zealand was Once Were Warriors...nah brother...still warriors but he also said that they never lost a rugby game, because they just ran out of time) played their final test match in Aotearoa, deep in the heart of the south in Dunedin, in an indoor venue (Which is Forsyth Barr Stadium), against the Wallabies of Australia, beating them 41 - 33 (Including gr8 tries from Julian Savea, Sam Cane, Aaron Cruden & Kieran Read who is the Captain filling in for Richie McCaw for the 6th time this year) by absolutely roadkilling them 1...last...time...of...2013...but, this my friends, this...is...All...Black...Rugby & for...Scott...Dixon, for claiming his 3rd...Indycar...title, but Scott Dixon's Indycar Championship contention started when he took victory in Pocono + both victories in the streets of Toronto (Which is in Ontario, Canada), motivating his chances of grabbing a 3rd Indycar title (Although, he did not win in Lexington, Ohio as his winning run ended) but however, he thought he was going to take victory in Sonoma, California, moments before the officials have given Dixon a drive-through penalty after hitting one of Will Power's pit crew members, ending his chances of both, a win & his 3rd Indycar Championship, by ending up in 15th after rejoining 21st after serving a drive-through penalty then another setback in Baltimore, Maryland came when Power collided with Dixon and was sent spinning into the wall just before Dixon was later also penalized for interference and after the race, Dixon was 49 points behind with his nearest rival from Brazil, Helio Castroneves, but however, Dixon managed to come back with a victory in Houston, Texas (1st of 2 races) when Castroneves was in trouble by suffering mechanical issues as well as Dixon closed the championship deficit to 8 points with 2 races remaining but a day later, as the 2nd race of the doubleheader was marred by a huge crash involving Dario Franchitti (One of Scott Dixon's Teammates), Takuma Sato & Ernesto ''E.J.'' Viso. On the final lap (Moments before Scott Dixon finished 2nd behind the winner Will Power as well as taking the points lead for the 1st time, managing a 25 point advantage ahead of Castroneves (Who had another bad day by suffering gearbox problems, dropping him down to 23rd) with only 1 round remaining), Franchitti made contact by touching wheels with Sato, and his car was launched up into the catch fence, as debris on the track may have injured 13 spectators, while Franchitti was injured & taken to hospital (Like Niki Lauda did in the movie & real life) with a concussion, fractured ankle, and two spinal fractures while both Sato and Viso were uninjured by managing to walk away the impact and that Indycar crash reminds me straight out of a movie (Not like Rush where the huge accident was entirely different like there was no fire getting caught because there was no clear evidence of a Niki Lauda esque crash).
But well, it all has come down to this as the championship deciding 2013 Indycar Series season cliffhanger closes in Fontana, California at the Auto Club Speedway (Where the late Canadian Indycar racer, Greg Moore was killed in a fatal crash which sent the car into the wall way back in 1999 during a CART/Champ Car event) as Scott Dixon has a 25 point lead ahead of Helio Castroneves, but only Scott Dixon just needed to win the Indycar Series crown by finishing 5th or above, but in the end, Dixon not only ended up finishing 5th, collecting enough points required to defeat Castroneves by 27 points and win the Indycar Series title for only the 3rd time (He previously did that before in 2003 (When he entered the series after spending 2 years in CART/Champ Car as well as taking his rookie of the year honours way back in 2001, his debut year after claiming the Indy Lights title (Which is America's answer to Formula 3000 (Now GP2) in 2000) & 08 (When Champ Car got folded post re-unification, effectively ending the 12 year split which began in 1996 + Dixon also won the Indy 500 during his last, successful championship season) to his surprise, in all of a sudden.
And so, there it is, the end of an unforgettable but lengthy blog about the Rush movie + the All Black rugby & Scott Dixon stuff.
P.S. Oh, hang on, there is a late addition about the German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel being crowned Formula 1 World Champion of 2013 for the 4th consecutive time (Vettel is indeed a record breaker, meaning that he is the sport's youngest ever, quadruple F1 World Driver's Champion, so that's how a driver feels) after winning the race in India (He was the pole man for that race but not only wanting to score another title by finishing 5th or above), only to get pinged by the stewards for a celebratory doughnut which is deemed to be illegal under the rules by repremanding him (Failing to go straight to Parc Ferme) as well as a fine worth $40k, but a week later, he won again in Abu Dhabi (He did not take pole position cause the poleman for that race was his teammate, retirement bound Australian, Mark Webber (Who had a fallout in Round 2 back at Lim/Sophie's home country in Malaysia following that Multi-21 Affair (Much more like the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang sexual scandal and of course, the highly controversial Roastbusters group), where Vettel took the victory by passing his teammate & ignoring team orders), equalling the number of consecutive victories set by Vettel's worthy predecessor, the great Michael Schumacher, of 7, but was once again celebrating by doing a burnout again before putting his Red Bull back to Parc Ferme to avoid getting penalised again.
And onto 2014 about the review of the FIFA World Cup final with Germany (Who coincidentally crushed hosts Brazil 7 goals to 1 in the semifinal) winning their 4th title with a match winning goal scored by Mario Gotze during extra time against the Lionel Messi (Best footballer/soccer player in the world) led Argentina because this one is called #2014FIFAWorldCupFinal, #GermanyVsArgentina: THE REVIEW:
The #2014FIFAWorldCup ended in a final at the Maracana in #Rio, #Brazil/#Brasil (Host nation) which #Germany/#Deutschland prevailed over @LeoMessi (The wonder boy from Rosario) & Co of #Argentina in a 1 - 0 extra time victory scored by another super-sub by the name of @MarioGötze to lift their 4th World Cup trophy along with #Italy/#Italia (Eliminated in the group stage along with #England), but allow me to introduce myself auf deutsch in honor of the victory, meine name ist Whetu Ngapo, ich bin dreiundzwanzig (23) jahre alt und ich komme aus Neuseeland, glauben sie das!
It was before Sunday night when I had to leave my apartment (after having chilli con carne on my own for late lunch) when Nan & Pops have just arrived, so we were on our way to go to Stellar but nek minnit, the restaurant was so full so I had to go with my decision whether we go to Thai Villa, and we had accepted our offer so off we went for dinner & I had some awesome appetizers like spring rolls & satay chicken skewers + the main course was: satay chicken noodles & for dessert was a caramel, ice-cream sundae, and after our memorable pre-world cup sunday night dinner, we headed to 15A Kells Avenue to spend the night here but at 6:00am Monday morning on Bastille day, I was all fired up! By having a shower & getting prepared before going to the embassy for the final & for breakfast, Pops & I had both brekkie muffins & a hot chocolate + an apple each that we took, & here we go! As we are about to approach the movie theatre as dozens of fans took to the stage (And Ja, there are dozens of German fans are in attendence, so ist gunter glieben glauten globen, vorsprung durch technik (Advance/progress through technology, according to car maker Audi, but Mercedes-Benz is Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft's official vehicle sponsor), but before the game started, the head coach/manager of Germany, @JoachimLoew has made an unchanged lineup of personnels (The Goalkeeper is @ManuelNeuer, then the right back: Philipp Lahm (the team captain), the centre backs: @JérômeBoateng & @MatsHummels, the left back is @BenediktHoewedes, then the midfielders: @ChristophKramer (Originally Sami Khedira) & @BastianSchweinsteiger (He's no pig farmer, eh?), the left wing is Thomas Müller, the attacking midfielder is Toni Kroos, then the right wing: Mesut Özil & finally, the centre forward: Miroslav Klose & the subs are: Großkreutz (Defender), Ginter (DF), Schürrle (Forward), Podolski (FW), Zieler (GK), Draxler (Midfielder), Durm (DF), Mertesacker (DF), Götze (MF) & Weidenfeller (GK) with Khedira & Mustafi (DF) being unavailable due to injuries + Germany are playing in the 4-2-3-1 formation which could usually work) which humiliated Brazil, but they put Christoph Kramer in the starting XI instead of Sami Khedira because he can't play because of an injury, with Italian Nicola Rizzoli in charge of the final (The last Italian to take charge of the final was Pierluigi Collina in 2002 when Brazil beat Germany & won).
And yes, after the teams came out onto the venue & the national anthems are played, it is time to get the match underway, with a kick-off by Germany so let's see how it unfolds the World Cup Final in Brazil to remember as the stage is set once more:
29th minute: Schweinsteiger commits a yellow card
31st minute: Christoph Kramer, not looking in good shape as he gets replaced by the almighty super-sub of André Schürrle
34th minute: Hoewedes cops a yellow from the referee Rizzoli, 11 minutes before half-time
But during the 1st half, Argentina had got some good chances like @GonzaloHiguaín having to miss an opportunity by dragging his shot wide after being put through on goal by a misjudged header from Kroos, then he scored a goal, only to be denied by the assistant referee as he was ruled offside after tapping in a cross by @EzequielLavezzi from the right wing, then Germany came so close on different occasions: including a including a header by Hoewedes that struck the Argentine goalpost just before halftime as we tell you the analysis of the 2nd half:
46th minute: Sergio 'Kun' Agüero, comes on for Lavezzi.
64th minute: @JavierMascherano gets booked by the referee
65th minute: So too is Agüero, as he gets yellow carded
78th minute: Argentina is about to make a replacement with @RodrigoPalacio is on for Higuaín
86th minute: And another change for Argentina as @FernandoGago makes his way for @EnzoPérez
88th minute: Then it is Germany's turn to make a 2nd substitution 2 minutes before full-time as Miroslav Josef Klose (Born in Poland but that was Klose) bids his FIFA World Cup career farewell when he is about to be replaced by the match-winning goalscorer of 'Super' Mario (Never mind Balotelli as he failed to adapt) Götze
And during the 2nd half, Messi wasted a chance early, firing wide of the German goal from inside the penalty area after receiving a through pass, so both teams have no score to settle as they enter into extra-time as Schürrle later struck a close-range shot straight at Argentine goalkeeper Romero early in the first half of extra time, after a pass from Götze, then during extra time, when the lob of Palacio went across Neuer by just getting it wide after the forward received a cross, missed by Hummels, in the German penalty area (Moments before Schweinsteiger was summoned off the field by the referee, forcing Germany to play with 10 men after he was lacerated from in the line of fire challenge from Agüero), and now (Wait for it), presenting the here it comes, here it comes, here it comes (Formerly the balls of steel) moment in the 113th minute: and IT IS A GOAL!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!! FROM SUPER MARIO GOETZE OUTTA NOWHERE!!!!! AND HE GOT IT!!! AS GERMANY GO 1 - 0 UP AGAINST ARGENTINA WITH 8 MINUTES LEFT ON THE CLOCK!!! WOW!! STUNNER, ABSOLUTE STUNNER!!! WHAT A SPECIAL GOAL THAT IS!!! FINALLY! The breakthrough at last has come for Die Mannschaft but poor Albiceleste, they have now conceded a goal at extra time for the 1st time in a World Cup (They were once the experts/masters of extra time, but they have now fallen in German hands), but it was a great assist from Schürrle anyway.
And then the 120th & last minute: Final sub of the tournament from the would-be, eventual, champions of the football world as Mertesacker, brought on for Mesut Özil, as 2 minutes of time being added as oh dear! Schweinsteiger commits a foul so Argentina may have to brace themselves for the equaliser to go into penalties, but step up to Leo, as he is about to take the free kick but however, fails to fire moments before the final whistle as THE REFEREE SAYS THAT'S IT!!! IT'S OVER!!! GERMANY/DEUTSCHLAND ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!! FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!! (EINS, ZWEI, DREI UND VIER, DAS IST FANTASTISCHE, EH!!)
P.S. OH JA!!! ES LEBE DEUTSCHLAND!!! WELTMEISTER ENDLICH!!!
HEIL DEM KÖNIG, BABY!!!
And I like to pay tribute, to the list of World Cup winners spanning from 1930 - 1938 & 1950 - 2014
1930: Uruguay
1934: Italy
1938: Italy
1950: Uruguay
1954: West Germany
1958: Brazil
1962: Brazil
1966: England
1970: Brazil
1974: West Germany
1978: Argentina
1982: Italy
1986: Argentina
1990: West Germany
1994: Brazil
1998: France
2002: Brazil
2006: Italy
2010: Spain
& last but not least, 2014: Germany
And I would like to say apologies for the German because I never speak that language fluently.
And so we fast forward to last year such as Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview but this one is about the preview of the 2015 Rugby World Cup (Won by the All Blacks who had a great but excellent campaign compared to the 1987 & 2011 ones by beating Argentina (Who advanced through to the quarterfinal after finishing runner up in Pool C with victories after losing to New Zealand against Georgia, Tonga & Namibia by beating Ireland (Who topped Pool D with wins against Canada in the opener, Romania, Italy & France (Who took on the AB's in the quarterfinal after losing to Ireland to finish runner up in Pool D after victories against Italy in the opener, Romania & Canada & lost) before losing both to the Wallabies (Who topped the pool of death in Pool A with wins against Fiji in the opener, Uruguay, hosts England (Who got knocked out of their own home turf) & Wales (Who took on South Africa in the quarterfinals after finishing the pool of death in Pool A with victories against Uruguay, hosts England (Who won the World Cup back in 2003) & Fiji before losing to Australia & lost) to advance through to the quarterfinal to take on Scotland (Who beat both Japan & Samoa & losing to the Springboks to finish runner up in Pool B) in which they won (In which the game should've & could've gone to the Scottish under controversial circumstances, they were livid) before beating Argentina in the semifinal & facing the All Blacks in the final in which they missed out by losing to them) in the semifinal & South Africa (Who famously lost to Japan in the opener in one of the greatest upsets & famous wins in the history of the World Cup before topping Pool B with victories against Samoa, Scotland & the United States before advancing through to the quarterfinal by beating Wales before losing to New Zealand in the semifinal & winning against Argentina to claim 3rd place) to determine who will claim 3rd place) in the opener then wins against Namibia, Georgia & Tonga by topping Pool C to advance through to the quarterfinal to take on France in which they won before beating the Boks (Winners in 1995 & 2007) in the semifinal & facing Australia (World Champions in 1991 & 99) in the final in which they won in a convincing fashion because they became the 1st team to go back to back, the 1st to win 3 titles & the 1st time that the All Blacks have won the Rugby World Cup on foreign soil because they have never achieved that before because they finally deserved it by earning our right) held in England (With some matches being played in Wales) which is called Breaking Dawn: the 2015 Rugby World Cup preview.
Well, it is finally here after 4 long years, the 2015 Rugby World Cup...now in this blog, I'll preview about the upcoming 2015 Rugby World Cup being held in England as well as telling the history of both Rugby and previous World Cups.
But 1st off, it is #rugbyworldcup fever time in #england as it plays host to this years tournament so I will give you the full rundown on all the 20 teams competing in the Pools:
Pool A: Australia/Wallabies (Rugby Championship champions of 2015 led by the incomparable hooker Stephen Moore and coached by the highly controversial Michael Cheika), England (The hosts captained by Chris Robshaw with Stuart Lancaster being the coach), Wales (Sam Warburton is the captain, while New Zealander Warren Gatland is the coach), Fiji (Crusaders star player Nemani Nadolo is the danger man) & Uruguay (Who hasn't been competing at the World Cup since 2003)
Pool B: South Africa/Springboks (Led by the influential Jean de Villiers, coached by Heyneke Meyer), Samoa (Featuring Chiefs player & Sonny Bill Williams cousin, Tim Nanai-Williams), Scotland (also featuring NZ born player Sean Maitland coached by Big Vern Cotter), Japan (And also featuring halfback Fumiaki Tanaka who plays for the Highlanders as well as the team being coached by Australian Eddie Jones because he is of Japanese descent) & the United States (Chris Wyles is the skipper)
Pool C: New Zealand/All Blacks (Defending world champions led by World Cup Winner Richie McCaw and coached by Steve Hansen who took over from Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry), Argentina (Captained by Agustin Creevy), Tonga (Nili Latu is the captain), Georgia (Led by Mamuka Gorgodze) & Namibia (Jacques Burger is the skipper)
Pool D: France (Led by Thierry Dusautoir and coached by Philippe Saint-Andre), Ireland (Six Nations Champions captained by Paul O'Connell with another New Zealander Joe Schmidt being the coach), Italy (Sergio Parisse is the captain), Canada (Led by Tyler Ardron and coached by ex All Black Kieran Crowley) & Romania (Mihai Macovei is the skipper).
And who is going to win it, we will find it out, once the tournament's over before we know it, but all will be revealed.
And yes the game was indeed invented by William Webb Ellis the great who invented the game by picking up and ran the ball with it because it was against the rules in football/soccer so a new sport was created way back then.
The 1st World Cup was held back in 1987 with the All Blacks dominated the tournament in which they beat Italy (Including that all time great try from John Kirwan as well as Michael Jones scoring the 1st genuine try of the World Cup because the very 1st try of the World Cup was a penalty try), Fiji and Argentina in the pool games before taking on Scotland in the quarterfinals in which they won and Wales in the semifinals (Huw Richards got sent off for throwing that punch before Wayne 'Buck' Shelford threw a punch on Richards which went unpunished) before clashing with traditional rivals France (Who beat Australia with a desperate last minute try scored by Serge Blanco) in the final moments before New Zealand beat France 29 - 9 (With some great tries being scored by captain David Kirk as well as Kirwan) to win the very 1st ever Rugby World Cup title with Kirk lifting the World Cup title as seen on national television.
And then in 1991 (The year that I was born), the All Blacks world cup curse had begun, losing to eventual champions Australia in the semifinal who beat hosts England in the final...then in 1995, disaster struck as New Zealand (Which featured rugby's 1st global superstar, Jonah Lomu) failed to regain the crown (With several players fell victim to food poisoning with the exception of captain Sean Fitzpatrick and the Brooke brothers of Robin & Zinzan), losing to debutants and hosts South Africa in the final in which united the host country as well as their leader Nelson Mandela, but in 1999, the All Blacks took on rivals and eventual runners up France (Who lost to the eventual champions Australia) in the semifinal but nek minute, they were torn sky blast apart from the French who enjoyed an insane amount of rugby during the 2nd half and then in 2003, something went wrong for the All Blacks during the semifinals as Stirling Mortlock's intercept try for the Wallabies ended New Zealand's hopes of reaching the World Cup final, which was won by England and in 2007 during the quarterfinals, France terminated the All Blacks dream of winning the World Cup just like as it was repeating the heroics way back in '99 through a blatant forward pass not seen by English referee Wayne Barnes (Although South Africa won the tourney beating England in the final).
And so on in 2011, the All Blacks opened with a win over the kingdom of Tonga (Who hijacked us at the start) at Eden Park in Auckland (41 - 10) followed by Japan at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton 83 - 7 (The night before the mighty green throng of Ireland turned the tables on Australia, causing an upset), then France in Auckland (37 - 17) with captain Richie McCaw becoming the 1st All Black to reach 100 test caps followed by beating Canada at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington 79 - 15 (The day after Tonga providing another upset victory over France as well as Dan Carter, who was ruled out of the tournament altogether with a groin injury), then it is quarter final time as we scraped Argentina 33 - 10 in Auckland (Although Colin Slade suffered an injury similar to Dan Carter's), then finally beating against our traditional Trans Tasman rivals Australia (Who defeated South Africa in the quarter final which was better off forgotten) in the semifinal 20 - 6 (It was the night after the French flair titans (Who gave England the chop in the quarterfinal) defeated the Welsh (Who had beaten the mighty green throng in the quarters) in the other semifinal in which Sam Warburton got sent off for that famous spear tackle) before we once again took on France in the final, just as it was back in 1987, with the weight of the nation above our shoulders (Although Stephen 'Beaver' Donald was called up in the last minute whilst he was white baiting, YA GOT THAT!! WHITEBAITING), we have won us the CUP!!! HAIL TO THE KING BABY!!! I'VE GOT BALLS OF STEEL!!! And yeah, not only that we have ended our Rugby World Cup curse after 24 years of agony and pain, as if, not ONLY we beat France 8 - 7, we have managed to lift the World Cup trophy, not only because it is the greatest moment of my life.
P.S. England has just opened up their RWC campaign with a win over Fiji 35 - 11 with fullback Mike Brown claiming man of the match honours as well as the All Blacks had already named their team to play against Argentina in our bid to retain the William Webb Ellis trophy with several players making their World Cup debut in the starting lineup including hooker Dane Coles, lock Brodie Retallick, halfback Aaron Smith, wingers Julian Savea & Nehe Milner-Skudder & fullback Ben Smith. And on the bench is props Wyatt Crockett & Charlie Faumuina, openside flanker Sam Cane, halfback TJ Perenara & 1st five eighth Beauden Barrett.
And finally, now onto this year about the preview of the Euros as well as the best international rugby team in the world, the All Blacks taking on Wales in a 3 match test series because this one is called Euro 2016 & All Blacks vs Wales preview:
Well, today I will be previewing both Euro 2016 (Which is held in France) and the All Blacks versus Wales test series so let's get started on Euro 2016 because I am still looking forward to it so let's have a look at the teams:
Group A
France (Hosts & 2 time winners in 1984 and 2000 (The last time they won with the likes of Patrick Vieira, Didier Deschamps (Who is the current coach/manager of France), Zinedine Zidane (Future Real Madrid coach/manager) & Thierry Henry). Led by Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris + Paul Pogba of Italian champions Juventus is the key player for Les Bleus)
Romania (Featuring Vlad Chichires as a less familiar star player)
Albania (Tournament debutants featuring Lorik Cana as the key player)
Switzerland (Led by Stephan Lichtsteiner while Xherdan Shaqiri is the star player)
Group B
England (Led by key player from FA Cup champions Manchester United, Wayne Rooney)
Russia (Winner of the 1st European Championship in 1960 (under the Soviet Union name) led by Roman Shirokov while the star player of that team is Aleksandr Kokorin)
Wales (Tournament debutants featuring key man Gareth Bale of European champions Real Madrid (Who beat Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final in Milan, Italy) who is the world's most expensive footballer/soccer player)
Slovakia (Fellow tournament debutants led by Martin Skrtel who has taken over the captaincy from star man Marek Hamsik)
Group C
Germany (Reigning world champions & 3 time winners in 1972, 1980 & 1996, captained by Manchester United's Bastian Schweinsteiger while Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller is the star man of Die Mannschaft)
Ukraine (Anatoliy Tymoschuk cpatains the side while the key player for the Ukrainians is Yehven Konoplyanka)
Poland (Led by star man for Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski)
Northern Ireland (Tournament debutants featuring key player Kyle Lafferty)
Group D
Spain (3 time winners in 1964, 2008 & 2012 & defending champions led by Iker Casillas of Porto while David Silva is the star man for La Furia Roja along with the likes of Alvaro Morata, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Thiago Alcantara and Sergio Ramos (Who captained Real Madrid to UEFA Champions League glory (#undecima)
Czech Republic (Winners in 1976 under the Czechoslovakia name to be led by Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal while his teammate is goalie Petr Cech who is the key player)
Turkey (Led by the influential star player of FC Barcelona (Champions of the Club World Cup, the La Liga and the Copa Del Rey), Arda Turan)
Croatia (Led by Darijo Srna with Luka Modric from the UEFA Champions League winning side Real Madrid as it's star player)
Group E
Belgium (Led by Chelsea's Eden Hazard with Kevin de Bruyne as it's star player)
Italy (Winners in 1968 with World Cup winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon leading the side and also featuring is Daniele de Rossi who won the FIFA World Cup for his country a decade ago)
Republic of Ireland (Led by the ageing key player from LA Galaxy in the MLS (Major League Soccer) Robbie Keane)
Sweden (Led by Paris Saint Germain's star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic)
& last but not least, Group F
Portugal (Led by Real Madrid's star player, Cristiano Ronaldo)
Iceland (Tournament debutants led by Aron Gunarsson but the key player for Iceland is Gylfi Sigurdsson)
Austria (Led by Leicester City's Christian Fuchs while David Alaba of German champions Bayern Munich is the star man)
Hungary (Led by key player Balasz Dzsudzak who is trying to emulate Ferenc Puskas's hopes)
And of course the All Blacks will go into the test series against Wales (Led by Gareth Bale's answer to rugby Sam Warburton & featuring the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau, Rhys Webb (Who missed the 2015 Rugby World Cup due to injury), Dan Biggar, Jamie Roberts and George North) as World Champions but the team has been named so here is the starting lineup for the 1st test match at Eden Park (Remember folks that Poppa and I are going to the Wellington one in 9 days time):
1 (Loose head prop): Joe Moody (Canterbury/Crusaders)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Owen Franks (Canterbury/Crusaders)
4 (Lock): Luke Romano (Canterbury/Crusaders)
5 (Lock): Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay/Chiefs)
6 (Blindside Flanker): Jerome Kaino (Auckland/Blues)
7 (Openside Flanker): Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders)
10 (First five eighth): Aaron Cruden (Manawatu/Chiefs)
11 (Left Wing): Julian Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
12 (Second five eighth): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
13 (Centre): Malakai Fekitoa (Auckland/Highlanders)
14 (Right Wing): Waisake Naholo (Taranaki/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Ben Smith (Otago/Highlanders)
And in the reserves are Nathan Harris (Who had won his place ahead of Codie Taylor), Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea (Who makes his debut on the bench), TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett & Seta Tamanivalu (Who also makes his debut on the bench).
So that is my 50th blog for today, look forward to seeing you next time, bye from us.
P.S. (SPOILER ALERT BOYS AND GIRLS, DON'T YA FORGET IT!!! REPEAT AFTER ME FELLAS, SPOILER ALERT!!!) The All Blacks have named their team for the 3rd and final test against Wales at Forsyth Barr Stadium with 12 changes being confirmed with Julian Savea after his poor performance in the 1st test is back at left wing replacing Waisake Naholo who goes to the bench replacing Seta Tamanivalu as well as Highlander Elliot Dixon making his test debut replacing Jerome Kaino who is rested along with Liam Squire who gets his 1st opportunity on the reserves bench replacing ''the Pineapple'' or should I say ''the Pineapple Express'' Ardie Savea with Lima Sopoaga replacing Beauden Barrett in the reserves with Beaudy starting at first-five eighth replacing Aaron Cruden who had a neck injury during the last test match in Wellington (Although Cruden is fine because he was cleared of any serious injury) then Ofa Tu'ungafasi gets his chance by also making his test debut on the bench replacing Charlie Faumuina who will start a tight-head prop effectively replacing Owen Franks as well as George Moala replacing Malakai Fekitoa at centre + the return of the 2nd choice All Black halfback of Tawera Kerr-Barlow replacing TJ Perenara and Codie Taylor returns by replacing Nathan Harris in the reserve bench as well as Luke Romano returns by replacing Patrick Tuipulotu in the reserves so here's the All Blacks team lineup against Wales in Dunedin at the Glass House:
1 (Loose head prop): Joe Moody (Canterbury/Crusaders)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Charlie Faumuina (Auckland/Blues)
4 (Lock): Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay/Chiefs)
5 (Lock): Sam Whitelock (Canterbury/Crusaders)
6 (Blindside Flanker): Elliot Dixon (Southland/Highlanders)
7 (Openside Flanker): Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
11 (Left Wing): Julian Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
12 (Second five eighth): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
13 (Centre): George Moala (Auckland/Blues)
14 (Right Wing): Ben Smith (Otago/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay/Crusaders)
And in the reserves are Codie Taylor (Who had finally rewarded his place ahead of Nathan Harris), Wyatt Crockett, Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Who makes his debut on the bench), Luke Romano, Liam Squire (Who also makes his debut on the bench), Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Lima Sopoaga & Waisake Naholo.
And guess what, my cousin Paige (AKA The Female Revenant) has sent me an email writing that she had a great morning meeting me and having breakfast with me also, she also wrote that they sent the photo they took to my Dad and that is how he would have seen it so I can get the copy of it from him also because she also wrote to me that my lunch sounded very yummy that she must go there for lunch one day if she drives up that way and she has got lots of favourite actors! Don't think that can pick a favourite. And finally she wrote to me that she must stay in touch and hopefully that she will be able to come up and visit me soon.
And finally also my aunty Cathey (The Sorceress) managed to send me an email writing about that she is going to print the selfie and put it on the photo board in the kitchen because my Dad is her brother although she did not grow up together because that is another story because she also wrote that it was great to see me and Poppa because I am welcome whenever I like as well as I was the highlight of the visit because Paige enjoyed getting to know me better and the boys know who, I am, when she was writing about me because I am our oldest cousin and they liked it that I know about Star Wars. And she also said that they liked Indian food a lot but they liked Thai food better because they must try spice guru in Wanganui when they visit and she does not know her favorite actor was but she likes British comedian James Corden (Not Corben because he was the one who does the carpool karaoke segment with famous celebrities such as Justin Bieber, One Direction, Gwen Stefani, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, Elton John, Iggy Azalea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Jennifer Lopez, Rod Stewart, A$ap Rocky and Sia as well as most recently, Selena Gomez) and Irish talk back host Graham Norton and finally she said that she does not know the band Stone Sour, but she will listen to their music on Spotify.
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Through Glass (The All Blacks-Wales 2nd test review)
Well it was today when Pops took me to see my aunty, Cathey Middelplaats, my cousin Paige Williams (Cathey's 22 year old daughter because she has a boyfriend named Jarrod), Cathey's husband John Mitchell (Or Jon because I forgot to tell him to spell his name) & my 2 other cousins (Cathey's 2 little sons & Paige's 2 little brothers as well as my other 2 little cousins) Luca and Nico to have breakfast and have a discussion but I told Paige that I could have a selfie with her and Cathey and she agreed so a thunderous selfie was taken (Although she send her photo to my Dad but how did Cathey & Paige know my Dad?) but look at that before we had pancakes with maple syrup, yoghurt and banana for a breakfast then we had a chat and I asked Paige that this is like a council meeting before we had more discussion (Well, I told Cathey that I really want to come back here anytime as well as compared to Leon & Hanne that she and John are the best couple I have ever met but with a great sense of humor) then I had to say goodbye to them (I said bye in 3 different languages to 3 different people, French with Cathey (Because she looks like a Frenchwoman due to the fact that I once told Dad that I look like I'm Lebanese 11 years ago), German with John (He looks like a German man) and Italian with Paige (She looks like a young Italian girl) but I forgot to say to Cathey, John, Paige, Nico and Luca may the force be with you, hasta la vista baby...I'll be back next time when I come to Wellington because I got both Cathey and Paige's email addresses but Cathey's one did not work while Paige's one works hopefully) moments before we headed back home ending an incredible trip to Wellington to see the test match it was but we did stop in Levin with Poppa filled the car up with petrol as well as going to an Indian restaurant for lunch because I had samosa & Rogan Josh there.
2 days earlier, the journey begins as Pops took me to Stellar for dinner to have chicken parmigiana for dinner while for dessert is cheesecake (One of my favourite desserts) before heading off to Pops place to have a moccachino before getting a good night's sleep then the next morning, Pops wake me up to the big day by taking a shower, having breakfast, playing my go-to song at my funeral on Youtube, Through Glass by one of my favourite bands Stone Sour as well as looking the All Blacks haka which I performed twice, the lateral passes and the classic Joe Rokocoko tries before we called in here at my flat to get my referee cards that I forgot to bring them before we headed off on our expedition to Wellington but we did go through towns such as Kaitoke, Whangaehu, Turakina, Bulls, Sanson, Himatangi, Foxton, Poroutawhao, Levin (Which is All Black Codie Taylor's birthplace), Ohau, Manakau, Otaki, Te Horo, Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Mackay, Paekakariki, Pukerua Bay, Plimmerton, Mana, Paremata, Porirua and Johnsonville.
But when we arrived in Wellington, I told Poppa that I might live here one day but sometime in the near future but Pops told me that residing in Wellington is expensive due to house prices so Porirua does have cheaper houses to live (And what about Palmerston North, is it any cheaper to live?) before we headed to John Coburn & Lim Chin Keong (The Malaysian) to stay here for the night and then we had lunch there near the venue that we are going and I had burgers and chips as well as a smoothie (John Coburn told us about the Welsh parallel defence against the All Blacks at Eden Park) before we headed back to the apartment then got out because I saw some loyal Welsh rugby supporters that Poppa & John Coburn had a chat before we headed over to the TAB (Although I saw some Welsh fans when we were walking because I was wearing red so that I almost look like a traitor but I covered it up instead) to make a bet of who will the 1st try scorer will be because I picked Waisake Naholo (Well I lost that bet) while Pops & Lim picked Ben Smith (They also lost their bets) and John Coburn picked fullback Izzy Dagg (John Coburn eventually won the bet) before we headed back by watching TV on the horse races for several minutes before Pops had a siesta then John Coburn told me that there is an incident during a Euro 2016 match when flares have been thrown to Croatian players because Luka Modric's Croatia were leading during a game (Although the game was held up for several minutes) moments before Petr Cech's Czech Republic equalised with a penalty allowing the match to be drawn (In other games such as David Silva's Spain beating the Arda Turan led Turkey while Daniele de Rossi's Italy had a win against the Zlatan Ibrahimovic led Sweden) then we left at the required time of 5:00pm to go to the stadium and Pops had bought several food that we are going to have for dinner (I had a pie as well as a bacon and egg with bread muffin as well as an apple) before entering the stadium to see the test match but the security guard at the gate that no diet coke & coke zero is allowed except John Coburn's in which he snuck in so I and Pops had to drink it before entry (Well I had to drink all of it).
And here we are at Westpac Stadium for my 4th visit to the venue (And my 1st ever All Black test) to see the 2nd test of the 3 match test series between the World Champion All Blacks taking on Wales so let's get this thing going with the match live commentary because I am getting pumped up!:
1ST MINUTE: 0-0 Start Of 1st Half...Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the second Test between New Zealand and Wales. The Dragons pushed the All Blacks hard for 60 minutes at Eden Park last week, before the hosts' superior strength in depth told off the bench. Any confidence the tourists may have gained from that effort may, however, have dissipated when they crashed to the Chiefs in Hamilton on Tuesday. Read our preview here before kick-off. New Zealand and Wales anthems are both as passionate and stirring as one can hear. Stage set for the haka and kick-off. Perfect conditions for rugby. Here we go then. Aaron Cruden kicks off, the All Blacks fly-half going deep direct to Dan Biggar, who clears direct to touch...Lineout on 22. All Blacks spill the ball in contact and Wales counter first-phase through Taulupe Faletau and Jonathan Davies before going back to the right where replacement fullback Rhys Patchell spills the ball. Massive clash between Jamie Roberts and Malakai Fekitoa, which leaves the All Blacks centre bloodied and hobbling from the field.
1 MINUTE LATER: Malakai Fekitoa is taken off while Seta Tamanivalu is brought on. All Blacks on the front foot after Kieran Read collects loose ball at the back of a Wales ruck, but the All Blacks turnover and Alun Wyn Davies affects a turnover. Scrappy early from both stages.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales dominate the first scrum of the game, awarded to them for a free-kick offence at a lineout, and Toby Faletau looks dangerous from the back.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wales looking good through 5 phases and looking to find space wide before penalised for failure to release in a ruck. Aaron Cruden clears the danger to halfway.
1 MINUTE LATER: Waisake Naholo makes a but in midfield, making ground where noe existed. Same story as last week. Seta Tamanivalu making good ground each time with ball in hand having replaced Malakai Fekitoa inside 2 minutes.
2 MINUTES LATER: Dan Biggar getting Wales backline on front foot each time he takes the ball into contact, and Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies looking threatening outside him, particularly in the channel inside the right wing as they target the new All Blacks centre pairing.
4 MINUTES LATER: Kieran Read, as any week, is involved everywhere, making ground from the back of the scrum and also rampaging in open play. His head-to-head with Toby Faletau, as last week, is a blinding contest.
1 MINUTE LATER: Malakai Fekitoa running free on the sideline. Lookinking good to return for Seta Tamanivalu.
1 MINUTE LATER: No great pattern to the game yet. Both teams looking to put ball through hands but execution isn't good enough while kicking from hand.
1 MINUTE LATER: Seta Tamanivalu is taken off as Malakai Fekitoa is brought on
2 MINUTES LATER: 0-3 Penalty to Wales! Dan Biggar scores. Lovely kick from Dan Biggar, with a little fade, to open the scoring. Defensive lines are each up incredibly quickly, limiting time and space to the attacking side. Factor in the other facets of the game that are off, and we're short of a highlights reel.
1 MINUTE LATER: Waisake Naholo is released by Israel Dagg to rampage at Liam Williams on the right wing. Remember his form from last week, he is the stuff of Welsh wingers' torrid nightmares.
2 MINUTES LATER: 5-3 TRY! Israel Dagg scores for New Zealand
2 MINUTES LATER: 7-3 Aaron Cruden makes the conversion. New Zealand ignore the goal kick to go for a lineout from which they drive. Aaron Smith passes long to Malakai Fekitoa, and the try is a certainty from there. So much space for Israel Dagg to coast over the line for a converted try.
1 MINUTE LATER: Kicking duel won by Israel Dagg on TKO, the All Blacks fullback roosting the pill to the Wales 22 from deep inside NZL territory, but the All Blacks concede the advantage by committing a lineout offence. Really good to see Israel Dagg back at his best, after missing the Rugby World Cup. deserved his recall on the back of good efforts for the Crusaders, and he's showing just how well stocked the All Blacks are for talent.
1 MINUTE LATER: Rob Evans is brought on while Gethin Jenkins is taken off.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wales continuing to take the challenge to the All Blacks, and they are executing better in face of strong defence. Sam Warburton said pre-match the Welsh challenge was physical not mental, given their losing run; in which case, they're going to be challenged again in the final quarter. There's some heavy contact and big hits at this point, but 15 phases eventually went nowhere before they left their feet for a ruck penalty to NZL.
2 MINUTES LATER: New Zealand deep in Wales territory under advantage from the penalty, shifting the ball left and right.
1 MINUTE LATER: Jaco Peyper finally blows his whistle for offside, saying no advantage to New Zealand after nine phases.
2 MINUTES LATER: 10-3 Penalty to New Zealand! Aaron Cruden scores. Aaron Cruden is down in backplay, and referee Peyper calls time. "Safety first."
1 MINUTE LATER: Gethin Jenkins is brought on as Rob Evans is taken off. Aaron Cruden looks to have a neck injury, and the Medi-Cab is on the field.
1 MINUTE LATER: Aaron Cruden still receiving treatment. He is still prone on the turf. Medical staff clearly being very careful with what seems to be a neck injury. Aaron Cruden has been placed safely on the ambulance. Good luck.
1 MINUTE LATER: Beauden Barrett is brought on while Aaron Cruden is taken off. Wales firmly in NZ territory after winning a scrum penalty. Kieran Read commits a lineout offence, with Wales awarded a scrum as the attacking team.
1 MINUTE LATER: New Zealand make a mess of the Wales scrum, but still the tourists get the ball through hands to Hallam Amos on the left wing before Malakai Fekitoa clears the danger.
1 MINUTE LATER: Fekitoa pinged for obstruction, but Dan Biggar goes for the lineout rather than a seeming certain three points. Wales rumble from the lineout, but the All Blacks force them into touch for a home lineout. Shades of an infamous decision in a Rugby World Cup match featuring Wales.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales dominating possession, and they look dangerous attacking on their right wing without threatening overly to break the line.
3 MINUTES LATER: 10-8 TRY! Alun Wyn Jones scores for Wales. Seta Tamanivalu is brought back on while Malakai Fekitoa is taken off. Big bust from Jonathan Davies first phase through the centre of the All Blacks defence, and just as we were lamenting a lack of thrust they get the ball to Alun Wyn Jones to score unmarked on the left wing. Great kick from Dan Biggar, and we're all square going to the sheds. Fair reflection on the play. Dan Biggar gets us underway to Israel Dagg just outside the 22. All to play for.
1 MINUTE LATER: Dan Biggar makes the conversion. 10-10 End Of 1st Half.
And what do I think of the 1st half, average performance from the All Blacks but the Welsh had some hopes so let's see how the 2nd half unfolds (Well I went to the loo at half-time but so many people turned up):
41ST MINUTE: 10-10 Start Of 2nd Half...Wales challenging the All Blacks through multiple phases left and right until Seta Tamanivalu smashes Liam Willams. All Blacks defensive line not as quick as 1st half. Sliding. And hence more space for Wales to put pill through hands.
1 MINUTE LATER: Reports from the ground the Aaron Cruden is on his way to hospital for "precautionary scans".
1 MINUTE LATER: Loose ball in the back line from Wales and they undo a lot of good work to be back inside their own territory. Just the one team playing in the second half to this point.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales dominating possession and phases without threatening the line and basic errors of execution undoing them.
1 MINUTE LATER: Kieran Read - again crashes over the gain line; he's having a whale of a game.
1 MINUTE LATER: Charlie Faumuina is brought on as Owen Franks is taken off. Big aerial contact on the left wing between Waisake Naholo and Liam Williams. Both wingers looking dusty and good news is they're both up. Penalty Wales -- overturning a penalty awarded to NZL -- with Jaco Peyper judging Naholo was not in a realistic position to contest the ball.
1 MINUTE LATER: Dane Coles and Beauden Barrett key in eight phases of danger before a turnover releases the pressure.
2 MINUTES LATER: Breathless rugby. Sam Warburton effects a turnover and gallops into NZL territory before Izzy Dagg returns after Toby Faletau had dropped a pass from his skipper, and Coles runs the ball back into Red territory.
1 MINUTE LATER: The All Blacks had been working themselves back into the game, and great work from Beauden Barrett in first-phase attack from a Wales lineout, slipping through the Wales defence, puts Ben Smith into space to gallop over the line.
1 MINUTE LATER: 15-10 TRY! Ben Smith scores for New Zealand.
1 MINUTE LATER: 17-10 Beauden Barrett makes the conversion. Great play from Aaron Smith, sniping from behind a ruck from the kick-off then roosting the ball deep into Wales territory. Great kick chase and they win a turnover from Dan Biggar inside the Red 22.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wyatt Crockett is brought on while Joe Moody is taken off.
1 MINUTE LATER: 22-10 TRY! Beauden Barrett scores for New Zealand
1 MINUTE LATER: 24-10 Beauden Barrett makes the conversion. Beauden Barrett steps through the line two passes after the scrum. Two quicks tries and Wales have to beware. Wales just perhaps beginning to fragment. They were forced backwards in the maul after winning the lineout then a couple of poor passes and Jamie Roberts knocks-on on the 10m line.
2 MINUTES LATER: Sam Cane is taken off as Ardie Savea (AKA the Pineapple according to Pops or the Pineapple Express) is brought on. Wonderful skills from New Zealand in first-phase attack. Chip pass from Beauden Barrett to Ben Smith who volleys the ball back inside where Ardie Savea couldn't quite collect the ball. Just like watching the Euros :-).
1 MINUTE LATER: Rob Evans is brought on as Gethin Jenkins is taken off. New Zealand dominate the scrum before Kieran Read and Aaron Smith combine to put Waisake Naholo across untouched in the left corner. This is looking likely to blow open now. Wales have really got to show some starch and steel in the final quarter -- where they fell off the past seven days ago.
1 MINUTE LATER: 29-10 TRY! Waisake Naholo scores for New Zealand. All Blacks have scored 19 points without reply in 20 minutes. You think you are in a contest against them and bang...worth remembering that Wales were on top in the opening spell of this second half.
2 MINUTES LATER: Tomas Francis is brought on while Samson Lee is taken off. Scott Baldwin is brought on as Ken Owens is taken off. Bradley Davies is brought on as Luke Charteris is taken off. Penalty Wales after Waisake Naholo blocked off Liam Williams. Kicked the ball inside NZ 22.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales roll a maul and win a penalty after NZ adjudged to have collapsed it. Dan Biggar puts the ball out for a 5m lineout.
1 MINUTE LATER: Aaron Smith is taken off while TJ Perenara is brought on. Awful lineout from Wales, the ball going over the top, and NZ collect and rumble forwards.
1 MINUTE LATER: 34-10 TRY! The Pineapple of Ardie Savea scores for New Zealand. Poor kick from Ryan Crotty somehow finds Waisake Naholo, who links with Jerome Kaino before feeding Dane Coles and TJ Perenara to put Hurricanes teammate of the ''Pineapple Express'' Ardie Savea in space on halfway to gallop clear.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-10 Beauden Barrett makes the conversion.
1 MINUTE LATER: Patrick Tuipulotu is brought on as Brodie Retallick is taken off. New Zealand affect a turnover after 8 phases of Wales possession and Ben Smith rips to the Wales 10 metre line.
1 MINUTE LATER: 6 phases and great work from Seta Tamanivalu undone by TJ Peranara, who obstructs the defenders with another try looming. New Zealand bench again having a dominant effect, especially when we consider Beauden Barrett is playing a pivotal role in the match.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wales are all heart in attacking the NZ defence, but they've gone maybe just 5m in 10 phases.
2 MINUTES LATER: Up to 13 phases and now losing ground in face of heavy All Blacks defence.
2 MINUTES LATER: 36-15 TRY! Liam Williams scores for Wales. 17. phases and finally a Welshman finds space. Liam Williams smashes through a gap outside Jerome Kaino and inside Dane Coles to field a short ball from Dan Biggar and outsprint Israel Dagg for a fine try.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-17 Dan Biggar makes the conversion.
1 MINUTE LATER: Dan Biggar is taken off while Rhys Priestland is brought on. Dane Coles is taken off as Nathan Harris is brought on. Sam Warburton is taken off while Ellis Jenkins is brought on. Gareth Davies is brought on as Rhys Webb is taken off.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-22 TRY! Jonathan Davies scores for Wales. Wales fighting hard after Jamie Roberts charges down and collects a poor kick from Seta Tamanivalu, and gallops clear. he's hauled back by Israel Dagg but stays on his feet to feed Rhys Priestland and then Jonathan Davies.
1 MINUTE LATER: Scott Williams is brought on while Jamie Roberts is taken off. Wales go wide first phase from the kick off before losing the ball in contact on the left week.
1 MINUTE LATER: New Zealand determined to have the last word, compiling phases deep in Wales territory and playing past the siren.
1 MINUTE LATER: Ryan Crotty crosses in the corner but only after his trailing foot touches the paint under pressure from Hallam Amos. The All Blacks have extended their winning run against Wales, producing a strong second-half performance, but again the scoreline perhaps doesn't tell the tale of the match. Stick with us for live coverage of the Australia-England Test in Melbourne.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-22 End Of Second Half
And what do you think of my 1st test match I have been, totally awesome right?! Well I told John Coburn that the next time I'll see him, we might go to another All Blacks test match held in Wellington, in a Rugby Championship/Bledisloe Cup encounter with the Wallabies who had not been performing well, losing to Six Nations champions England coached by Australian Eddie Jones in the 2nd test to lose the test series and the Springboks came back strong to beat Ireland and level the series at 1-1.
But all will be revealed when I write down my 50th blog (Well I might be reaching the half century mark) about the best bits over the past 5 years starting from 2012 right until 2016.
P.S. I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
'Cuz I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah
I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh God, it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
'Cuz I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah, yeah
Oh, and the stars
Oh, and the stars they lie
2 days earlier, the journey begins as Pops took me to Stellar for dinner to have chicken parmigiana for dinner while for dessert is cheesecake (One of my favourite desserts) before heading off to Pops place to have a moccachino before getting a good night's sleep then the next morning, Pops wake me up to the big day by taking a shower, having breakfast, playing my go-to song at my funeral on Youtube, Through Glass by one of my favourite bands Stone Sour as well as looking the All Blacks haka which I performed twice, the lateral passes and the classic Joe Rokocoko tries before we called in here at my flat to get my referee cards that I forgot to bring them before we headed off on our expedition to Wellington but we did go through towns such as Kaitoke, Whangaehu, Turakina, Bulls, Sanson, Himatangi, Foxton, Poroutawhao, Levin (Which is All Black Codie Taylor's birthplace), Ohau, Manakau, Otaki, Te Horo, Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Mackay, Paekakariki, Pukerua Bay, Plimmerton, Mana, Paremata, Porirua and Johnsonville.
But when we arrived in Wellington, I told Poppa that I might live here one day but sometime in the near future but Pops told me that residing in Wellington is expensive due to house prices so Porirua does have cheaper houses to live (And what about Palmerston North, is it any cheaper to live?) before we headed to John Coburn & Lim Chin Keong (The Malaysian) to stay here for the night and then we had lunch there near the venue that we are going and I had burgers and chips as well as a smoothie (John Coburn told us about the Welsh parallel defence against the All Blacks at Eden Park) before we headed back to the apartment then got out because I saw some loyal Welsh rugby supporters that Poppa & John Coburn had a chat before we headed over to the TAB (Although I saw some Welsh fans when we were walking because I was wearing red so that I almost look like a traitor but I covered it up instead) to make a bet of who will the 1st try scorer will be because I picked Waisake Naholo (Well I lost that bet) while Pops & Lim picked Ben Smith (They also lost their bets) and John Coburn picked fullback Izzy Dagg (John Coburn eventually won the bet) before we headed back by watching TV on the horse races for several minutes before Pops had a siesta then John Coburn told me that there is an incident during a Euro 2016 match when flares have been thrown to Croatian players because Luka Modric's Croatia were leading during a game (Although the game was held up for several minutes) moments before Petr Cech's Czech Republic equalised with a penalty allowing the match to be drawn (In other games such as David Silva's Spain beating the Arda Turan led Turkey while Daniele de Rossi's Italy had a win against the Zlatan Ibrahimovic led Sweden) then we left at the required time of 5:00pm to go to the stadium and Pops had bought several food that we are going to have for dinner (I had a pie as well as a bacon and egg with bread muffin as well as an apple) before entering the stadium to see the test match but the security guard at the gate that no diet coke & coke zero is allowed except John Coburn's in which he snuck in so I and Pops had to drink it before entry (Well I had to drink all of it).
And here we are at Westpac Stadium for my 4th visit to the venue (And my 1st ever All Black test) to see the 2nd test of the 3 match test series between the World Champion All Blacks taking on Wales so let's get this thing going with the match live commentary because I am getting pumped up!:
1ST MINUTE: 0-0 Start Of 1st Half...Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the second Test between New Zealand and Wales. The Dragons pushed the All Blacks hard for 60 minutes at Eden Park last week, before the hosts' superior strength in depth told off the bench. Any confidence the tourists may have gained from that effort may, however, have dissipated when they crashed to the Chiefs in Hamilton on Tuesday. Read our preview here before kick-off. New Zealand and Wales anthems are both as passionate and stirring as one can hear. Stage set for the haka and kick-off. Perfect conditions for rugby. Here we go then. Aaron Cruden kicks off, the All Blacks fly-half going deep direct to Dan Biggar, who clears direct to touch...Lineout on 22. All Blacks spill the ball in contact and Wales counter first-phase through Taulupe Faletau and Jonathan Davies before going back to the right where replacement fullback Rhys Patchell spills the ball. Massive clash between Jamie Roberts and Malakai Fekitoa, which leaves the All Blacks centre bloodied and hobbling from the field.
1 MINUTE LATER: Malakai Fekitoa is taken off while Seta Tamanivalu is brought on. All Blacks on the front foot after Kieran Read collects loose ball at the back of a Wales ruck, but the All Blacks turnover and Alun Wyn Davies affects a turnover. Scrappy early from both stages.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales dominate the first scrum of the game, awarded to them for a free-kick offence at a lineout, and Toby Faletau looks dangerous from the back.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wales looking good through 5 phases and looking to find space wide before penalised for failure to release in a ruck. Aaron Cruden clears the danger to halfway.
1 MINUTE LATER: Waisake Naholo makes a but in midfield, making ground where noe existed. Same story as last week. Seta Tamanivalu making good ground each time with ball in hand having replaced Malakai Fekitoa inside 2 minutes.
2 MINUTES LATER: Dan Biggar getting Wales backline on front foot each time he takes the ball into contact, and Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies looking threatening outside him, particularly in the channel inside the right wing as they target the new All Blacks centre pairing.
4 MINUTES LATER: Kieran Read, as any week, is involved everywhere, making ground from the back of the scrum and also rampaging in open play. His head-to-head with Toby Faletau, as last week, is a blinding contest.
1 MINUTE LATER: Malakai Fekitoa running free on the sideline. Lookinking good to return for Seta Tamanivalu.
1 MINUTE LATER: No great pattern to the game yet. Both teams looking to put ball through hands but execution isn't good enough while kicking from hand.
1 MINUTE LATER: Seta Tamanivalu is taken off as Malakai Fekitoa is brought on
2 MINUTES LATER: 0-3 Penalty to Wales! Dan Biggar scores. Lovely kick from Dan Biggar, with a little fade, to open the scoring. Defensive lines are each up incredibly quickly, limiting time and space to the attacking side. Factor in the other facets of the game that are off, and we're short of a highlights reel.
1 MINUTE LATER: Waisake Naholo is released by Israel Dagg to rampage at Liam Williams on the right wing. Remember his form from last week, he is the stuff of Welsh wingers' torrid nightmares.
2 MINUTES LATER: 5-3 TRY! Israel Dagg scores for New Zealand
2 MINUTES LATER: 7-3 Aaron Cruden makes the conversion. New Zealand ignore the goal kick to go for a lineout from which they drive. Aaron Smith passes long to Malakai Fekitoa, and the try is a certainty from there. So much space for Israel Dagg to coast over the line for a converted try.
1 MINUTE LATER: Kicking duel won by Israel Dagg on TKO, the All Blacks fullback roosting the pill to the Wales 22 from deep inside NZL territory, but the All Blacks concede the advantage by committing a lineout offence. Really good to see Israel Dagg back at his best, after missing the Rugby World Cup. deserved his recall on the back of good efforts for the Crusaders, and he's showing just how well stocked the All Blacks are for talent.
1 MINUTE LATER: Rob Evans is brought on while Gethin Jenkins is taken off.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wales continuing to take the challenge to the All Blacks, and they are executing better in face of strong defence. Sam Warburton said pre-match the Welsh challenge was physical not mental, given their losing run; in which case, they're going to be challenged again in the final quarter. There's some heavy contact and big hits at this point, but 15 phases eventually went nowhere before they left their feet for a ruck penalty to NZL.
2 MINUTES LATER: New Zealand deep in Wales territory under advantage from the penalty, shifting the ball left and right.
1 MINUTE LATER: Jaco Peyper finally blows his whistle for offside, saying no advantage to New Zealand after nine phases.
2 MINUTES LATER: 10-3 Penalty to New Zealand! Aaron Cruden scores. Aaron Cruden is down in backplay, and referee Peyper calls time. "Safety first."
1 MINUTE LATER: Gethin Jenkins is brought on as Rob Evans is taken off. Aaron Cruden looks to have a neck injury, and the Medi-Cab is on the field.
1 MINUTE LATER: Aaron Cruden still receiving treatment. He is still prone on the turf. Medical staff clearly being very careful with what seems to be a neck injury. Aaron Cruden has been placed safely on the ambulance. Good luck.
1 MINUTE LATER: Beauden Barrett is brought on while Aaron Cruden is taken off. Wales firmly in NZ territory after winning a scrum penalty. Kieran Read commits a lineout offence, with Wales awarded a scrum as the attacking team.
1 MINUTE LATER: New Zealand make a mess of the Wales scrum, but still the tourists get the ball through hands to Hallam Amos on the left wing before Malakai Fekitoa clears the danger.
1 MINUTE LATER: Fekitoa pinged for obstruction, but Dan Biggar goes for the lineout rather than a seeming certain three points. Wales rumble from the lineout, but the All Blacks force them into touch for a home lineout. Shades of an infamous decision in a Rugby World Cup match featuring Wales.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales dominating possession, and they look dangerous attacking on their right wing without threatening overly to break the line.
3 MINUTES LATER: 10-8 TRY! Alun Wyn Jones scores for Wales. Seta Tamanivalu is brought back on while Malakai Fekitoa is taken off. Big bust from Jonathan Davies first phase through the centre of the All Blacks defence, and just as we were lamenting a lack of thrust they get the ball to Alun Wyn Jones to score unmarked on the left wing. Great kick from Dan Biggar, and we're all square going to the sheds. Fair reflection on the play. Dan Biggar gets us underway to Israel Dagg just outside the 22. All to play for.
1 MINUTE LATER: Dan Biggar makes the conversion. 10-10 End Of 1st Half.
And what do I think of the 1st half, average performance from the All Blacks but the Welsh had some hopes so let's see how the 2nd half unfolds (Well I went to the loo at half-time but so many people turned up):
41ST MINUTE: 10-10 Start Of 2nd Half...Wales challenging the All Blacks through multiple phases left and right until Seta Tamanivalu smashes Liam Willams. All Blacks defensive line not as quick as 1st half. Sliding. And hence more space for Wales to put pill through hands.
1 MINUTE LATER: Reports from the ground the Aaron Cruden is on his way to hospital for "precautionary scans".
1 MINUTE LATER: Loose ball in the back line from Wales and they undo a lot of good work to be back inside their own territory. Just the one team playing in the second half to this point.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales dominating possession and phases without threatening the line and basic errors of execution undoing them.
1 MINUTE LATER: Kieran Read - again crashes over the gain line; he's having a whale of a game.
1 MINUTE LATER: Charlie Faumuina is brought on as Owen Franks is taken off. Big aerial contact on the left wing between Waisake Naholo and Liam Williams. Both wingers looking dusty and good news is they're both up. Penalty Wales -- overturning a penalty awarded to NZL -- with Jaco Peyper judging Naholo was not in a realistic position to contest the ball.
1 MINUTE LATER: Dane Coles and Beauden Barrett key in eight phases of danger before a turnover releases the pressure.
2 MINUTES LATER: Breathless rugby. Sam Warburton effects a turnover and gallops into NZL territory before Izzy Dagg returns after Toby Faletau had dropped a pass from his skipper, and Coles runs the ball back into Red territory.
1 MINUTE LATER: The All Blacks had been working themselves back into the game, and great work from Beauden Barrett in first-phase attack from a Wales lineout, slipping through the Wales defence, puts Ben Smith into space to gallop over the line.
1 MINUTE LATER: 15-10 TRY! Ben Smith scores for New Zealand.
1 MINUTE LATER: 17-10 Beauden Barrett makes the conversion. Great play from Aaron Smith, sniping from behind a ruck from the kick-off then roosting the ball deep into Wales territory. Great kick chase and they win a turnover from Dan Biggar inside the Red 22.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wyatt Crockett is brought on while Joe Moody is taken off.
1 MINUTE LATER: 22-10 TRY! Beauden Barrett scores for New Zealand
1 MINUTE LATER: 24-10 Beauden Barrett makes the conversion. Beauden Barrett steps through the line two passes after the scrum. Two quicks tries and Wales have to beware. Wales just perhaps beginning to fragment. They were forced backwards in the maul after winning the lineout then a couple of poor passes and Jamie Roberts knocks-on on the 10m line.
2 MINUTES LATER: Sam Cane is taken off as Ardie Savea (AKA the Pineapple according to Pops or the Pineapple Express) is brought on. Wonderful skills from New Zealand in first-phase attack. Chip pass from Beauden Barrett to Ben Smith who volleys the ball back inside where Ardie Savea couldn't quite collect the ball. Just like watching the Euros :-).
1 MINUTE LATER: Rob Evans is brought on as Gethin Jenkins is taken off. New Zealand dominate the scrum before Kieran Read and Aaron Smith combine to put Waisake Naholo across untouched in the left corner. This is looking likely to blow open now. Wales have really got to show some starch and steel in the final quarter -- where they fell off the past seven days ago.
1 MINUTE LATER: 29-10 TRY! Waisake Naholo scores for New Zealand. All Blacks have scored 19 points without reply in 20 minutes. You think you are in a contest against them and bang...worth remembering that Wales were on top in the opening spell of this second half.
2 MINUTES LATER: Tomas Francis is brought on while Samson Lee is taken off. Scott Baldwin is brought on as Ken Owens is taken off. Bradley Davies is brought on as Luke Charteris is taken off. Penalty Wales after Waisake Naholo blocked off Liam Williams. Kicked the ball inside NZ 22.
2 MINUTES LATER: Wales roll a maul and win a penalty after NZ adjudged to have collapsed it. Dan Biggar puts the ball out for a 5m lineout.
1 MINUTE LATER: Aaron Smith is taken off while TJ Perenara is brought on. Awful lineout from Wales, the ball going over the top, and NZ collect and rumble forwards.
1 MINUTE LATER: 34-10 TRY! The Pineapple of Ardie Savea scores for New Zealand. Poor kick from Ryan Crotty somehow finds Waisake Naholo, who links with Jerome Kaino before feeding Dane Coles and TJ Perenara to put Hurricanes teammate of the ''Pineapple Express'' Ardie Savea in space on halfway to gallop clear.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-10 Beauden Barrett makes the conversion.
1 MINUTE LATER: Patrick Tuipulotu is brought on as Brodie Retallick is taken off. New Zealand affect a turnover after 8 phases of Wales possession and Ben Smith rips to the Wales 10 metre line.
1 MINUTE LATER: 6 phases and great work from Seta Tamanivalu undone by TJ Peranara, who obstructs the defenders with another try looming. New Zealand bench again having a dominant effect, especially when we consider Beauden Barrett is playing a pivotal role in the match.
1 MINUTE LATER: Wales are all heart in attacking the NZ defence, but they've gone maybe just 5m in 10 phases.
2 MINUTES LATER: Up to 13 phases and now losing ground in face of heavy All Blacks defence.
2 MINUTES LATER: 36-15 TRY! Liam Williams scores for Wales. 17. phases and finally a Welshman finds space. Liam Williams smashes through a gap outside Jerome Kaino and inside Dane Coles to field a short ball from Dan Biggar and outsprint Israel Dagg for a fine try.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-17 Dan Biggar makes the conversion.
1 MINUTE LATER: Dan Biggar is taken off while Rhys Priestland is brought on. Dane Coles is taken off as Nathan Harris is brought on. Sam Warburton is taken off while Ellis Jenkins is brought on. Gareth Davies is brought on as Rhys Webb is taken off.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-22 TRY! Jonathan Davies scores for Wales. Wales fighting hard after Jamie Roberts charges down and collects a poor kick from Seta Tamanivalu, and gallops clear. he's hauled back by Israel Dagg but stays on his feet to feed Rhys Priestland and then Jonathan Davies.
1 MINUTE LATER: Scott Williams is brought on while Jamie Roberts is taken off. Wales go wide first phase from the kick off before losing the ball in contact on the left week.
1 MINUTE LATER: New Zealand determined to have the last word, compiling phases deep in Wales territory and playing past the siren.
1 MINUTE LATER: Ryan Crotty crosses in the corner but only after his trailing foot touches the paint under pressure from Hallam Amos. The All Blacks have extended their winning run against Wales, producing a strong second-half performance, but again the scoreline perhaps doesn't tell the tale of the match. Stick with us for live coverage of the Australia-England Test in Melbourne.
1 MINUTE LATER: 36-22 End Of Second Half
And what do you think of my 1st test match I have been, totally awesome right?! Well I told John Coburn that the next time I'll see him, we might go to another All Blacks test match held in Wellington, in a Rugby Championship/Bledisloe Cup encounter with the Wallabies who had not been performing well, losing to Six Nations champions England coached by Australian Eddie Jones in the 2nd test to lose the test series and the Springboks came back strong to beat Ireland and level the series at 1-1.
But all will be revealed when I write down my 50th blog (Well I might be reaching the half century mark) about the best bits over the past 5 years starting from 2012 right until 2016.
P.S. I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
'Cuz I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah
I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh God, it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
'Cuz I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you, yeah-ah
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah-ah, yeah
Oh, and the stars
Oh, and the stars they lie
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