Well, this is part 2 of my year in review so here's another of those best blogs with the most views of the month from the May - June period beginning with Rules Of The Game Of Thrones 2018 edition (+ Super Rugby round 11 review):
Well, it's been 6 years since I 1st started blogging (I did about 196 blogs but now I'm doing my 197th) so we will keep you informed but it is round 11 of Super Rugby as the Hurricanes (Who impacted by the return from injury of side stepping winger Nehe Milner-Skudder (He had a dodgy game because he got taken out from a Sunwolves player after he kicked the ball in the lead up to the Sunwolves try) thrash the Sunwolves in Wellington (There had so many calls from the TMO with Hurricanes player Vince Aso who got a double but the TMO disallowed both tries being scored by Aso, one was a clear & obvious forward pass by Julian Savea & the other was a illegal neck roll made by Julian's brother Ardie on a Sunwolves player) then the Crusaders defeat the Brumbies in Canberra (Well, in his second game back from injury, there was an unfortunate moment for Crusaders winger Israel Dagg as his opposition player Chance Peni copped a high tackle (It was a double whammy for Dagg as he had to go off for an HIA as well as injuring his knee at the same time meaning that he is out for a couple of weeks ruling out a return to the All Blacks) but was lucky not to be sent off (Just like Conrad van Vuuren) as South African referee Jaco Peyper yellow carded Peni (Well, Peni had to front up the judiciary but he has been suspended for 5 weeks revealing that rugby has gone soft (They just killed the game because of the illegal high tackles so far (Well, rugby is a pathetic game according to English back rower James Haskell) then the Crusaders were reduced to 14 men (1st there was Crusaders second rower Scott Barrett) then 13 (Well, it's like a rugby league team so far as second five-eighth Ryan Crotty goes to the bin for 10 minutes) but the Crusaders managed to hold on to the end) then a match winning penalty goal from London Wasps bound first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga has helped the Highlanders claim a win against the Bulls in Pretoria.
So Pops left on Monday (Although he had to go to Auckland & stayed at Carole Irene Webb's place in order to go to a high school reunion in Waiheke Island but Pops rang me last night that he is at his sister Kathryn's place) meaning that he's coming back here today (I'm having half of the noodle canteen for dinner) & I had a few meals such as cereal & fruit & toast for breakfast, roast pork for lunch & a combination of butter chicken & lamb massaman for dinner while yesterday was the leftover frittata with bacon for breakfast (I didn't take Buck for a walk because it was way too wet out there but I'm always having fun with him all the time but Dad came on Monday night & yesterday afternoon to check up on me), single snack chicken & mushroom for lunch with the leftover tuna, tomato & onion & dinner was again a combination of beef lasagne & home style cottage pie & for breakfast today was cereal & toast (Before I took Buck for a morning walk then watched Star Wars (I enjoyed the movie despite the Blu-ray getting scratched (Well, I tried to fix it yesterday but it didn't work so Pops took me to the Warehouse to get a replacement by showing the lady who works there a receipt but the lady told me not to put toothpaste on a Blu ray disc because using the toothpaste may ruin & damage it although the toothpaste is a bit like sandpaper) ruining both scenes) before having lunch) & lunch was chunky Irish stew but I didn't have the bread because the bread was going off (It went mouldy as I discovered it) & so here I am, doing my 1st blog of the month in May.
And finally, the 2nd one is taken from All Blacks Vs France 3rd test review, international rugby news (Part 3) & 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia report (Part 3):
Well, the All Blacks have thrashed the French in the 3rd & final test at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin despite some poor officiating so here's the live commentary:
Kia ora and welcome to the 3rd & final test between the All Blacks and France at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
Four players will make their test debut for New Zealand, with centre Jack Goodhue and Shannon Frizell named in the run on side and Richie Mo'unga and Jackson Hemopo on the bench.
French captain Mathieu Bastareaud is a surprise omission from their team, with halfback Morgan Parra given the armband instead.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, & all the action.
Commentary will start around 7:20pm.
Lineups
All Blacks
15 Ben Smith, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Aaron Smith; 1 Joe Moody, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Owen Franks, 4 Sam Whitelock (c), 5 Scott Barrett, 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Ardie Savea, 8 Luke Whitelock.
Replacements: 16 Liam Coltman, 17 Karl Tu'inukuafe, 18 Ofa Tuungafasi, 19 Jackson Hemopo, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Richie Mo'unga, 23 Jordie Barrett.
France
15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Remi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Gael Fickou, 10 Anthony Bellau, 9 Morgan Parra (c); 1 Dany Priso, 2 Camille Chat, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Bernard Le Roux, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 7 Kelian Galletier, 8 Kevin Gourdon.
Replacements: 16 Adrien Pelissie, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Felix Lambey, 20 Alexandre Lapandry, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Maxime Medard.
Match officials
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Graham Cooper (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Previous results
2018: New Zealand won 26-13 in Wellington
2018: New Zealand won 52-11 in Auckland
2017: New Zealand won 38-18 in Paris
2016: New Zealand won 24-19 in Paris
2015: New Zealand won 62-13 (World Cup quarter-final) in Cardiff
7:20pm: So, we're finally here. Here's hoping this test isn't marred by controversary and we can just have a good game rugby.
7:24pm: Really happy to see Naholo back in the black jersey and looking forward to seeing the new caps in full flight.
7:27pm: French players making their way out now. Should be interesting to see how Fofana does in the place of his captain.
7:29pm: Whitelock leads out the All Blacks. Just over five minutes now until kick-off. But first, the anthems, followed by the haka.
7:33pm: Perenara leading the haka as always. Whitelock front and centre.
1ST MINUTE: Belleau gets us underway and it's Whitelock who goes up high to take it. Barrett's pass is a poor one, hits the deck and McKenzie cleans up before clearing.
2 MINUTES LATER: Barrett playing like a man possessed early on, making three crunching tackles. France doing well to keep possession, putting it through the phases but the ball's turned over and McKenzie clears.
2 MINUTES LATER: McKenzie's pass is intercepted by Parra and Galletier is away! He's finally tackled on the 22m but France still have it. Babillot in a bit of space and they're just 10 metres out now.
2 MINUTES LATER: Belleau has a dart and he's tackled just short of the try line. France looking to bash their way over but a poor pass forces them back 20 metres. Up to 20 phases now but ABs defence holding firm. They try the grubber but it can only roll into touch.
1 MINUTE LATER: Thomas somehow keeps it in, spots space behind the defence, puts the chip kick through and ALMOST gets the bounce by Aaron Smith cleans up before McKenzie clears.
2 MINUTES LATER: McKenzie boots a HUGE kick through from the ABs scrum but it rolls dead. Looked as if it was just going to hold up but instead the French will have a scrum on the NZ 22m.
2 MINUTES LATER, FRANCE TRY - SERIN: A strong second shove from the ABs almost forces the turnover but it comes back the French's way. Fofana almost dummies his way through. Galletier gets a nice pass and he's just short of the try line. Serin acts to pass but dives over for the try! French strike first.
2 MINUTES LATER: Thomas takes in McKenzie's restart but Barrett's there to meet him and he drives him over the sideline. He's just been an absolute monster so far.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - BEN SMITH: Chat has a crack over the ball but there's no clear release and is penalised for a ABs lineout just 10 metres out. Ioane puts the foot down and ALMOST goes through. They switch direction, SBW sees Ben Smith on his outside and puts him through the hole for the try. Todd has replaced the injured Savea.
2 MINUTES LATER: Chat beats the tackle of Franks before putting Maestri in half a hole. They lose it moments away and McKenzie counters! He almost goes through but le Roux holds on. They go right for Naholo and he takes it up over halfway but Whitelock's penalised for holding on.
2 MINUTES LATER: France win a scrappy lineout as Serin cleans up. Belleau tries the bomb and Ben Smith drops it backwards for Naholo to clean up. SBW's in space, shows the ball but is hit hard. McKenzie opts to kick before Belleau returns it up over the 22m.
2 MINUTES LATER: McKenzie shows the ball and ALMOST goes through. ABs putting the French under serious pressure and they win the penalty on the tourists' 22m. Hemopo has replaced the bloody Frizell.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - TODD: All Blacks win the lineout through Hemopo just five metres out and they drive! They're advancing easily and they crash over and it's Todd who dots down for the try.
2 MINUTES LATER: Whitelock gets up to win the restart and they drive. Smith clears before Belleau puts the bomb up and he comes down with it! They try the left touchline and Smith knocks on in the tackle.
2 MINUTES LATER, FRANCE TRY - FOFANA: Gourdon takes the quick tap from the free-kick and France are just five metres out. Chat again bumps off Franks but ABs defence holding firm. Belleau goes to Fofana, he steps out of one tackle, fends another and he's over for the try!
2 MINUTES LATER: Ben Smith gets up to win McKenzie's restart. ABs hot on attack as McKenzie finds a charging Hemopo. The ball's unplayable at the ruck and NZ will have the scrum.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - MCKENZIE: Wait, we're going upstairs. And it's given! Smith flew from the scrum, found a surging McKenzie and he goes in under the sticks for the try. Only problem is Serin was impeded be the ref and couldn't make the tackle. Controversy strikes again.
2 MINUTES LATER: France look to counter down the right sideline and the bounce of the ball almost goes in their favour but there was a knock on in the play. France still look dangerous, but it's got to be tough when it's always going against you.
2 MINUTES LATER: France get up to win their own lineout before Babillot has a crack. Serin decides to kick and Ioane gathers it in before stepping one and another.
2 MINUTES LATER: Fickou cuts through two ABs tacklers and he's away! He has no support and is tackled just outside the 22m. Fickou tries the grubber and Ben Smith's forced to take it back for a French scrum.
2 MINUTES LATER: France put the shove in and the ball's come back their way. They're keeping it tight, trying through their forwards but Taylor gets up over the ball-carrier and wins the penalty.
It's a poor throw and the French have it! Fickou tries the kick through but McKenzie cleans up before Naholo takes the tackle. They kick it into touch and that's halftime.
HALFTIME: ALL BLACKS 21 - 14 FRANCE
41ST MINUTE: McKenzie tries the short kick but it's too short and the French will have the scrum on halfway. Hansen's not too happy at all. ABs are penalised at the breakdown and France have the lineout just five out.
2 MINUTES LATER: Maestri gets up to win it and France try the drive but oh my, what maul defence from the ABs as they push them back 10 metres. Eventually it's taken down and NZ force the turnover.
2 MINUTES LATER: Smith fires it to SBW and finds Goodhue with a trademark offload but he can't link up with McKenzie before the first-five cleans up and clears. France look to counter down the left wing but they simply just run out of room.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - MCKENZIE: ABs drive and le Roux is penalised for collapsing the maul. Naholo has a charge off the back of the lineout win. Smith does brilliantly to put Ioane in space but he's well looked after. McKenzie wraps around Whitelock, gets the pass, puts the foot down and races in to score.
2 MINUTES LATER: McKenzie tries the chip through, Barrett gets the bounce and the ABs are hot on attack once more. McKenzie tries to fire it wide and it's ALMOST intercepted by Lamerat but he can't hang on.
2 MINUTES LATER: Moody is penalised at the scrum and Belleau finds touch around the 22m for the lineout. The ABs loosehead has a tough time of it all series.
1 MINUTE LATER: ABs get up to win the steal the lineout and SBW offloads to Todd but he loosie's pass is intercepted before the French give it right back. France are penalised for being offside.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - IOANE: SBW overlooks a surging Goodhue and finds McKenzie who shows great hands and awareness to put Ioane through a gaping hole on the inside and the winger races in 30 metres to the score the try. New Zealand running riot now.
2 MINUTES LATER: Fickou is well looked after by Naholo in the tackle as France struggle to find holes in the ABs defence. SBW's makes a hard tackle and he's stayed down! He's been attended to for a shoulder injury. Jordie Barrett replaces him.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - IOANE: ABs are in space down the right wing but Ben Smith is penalised at the breakdown and France take the tap only for the ABs to rip it straight back. Ben Smith gets the quick pass and he draws one in before putting Ioane in open space for the try.
2 MINUTES LATER: Luke Whitelock gets up to win the restart and he makes good metres on the return. McKenzie finds Naholo on the left wing with an incredible pass, he bumps off one and just like that the ABs are only 10 metres out. Naholo bumps another but his pass in field is knocked back the tourists' way.
2 MINUTES LATER: Barrett does brilliantly to steal the ball and the ABs are hot on attack once again. Taylor goes up the middle and they're just five out. Frizell has a crack and takes a few with him over the try line for a score on his test debut. Oh no, they've asked the TMO and he reckons he was held up. No try.
2 MINUTES LATER, ALL BLACKS TRY - IOANE: Serin puts Whitelock under pressure at the back of the scrum but the ABs still have it. McKenzie has a number of players outside him, skips one to find Ioane and the winger goes inbetween two tacklers to score his third try of the night!
2 MINUTES LATER: Sam Whitelock takes in the restart and France are awarded the penalty for not releasing. With their lineout in turmoil, they've asked for the scrum.
2 MINUTES LATER: Nevermind, France's set-piece is just terrible all round as their front row collapses and they concede the penalty. ABs will have the lineout around halfway.
2 MINUTES LATER: France this time win their lineout ball and begin to maul just five metres out. They're not going anywhere and concede the penalty for obstructing.
2 MINUTES LATER: Goodhue finds Naholo on the left wing but he's well tackled. ABs putting it through the hands quickly and they're up over the 22m. Barrett's grubber is charged and the ABs concede the penalty.
2 MINUTES LATER: Barrett rips the ball away once again and the ABs have numbers to burn on the left! Goodhue has a crack but they eventually lose it after Hemopo knocked on.
2 MINUTES LATER: France win another penalty. That's five in five minutes. France will have the lineout just five metres out. They get up to win it but ABs turn it over. Ioane spots space, tries the step but loses it in contact.
2 MINUTES LATER: Naholo is in space again down the left wing and fires it back in field as he approaches the touchline but his pass it tapped back France's way. Lambey gets it and he's in space! They switch left and Fickou takes it up just five metres out but they lose moments later!
2 MINUTES LATER: One final scrum for the ABs and Perenara decides they want to play as they fire it left to Naholo who has to clean up a poor pass along the ground. They're right on their own try line. Naholo decides he's had enough and kicks it into touch.
FULLTIME: ALL BLACKS 49 - 14 FRANCE
And Ireland (Who are ranked number 2 in the world) have won the decider against the Wallabies at Allianz Stadium in Sydney by retaining the Lansdowne Cup to claim their 1st series victory over Australia since 1979 then England deny South Africa a clean sweep in Cape Town to claim their 1st victory in South Africa since 2000 before Scotland thrashed Argentina in Resistencia after bouncing back from a loss against the United States last week.
And in FIFA World Cup news, Brazil have eased past Keylor Navas's Costa Rica 2 goals to 0 (With goals scored by both Philippe Coutinho & their star player Neymar) in St Petersburg while Switzerland came from a goal down to win against Serbia in Kaliningrad then Hernandez & Vela's Mexico clinch a spot in the round of 16 against Son Heung-min's Korea Republic with a 2 - 1 victory while Manuel Neuer's Germany kept their title defence alive by beating Emil Forsberg's Sweden 2 - 1 after coming from behind in Sochi before De Bruyne & Hazard's Belgium thrash Wahbi Khazri's Tunisia 5 goals to 2 in Moscow to book a place in the round of 16 then a Harry Kane hat trick helped England demolish tournament debutants Panama (Featuring the likes of Godoy & Torres) 6 - 1 to clinch a spot in the round of 16 in Nizhny Novgorod while Shinji Kagawa's Japan drew with Koulibaly & Mane's Senegal 2 - 2 at Yekaterinburg then James Rodriguez's Colombia defeat his Bayern Munich teammate Robert Lewandowski's Poland 3 - 0 in Kazan while Luis Suarez's Uruguay trashed hosts Russia (Featuring the likes of Fedor Smolov) 3 - 0 to top Group A in Samara before Saudi Arabia claim a win against Mohamed Salah's Egypt 2 - 1 in Volgograd then Sardar Azmoun's Iran drew with Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal 1 - 1 in Saransk allowing David de Gea's Spain to top Group B for the highest number of goals after their draw against Mehdi Benatia's Morocco 2 - 2 in Kaliningrad while Antoine Griezmann's France drew with Christian Eriksen's Denmark at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to top Group C before Peru ended their World Cup campaign against Australia in Sochi then the Lionel Messi led Argentina had to survive by advancing through to the knockout stages by beating Victor Moses's Nigeria 2 - 1 in St Petersburg & of course, Croatia had a win against Iceland by topping group D in Rostov-On-Don.
And finally here is the confirmed list for the round of 16 games being played:
Uruguay Vs Portugal
France Vs Argentina
Spain Vs Russia
Croatia Vs Denmark
Brazil Vs Mexico
Belgium Vs Japan
Sweden Vs Switzerland
& Colombia Vs England
P.S. THERE IS SOME SPOILER ALERT PEOPLE, NOW PAY ATTENTION!!! And there is more FIFA World Cup news as Sweden top Group F with a comfortable 3 - 0 win against Mexico in an epic game in Yekaterinburg while Korea Republic has knocked defending champions Germany out of the World Cup with a 2 - 0 upset victory (That's the 3rd consecutive/straight World Cup that the reigning champion had to crash out of the tournament but the main reason that Germany got knocked out in the tournament early was not picking Manchester City (Champions of England compared to Paris St Germain (Champions of France), Bayern Munich (Champions of Germany), Juventus (Champions of Italy) & FC Barcelona (Champions of Spain) player Leroy Sane because he would even make an impact) in Kazan then Neymar's Brazil top Group E with a comprehensive 2 - 0 win over Serbia at Spartak Stadium in Moscow while Switzerland advanced to the round of 16 after a 2 - 2 draw against Costa Rica in Nizhny Novgorod while Japan march on despite losing to Poland to advance through to the knockout stages for the least amount of yellow cards in Volgograd allowing Colombia to pounce Senegal to top Group H in Samara while Belgium ran out winners against England (Although both sides had to rest their front line players such as De Bruyne & Hazard for Belgium (Both survivors from the previous game against Tunisia such as goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois & defender Dedryck Boyata were required for their clash against England) & captain Harry Kane for England for their round of 16 clash) 1 - 0 to top Group G in Kaliningrad & last but not least, Tunisia snatch a comeback win (Just like both Switzerland & Germany did against Serbia & Sweden respectively) denying Panama's hopes of their 1st win in their tournament debut in Saransk.
So that is my 257th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 77th this year (And it is only 9 days to go until Christmas).
Saturday, 15 December 2018
Monday, 10 December 2018
The year in review (Part 2)
Well, this is part 2 of my year in review so here's another of those best blogs with the most views of the month from the March - April period beginning with Super Rugby round 6 review (+ Ball tampering shame & Joshua-Parker showdown) but this topic is about results for round 6 of the 2018 Super Rugby season as well as the ball tampering crisis happening in South Africa by the Aussies (Well, 3 of them had to serve bans for ball tampering such as the modern day Bradman Steve Smith, the enforcer of Australian cricket David Warner & Cameron Bancroft) & Joseph Parker's biggest bout of his career with Anthony Joshua:
Well, round 6 of Super Rugby got underway as the Crusaders pip the Bulls 33 - 14 in Christchurch with Jack Goodhue who had a wonderful game getting a double then the Chiefs demolish the Sunwolves 61 - 10 in Tokyo with Damian McKenzie also having a wonderful game by scoring both tries along with Solomon Alaimalo just like Jack Goodhue did then the Hurricanes were too strong against the Highlanders in TJ Perenara's 100th game (Some fabulous tries including Beauden Barrett, Ben Lam twice & Vince Aso for the Hurricanes & Waisake Naholo who was in not once but twice for the Highlanders).
And what about the ball tampering crisis during the 3rd test between South Africa & Australia in Cape Town that shocked the cricket world (Well it is just not cricket)...I mean come on, what on earth is going on with these culprits such as Australian captain Steve Smith, David Warner & Cameron Bancroft (All 3 were being replaced by Joe Burns, Glenn Maxwell & Matt Renshaw for the 4th & final test) because they were all caught in the act, honestly. At least coach Darren Lehmann kept his job (Well, he had to resign as head coach of the Australian cricket team after the 4th test) but all 3 offenders had to be sent home as a result, with Smith & Warner copping 1 year suspensions (But they are not allowed to captain for Australia again for 2 years (Although wicketkeeper Tim Paine has taken over the job of national team test captain) & Bancroft has been suspended for 9 months for playing their part on ball tampering, I mean, get real...get over it because not only that the ball tampering scandal is Australian cricket's darkest days since the underarm incident in 1981 which cost us the game (Trevor Chappell was instructed by his brother Greg Chappell to bowl underarm (Which is illegal as of today because it results in an automatic no ball being signaled by the umpire) before Trevor became Australia's most hated man in cricket).
And finally don't forget that Samoan-Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker is fighting Britain/England's Anthony 'AJ' Joshua at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff...but everything is on the line such as unification titles & undefeated records (Well someone's 0 has got to go (That's according to the world famous American ring announcer Michael Buffer). And let's hope that Joe doesn't get knocked out just like 'Iron' Mike Tyson in which he lost against James 'Buster' Douglas or especially disqualified (Such as hitting on the break, low blows, headbutts, rabbit punches, elbows & hitting a man while he's down but he may lose his money if he gets disqualified).
P.S. And don't worry, Carole Webb is here until next Wednesday because she had just arrived last night from the airport (And I heard a familiar tune at the airport which is one of the Foo Fighters songs Learn To Fly) but we had cereal for breakfast before I took Buck for a morning walk then head over to the Splash Centre for a swim before we went to Countdown for some shopping (I had to stay in the car) then we went to Murray's emporium (Again I had to stay in the car) before we went back home although I had to watch that Batman & Joker parody video on YouTube which is hilarious before I heard the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers & Incubus then we had an incredible Caesar salad for lunch then we had a fruit plate before I played Rugby League Live 4 on the PS4 then Rugby Challenge 3 & FIFA 18 before I took Buck for an afternoon walk & after that, watched that Australian rugby programme that I recorded which is Kick & Chase before we had chicken, pasta & salad for dinner before I dried the dishes with Carole washing it & so here I am, doing a blog for tonight.
And the 2nd one is taken from Super Rugby round 7 review (+ Joseph Parker's defeat against Anthony Joshua & my Easter Monday habituals):
Well, round 7 of Super Rugby got underway as the Chiefs get a resounding win against the Highlanders in Hamilton before the Hurricanes continue our New Zealand Super Rugby dominance against Australian opposition by thrashing the Rebels in Melbourne with Ben Lam scoring 4 unbelievable tries then the Crusaders win against the Lions in the 2017 Super Rugby final rematch in Johannesburg on Easter Sunday.
And now the bad news, Joseph Parker has lost both his fight against Anthony Joshua in Cardiff & his titles as well as Parker's undefeated record (Although me, Pops & Carole Webb had to watch it on Sky Arena yesterday on Easter Sunday (The same day that I watched a Star Wars movie which the The Last Jedi although I watched The Force Awakens on Good Friday (The day we went to Palmerston North where we looked at the mall before going to Habitual Fix for lunch before we headed back home where we had a awesome day & we went to the Brick House for dinner where we had a great night) before Bob & Rachael Hays arrived for lunch (We had barbecued lamb with salad & naan bread) that we had meaning that I had to watch it on pay per view for the 1st time in my whole life).
And finally I got up today on Easter Monday at 8am, had a shower, then I had breakfast before I took Buck for a morning walk, then listened to live versions of both the Foo Fighters & Queens Of The Stone Age on YouTube before I played my favourite Gran Turismo Sport game on the PS4 before I had leftover barbecue lamb with leftover salad & bruschetta for our dinner of the day, then played Gran Turismo again before I took Buck for an afternoon walk & I'm doing my blog now before we have a light meal.
And we say farewell to one of the most controversial All Blacks Keith Murdoch (You know, the one who punched a security guard at a bar which was closed in Cardiff at the time) who passed away (Although he had to be sent home for indiscipline but decided to go to exile in Australia) so rest in peace (And it has been a few weeks since former All Black & Samoan back rower Dylan Mika (1972 - 2018) passed away as well).
Keith Murdoch
1943 - 2018
And the 3rd one is taken from Super Rugby round 8 review:
Well, round 8 of Super Rugby got underway as the Hurricanes just won against a very good Sharks team (Who had to beat the disappointing Blues in the previous week) in Napier by 1 after Ngani Laumape scored a try in the dying minutes then Ihaia West got the match winning conversion by snatching it right to the death, then the Chiefs continue their dominance against the poor Blues outfit in Hamilton thanks to a match winning penalty try to put them up front & held on until the end before the Crusaders headed to Buenos Aires to take on the Jaguares but in the end, the Crusaders got the bonus point win by thrashing them (Although both Crusaders outside backs George Bridge & Manasa Mataele bagging doubles for the Crusaders).
And the 4th one is taken from Super Rugby round 9 & 2018 Commonwealth Games review:
Well, round 8 of Super Rugby got underway as the Hurricanes defeat the Chiefs in Wellington to go on top of the New Zealand conference as well as the overall standings then the Blues buried their 2017 demons against the Sunwolves with their comfortable win in Tokyo before the Highlanders earn themselves a bonus point victory over the Brumbies in Dunedin to still continue our dominance against Australian opposition.
And New Zealand finish 5th on the medal table ahead of South Africa but behind Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia with 15 gold medals (All Blacks sevens (Who kept the Fijians scoreless to regain the gold medal from South Africa), Black Ferns sevens (Kelly Brazier scored the match winning try during extra time against the hosts & after the try had scored, the Aussie crowd were in silence), Black Sticks women, Jo Edwards, Sam Gaze (Who had a mechanical issue, allowing him to come back & challenge Anton Cooper for the lead under controversial circumstances before crossing the line to bring home the gold), Joelle King (Both women's singles & doubles with Amanda Landers-Murphy) David Liti, David Nyika, New Zealand men's team sprint, Sophie Pascoe (Both women's SB9 100m breaststroke & women's SM10 200m individual medley), Julia Ratcliffe, Tom Walsh (Who went into the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as heavy favourite) & Sam Webster), 16 silvers & 15 bronzes.
And finally with both the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang & the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast wrapped up, as the next sporting event taking place this year in 2018 is the FIFA World Cup in Russia which will happen in 2 months time starting on the 15th of June when the hosts take on Saudi Arabia for their opener at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow (Although Leon would be football/soccer mad because me & Pops are indeed rugby union mad because the Rugby World Cup doesn't take place until next year in Japan).
And we went to the Wanganui club on Saturday for a quiz night & we won! (Yes! We did it because our team name was the vac blowers) + I've got the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy on blu ray (I bought it on mighty ape with some assistance from Pops) to add it to my movie collection (Well, it's been 6 days since I got both the Star Wars prequel & original trilogies from The Warehouse to add it to both Star Wars: The Last Jedi (I bought it from mighty ape also) & my 1st blu ray movie that I own which is Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
And finally we bid you farewell to one of the greatest All Blacks in the form of William 'Fergie' McCormick (You know, the one who plays for Canterbury) who had to pass away a week & a day ago so rest in peace.
Fergie McCormick
1939 - 2018
And finally the 5th & final one is taken from Super Rugby round 10 review & timeline of Star Wars & Lord Of The Rings movies (+ An ANZAC Day to remember):
Well, round 10 of Super Rugby got underway as the Highlanders (Coached by Aaron Mauger) defeat the poor Blues outfit in Auckland with Shannon Frizell (Brother of league player Tyson) getting a hat-trick of tries then the Crusaders beat the Sunwolves in Christchurch under appalling/miserable conditions (First there was rain then hail & thunderstorms which nearly caused the game to be abandoned (Well they demanded a brand new covered stadium located in Christchurch to avoid all that kerfuffle) then they kept going as usual but the match saw the return of both All Blacks from injuries such as Izzy Dagg & Owen Franks) before the Chiefs came to Brisbane to lock, stock & 2 smoking barrels against the Brad Thorn coached Reds in which they got a bonus point victory in the end (Including that bone jarring crunching tackle/monstrous hit made by big Chiefs second five Johnny Fa'auli on Reds number 8 Caleb Timu sending shock waves, BOOMFA! So the smack down may have been laid upon by appearing on smashed em bro (It's a segment that appears every Friday on The Crowd Goes Wild on Prime, showcasing the biggest hits of the previous weekend) at number 1).
And here is the timeline of the Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings & The Matrix movie franchises being released in cinemas then the movies that I own on Blu-ray being released in theaters as well as the major sporting events (Such as the America's Cup, the FIFA World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Cricket World Cup, the UEFA European Football Championship, the summer & winter Olympic Games & of course, the Rugby World Cup) being held:
1977: Star Wars is 1st released in theaters (Same year that the America's Cup was held in the American city of Newport, Rhode Island (Won by Courageous)
1978: The FIFA World Cup was held & won by Argentina (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
1979: The Cricket World Cup was held in England (Won by the West Indies)
1980: The sequel to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back is released in theaters (Same year that Moscow in the USSR (Now Russia) hosted the Olympic Games while the America's Cup was held in the American city Newport, Rhode Island (Won by Freedom) then in the American village of Lake Placid, New York hosted the winter Olympic Games & Euro 80 was held in Italy (Won by West Germany)
1982: The FIFA World Cup was held in Spain which was won by Italy (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Brisbane, Australia)
1983: Return Of The Jedi is released in theaters (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in England for the 3rd straight time (Won by India) & the America's Cup was held in the American city of Newport, Rhode Island (Won by Australia II)
1984: The American city of Los Angeles, California hosts the Olympics (Same year that the winter Olympics was held in Sarajevo in FR Yugoslavia (Present day Bosnia & Herzegovina) & Euro 84 was held & won by France)
1986: The FIFA World Cup was held in Mexico which was won by Argentina (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Edinburgh, Scotland)
1987: The inaugural Rugby World Cup takes place in Australia & New Zealand (With the final taken place at Eden Park in Auckland which was won by the All Blacks), same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in India & Pakistan (Which was won by Australia) & the America's Cup was held in Fremantle (Won by Stars & Stripes 87)
1988: Seoul in South Korea hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that the America's Cup was held in in the American city of San Diego, California (Won by Stars & Stripes H3) while the winter Olympics was held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada & Euro 88 was held in West Germany (Won by the Netherlands)
1990: The FIFA World Cup was held in Italy which was won by West Germany (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Auckland, New Zealand)
1991: The Rugby World Cup was held in England, France, Ireland, Scotland & Wales (Won by the Wallabies)
1992: Barcelona in Spain hosts the Olympics (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in Australia & New Zealand (Won by Pakistan) while the America's Cup was again held in the American city of San Diego, California (Won by America3) then Albertville in France played host to the winter Olympics & Euro 92 was held in Sweden (Won by Denmark)
1994: The FIFA World Cup was held in the United States of America which was won by Brazil (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in Lillehammer, Norway & the Commonwealth games was held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
1995: The Rugby World Cup was held in South Africa & won by the Springboks (Same year that the America's Cup was held in San Diego, California for the 3rd straight time (Won by Team New Zealand)
1996: The American city of Atlanta, Georgia hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka (Won by Sri Lanka) & Euro 96 was held in England (Won by Germany)
Well, round 6 of Super Rugby got underway as the Crusaders pip the Bulls 33 - 14 in Christchurch with Jack Goodhue who had a wonderful game getting a double then the Chiefs demolish the Sunwolves 61 - 10 in Tokyo with Damian McKenzie also having a wonderful game by scoring both tries along with Solomon Alaimalo just like Jack Goodhue did then the Hurricanes were too strong against the Highlanders in TJ Perenara's 100th game (Some fabulous tries including Beauden Barrett, Ben Lam twice & Vince Aso for the Hurricanes & Waisake Naholo who was in not once but twice for the Highlanders).
And what about the ball tampering crisis during the 3rd test between South Africa & Australia in Cape Town that shocked the cricket world (Well it is just not cricket)...I mean come on, what on earth is going on with these culprits such as Australian captain Steve Smith, David Warner & Cameron Bancroft (All 3 were being replaced by Joe Burns, Glenn Maxwell & Matt Renshaw for the 4th & final test) because they were all caught in the act, honestly. At least coach Darren Lehmann kept his job (Well, he had to resign as head coach of the Australian cricket team after the 4th test) but all 3 offenders had to be sent home as a result, with Smith & Warner copping 1 year suspensions (But they are not allowed to captain for Australia again for 2 years (Although wicketkeeper Tim Paine has taken over the job of national team test captain) & Bancroft has been suspended for 9 months for playing their part on ball tampering, I mean, get real...get over it because not only that the ball tampering scandal is Australian cricket's darkest days since the underarm incident in 1981 which cost us the game (Trevor Chappell was instructed by his brother Greg Chappell to bowl underarm (Which is illegal as of today because it results in an automatic no ball being signaled by the umpire) before Trevor became Australia's most hated man in cricket).
And finally don't forget that Samoan-Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker is fighting Britain/England's Anthony 'AJ' Joshua at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff...but everything is on the line such as unification titles & undefeated records (Well someone's 0 has got to go (That's according to the world famous American ring announcer Michael Buffer). And let's hope that Joe doesn't get knocked out just like 'Iron' Mike Tyson in which he lost against James 'Buster' Douglas or especially disqualified (Such as hitting on the break, low blows, headbutts, rabbit punches, elbows & hitting a man while he's down but he may lose his money if he gets disqualified).
P.S. And don't worry, Carole Webb is here until next Wednesday because she had just arrived last night from the airport (And I heard a familiar tune at the airport which is one of the Foo Fighters songs Learn To Fly) but we had cereal for breakfast before I took Buck for a morning walk then head over to the Splash Centre for a swim before we went to Countdown for some shopping (I had to stay in the car) then we went to Murray's emporium (Again I had to stay in the car) before we went back home although I had to watch that Batman & Joker parody video on YouTube which is hilarious before I heard the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers & Incubus then we had an incredible Caesar salad for lunch then we had a fruit plate before I played Rugby League Live 4 on the PS4 then Rugby Challenge 3 & FIFA 18 before I took Buck for an afternoon walk & after that, watched that Australian rugby programme that I recorded which is Kick & Chase before we had chicken, pasta & salad for dinner before I dried the dishes with Carole washing it & so here I am, doing a blog for tonight.
And the 2nd one is taken from Super Rugby round 7 review (+ Joseph Parker's defeat against Anthony Joshua & my Easter Monday habituals):
Well, round 7 of Super Rugby got underway as the Chiefs get a resounding win against the Highlanders in Hamilton before the Hurricanes continue our New Zealand Super Rugby dominance against Australian opposition by thrashing the Rebels in Melbourne with Ben Lam scoring 4 unbelievable tries then the Crusaders win against the Lions in the 2017 Super Rugby final rematch in Johannesburg on Easter Sunday.
And now the bad news, Joseph Parker has lost both his fight against Anthony Joshua in Cardiff & his titles as well as Parker's undefeated record (Although me, Pops & Carole Webb had to watch it on Sky Arena yesterday on Easter Sunday (The same day that I watched a Star Wars movie which the The Last Jedi although I watched The Force Awakens on Good Friday (The day we went to Palmerston North where we looked at the mall before going to Habitual Fix for lunch before we headed back home where we had a awesome day & we went to the Brick House for dinner where we had a great night) before Bob & Rachael Hays arrived for lunch (We had barbecued lamb with salad & naan bread) that we had meaning that I had to watch it on pay per view for the 1st time in my whole life).
And finally I got up today on Easter Monday at 8am, had a shower, then I had breakfast before I took Buck for a morning walk, then listened to live versions of both the Foo Fighters & Queens Of The Stone Age on YouTube before I played my favourite Gran Turismo Sport game on the PS4 before I had leftover barbecue lamb with leftover salad & bruschetta for our dinner of the day, then played Gran Turismo again before I took Buck for an afternoon walk & I'm doing my blog now before we have a light meal.
And we say farewell to one of the most controversial All Blacks Keith Murdoch (You know, the one who punched a security guard at a bar which was closed in Cardiff at the time) who passed away (Although he had to be sent home for indiscipline but decided to go to exile in Australia) so rest in peace (And it has been a few weeks since former All Black & Samoan back rower Dylan Mika (1972 - 2018) passed away as well).
Keith Murdoch
1943 - 2018
And the 3rd one is taken from Super Rugby round 8 review:
Well, round 8 of Super Rugby got underway as the Hurricanes just won against a very good Sharks team (Who had to beat the disappointing Blues in the previous week) in Napier by 1 after Ngani Laumape scored a try in the dying minutes then Ihaia West got the match winning conversion by snatching it right to the death, then the Chiefs continue their dominance against the poor Blues outfit in Hamilton thanks to a match winning penalty try to put them up front & held on until the end before the Crusaders headed to Buenos Aires to take on the Jaguares but in the end, the Crusaders got the bonus point win by thrashing them (Although both Crusaders outside backs George Bridge & Manasa Mataele bagging doubles for the Crusaders).
And the 4th one is taken from Super Rugby round 9 & 2018 Commonwealth Games review:
Well, round 8 of Super Rugby got underway as the Hurricanes defeat the Chiefs in Wellington to go on top of the New Zealand conference as well as the overall standings then the Blues buried their 2017 demons against the Sunwolves with their comfortable win in Tokyo before the Highlanders earn themselves a bonus point victory over the Brumbies in Dunedin to still continue our dominance against Australian opposition.
And New Zealand finish 5th on the medal table ahead of South Africa but behind Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia with 15 gold medals (All Blacks sevens (Who kept the Fijians scoreless to regain the gold medal from South Africa), Black Ferns sevens (Kelly Brazier scored the match winning try during extra time against the hosts & after the try had scored, the Aussie crowd were in silence), Black Sticks women, Jo Edwards, Sam Gaze (Who had a mechanical issue, allowing him to come back & challenge Anton Cooper for the lead under controversial circumstances before crossing the line to bring home the gold), Joelle King (Both women's singles & doubles with Amanda Landers-Murphy) David Liti, David Nyika, New Zealand men's team sprint, Sophie Pascoe (Both women's SB9 100m breaststroke & women's SM10 200m individual medley), Julia Ratcliffe, Tom Walsh (Who went into the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as heavy favourite) & Sam Webster), 16 silvers & 15 bronzes.
And finally with both the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang & the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast wrapped up, as the next sporting event taking place this year in 2018 is the FIFA World Cup in Russia which will happen in 2 months time starting on the 15th of June when the hosts take on Saudi Arabia for their opener at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow (Although Leon would be football/soccer mad because me & Pops are indeed rugby union mad because the Rugby World Cup doesn't take place until next year in Japan).
And we went to the Wanganui club on Saturday for a quiz night & we won! (Yes! We did it because our team name was the vac blowers) + I've got the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy on blu ray (I bought it on mighty ape with some assistance from Pops) to add it to my movie collection (Well, it's been 6 days since I got both the Star Wars prequel & original trilogies from The Warehouse to add it to both Star Wars: The Last Jedi (I bought it from mighty ape also) & my 1st blu ray movie that I own which is Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
And finally we bid you farewell to one of the greatest All Blacks in the form of William 'Fergie' McCormick (You know, the one who plays for Canterbury) who had to pass away a week & a day ago so rest in peace.
Fergie McCormick
1939 - 2018
And finally the 5th & final one is taken from Super Rugby round 10 review & timeline of Star Wars & Lord Of The Rings movies (+ An ANZAC Day to remember):
Well, round 10 of Super Rugby got underway as the Highlanders (Coached by Aaron Mauger) defeat the poor Blues outfit in Auckland with Shannon Frizell (Brother of league player Tyson) getting a hat-trick of tries then the Crusaders beat the Sunwolves in Christchurch under appalling/miserable conditions (First there was rain then hail & thunderstorms which nearly caused the game to be abandoned (Well they demanded a brand new covered stadium located in Christchurch to avoid all that kerfuffle) then they kept going as usual but the match saw the return of both All Blacks from injuries such as Izzy Dagg & Owen Franks) before the Chiefs came to Brisbane to lock, stock & 2 smoking barrels against the Brad Thorn coached Reds in which they got a bonus point victory in the end (Including that bone jarring crunching tackle/monstrous hit made by big Chiefs second five Johnny Fa'auli on Reds number 8 Caleb Timu sending shock waves, BOOMFA! So the smack down may have been laid upon by appearing on smashed em bro (It's a segment that appears every Friday on The Crowd Goes Wild on Prime, showcasing the biggest hits of the previous weekend) at number 1).
And here is the timeline of the Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings & The Matrix movie franchises being released in cinemas then the movies that I own on Blu-ray being released in theaters as well as the major sporting events (Such as the America's Cup, the FIFA World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Cricket World Cup, the UEFA European Football Championship, the summer & winter Olympic Games & of course, the Rugby World Cup) being held:
1977: Star Wars is 1st released in theaters (Same year that the America's Cup was held in the American city of Newport, Rhode Island (Won by Courageous)
1978: The FIFA World Cup was held & won by Argentina (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
1979: The Cricket World Cup was held in England (Won by the West Indies)
1980: The sequel to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back is released in theaters (Same year that Moscow in the USSR (Now Russia) hosted the Olympic Games while the America's Cup was held in the American city Newport, Rhode Island (Won by Freedom) then in the American village of Lake Placid, New York hosted the winter Olympic Games & Euro 80 was held in Italy (Won by West Germany)
1982: The FIFA World Cup was held in Spain which was won by Italy (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Brisbane, Australia)
1983: Return Of The Jedi is released in theaters (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in England for the 3rd straight time (Won by India) & the America's Cup was held in the American city of Newport, Rhode Island (Won by Australia II)
1984: The American city of Los Angeles, California hosts the Olympics (Same year that the winter Olympics was held in Sarajevo in FR Yugoslavia (Present day Bosnia & Herzegovina) & Euro 84 was held & won by France)
1986: The FIFA World Cup was held in Mexico which was won by Argentina (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Edinburgh, Scotland)
1987: The inaugural Rugby World Cup takes place in Australia & New Zealand (With the final taken place at Eden Park in Auckland which was won by the All Blacks), same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in India & Pakistan (Which was won by Australia) & the America's Cup was held in Fremantle (Won by Stars & Stripes 87)
1988: Seoul in South Korea hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that the America's Cup was held in in the American city of San Diego, California (Won by Stars & Stripes H3) while the winter Olympics was held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada & Euro 88 was held in West Germany (Won by the Netherlands)
1990: The FIFA World Cup was held in Italy which was won by West Germany (Same year that the Commonwealth Games was held in Auckland, New Zealand)
1991: The Rugby World Cup was held in England, France, Ireland, Scotland & Wales (Won by the Wallabies)
1992: Barcelona in Spain hosts the Olympics (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in Australia & New Zealand (Won by Pakistan) while the America's Cup was again held in the American city of San Diego, California (Won by America3) then Albertville in France played host to the winter Olympics & Euro 92 was held in Sweden (Won by Denmark)
1994: The FIFA World Cup was held in the United States of America which was won by Brazil (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in Lillehammer, Norway & the Commonwealth games was held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
1995: The Rugby World Cup was held in South Africa & won by the Springboks (Same year that the America's Cup was held in San Diego, California for the 3rd straight time (Won by Team New Zealand)
1996: The American city of Atlanta, Georgia hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka (Won by Sri Lanka) & Euro 96 was held in England (Won by Germany)
1997: The Fifth Element is released in theaters
1998: The FIFA World Cup was held & won by France (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in Nagano, Japan & the Commonwealth games was held in Kuala Lumpur (Known as KL), Malaysia)
1999: The Matrix is released in theaters along with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in England (With some matches being held in Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland & Wales) which was won by Australia & the Rugby World Cup was held in Wales (With some matches being held in England, France, Ireland & Scotland) & won by the Wallabies)
2000: Sydney in Australia hosts the Olympics (Same year that the America's Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand (Won by Team New Zealand again) & Euro 2000 was held in both Belgium & The Netherlands (Won by France)
2001: The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring is 1st released in theaters
2002: Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is released in theaters along with Austin Powers In Goldmember & The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (Same year that the FIFA World Cup was held in both Japan & South Korea (Won by Brazil) while the winter Olympic Games was held in Salt Lake City, Utah & the Commonwealth Games was held in Manchester, England)
1998: The FIFA World Cup was held & won by France (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in Nagano, Japan & the Commonwealth games was held in Kuala Lumpur (Known as KL), Malaysia)
1999: The Matrix is released in theaters along with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in England (With some matches being held in Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland & Wales) which was won by Australia & the Rugby World Cup was held in Wales (With some matches being held in England, France, Ireland & Scotland) & won by the Wallabies)
2000: Sydney in Australia hosts the Olympics (Same year that the America's Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand (Won by Team New Zealand again) & Euro 2000 was held in both Belgium & The Netherlands (Won by France)
2001: The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring is 1st released in theaters
2002: Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is released in theaters along with Austin Powers In Goldmember & The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (Same year that the FIFA World Cup was held in both Japan & South Korea (Won by Brazil) while the winter Olympic Games was held in Salt Lake City, Utah & the Commonwealth Games was held in Manchester, England)
2003: The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King is released in theaters along with The Matrix Reloaded & The Matrix Revolutions (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in South Africa (Won by Australia again), the America's Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand again (Won by Alinghi) & the Rugby World Cup was held in Australia (Won by England)
2004: Athens in Greece hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2004 was held in Portugal (Won by Greece)
2005: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is released in theaters
2006: The FIFA World Cup was held in Germany which was won by Italy (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in Turin/Torino & the Commonwealth Games was held in Melbourne, Australia)
2007: The Rugby World Cup was held in France (With some matches being held in Scotland & Wales) & won by the Springboks (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in the West Indies & won by Australia for the 3rd straight time & the America's Cup was held in Valencia, Spain (Won by Alinghi again)
2008: Beijing in China hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2008 was held in both Austria & Switzerland (Won by Spain)
2010: The FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa which was won by Spain (Same year that the America's Cup was held in Valencia, Spain again (Won by BMW Oracle Racing) while the winter Olympic Games was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada & the Commonwealth Games was held in the Indian city of Delhi)
2011: The Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand & won by the All Blacks (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka & won by India)
2012: The British city of London, England hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2012 was held in both Poland & Ukraine (Won by Spain again) & The Avengers is released in theaters)
2004: Athens in Greece hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2004 was held in Portugal (Won by Greece)
2005: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith is released in theaters
2006: The FIFA World Cup was held in Germany which was won by Italy (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in Turin/Torino & the Commonwealth Games was held in Melbourne, Australia)
2007: The Rugby World Cup was held in France (With some matches being held in Scotland & Wales) & won by the Springboks (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in the West Indies & won by Australia for the 3rd straight time & the America's Cup was held in Valencia, Spain (Won by Alinghi again)
2008: Beijing in China hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2008 was held in both Austria & Switzerland (Won by Spain)
2010: The FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa which was won by Spain (Same year that the America's Cup was held in Valencia, Spain again (Won by BMW Oracle Racing) while the winter Olympic Games was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada & the Commonwealth Games was held in the Indian city of Delhi)
2011: The Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand & won by the All Blacks (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka & won by India)
2012: The British city of London, England hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2012 was held in both Poland & Ukraine (Won by Spain again) & The Avengers is released in theaters)
2013: The America's Cup was held in the American city of San Francisco, California (Won by Oracle Team USA)
2014: The FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil which was won by Germany (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in the Russian city of Sochi & the Commonwealth Games was held in Glasgow, Scotland)
2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in theaters (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in Australia & New Zealand which was won by co-hosts Australia & the Rugby World Cup was held in England (With some matches being played in Wales) which was won by the All Blacks)
2016: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2016 was held in France (Won by Portugal) & & Richie McCaw: Chasing Great is released in cinemas)
2014: The FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil which was won by Germany (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in the Russian city of Sochi & the Commonwealth Games was held in Glasgow, Scotland)
2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in theaters (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in Australia & New Zealand which was won by co-hosts Australia & the Rugby World Cup was held in England (With some matches being played in Wales) which was won by the All Blacks)
2016: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil hosts the Olympic Games (Same year that Euro 2016 was held in France (Won by Portugal) & & Richie McCaw: Chasing Great is released in cinemas)
2017: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in theaters (Same year that the America's Cup was held in Bermuda (Won by Emirates Team New Zealand)
2018: The FIFA World Cup was held in Russia which was won by France (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang & the Commonwealth Games was held in Gold Coast, Australia)
2019: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is released in theaters (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in England & Wales & won by hosts England & the Rugby World Cup was held in Japan & won by the Springboks)
And finally me & Pops went to an Anzac day dinner at the Wanganui club on Wednesday, so good times (And it was yesterday that Pops took me to the exotic Thai restaurant where I had a pad Thai then we went across Victoria's T 4 2 to have smoothies there).
2018: The FIFA World Cup was held in Russia which was won by France (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang & the Commonwealth Games was held in Gold Coast, Australia)
2019: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is released in theaters (Same year that the Cricket World Cup was held in England & Wales & won by hosts England & the Rugby World Cup was held in Japan & won by the Springboks)
2021: The Matrix Resurrections is released in theaters (Same year that the America's Cup was held in Auckland (Won by Emirates Team New Zealand again), the delayed Euro 2020 was held in pan-Europe (Won by Italy) & Tokyo in Japan hosts the delayed Olympic Games)
2022: The FIFA World Cup was held in Qatar which was won by Argentina (Same year that the winter Olympic Games was held in the Chinese city of Beijing & the Commonwealth Games was held in Birmingham, England)
2023: The Rugby World Cup is due to be held in France along with the Cricket World Cup which is due to be held in India
2024: Paris in France is due to host the Olympic Games along with Euro 2024 due to be held in Germany & the America's Cup which is due to be held in Barcelona, Spain.
And finally me & Pops went to an Anzac day dinner at the Wanganui club on Wednesday, so good times (And it was yesterday that Pops took me to the exotic Thai restaurant where I had a pad Thai then we went across Victoria's T 4 2 to have smoothies there).
So that is my 256th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 76th this year (And it is only a fortnight (Well not the popular video game of Fortnite) until Christmas so I absolutely cannot wait for Christmas so I am looking forward to it).
P.S. Can't get started
Chemical Heart
Every time I get started
You pull me apart
Can't get started
Chemical Heart
Every time I get started
You pull me apart
And I saw a clip on YouTube about Welsh halfback playing for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in 1973, Gareth Edwards scoring that incredible try of all time in the history of rugby, well, it looks like that try should've been ruled out due to both high tackles (It was legal way back then) resulting in penalties so I was rumored that the current high tackle laws in rugby have been revised (The acceptable tackle height will indeed change) for next year from shoulders (The current laws came into effect since a year & 11 months ago to crack down any reckless contact above the head & neck area which automatically results in a penalty because we don't want players getting knocked out cold but if there is accidental contact to the head & neck area it is always a penalty but if there is contact to the head & neck without force (Indirect contact with force or direct contact without force), a yellow card will be shown & a red card is shown if there is direct contact to the head & neck area with full, excessive force) to the chest area (You get both high tackle warnings (Similar to the 2 (One Day & Test) or 1 (T20) bouncer (The bouncer is cricket's version of the high tackle) rule in cricket but if a bowler bowls 3 (One Day & Test) or 2 (T20) bouncers, an automatic no ball will be called by the umpire meaning that you get 2 warnings but if a player bowls one more bouncer after the 3rd warning, the umpire tells the bowler that he must be taken off the attack meaning that he is not allowed to bowl for the rest of the match but they have introduced new cricket laws since last year such as mock fielding is illegal, so too is mankading which is possibly prohibited & the disciplinary card being introduced meaning that if a player infringes the rules (Such as sledging which the ICC (Cricket's governing body) is cracking down), a yellow card will be shown but if he continues to infringe (You know, serious harsher offences such as physical contact & violent conduct meaning that the umpires have the power to send offenders off), he or she'll be shown the red card meaning that a team is down to 10 players but ball tampering is also illegal meaning that harsher penalties will be given if a player tampers a ball like that) so the 1st one is a official warning but the 2nd one is like, you're gone for the next game meaning that the offending player is suspended for just a single game (Unlike in soccer that if a player is booked for the 2nd time after being previously yellow carded, he or she is suspended for 1 match).
And finally I told Pops tonight that I heard some radio advertising which is Monaghan's barbers that I went yesterday (And it was heard on my favourite radio station The Rock 95.2 FM (Well, I sometimes hear it listening to good rock tunes like Linkin Park's Breaking The Habit & Numb yesterday but when I moved here 11 years ago, I 1st started hearing The Rock (Well, they don't have one in Raetihi because I was listening to my old radio station which is Peak FM 95.8 as well as The Edge & ZM) on the radio that I've still got because I was starting to develop an interest in rock music) here in Whanganui).
P.S. Can't get started
Chemical Heart
Every time I get started
You pull me apart
Can't get started
Chemical Heart
Every time I get started
You pull me apart
And I saw a clip on YouTube about Welsh halfback playing for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in 1973, Gareth Edwards scoring that incredible try of all time in the history of rugby, well, it looks like that try should've been ruled out due to both high tackles (It was legal way back then) resulting in penalties so I was rumored that the current high tackle laws in rugby have been revised (The acceptable tackle height will indeed change) for next year from shoulders (The current laws came into effect since a year & 11 months ago to crack down any reckless contact above the head & neck area which automatically results in a penalty because we don't want players getting knocked out cold but if there is accidental contact to the head & neck area it is always a penalty but if there is contact to the head & neck without force (Indirect contact with force or direct contact without force), a yellow card will be shown & a red card is shown if there is direct contact to the head & neck area with full, excessive force) to the chest area (You get both high tackle warnings (Similar to the 2 (One Day & Test) or 1 (T20) bouncer (The bouncer is cricket's version of the high tackle) rule in cricket but if a bowler bowls 3 (One Day & Test) or 2 (T20) bouncers, an automatic no ball will be called by the umpire meaning that you get 2 warnings but if a player bowls one more bouncer after the 3rd warning, the umpire tells the bowler that he must be taken off the attack meaning that he is not allowed to bowl for the rest of the match but they have introduced new cricket laws since last year such as mock fielding is illegal, so too is mankading which is possibly prohibited & the disciplinary card being introduced meaning that if a player infringes the rules (Such as sledging which the ICC (Cricket's governing body) is cracking down), a yellow card will be shown but if he continues to infringe (You know, serious harsher offences such as physical contact & violent conduct meaning that the umpires have the power to send offenders off), he or she'll be shown the red card meaning that a team is down to 10 players but ball tampering is also illegal meaning that harsher penalties will be given if a player tampers a ball like that) so the 1st one is a official warning but the 2nd one is like, you're gone for the next game meaning that the offending player is suspended for just a single game (Unlike in soccer that if a player is booked for the 2nd time after being previously yellow carded, he or she is suspended for 1 match).
And finally I told Pops tonight that I heard some radio advertising which is Monaghan's barbers that I went yesterday (And it was heard on my favourite radio station The Rock 95.2 FM (Well, I sometimes hear it listening to good rock tunes like Linkin Park's Breaking The Habit & Numb yesterday but when I moved here 11 years ago, I 1st started hearing The Rock (Well, they don't have one in Raetihi because I was listening to my old radio station which is Peak FM 95.8 as well as The Edge & ZM) on the radio that I've still got because I was starting to develop an interest in rock music) here in Whanganui).
Saturday, 8 December 2018
The year in review (Part 1)
Well, it has been an incredible year so far in 2018 so here is the 1st part of the year beginning with the best blogs of January & February 2018 with the most views starting with Mr Brightside/Renegades Of Funk/Somebody Told Me: Another brief rugby news (Part 1):
Well, it looks like that ex All Black & Chiefs player Liam Messam is expected to head to Toulon for 2 years to replace Duane Vermeulen who is expected back home to South Africa.
And finally it looks like the Australian Super Rugby teams are getting competitive against New Zealand teams due to the axing of the Western Force with several Force players getting signed up by all of the 4 Australian teams.
P.S. And I'm going to see The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King movie tonight on TVNZ 1 because I have been watching The Lord Of The Rings movies since a fortnight ago but I have seen the movie Men In Black last night (And I do remember that film a lot since I've 1st watched it) on Three.
And the 2nd one is taken from 2018 Six Nations round 1 & Superbowl LII review:
Well, the 2018 Six Nations season is underway as Wales began their campaign with a win against Scotland at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff while Ireland win against France in Saint-Denis with a match winning drop goal by Johnny Sexton right at the death (And it was shades of Mitch Hunt last year in Super Rugby doing a similar thing to Sexton, to kick the match winning drop goal for the Crusaders against their Southern rivals the Highlanders right at the death) & England have begun their title defence, crushing the hapless Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
And finally (Meanwhile), the Philadelphia Eagles ended the New England Patriots hopes of winning back to back Superbowls at Superbowl LII (Just like Superbowl LXX when the Patriots did that against the Seattle Seahawks) with a comfortable win which broke new offensive records, something that back-up quarterback for the Eagles, Nick Foles (Who filled in for the injured star quarterback, Carson Wentz) would be proud of.
So that is my 255th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 75th this year (And it is only 16 days left until Christmas).
P.S. And great win for the Black Caps of New Zealand beating Pakistan by 123 runs in the 3rd & deciding test in Abu Dhabi (We won the 1st test (Ajaz Patel made his impressive debut outing for the Black Caps) before the Pakistanis forced a decider by dominating the 2nd test) for the 1st time in 49 years (It was way back in 1969, the year that my father was born to both the late Nan (Who passed away 2 years & 11 months ago) & Pops who is still alive at 71 in Motueka which is in the South Island as well as the Apollo 11 moon landing (Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin & Michael Collins were the Astronauts including that famous line when they walked on the moon ''It's one small step for man, one...giant leap for mankind''), the Woodstock music festival (Including African American rock star Jimi Hendrix wowed the crowds with his performances) & the raging trench warfare in Vietnam (Including the US army battled against the Viet Cong rebels), great stuff (Even 34 year old New Zealand debutant Will Somerville took 7 wickets on debut (He took 4 wickets in the 1st innings & 3 in the 2nd innings) as well as captain Kane Williamson (AKA The modern day Martin Crowe) scoring a memorable century in the 2nd innings along with Henry Nicholls) but I just started to follow cricket again since purchasing that Ashes Cricket video game on the PS4 last month (I'm always good at batting but I don't even bowl now because I'm struggling to get wickets but I always play in the shorter formats such as Five5 & Ten10 but I played first class twice but I promise not to play that first class format again after both matches).
And finally me & Pops had a great time watching the Christmas parade because it was way better than 2 years ago (The last time me & Pops had been).
Well, it looks like that ex All Black & Chiefs player Liam Messam is expected to head to Toulon for 2 years to replace Duane Vermeulen who is expected back home to South Africa.
And finally it looks like the Australian Super Rugby teams are getting competitive against New Zealand teams due to the axing of the Western Force with several Force players getting signed up by all of the 4 Australian teams.
P.S. And I'm going to see The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King movie tonight on TVNZ 1 because I have been watching The Lord Of The Rings movies since a fortnight ago but I have seen the movie Men In Black last night (And I do remember that film a lot since I've 1st watched it) on Three.
And the 2nd one is taken from 2018 Six Nations round 1 & Superbowl LII review:
Well, the 2018 Six Nations season is underway as Wales began their campaign with a win against Scotland at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff while Ireland win against France in Saint-Denis with a match winning drop goal by Johnny Sexton right at the death (And it was shades of Mitch Hunt last year in Super Rugby doing a similar thing to Sexton, to kick the match winning drop goal for the Crusaders against their Southern rivals the Highlanders right at the death) & England have begun their title defence, crushing the hapless Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
And finally (Meanwhile), the Philadelphia Eagles ended the New England Patriots hopes of winning back to back Superbowls at Superbowl LII (Just like Superbowl LXX when the Patriots did that against the Seattle Seahawks) with a comfortable win which broke new offensive records, something that back-up quarterback for the Eagles, Nick Foles (Who filled in for the injured star quarterback, Carson Wentz) would be proud of.
So that is my 255th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 75th this year (And it is only 16 days left until Christmas).
P.S. And great win for the Black Caps of New Zealand beating Pakistan by 123 runs in the 3rd & deciding test in Abu Dhabi (We won the 1st test (Ajaz Patel made his impressive debut outing for the Black Caps) before the Pakistanis forced a decider by dominating the 2nd test) for the 1st time in 49 years (It was way back in 1969, the year that my father was born to both the late Nan (Who passed away 2 years & 11 months ago) & Pops who is still alive at 71 in Motueka which is in the South Island as well as the Apollo 11 moon landing (Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin & Michael Collins were the Astronauts including that famous line when they walked on the moon ''It's one small step for man, one...giant leap for mankind''), the Woodstock music festival (Including African American rock star Jimi Hendrix wowed the crowds with his performances) & the raging trench warfare in Vietnam (Including the US army battled against the Viet Cong rebels), great stuff (Even 34 year old New Zealand debutant Will Somerville took 7 wickets on debut (He took 4 wickets in the 1st innings & 3 in the 2nd innings) as well as captain Kane Williamson (AKA The modern day Martin Crowe) scoring a memorable century in the 2nd innings along with Henry Nicholls) but I just started to follow cricket again since purchasing that Ashes Cricket video game on the PS4 last month (I'm always good at batting but I don't even bowl now because I'm struggling to get wickets but I always play in the shorter formats such as Five5 & Ten10 but I played first class twice but I promise not to play that first class format again after both matches).
And finally me & Pops had a great time watching the Christmas parade because it was way better than 2 years ago (The last time me & Pops had been).
Tuesday, 4 December 2018
All Blacks history at the Rugby World Cup
Well, hello hello, with Japan set to host the next Rugby World Cup in 2019, here is some of the history of the All Blacks Rugby World Cup campaigns over the years:
1987 - The 1st World Cup
Captain: David Kirk (Originally Jock Hobbs (Concussion) then Andy Dalton (Hamstring)
Coach: Sir Brian 'BJ' Lochore
Standout players: John 'JK' Kirwan (Backs) & Michael 'Iceman' Jones (Forwards)
Main challenger: France (Final)
1991 - The downfall
Captain: Gary Whetton
Coaches: John Hart & Alex 'Grizz' Wyllie
Standout players: Graeme Bachop (Backs) & Ian 'Kamo' Jones (Forwards)
Main challenger: Australia (Semifinal)
1995 - The heartbreak
Captain: Sean 'Fitzy' Fitzpatrick
Coach: Laurie Mains
Standout players: Jonah Lomu (Backs) & Zinzan 'Zinny' Brooke (Forwards)
Main challengers: England (Semifinal) & South Africa (Final)
1999 - The professional era
Captain: Taine Randell
Coach: John Hart
Standout players: Andrew 'Mehrts' Mehrtens (Backs) & Josh Kronfeld (Forwards)
Main challengers: France (Semifinal) & South Africa (3rd/4th place playoff)
2003 - The disappointment
Captain: Reuben Thorne
Coach: John Mitchell
Standout players: Doug 'Dougie' Howlett (Backs) & Ali Williams (Forwards)
Main challengers: South Africa (Quarterfinal) & Australia (Semifinal)
2007 - The low point
Captain: Richie McCaw
Coach: Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry
Standout players: Dan 'DC' Carter (Backs) & Jerry 'JC' Collins (Forwards)
Main challenger: France (Quarterfinal)
2011 - All Blacks forever
Captain: Richie McCaw
Coach: Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry
Standout players: Cory 'CJ' Jane (Backs), Richie McCaw & Jerome Kaino (Forwards)
Main challengers: Australia (Semifinal) & France (Final)
2015 - Back to black
Captain: Richie McCaw
Coach: Steve 'Shag' Hansen
Standout players: Dan 'DC' Carter (Backs) & Brodie 'Guzzler' Retallick (Forwards)
Main challengers: South Africa (Semifinal) & Australia (Final)
2019 - Seeking history
Coach: Steve 'Shag' Hansen
Main challengers: Australia, Ireland & South Africa
So that is my 254th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 74th this year (And it is still 20 days remaining until Christmas).
1987 - The 1st World Cup
Captain: David Kirk (Originally Jock Hobbs (Concussion) then Andy Dalton (Hamstring)
Coach: Sir Brian 'BJ' Lochore
Standout players: John 'JK' Kirwan (Backs) & Michael 'Iceman' Jones (Forwards)
Main challenger: France (Final)
1991 - The downfall
Captain: Gary Whetton
Coaches: John Hart & Alex 'Grizz' Wyllie
Standout players: Graeme Bachop (Backs) & Ian 'Kamo' Jones (Forwards)
Main challenger: Australia (Semifinal)
1995 - The heartbreak
Captain: Sean 'Fitzy' Fitzpatrick
Coach: Laurie Mains
Standout players: Jonah Lomu (Backs) & Zinzan 'Zinny' Brooke (Forwards)
Main challengers: England (Semifinal) & South Africa (Final)
1999 - The professional era
Captain: Taine Randell
Coach: John Hart
Standout players: Andrew 'Mehrts' Mehrtens (Backs) & Josh Kronfeld (Forwards)
Main challengers: France (Semifinal) & South Africa (3rd/4th place playoff)
2003 - The disappointment
Captain: Reuben Thorne
Coach: John Mitchell
Standout players: Doug 'Dougie' Howlett (Backs) & Ali Williams (Forwards)
Main challengers: South Africa (Quarterfinal) & Australia (Semifinal)
2007 - The low point
Captain: Richie McCaw
Coach: Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry
Standout players: Dan 'DC' Carter (Backs) & Jerry 'JC' Collins (Forwards)
Main challenger: France (Quarterfinal)
2011 - All Blacks forever
Captain: Richie McCaw
Coach: Sir Graham 'Ted' Henry
Standout players: Cory 'CJ' Jane (Backs), Richie McCaw & Jerome Kaino (Forwards)
Main challengers: Australia (Semifinal) & France (Final)
2015 - Back to black
Captain: Richie McCaw
Coach: Steve 'Shag' Hansen
Standout players: Dan 'DC' Carter (Backs) & Brodie 'Guzzler' Retallick (Forwards)
Main challengers: South Africa (Semifinal) & Australia (Final)
2019 - Seeking history
Coach: Steve 'Shag' Hansen
Main challengers: Australia, Ireland & South Africa
So that is my 254th blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 74th this year (And it is still 20 days remaining until Christmas).
2019 Rugby World Cup pool & match schedule (My 1st blog in December)
Well, it gives me great pleasure that I will reveal the pool & match schedule for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan next year:
Pool A
Ireland
Scotland
Japan (Host nation)
Russia
Samoa
Japan Vs Russia: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Ireland Vs Scotland: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Russia Vs Samoa: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya
Japan Vs Ireland: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Scotland Vs Samoa: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Ireland Vs Russia: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Japan Vs Samoa: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Scotland Vs Russia: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Ireland Vs Samoa: Fukuoka Hakatamori Stadium, Fukuoka
Japan Vs Scotland: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Pool B
New Zealand (Defending champion)
South Africa
Italy
Namibia
Canada
New Zealand Vs South Africa: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Italy Vs Namibia: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Italy Vs Canada: Fukuoka Hakatamori Stadium, Fukuoka
South Africa Vs Namibia: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
New Zealand Vs Canada: Oita Stadium, Oita
South Africa Vs Italy: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
New Zealand Vs Namibia: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
South Africa Vs Canada: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
New Zealand Vs Italy: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Namibia Vs Canada: Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi
Pool C (AKA pool of death)
England
France
Argentina
United States
Tonga
France Vs Argentina: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
England Vs Tonga: Sapporo Dome, Sapporo
England Vs United States: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Argentina Vs Tonga: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
France Vs United States: Fukuoka Hakatamori Stadium, Fukuoka
England Vs Argentina: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
France Vs Tonga: Kumamoto Stadium, Kumamoto
Argentina Vs United States: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya
England Vs France: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
United States Vs Tonga: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Pool D
Australia
Wales
Georgia
Fiji
Uruguay
Australia Vs Fiji: Sapporo Dome, Sapporo
Wales Vs Georgia: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Fiji Vs Uruguay: Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi
Georgia Vs Uruguay: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya
Australia Vs Wales: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Georgia Vs Fiji: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Pool A
Ireland
Scotland
Japan (Host nation)
Russia
Samoa
Japan Vs Russia: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Ireland Vs Scotland: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Russia Vs Samoa: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya
Japan Vs Ireland: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Scotland Vs Samoa: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Ireland Vs Russia: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Japan Vs Samoa: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Scotland Vs Russia: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Ireland Vs Samoa: Fukuoka Hakatamori Stadium, Fukuoka
Japan Vs Scotland: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Pool B
New Zealand (Defending champion)
South Africa
Italy
Namibia
Canada
New Zealand Vs South Africa: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Italy Vs Namibia: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Italy Vs Canada: Fukuoka Hakatamori Stadium, Fukuoka
South Africa Vs Namibia: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
New Zealand Vs Canada: Oita Stadium, Oita
South Africa Vs Italy: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
New Zealand Vs Namibia: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
South Africa Vs Canada: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
New Zealand Vs Italy: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Namibia Vs Canada: Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi
Pool C (AKA pool of death)
England
France
Argentina
United States
Tonga
France Vs Argentina: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
England Vs Tonga: Sapporo Dome, Sapporo
England Vs United States: Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Argentina Vs Tonga: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
France Vs United States: Fukuoka Hakatamori Stadium, Fukuoka
England Vs Argentina: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
France Vs Tonga: Kumamoto Stadium, Kumamoto
Argentina Vs United States: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya
England Vs France: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
United States Vs Tonga: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Pool D
Australia
Wales
Georgia
Fiji
Uruguay
Australia Vs Fiji: Sapporo Dome, Sapporo
Wales Vs Georgia: City of Toyota Stadium, Aichi
Fiji Vs Uruguay: Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi
Georgia Vs Uruguay: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya
Australia Vs Wales: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Georgia Vs Fiji: Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Australia Vs Uruguay: Oita Stadium, Oita
Wales Vs Fiji: Oita Stadium, Oita
Australia Vs Georgia: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Wales Vs Uruguay: Kumamoto Stadium, Kumamoto
Quarterfinals
Winner Pool C Vs Runner up Pool D: Oita Stadium, Oita
Winner Pool B Vs Runner up Pool A: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Winner Pool D Vs Runner up Pool C: Oita Stadium, Oita
Winner Pool A Vs Runner up Pool B: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Semifinals
Winner QF1 Vs Winner QF2: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Winner QF3 Vs Winner QF4: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
3rd & 4th place playoff
Runner up SF1 Vs Runner up SF2: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Final
Winner SF1 Vs Winner SF2: International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
So that is my 253rd blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 73rd of this year (And it is only 20 days until the real thing which is Christmas).
Sunday, 25 November 2018
Italy Vs All Blacks review (My very last rugby report of 2018)
Well, the All Blacks have completed the year 2018 in style, finishing it off with a win against Italy (AB's utility back Jordie Barrett was the hero of that test match, scoring 4 tries just like his brother Beauden did against the Wallabies at Eden Park in Auckland during the month of August this year while Damian McKenzie got a hat trick of tries as well (Just like Rieko Ioane did against France at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin & Ngani Laumape against Japan at Ajinomoto Stadium in Chofu, Tokyo) so here is the match commentary provided by Newshub:
Kia ora and welcome into Newshub's live updates between the All Blacks and Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
The test is the final match of the year for both teams.
In total there are 11 changes to the starting side with an all-new tight five, midfield and wing pairing the most significant changes to the team.
Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie have retained the 10 and 15 jerseys respectively with Jordie Barrett slotting onto the right wing and TJ Perenara coming in at halfback.
The final change from last week’s starting fifteen against Ireland is Vaea Fifita at blindside flanker in place of the injured Liam Squire.
Line-ups
All Blacks
1-Ofa Tuungafasi, 2-Dane Coles, 3-Nepo Laulala, 4-Patrick Tuipulotu, 5-Scott Barrett, 6-Vaea Fifita, 7-Ardie Savea, 8-Kieran Read (c), 9-TJ Perenara, 10-Beauden Barrett , 11- Waisake Naholo, 12-Ngani Laumape, 13-Anton Lienert-Brown, 14-Jordie Barrett, 15-Damian McKenzie
Reserves: 16-Nathan Harris, 17-Karl Tu'inukuafe, 18-Angus Ta'avao, 19-Brodie Retallick, 20-Dalton Papali'i, 21-Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22-Richie Mo'unga, 23-Rieko Ioane.
Italy
1-Andrea Lovotti, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini (c), 3-Simone Ferrari, 4-Alessandro Zanni, 5-Dean Budd, 6-Sebastian Negri, 7-Jake Polledri, 8-Abraham Jurgens Steyn, 9-Tito Tebaldi, 10-Tommaso Allan, 11-Luca Sperandio, 12-Tommaso Castello, 13-Michele Campagnaro, 14-Tommaso Benvenuti, 15-Jayden Hayward
Replacements: 16-Luca Bigi, 17-Cherif Traore, 18-Tiziano Pasquali, 19-Marco Fuser, 20-Johan Meyer, 21-Guglielmo Palazzani, 22-Luca Morisi, 23-Edoardo Padovani.
Head-to-head and past results
Played: 14
Won: All Blacks 14
Previous results:
2016: New Zealand won 68-10 in Rome
2012: New Zealand won 42-10 in Rome
2009: New Zealand won 20-6 in Milan
2009: New Zealand won 27-6 in Christchurch
2007: New Zealand won 76-14 in Marsellie (RWC)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France), Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
2:25 AM: The match is due to start in just over 30 minutes. This is the last All Blacks test of the year.
2:35 AM: Last week, Italy lost to Australia 26-7, while the All Blacks lost to Ireland 16-9.
2:45 AM: We're now 15 minutes away. Both teams are back in the sheds and will be back out shortly for the anthems and then the haka.
2:51 AM: The stadium isn't full which is off to see in an All Blacks test admittedly. Both teams emerge from the sheds and are out on the field.
2:53 AM: There is a choir singing in the New Zealand anthem and they sound great doing it. Something different instead of music blasting out of the speakers.
2:56 AM: The 2 Kiwis in the Italian squad - Dean Budd and Jayden Hayward - are both pictured singing Italy's anthem with lots of passion.
2:57 AM: Kieran Read is leading the haka which i've never seen before. TJ Perenara is at the front where Read is usually placed.
2:58 AM: As talked about yesterday, most of the All Blacks are wearing rainbow laces.
KICK OFF: We're underway in Rome. Beauden Barrett gets us underway.
1ST MINUTE: Early line out to the All Blacks and captain Read wins it on the halfway line. New Zealand drive forward, but the maul goes to ground, and Italy wins the turnover.
3RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): After multiple re-sets, Italy wins a free kick and they take a quick tap.
4TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks get the ball, but a loose carry means Italy go on the counter attack. There was another fumble and the referee says "no advantage" and Italy have another scrum.
6TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Penalty to NZ, and they take the quick tap and TJ Perenara kicks the ball forward.
7TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: The All Blacks are caught offside and now Italy has another penalty. They kick for touch, but their line out throw isn't straight, so we have another scrum...
9TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: TJ Perenara is over for New Zealand. They caught Italy napping. They attack down the right wing, and Jordie Barrett passes the ball back infield and Perenara dives over.
10TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION MISS: A poor coversion by Beauden Barrett and the All Blacks have a 5-0 lead.
11TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy get inside the All Blacks' 22 for the first time as Luca Sperandio goes on a big run.
13TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the hosts. They will kick for goal here.
PENALTY GOAL ITALY: Tommaso Allan lands the penalty attempt and now the score is 5-3 to New Zealand.
14TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): All Blacks knock the ball on from the re-start.
15TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Another free kick to Italy from the scrum. They take the tap and go for it.
16TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Time is off here but referee Andrew Brace is down with a knee injury. The medics come on and use some magic spray and water on the Irishman's knee. Hopefully he doens't need to go off with injury.
17TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Play resumes and the All Blacks had a penalty so they kick for touch.
18TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Damian McKenzie goes in under the posts. That was a beauty. Kieran Read attacks the line and somehow gets the ball to Patrick Tuipulotu, who runs a great line and a simple draw and pass to his fullbacks sends him through.
19TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: Beauden Barrett lands the conversion. All Blacks lead 12-3.
21ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Italy building some phases together, but then a poor pass goes to ground and then Dane Coles kicks the ball away. What can't Coles do?
22ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Scrum to the All Blacks after Italy drops the ball just inside NZ's half.
24TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Big news here as Andrew Brace is leaving the field. The Irishman has a knee injury. He had it looked at earlier but he is in pain (And is unable to continue). Assistant Pascal Gaüzère will take his place, but then who replaces the Frenchman on the sideline?
25TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Play resumes with a scrum to Italy.
26TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the All Blacks and they kick for touch and they will have a line out inside the 22.
27TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Damian McKenzie has a brace. Nice easy try as Beauden Barrett gets the ball, and grubbers the ball through and the fullback scores. The in-goals are massive so plenty of space to try kicks like that.
29TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), CONVERSION MISS: Another missed conversion by Barrett as the All Blacks lead 17-3.
30TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to Italy. They could kick for goal here, but they opt to kick for touch. They'll have a line out about 10 out from the line.
32ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett gets in on the scoring as he finishes off a move started inside their half. Ardie Savea turns the ball over and they counter. Dane Coles makes a break and finds Damian McKenzie who then gives it to Barrett to score under the posts.
33RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Beauden Barrett lands the conversion. All Blacks lead 24-3.
35TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): The All Blacks have an attacking line out here. Can they score their fifth here.
37TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): The All Blacks are just messing with Italy now. They nearly score an amazing five-pointer, but the last pass from Jordie Barrett to TJ Perenara is forward. Vaea Fifita goes on a big run which involved about five or six of the players.
38TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Marco Fuser comes on for Alessandro Zanni.
39TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to New Zealand as a mini scuffle breaks out. Nothing serious. All Blacks will look for one more try before halftime.
40TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Another penalty to NZ. They really want that 5th try right now.
40TH MINUTE + 3RD MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett has his brace now as he scores a rugby league-esque try. Beauden Barrett gets the ball and kicks out to the wing where his brother is one-on-one with Jayden Hayward, and he soars through the air and catches the ball to score in the corner (Well, Beauden Barrett hasn't been doing a lot of his cross field kicking lately this year).
HALFTIME, CONVERSION: Beauden Barrett lands the conversion and the All Blacks lead 31-3 at the break. Damian McKenzie and Jordie Barrett both have two tries while TJ Perenara has the All Blacks' other.
40TH MINUTE: The 2nd half is underway in Rome. Pascal Gaüzère (Who took over from the injured Andrew Brace) blows his whistle as Tommaso Allan gets us started.
42ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Italy with the ball inside the All Blacks' half with a penalty advantage.
43RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: But their advantage comes to nothing as the All Blacks win a penalty and now they're just outside Italy's 22.
44TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Ngani Laumape gets in on the scoring act as some great offloading gets the second-five into space to score near the posts.
45TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: The conversion goes over. The All Blacks lead 38-3.
46TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Now Beauden Barrett scores for the All Blacks. Italy tries a trick play from the line out and Barrett reads it to perfection as he intercepts the ball and sprints over for the try.
47TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: The conversion goes over from the tryscorer Beauden Barrett. The score is now 45-3.
48TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Ardie Savea comes off for Dalton Papalii Would have liked to have seen Savea out there more due to his form, but great to see Dalton get 30-odd minutes.
50TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): The All Blacks are back on the attack one more and are just outside the 22.
51ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: The All Blacks have a line out five out from the line. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi and Richie Mo'unga both come on now. TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett are the ones to come off.
52ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks take a quick line out and they attack down the left wing, but it comes to nothing as the ball goes into touch.
53RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Damian McKenzie has a hat-trick now as he dives over for his 3rd. The All Blacks grubber through and it bounces off the post, into the path of McKenzie to score.
54TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: Richie Mo'unga lands the conversion.
55TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks try some trick plays now with a kick over the top, and it sits up nicely, but a pass out wide goes to ground.
56TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Waisake Naholo's night is over. He was very quiet. Rieko Ioane will come on the park as his replacement.
57TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Things are going from bad to worse for Italy who give away a penalty at the scrum. The AB's kick for touch and they have another line out 5 out from the line.
58TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks try a grubber kick to the corner, but it doesn't hold up for Rieko Ioane and goes dead.
60TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): We're into the final quarter in Rome. Can the All Blacks score four more tries to bring up 80?
61ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks clear the bench so Nathan Harris, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Angus Ta'avao, and Brodie Retallick all come on.
63RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Scrum to Italy after a mistake by the All Blacks.
65TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): That took a long time to complete as the scrum is finally complete.
66TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy looking more deadly with the ball now, as they build some phases together.
67TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy have an attacking line out and they get a drive going, but play is brought back for a penalty advantage.
69TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): This game as turned very scrappy now and quite dull in all fairness. All Blacks have a scrum to feed.
71ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the All Blacks as once again the scrum takes forever to complete.
72ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks make a nice run down the middle of the field. The next play, they kick the ball forward, but it touched in-goal by Jayden Hayward.
74TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett now has a hat-trick, and Nathan Harris has set up a try. The All Blacks make a break and the hooker puts in a grubber to the wing of Barrett who scores in the corner.
76TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), CONVERSION: Richie Mo'unga lands the conversion and the lead is now 59-3.
78TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Now Italy is close to the line. Can the end their season with a try?
79TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy with a line out 5 out from the line. But it is a poor throw and the All Blacks get the ball.
80TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks have a line out no and they'll try get one more try before the match ends.
80TH MINUTE + 2ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett scores his 4th and what a statement match by the 21-year-old. Way too easy there.
FULL TIME, CONVERSION: The conversion goes over and that is it. The All Blacks win 66-3 against Italy.
5:05am: Thanks for tuning in. Check back in later. But don't forget, the World Rugby awards are tomorrow (All Black second rower Brodie Retallick won try of the year for his dummy pass against the Wallabies during the 1st Bledisloe Cup test then star Irish first five Johnny Sexton becoming world's best rugby player (Effectively taking over from Beauden Barrett by ending Barrett's 2 year reign as the best rugby player in the world) while Ireland have been awarded team of the year (That's why because of their 6 Nations crown in which they won as well as the grand slam (By beating all 5 teams participating in the 6 Nations such as England, France (Including that epic match winning drop goal by the newly crowned best player in the world, Johnny Sexton), Italy, Scotland & Wales) & triple crown (By beating all 3 home unions such as England, Scotland & Wales) for the 1st time since 2009 then they won the test series against Australia despite the single blip in the 1st test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane & they had a clean sweep in the autumn internationals including that famous win at home against the All Blacks) while speedy South African winger Aphiwe Dyantyi had been crowned best breakthrough player of the year (Rieko Ioane won last years award (English second rower Maro Itoje won it in 2016 & injury prone All Black winger Nehe Milner-Skudder won it in 2015 which was in fact, World Cup year) but Dyantyi's stellar rugby career began as an aspiring young up & coming winger who played in the Currie Cup last year then earned selection for the Lions Super Rugby team in which he performed well by scoring a heap of tries & known for his lightning pace then a Springbok call up beckoned meaning that he is now officially a Springbok after an impressive Super Rugby season due to his good performances so the rest is history about the miracle story of pace man Aphiwe Dyantyi), beating the likes of Irish winger & fullback Jordan Larmour & rookie All Black prop Karl Tu'inukuafe (Although at the start of the year that he probably might get a short term Super Rugby contract with the Chiefs then an All Black call up later because he was so overweight (Although he provided security at a nightclub or bar down in Auckland as a bouncer or should I say, a doorman because he was out of shape) but he had to shed that one off (He is now 135 kilos, the required weight for a prop like that) by getting a short term deal with the Chiefs (Although he is playing with the Blues next year for family/whanau reasons) then an All Black call up beckoned meaning that he was declared fit enough to join the squad & the rest is history about the miracle story of big Karl Tu'inukuafe) & Coach of the year went to Joe Schmidt for his excellence in coaching Ireland.
ITALY 3-66 ALL BLACKS
Well, all good things must come to an end because it is most definitely the end of the rugby season because we are now entering the cricket season (Well, England is the birthplace of rugby (Our number 1 sport here in New Zealand & Wales), cricket (Our main summer sport here in New Zealand & number 1 sport in Australia (Along with Aussie rules football), England & the West Indies (Including Barbados, Guyana & Jamaica (Spiritual home of cricket & reggae music) & soccer (World's most popular sport & of course the number 1 sport in Denmark (Along with handball) isn't it?) so we will see you next year in February with the 6 Nations 1st then Super Rugby & after that it's the shortened Rugby Championship as well as the Mitre 10 Cup before the big one which is the Rugby World Cup in Japan (I am most looking forward to next year (Along with my father & Raewyn's wedding on the 16th of February).
And finally I will be doing a blog (I'll be covering 8 blogs to reach my target of 80 this year (My all time record number of blogs for the year currently stands at 100) about the year in review about highlights of 2018 with the main sports topics of the year from ball tampering fiasco by the Aussies in South Africa (With Steve Smith (The modern day Bradman), David Warner (The enforcer of Australian cricket) & Cameron Bancroft being the 3 culprits that are serving a ban (Smith & Warner: 1 year & Bancroft: 9 months) to soccer world cup fever in Russia (Won by the glorious but entertaining French side (Featuring Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, young Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe & captain Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) against the high flying but spirited Croatia (Featuring captain & Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, FC Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic, Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic & AS Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic) in the final at Luzhniki Stadium in Russia's capital city, Moscow, 20 years after their last triumph in front of their adoring home fans in France).
So that is my 252nd blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 72nd of this year.
P.S. And Joe Schmidt is stepping down as coach of the Ireland Rugby team (The Irish are captained by Ulster hooker Rory Best but can Best become the 1st Irish captain to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy? Because Ireland (Who are competitive now because they have now found the competitive edge) have never reached the semifinal stages & final of the Rugby World Cup before (But can they finally break their drought by reaching the semifinals & final?), reaching the quarterfinal (That's always their best result but their worst result was in the pool stages in 2007, losing both games to hosts France (They used to have big second & back rower Sebastien 'Cave Man/Seabass' Chabal) & the tournament's surprise package Argentina (Featuring future vice chairman of the sport's governing body which is in fact, World Rugby, halfback & former captain, Agustin 'Gus' Pichot) 6 times (In 1987 (Losing to Australia featuring the likes of David 'Campo' Campese, captain Andrew Slack, Michael Lynagh, Nick-Farr Jones, Simon Poidevin, Enrique 'Topo' Rodriguez & Tom Lawton), 1991 (Australia again featuring the likes of Campese as well as captain Farr-Jones, Phil Kearns (AKA Kearnsy), Ewen McKenzie, David Nucifora, John Eales (World class second rower known as Ealesy), Lynagh, Tim Horan & his midfield partner Jason Little), 1995 (France featuring the likes of both Philippe Sella & Philippe Saint-Andre as well as Fabien Galthie, Abdelatif 'Abdel' Benazzi, Christian Califano, Thierry Lacroix, Emile Ntamack, Jean-Luc Sadourny, Olivier Brouzet & Christophe Deylaud), 2003 (France again featuring the likes of Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Serge Betsen, Oliver Magne, Imanol Harinorduquy, Galthie, Frederic Michalak, Christophe Dominci, Yannick Jauzion, Kiwi born player Tony Marsh, Aurelien Rougerie, Dimitri Yachvili, Clement Poitrenaud & Sebastien Chabal as I mentioned before), 2011 (Wales featuring the likes of captain Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau (Known as Toby at the time), Leigh Halfpenny, Shane Williams, George North, Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, Rhys Priestland, Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips, Dan Lydiate, Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Adam Jones, Huw Bennett & Ken Owens) & 2015 (Argentina featuring the likes of captain Agustin 'Gus' Creevy, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Pablo Matera, Leonardo Senatore, Tomas Cubelli, Martin Landajo, Nicolas Sanchez, Marcelo Bosch, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Juan Martin 'El Mago' Hernandez, Matias Moroni, Horacio Agulla, Santiago Cordero, Juan Imhoff, Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino & Joaquin Tuculet) after next years Rugby World Cup for family reasons (Although Joe Schmidt has a son who is suffering from a convulsive fit (Just like Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo had prior to the 1998 FIFA World Cup final against hosts France in which they lost by 3 goals (Zinedine Zidane scored both headers from corners as well as Emmanuel Petit finishing the Brazilians off with a wonder strike that clinched France their 1st of 2 World Cup titles despite during the game when Marcel Desailly got sent off after receiving a second yellow card) because he is about to be replaced by ex England league & union player Andy Farrell (Owen's father) just like Wayne Pivac (Ex Auckland coach) replacing Warren Gatland (Bryn's dad) as head coach of Wales from 2020.
And finally I'll tell you an interesting story that the lead singer of Pearl Jam (Lifelong friends of Soundgarden compared to Queens Of The Stone Age who are lifelong friends of the Foo Fighters), Eddie Vedder (Who is a friend of the late Soundgarden & Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell), is the only one left (1st it was Kurt Cobain of Nirvana in 1994 (Cobain's bandmate Dave Grohl (Another one of the late Chris Cornell's friends) went on to establish the Foo Fighters in the same year) who tragically passed away followed by Layne Staley of Alice In Chains way back in 2002 then Scott Weiland of both the Stone Temple Pilots (Still operating under a new lead singer Jeff Gutt who took over from the late Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington (And another friend of the late Chris Cornell) & Velvet Revolver in 2015 & most recently, Chris Cornell (He has a number of good friends including Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters & the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park) of both Soundgarden (How did they break up again in 2018? Because of Chris Cornell's sudden passing in 2017) & Audioslave last year in 2017) as lead singers of grunge rock (Took over from glam rock which made an impact during the 1980's because it was the main rock music genre of the early to mid 1990's followed by Nu Metal in both the late 1990's & early 2000's before alternative rock took over since the mid 2000's as the most popular rock music genre).
Kia ora and welcome into Newshub's live updates between the All Blacks and Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
The test is the final match of the year for both teams.
In total there are 11 changes to the starting side with an all-new tight five, midfield and wing pairing the most significant changes to the team.
Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie have retained the 10 and 15 jerseys respectively with Jordie Barrett slotting onto the right wing and TJ Perenara coming in at halfback.
The final change from last week’s starting fifteen against Ireland is Vaea Fifita at blindside flanker in place of the injured Liam Squire.
Line-ups
All Blacks
1-Ofa Tuungafasi, 2-Dane Coles, 3-Nepo Laulala, 4-Patrick Tuipulotu, 5-Scott Barrett, 6-Vaea Fifita, 7-Ardie Savea, 8-Kieran Read (c), 9-TJ Perenara, 10-Beauden Barrett , 11- Waisake Naholo, 12-Ngani Laumape, 13-Anton Lienert-Brown, 14-Jordie Barrett, 15-Damian McKenzie
Reserves: 16-Nathan Harris, 17-Karl Tu'inukuafe, 18-Angus Ta'avao, 19-Brodie Retallick, 20-Dalton Papali'i, 21-Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22-Richie Mo'unga, 23-Rieko Ioane.
Italy
1-Andrea Lovotti, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini (c), 3-Simone Ferrari, 4-Alessandro Zanni, 5-Dean Budd, 6-Sebastian Negri, 7-Jake Polledri, 8-Abraham Jurgens Steyn, 9-Tito Tebaldi, 10-Tommaso Allan, 11-Luca Sperandio, 12-Tommaso Castello, 13-Michele Campagnaro, 14-Tommaso Benvenuti, 15-Jayden Hayward
Replacements: 16-Luca Bigi, 17-Cherif Traore, 18-Tiziano Pasquali, 19-Marco Fuser, 20-Johan Meyer, 21-Guglielmo Palazzani, 22-Luca Morisi, 23-Edoardo Padovani.
Head-to-head and past results
Played: 14
Won: All Blacks 14
Previous results:
2016: New Zealand won 68-10 in Rome
2012: New Zealand won 42-10 in Rome
2009: New Zealand won 20-6 in Milan
2009: New Zealand won 27-6 in Christchurch
2007: New Zealand won 76-14 in Marsellie (RWC)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France), Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
2:25 AM: The match is due to start in just over 30 minutes. This is the last All Blacks test of the year.
2:35 AM: Last week, Italy lost to Australia 26-7, while the All Blacks lost to Ireland 16-9.
2:45 AM: We're now 15 minutes away. Both teams are back in the sheds and will be back out shortly for the anthems and then the haka.
2:51 AM: The stadium isn't full which is off to see in an All Blacks test admittedly. Both teams emerge from the sheds and are out on the field.
2:53 AM: There is a choir singing in the New Zealand anthem and they sound great doing it. Something different instead of music blasting out of the speakers.
2:56 AM: The 2 Kiwis in the Italian squad - Dean Budd and Jayden Hayward - are both pictured singing Italy's anthem with lots of passion.
2:57 AM: Kieran Read is leading the haka which i've never seen before. TJ Perenara is at the front where Read is usually placed.
2:58 AM: As talked about yesterday, most of the All Blacks are wearing rainbow laces.
KICK OFF: We're underway in Rome. Beauden Barrett gets us underway.
1ST MINUTE: Early line out to the All Blacks and captain Read wins it on the halfway line. New Zealand drive forward, but the maul goes to ground, and Italy wins the turnover.
3RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): After multiple re-sets, Italy wins a free kick and they take a quick tap.
4TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks get the ball, but a loose carry means Italy go on the counter attack. There was another fumble and the referee says "no advantage" and Italy have another scrum.
6TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Penalty to NZ, and they take the quick tap and TJ Perenara kicks the ball forward.
7TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: The All Blacks are caught offside and now Italy has another penalty. They kick for touch, but their line out throw isn't straight, so we have another scrum...
9TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: TJ Perenara is over for New Zealand. They caught Italy napping. They attack down the right wing, and Jordie Barrett passes the ball back infield and Perenara dives over.
10TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION MISS: A poor coversion by Beauden Barrett and the All Blacks have a 5-0 lead.
11TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy get inside the All Blacks' 22 for the first time as Luca Sperandio goes on a big run.
13TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the hosts. They will kick for goal here.
PENALTY GOAL ITALY: Tommaso Allan lands the penalty attempt and now the score is 5-3 to New Zealand.
14TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): All Blacks knock the ball on from the re-start.
15TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Another free kick to Italy from the scrum. They take the tap and go for it.
16TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Time is off here but referee Andrew Brace is down with a knee injury. The medics come on and use some magic spray and water on the Irishman's knee. Hopefully he doens't need to go off with injury.
17TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Play resumes and the All Blacks had a penalty so they kick for touch.
18TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Damian McKenzie goes in under the posts. That was a beauty. Kieran Read attacks the line and somehow gets the ball to Patrick Tuipulotu, who runs a great line and a simple draw and pass to his fullbacks sends him through.
19TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: Beauden Barrett lands the conversion. All Blacks lead 12-3.
21ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Italy building some phases together, but then a poor pass goes to ground and then Dane Coles kicks the ball away. What can't Coles do?
22ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Scrum to the All Blacks after Italy drops the ball just inside NZ's half.
24TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Big news here as Andrew Brace is leaving the field. The Irishman has a knee injury. He had it looked at earlier but he is in pain (And is unable to continue). Assistant Pascal Gaüzère will take his place, but then who replaces the Frenchman on the sideline?
25TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Play resumes with a scrum to Italy.
26TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the All Blacks and they kick for touch and they will have a line out inside the 22.
27TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Damian McKenzie has a brace. Nice easy try as Beauden Barrett gets the ball, and grubbers the ball through and the fullback scores. The in-goals are massive so plenty of space to try kicks like that.
29TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), CONVERSION MISS: Another missed conversion by Barrett as the All Blacks lead 17-3.
30TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to Italy. They could kick for goal here, but they opt to kick for touch. They'll have a line out about 10 out from the line.
32ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett gets in on the scoring as he finishes off a move started inside their half. Ardie Savea turns the ball over and they counter. Dane Coles makes a break and finds Damian McKenzie who then gives it to Barrett to score under the posts.
33RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Beauden Barrett lands the conversion. All Blacks lead 24-3.
35TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): The All Blacks have an attacking line out here. Can they score their fifth here.
37TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): The All Blacks are just messing with Italy now. They nearly score an amazing five-pointer, but the last pass from Jordie Barrett to TJ Perenara is forward. Vaea Fifita goes on a big run which involved about five or six of the players.
38TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Marco Fuser comes on for Alessandro Zanni.
39TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to New Zealand as a mini scuffle breaks out. Nothing serious. All Blacks will look for one more try before halftime.
40TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Another penalty to NZ. They really want that 5th try right now.
40TH MINUTE + 3RD MINUTE (3 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett has his brace now as he scores a rugby league-esque try. Beauden Barrett gets the ball and kicks out to the wing where his brother is one-on-one with Jayden Hayward, and he soars through the air and catches the ball to score in the corner (Well, Beauden Barrett hasn't been doing a lot of his cross field kicking lately this year).
HALFTIME, CONVERSION: Beauden Barrett lands the conversion and the All Blacks lead 31-3 at the break. Damian McKenzie and Jordie Barrett both have two tries while TJ Perenara has the All Blacks' other.
40TH MINUTE: The 2nd half is underway in Rome. Pascal Gaüzère (Who took over from the injured Andrew Brace) blows his whistle as Tommaso Allan gets us started.
42ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Italy with the ball inside the All Blacks' half with a penalty advantage.
43RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: But their advantage comes to nothing as the All Blacks win a penalty and now they're just outside Italy's 22.
44TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Ngani Laumape gets in on the scoring act as some great offloading gets the second-five into space to score near the posts.
45TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: The conversion goes over. The All Blacks lead 38-3.
46TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Now Beauden Barrett scores for the All Blacks. Italy tries a trick play from the line out and Barrett reads it to perfection as he intercepts the ball and sprints over for the try.
47TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: The conversion goes over from the tryscorer Beauden Barrett. The score is now 45-3.
48TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Ardie Savea comes off for Dalton Papalii Would have liked to have seen Savea out there more due to his form, but great to see Dalton get 30-odd minutes.
50TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): The All Blacks are back on the attack one more and are just outside the 22.
51ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: The All Blacks have a line out five out from the line. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi and Richie Mo'unga both come on now. TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett are the ones to come off.
52ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks take a quick line out and they attack down the left wing, but it comes to nothing as the ball goes into touch.
53RD MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Damian McKenzie has a hat-trick now as he dives over for his 3rd. The All Blacks grubber through and it bounces off the post, into the path of McKenzie to score.
54TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), CONVERSION: Richie Mo'unga lands the conversion.
55TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks try some trick plays now with a kick over the top, and it sits up nicely, but a pass out wide goes to ground.
56TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SUBSTITUTION: Waisake Naholo's night is over. He was very quiet. Rieko Ioane will come on the park as his replacement.
57TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY: Things are going from bad to worse for Italy who give away a penalty at the scrum. The AB's kick for touch and they have another line out 5 out from the line.
58TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks try a grubber kick to the corner, but it doesn't hold up for Rieko Ioane and goes dead.
60TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): We're into the final quarter in Rome. Can the All Blacks score four more tries to bring up 80?
61ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks clear the bench so Nathan Harris, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Angus Ta'avao, and Brodie Retallick all come on.
63RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Scrum to Italy after a mistake by the All Blacks.
65TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): That took a long time to complete as the scrum is finally complete.
66TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy looking more deadly with the ball now, as they build some phases together.
67TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy have an attacking line out and they get a drive going, but play is brought back for a penalty advantage.
69TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): This game as turned very scrappy now and quite dull in all fairness. All Blacks have a scrum to feed.
71ST MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY: Penalty to the All Blacks as once again the scrum takes forever to complete.
72ND MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks make a nice run down the middle of the field. The next play, they kick the ball forward, but it touched in-goal by Jayden Hayward.
74TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett now has a hat-trick, and Nathan Harris has set up a try. The All Blacks make a break and the hooker puts in a grubber to the wing of Barrett who scores in the corner.
76TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), CONVERSION: Richie Mo'unga lands the conversion and the lead is now 59-3.
78TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): Now Italy is close to the line. Can the end their season with a try?
79TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): Italy with a line out 5 out from the line. But it is a poor throw and the All Blacks get the ball.
80TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): The All Blacks have a line out no and they'll try get one more try before the match ends.
80TH MINUTE + 2ND MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), TRY ALL BLACKS: Jordie Barrett scores his 4th and what a statement match by the 21-year-old. Way too easy there.
FULL TIME, CONVERSION: The conversion goes over and that is it. The All Blacks win 66-3 against Italy.
5:05am: Thanks for tuning in. Check back in later. But don't forget, the World Rugby awards are tomorrow (All Black second rower Brodie Retallick won try of the year for his dummy pass against the Wallabies during the 1st Bledisloe Cup test then star Irish first five Johnny Sexton becoming world's best rugby player (Effectively taking over from Beauden Barrett by ending Barrett's 2 year reign as the best rugby player in the world) while Ireland have been awarded team of the year (That's why because of their 6 Nations crown in which they won as well as the grand slam (By beating all 5 teams participating in the 6 Nations such as England, France (Including that epic match winning drop goal by the newly crowned best player in the world, Johnny Sexton), Italy, Scotland & Wales) & triple crown (By beating all 3 home unions such as England, Scotland & Wales) for the 1st time since 2009 then they won the test series against Australia despite the single blip in the 1st test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane & they had a clean sweep in the autumn internationals including that famous win at home against the All Blacks) while speedy South African winger Aphiwe Dyantyi had been crowned best breakthrough player of the year (Rieko Ioane won last years award (English second rower Maro Itoje won it in 2016 & injury prone All Black winger Nehe Milner-Skudder won it in 2015 which was in fact, World Cup year) but Dyantyi's stellar rugby career began as an aspiring young up & coming winger who played in the Currie Cup last year then earned selection for the Lions Super Rugby team in which he performed well by scoring a heap of tries & known for his lightning pace then a Springbok call up beckoned meaning that he is now officially a Springbok after an impressive Super Rugby season due to his good performances so the rest is history about the miracle story of pace man Aphiwe Dyantyi), beating the likes of Irish winger & fullback Jordan Larmour & rookie All Black prop Karl Tu'inukuafe (Although at the start of the year that he probably might get a short term Super Rugby contract with the Chiefs then an All Black call up later because he was so overweight (Although he provided security at a nightclub or bar down in Auckland as a bouncer or should I say, a doorman because he was out of shape) but he had to shed that one off (He is now 135 kilos, the required weight for a prop like that) by getting a short term deal with the Chiefs (Although he is playing with the Blues next year for family/whanau reasons) then an All Black call up beckoned meaning that he was declared fit enough to join the squad & the rest is history about the miracle story of big Karl Tu'inukuafe) & Coach of the year went to Joe Schmidt for his excellence in coaching Ireland.
ITALY 3-66 ALL BLACKS
Well, all good things must come to an end because it is most definitely the end of the rugby season because we are now entering the cricket season (Well, England is the birthplace of rugby (Our number 1 sport here in New Zealand & Wales), cricket (Our main summer sport here in New Zealand & number 1 sport in Australia (Along with Aussie rules football), England & the West Indies (Including Barbados, Guyana & Jamaica (Spiritual home of cricket & reggae music) & soccer (World's most popular sport & of course the number 1 sport in Denmark (Along with handball) isn't it?) so we will see you next year in February with the 6 Nations 1st then Super Rugby & after that it's the shortened Rugby Championship as well as the Mitre 10 Cup before the big one which is the Rugby World Cup in Japan (I am most looking forward to next year (Along with my father & Raewyn's wedding on the 16th of February).
And finally I will be doing a blog (I'll be covering 8 blogs to reach my target of 80 this year (My all time record number of blogs for the year currently stands at 100) about the year in review about highlights of 2018 with the main sports topics of the year from ball tampering fiasco by the Aussies in South Africa (With Steve Smith (The modern day Bradman), David Warner (The enforcer of Australian cricket) & Cameron Bancroft being the 3 culprits that are serving a ban (Smith & Warner: 1 year & Bancroft: 9 months) to soccer world cup fever in Russia (Won by the glorious but entertaining French side (Featuring Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, young Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe & captain Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) against the high flying but spirited Croatia (Featuring captain & Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, FC Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic, Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic & AS Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic) in the final at Luzhniki Stadium in Russia's capital city, Moscow, 20 years after their last triumph in front of their adoring home fans in France).
So that is my 252nd blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 72nd of this year.
P.S. And Joe Schmidt is stepping down as coach of the Ireland Rugby team (The Irish are captained by Ulster hooker Rory Best but can Best become the 1st Irish captain to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy? Because Ireland (Who are competitive now because they have now found the competitive edge) have never reached the semifinal stages & final of the Rugby World Cup before (But can they finally break their drought by reaching the semifinals & final?), reaching the quarterfinal (That's always their best result but their worst result was in the pool stages in 2007, losing both games to hosts France (They used to have big second & back rower Sebastien 'Cave Man/Seabass' Chabal) & the tournament's surprise package Argentina (Featuring future vice chairman of the sport's governing body which is in fact, World Rugby, halfback & former captain, Agustin 'Gus' Pichot) 6 times (In 1987 (Losing to Australia featuring the likes of David 'Campo' Campese, captain Andrew Slack, Michael Lynagh, Nick-Farr Jones, Simon Poidevin, Enrique 'Topo' Rodriguez & Tom Lawton), 1991 (Australia again featuring the likes of Campese as well as captain Farr-Jones, Phil Kearns (AKA Kearnsy), Ewen McKenzie, David Nucifora, John Eales (World class second rower known as Ealesy), Lynagh, Tim Horan & his midfield partner Jason Little), 1995 (France featuring the likes of both Philippe Sella & Philippe Saint-Andre as well as Fabien Galthie, Abdelatif 'Abdel' Benazzi, Christian Califano, Thierry Lacroix, Emile Ntamack, Jean-Luc Sadourny, Olivier Brouzet & Christophe Deylaud), 2003 (France again featuring the likes of Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Serge Betsen, Oliver Magne, Imanol Harinorduquy, Galthie, Frederic Michalak, Christophe Dominci, Yannick Jauzion, Kiwi born player Tony Marsh, Aurelien Rougerie, Dimitri Yachvili, Clement Poitrenaud & Sebastien Chabal as I mentioned before), 2011 (Wales featuring the likes of captain Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau (Known as Toby at the time), Leigh Halfpenny, Shane Williams, George North, Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, Rhys Priestland, Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips, Dan Lydiate, Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Adam Jones, Huw Bennett & Ken Owens) & 2015 (Argentina featuring the likes of captain Agustin 'Gus' Creevy, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Pablo Matera, Leonardo Senatore, Tomas Cubelli, Martin Landajo, Nicolas Sanchez, Marcelo Bosch, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Juan Martin 'El Mago' Hernandez, Matias Moroni, Horacio Agulla, Santiago Cordero, Juan Imhoff, Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino & Joaquin Tuculet) after next years Rugby World Cup for family reasons (Although Joe Schmidt has a son who is suffering from a convulsive fit (Just like Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo had prior to the 1998 FIFA World Cup final against hosts France in which they lost by 3 goals (Zinedine Zidane scored both headers from corners as well as Emmanuel Petit finishing the Brazilians off with a wonder strike that clinched France their 1st of 2 World Cup titles despite during the game when Marcel Desailly got sent off after receiving a second yellow card) because he is about to be replaced by ex England league & union player Andy Farrell (Owen's father) just like Wayne Pivac (Ex Auckland coach) replacing Warren Gatland (Bryn's dad) as head coach of Wales from 2020.
And finally I'll tell you an interesting story that the lead singer of Pearl Jam (Lifelong friends of Soundgarden compared to Queens Of The Stone Age who are lifelong friends of the Foo Fighters), Eddie Vedder (Who is a friend of the late Soundgarden & Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell), is the only one left (1st it was Kurt Cobain of Nirvana in 1994 (Cobain's bandmate Dave Grohl (Another one of the late Chris Cornell's friends) went on to establish the Foo Fighters in the same year) who tragically passed away followed by Layne Staley of Alice In Chains way back in 2002 then Scott Weiland of both the Stone Temple Pilots (Still operating under a new lead singer Jeff Gutt who took over from the late Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington (And another friend of the late Chris Cornell) & Velvet Revolver in 2015 & most recently, Chris Cornell (He has a number of good friends including Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters & the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park) of both Soundgarden (How did they break up again in 2018? Because of Chris Cornell's sudden passing in 2017) & Audioslave last year in 2017) as lead singers of grunge rock (Took over from glam rock which made an impact during the 1980's because it was the main rock music genre of the early to mid 1990's followed by Nu Metal in both the late 1990's & early 2000's before alternative rock took over since the mid 2000's as the most popular rock music genre).
Friday, 23 November 2018
All Blacks team naming against Italy
Well, after our devastating, heart breaking & gut wrenching loss against the Irish, the All Blacks have named their team against Italy (Our pool opponents at next years Rugby World Cup in Japan) for our final rugby test match of the year (Well, can we wrap up 2018 with a win?) at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome so here is the starting lineup in it's entirety:
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Auckland/Blues)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Counties Manukau/Chiefs)
SECOND ROW
4 (Lock): Patrick Tuipulotu (Auckland/Blues)
5 (Lock): Scott Barrett (Taranaki/Crusaders)
BACK ROW
6 (Blindside Flanker): Vaea Fifita (Wellington/Hurricanes)
7 (Openside Flanker): Ardie Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
HALVES
9 (Half-back): TJ Perenara (Wellington/Hurricanes)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five eighth): Ngani Laumape (Manawatu/Hurricanes)
13 (Centre): Anton Lienert-Brown (Waikato/Chiefs)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left Wing): Waisake Naholo (Taranaki/Highlanders)
14 (Right Wing): Jordie Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
& 15 (Fullback): Damian McKenzie (Waikato/Chiefs)
And in the reserves are:
16. Nathan Harris (Who replaces Dane Coles with Coles elevated to the starting lineup to replace Codie Taylor)
17. Karl Tu'inukuafe (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Ofa Tu'ungafasi with Tu'ungafasi elevated to the starting lineup)
18. Angus Ta'avao (Who also replaces Nepo Laulala with Laulala elevated to the starting lineup to replace Owen Franks)
19. Brodie Retallick (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Scott Barrett with Scott Barrett elevated to the starting lineup to replace Sam Whitelock)
20. Dalton Papali'i (Who replaces Matt Todd to cover at the open side flanker position)
21. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Who also replaces TJ Perenara with Perenara elevated to the starting lineup to replace Aaron Smith)
22. Richie Mo'unga
& 23. Rieko Ioane (Who is also dropped to the bench to replace Anton Lienert-Brown with Lienert-Brown elevated to the starting lineup to replace Jack Goodhue).
So that is my 251st blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 71st of this year.
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Auckland/Blues)
2 (Hooker): Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes)
3 (Tight head prop): Nepo Laulala (Counties Manukau/Chiefs)
SECOND ROW
4 (Lock): Patrick Tuipulotu (Auckland/Blues)
5 (Lock): Scott Barrett (Taranaki/Crusaders)
BACK ROW
6 (Blindside Flanker): Vaea Fifita (Wellington/Hurricanes)
7 (Openside Flanker): Ardie Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Canterbury/Crusaders)
HALVES
9 (Half-back): TJ Perenara (Wellington/Hurricanes)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five eighth): Ngani Laumape (Manawatu/Hurricanes)
13 (Centre): Anton Lienert-Brown (Waikato/Chiefs)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left Wing): Waisake Naholo (Taranaki/Highlanders)
14 (Right Wing): Jordie Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
& 15 (Fullback): Damian McKenzie (Waikato/Chiefs)
And in the reserves are:
16. Nathan Harris (Who replaces Dane Coles with Coles elevated to the starting lineup to replace Codie Taylor)
17. Karl Tu'inukuafe (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Ofa Tu'ungafasi with Tu'ungafasi elevated to the starting lineup)
18. Angus Ta'avao (Who also replaces Nepo Laulala with Laulala elevated to the starting lineup to replace Owen Franks)
19. Brodie Retallick (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Scott Barrett with Scott Barrett elevated to the starting lineup to replace Sam Whitelock)
20. Dalton Papali'i (Who replaces Matt Todd to cover at the open side flanker position)
21. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Who also replaces TJ Perenara with Perenara elevated to the starting lineup to replace Aaron Smith)
22. Richie Mo'unga
& 23. Rieko Ioane (Who is also dropped to the bench to replace Anton Lienert-Brown with Lienert-Brown elevated to the starting lineup to replace Jack Goodhue).
So that is my 251st blog of the year 2018 (MMXVIII) & my 71st of this year.
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