C'est La Vie/Crush/If You Could Read My Mind: My 9th blog of the year 2022

Well, there has been some comparisons between both WWE wrestlers & Formula 1 drivers such as Stone Cold Steve Austin is wrestling's answer to the late 3 time world champion from Brazil, Ayrton Senna, while The Rock is often compared to as the Michael Schumacher (A 7 time Formula 1 world champion from Germany) of wrestling then Brock Lesnar share the same role as the 7 time Formula 1 world champion from Great Britain, Lewis Hamilton (The most successful British F1 driver in history with 7 F1 world championships along with Michael Schumacher to his credit), & last but not least, Roman Reigns is in fact wrestling's equivalent of last year's F1 world champion & 1st Dutch driver in history to win the Formula 1 World Championship, Max Verstappen, in terms of his performances in the wrestling ring compared to the F1 circuit (And special but honorable mentions such as John Cena is in fact wrestling's answer to Sebastian Vettel & Bret 'the Hitman' Hart is often compared to as the Alain Prost of wrestling while Edge share the same role as twice F1 world champion Fernando Alonso & the Undertaker is in fact wrestling's equivalent of Jacques Villeneuve as well as Seth Rollins is wrestling's answer to Charles Leclerc & Triple H of course is often compared to as the Jenson Button of wrestling then AJ Styles & Rey Mysterio share their roles to both British F1 drivers Lando Norris & George Russell while Rob van Dam, Kane, Shawn Michaels & Batista are wrestling equivalents of both F1 legends of David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg & Mark Webber (And WWE's flagship premier pay per view event of Wrestlemania is similar to the Monaco Grand Prix (The world & Formula 1's premier motor racing event).

And we have just heard that there are reports that Australia (Who haven't triumphed at the tournament since 1999 but last been to a final in 2015 when they went down to the all-conquering All Blacks & missed out on claiming rugby union's most treasured prize, the William Webb Ellis cup (Which is world rugby's most prized possessions as I mentioned in my previous blogs known as the Wiremu here in New Zealand & the Bill in Australia) has been confirmed to host the 2027 men's Rugby World Cup (2 years after the next British & Irish Lions rugby tour to Australia takes place (The last Lions rugby tour was last year to South Africa which was affected by the global pandemic where the current Rugby World Cup holders the Springboks won the most recent test series against the British & Irish Lions) & a year after the Australian state of Victoria plays host to the 2026 Commonwealth Games) for the 1st time since 2003 followed by the United States of America in 2031 (It'll be the 1st time that the RWC will be held in North America) while the hosts for the next women's Rugby World Cups are in England in 2025 followed by Australia in 2029 & the USA in 2033 but there has been confirmation/rumors that the Spanish city of Barcelona (Which previously hosted the summer Olympic Games in 1992) is going to host the next America's Cup in 2024 (And it'll be the 3rd time that Spain will play host to the America's Cup series in 14 years with Valencia previously hosting both the 2007 (In which Alinghi (Who haven't been to an America's Cup arena since 2010 when they lost the Auld Mug to Oracle (Who hasn't competed since losing the America's Cup to current defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in Bermuda in 2017 but I remember a comment from my Jewish mate Leon at Mint cafe 8 months ago about the Swiss syndicate making their return to the America's Cup fold in 2024) led by an Australian named Jimmy Spithill & spent years in the wilderness as I mentioned before in my previous blogs but they have been confirmed to take part again in the Prada Cup in September 2024) had triumphed against the newly named Emirates Team New Zealand (The 4 time America's Cup champions (The most by a non-American syndicate but our 1st triumph came in 1995 in San Diego against the Dennis Conner led Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht previously used by the PACT 95 syndicate during the Citizen Cup followed by Auckland 2000 against the Prada Challenge of Italy then Bermuda in 2017 after 3 unsuccessful attempts in 2003, 2007 & 2013 against the all-Australian crew of Oracle Team USA as I mentioned before & of course, last year in Auckland against the Italian syndicate of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with 'Jimmy the Pitbull' & Francesco 'Checo' Bruni sharing the helmsman duties) in the deciding race) & 2010 regattas) because of a controversial maneuver based on financial considerations, but continuing on the America's Cup story that there had been some infamous crashes that had happened in America's Cup history such as OneAustralia's boat bending like a banana which caused it to sink & nowhere to be found (Or nowhere to go should I say) during a race against Team New Zealand in San Diego, California in the United States in 1995 in which they had been defeated by shipwreck & forced to change to a slower boat for the rest of the campaign then 4 years later in November 1999, same thing happened that Young America had a mishap during the Louis Vuitton Cup race in Auckland, New Zealand in which the boat had also been bending like a banana just like OneAustralia in 1995 before they switched to a 2nd boat for the remainder of the regatta while 18 years later in 2017 that our own Emirates Team New Zealand had a frightening pitchpole just like in 2013 (And in 2003 that we had broken our mast which resulted Alinghi winning) during our race against Land Rover BAR in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinal (And we managed to overcome the disaster by beating the Brits in the semi then Artemis in the final to claim the last ever Louis Vuitton Cup & of course, that in your face, get out of my way attitude moment, in which we cashed in & triumphed in the 35th America's Cup match by infamously stealing the show dubbed as the Lenny (Glenn Ashby) & Pete/Pistol Pete (Peter Burling) show as mentioned in my previous blogs against the all Aussie crew of Oracle Team USA after 17 long years for the ages) in Bermuda & finally of course, 4 years later, the dramatic capsize by the Dean Barker helmed American syndicate of American Magic during the Prada Cup race against the eventual champions of the Prada Cup, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in Auckland most recently last year (It took about 9 days to fix that boat after a task was carried out but it was one of my favourite memories of last years Prada Cup so far before they raced again, eventually losing out to the dominant Italians of Luna Rossa in the semifinal of the newly christened Prada Cup).

And how competitive are the Springboks (Compared to England since they infamously beat us in the semifinal (Well, they deserved to win that one in our dreaded game of our lives (Our 1st defeat at a Rugby World Cup since the quarterfinal encounter against France in 2007 which was always disappointing) in international rugby in which the English ended our hopes of a historic 1st ever three-peat at the Rugby World Cup at the last tournament in 2019 (And I know that the 12 point semifinal loss against the dominant England side still hurts us for our Kiwis (Especially the story that I remember according to Dad about that the in form player of Ben Smith who should've & could've played instead of George Bridge during Carole's birthday dinner 3 months ago), which opened the door for the South Africans to successfully win the 2019 tournament with next year's RWC is going to be the most competitive in all of the tournaments being held) but they fell short on winning rugby's ultimate prize when South Africa conquered them in the final as well as Ireland (Who'll tour New Zealand in July as they face the All Blacks in a 3 match test series in a chance for our rugby union mad country of New Zealand to redeem ourselves after back to back defeats (1st it was against the Irish therefore losing against them in Dublin followed by the French (Who won't play against us until next years tournament in the opening pool game) in Saint-Denis) to end the year for the 1st time since 1999 (It was at a RWC when France came from behind to topple the All Blacks (Who had the late Jonah Lomu getting a double but a tremendous fightback from the French knocked the AB's out of the RWC in which the Australians were happy about the result) for the 1st time at a Rugby World Cup in the semifinal followed by the South Africans in the 3rd & 4th place playoff in a rematch of the 1995 final in which the Springboks were dominant in the end including that drop goal by Springbok first five-eighth Joel Stransky which broke Kiwi hearts as I mentioned in my previous blogs to win the 1st of 3 Rugby World Cups & in which the last time the Boks had beaten the All Blacks at a RWC (It was in 2003 in the quarterfinals that New Zealand won in the end (Including as I mentioned in my previous blogs that the late All Black Jerry Collins making that thumping tackle on Springbok winger Thinus Delport in one of the best hits of the game (Compared to Brian Lima's big hit on Derick Hougaard during Samoa's pool game against South Africa in one of the best crunching tackles you'll ever see!) against the South Africans during the quarterfinal & Carlos Spencer's through the legs pass to Joe Rokocoko in which Joe Rocks scored that crucial try) for our 1st win against South Africa at a Rugby World Cup then in 2015 in the semifinal (South Africa came so close but would've won them the semi as well as they would've played against Australia in the final & easily won the RWC, but that didn't happen) against the same opponent & in 2019 in the pool stages against the All Blacks in which the last time that the Springboks had been defeated in a Rugby World Cup game (And they had never put a foot wrong as well as they never looked back after losing to the AB's when they won the last 6 games of the RWC (The 1st side to achieve the feat of winning the tournament after defeat in the opening game) against neighbours Namibia, Italy & Canada in the pools, previous hosts Japan in the quarters, Wales in the semi & last but not least, England in the final in which they successfully triumphed to win their 1st Rugby World Cup since 2007 (And remember, England went into the final (In the end, it all came down to just one match - the very last one (Which is exactly the 2019 RWC final) as favourites compared to the Springboks who were underdogs going into the final against the English, but one of the English prop forwards of Kyle Sinckler (Who was easily been one of the best English rugby players in the 2019 tournament) came off the field with a head injury after being elbowed by his own teammate Maro Itoje, so reserve tight head prop forward Dan Cole came on for the remainder of the final for 77 or 78 minutes allowing the South Africans being able to capitalize & end England's dream of winning the Rugby World Cup (And if Sinckler didn't get concussed, that would've made a difference but the English were robbed of that occasion) by dominating the final to win it by bringing the William Webb Ellis cup back to South Africa from its former glory after 12 years at the most recent RWC final at the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan (And they've made a highly successful documentary about it, known as Chasing The Sun in which the doco is about the Springboks looking to end an 8 year dominance from the All Blacks for a chance of Rugby World Cup glory in 2019, 12 years after their last triumph, but it begins 18 months in the leadup to the tournament in which the South Africans struggled until a new head coach arrives & says that they believe that he agreed that the Boks could actually win the RWC in 2019, inspired by their previous triumphs in 1995 & 2007, in order to change the team's fortunes around) since they beat New Zealand in our penultimate test last year & France for winning the last & most recent test match of the year against the All Blacks also last year with other sides trying to catch up by closing the gap before the next tournament) since winning the most recent Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019? Well, to be honest after the 57 - 0 drubbing against the All Blacks at North Harbour Stadium in Albany in 2017 during a Rugby Championship game, they hadn't lost touch & managed to find the competitive edge since the appointment of Rassie Erasmus as coach at the time (He was replaced by current coach Jacques Nienaber since 2020) as they beat the AB's at Westpac Stadium (Now Sky Stadium) in Wellington in 2018 where they gained from strength to strength, a year before completing the rare double as I mentioned in my previous blogs which is both the Rugby Championship & the big one which is the RWC triumph (Their 3rd overall (After previously winning it in both 1995 & 2007) & 1st since 2007 in which they beat the AB's conquerors in the semi, England (Well, can they bounce back? Because they are expecting to go one better than in 2019 & break a 20 year drought (The last time they did that it was in 2003 where the English became the 1st & only Northern Hemisphere side to triumph at the Rugby World Cup) in the final which is a replay of the 2007 final (The try scorers for South Africa in the 2019 final were both Makazole Mapimpi (Who was the 1st of 2 try scorers for the Boks (Who have never lost a RWC final every time they appeared & is the only side to achieve that feat as I also mentioned in my previous blogs) at a Rugby World Cup final) & Cheslin Kolbe (Who is one of South Africa's best rugby union players since the days of Os du Randt, Bryan Habana, Percy Montgomery, Francois Pienaar & the late Joost van der Westhuizen along with Eben Etzebeth & Malcolm Marx (Their best forwards for South Africa) while Handre Pollard scored 22 points but the standout player or MVP (Most valuable player) of the final was Duane Vermeulen when he exhibited the mastery of a veteran as I also mentioned in my previous blogs). And after that (They didn't play any of their games in 2020 when the entire/whole world was stopped due to the travel restrictions imposed regarding to the corona virus), they won a test series against the British & Irish Lions as well as they crushed the All Blacks hopes of ending our Rugby Championship campaign undefeated, in the final round last year & now, they're still ranked the best top ranked rugby playing nation in the world ahead of us (And they're the tournament favourites heading into next year's RWC in France (Who have their star player of World Rugby player of the year last year of Antoine Dupont as he guided his country's win over New Zealand (Who have up to 5 main challengers going into next year's Rugby World Cup such as Argentina, Australia, France, Ireland & South Africa (Who have their 4 main challengers going into the 2023 tournament such as the Wallabies, England & the All Blacks) but England as well since they beat us in the semi during the 2019 tournament despite that the fact that I hardly mentioned the English in terms of the test matches outside of the RWC as I mentioned before in my previous blogs) last year & began this year with the French ending a 12 year wait of winning Six Nations titles for the 1st time since 2010 as well as the coveted grand slam (And they previously appeared in the final in 1987 (Against the AB's at Eden Park in Auckland), 1999 (Also against the Wallabies at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales) & 2011 (It was against New Zealand again in a rematch of the 1987 final at Eden Park in Auckland) but never won one of them (And are looking to become the 2nd Northern Hemisphere side after England in 2003 to win the tournament) as they looking to end 36 years of agony & pain as I also mentioned in my previous blogs & to follow the French football team's footsteps of winning both Football World Cups in 1998 & 2018) as well as they're looking to become the 2nd side after the All Blacks (Who haven't triumphed since 2015 (The only time the AB's had won the tournament on foreign soil to add to both our triumphs in 1987 & 2011 in which we won those tournaments on home soil (We co-hosted that Rugby World Cup along with Australia in 1987 & we hosted the tournament in 2011) in which we beat the Wallabies of Australia in the final at Twickenham in London, England to become the 1st back to back Rugby World Cup champions & the 1st to win 3 Rugby World Cups) in 2015 to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup) & is established one of the powerhouses in international rugby since their RWC triumph in 2019 by being the world leader & major global player in international rugby.

And when the world stopped in March 2020, Italy (Who are not in this year's Football World Cup in Qatar after losing to North Macedonia in international football's, biggest boil over, in the semifinal of the UEFA qualification playoff (Compared to Iceland's sensational but historic, upset victory which came out of nowhere over England in the round of 16 match at Euro 2016) had begun their plans of winning Euro 2020 which was delayed to a year due to the pandemic & they successfully did when they beat England (Who are in the World Cup along with 31 others including defending champions France (Who got knocked over by Switzerland in the round of 16 match at Euro 2020 last year on penalties) & tournament favourites Brazil (Who is the top ranked football playing nation in the world which lost to Argentina (Winner of the Finalissima (A clash between the best of Europe & the best of South America in international football) against the European champions Italy) in last year's Copa America final) in the final at Wembley in London a year later along with Australia who started their plans of winning the T20 World Cup (The next one is this year with Australia hosting & are the defending champions in this format going into the tournament) which proved to be successful when they won against traditional trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand (Who had beaten India to claim our historic 1st ever World Test Championship last year (Same year that Emirates Team New Zealand's successful shot of defending the America's Cup (Which is by far, the oldest trophy, in international sport, perhaps undoubtly the hardest sporting trophy to win but I have been an avid cup follower since 1995 when Team New Zealand 1st triumphed in San Diego against Dennis Conner & co of Stars & Stripes (They used the Young America yacht in the America's Cup match previously used by the PACT 95 syndicate in order to get up to speed but they didn't as they lost by being swept in the best of nine series 5 - 0) for the 2nd time against Prada Cup champions Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in Auckland & New Zealand claiming 7 gold medals (Including the duo of Kerri Gowler & Grace Prendergast then Emma Twigg, the rowing men's 8, the Black Ferns rugby sevens team (Whose road to redemption after losing to Australia in the gold medal match at Rio 2016 were successful) then Lisa Carrington (New Zealand's most successful Olympian since the good old days of Ian 'Ferg' Ferguson) who did it 3 times & Caitlin Regal who was involved with Carrington) as well as 6 silvers & 7 bronzes at the most recent summer Olympic Games in Tokyo) in Southampton & unable to follow it up by missing out on winning the T20 World Cup in the same year) in Dubai which was November last year a month before the Ashes series began which was won by the Australians who prevailed over the English (Who have their new coach in the test format of former New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum as well as the appointment of their new test captain, Ben Stokes (Who had taken over from Joe Root with Root moving on by relinquishing that skipper's role in the test format before their test series against the defending world test champions, the Black Caps), a year out until the next Ashes series in England against the current holders Australia) to retain the most important test series in international cricket where they haven't lost touch & never put a foot wrong since regaining the Ashes in 2018 (They clinched it in the 3rd test at Perth to go 3-0 up).

And there had been difference between the All Blacks winning the Lions series in 2005 to the drawn series in 2017 that both Tana Umaga & Keven Mealamu didn't get sent off for a lifting tackle off the ball on Brian O'Driscoll, resulting in an serious injury in 2005 during the 1st test in Christchurch which was won by the All Blacks to go 1 - 0 up in the test series (The Television Match Official (TMO) didn't check for foul play way back then until it was introduced in 2013 that the TMO can have a look for foul play (The Television Match Official in rugby union can check for both match changing situations, whether is in the act of scoring a try &/or foul play (Unlike the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in football can consult for 4 things, whether it's a goal, a penalty, red card &/or mistaken identity) but Sonny Bill Williams did when he got red carded for a no arms in the tackle to the head on Anthony Watson after a consultation by the TMO for the referee to go upstairs to review a foul play incident during the 2nd test in Wellington (He was the 3rd AB to have been ordered off in a test after the late Cyril Brownlie & the late Sir Colin Meads (3 other players joined the likes of Brownlie, Meads & Williams such as Scott Barrett against Australia in 2019, Ofa Tu'ungafasi in 2020 against the same opponent, the Wallabies & Scott's brother Jordie Barrett most recently last year in a test also against the Australians) since World Rugby is clamping down on dangerous high tackles when it was introduced on the 3rd of January 2017) meaning that he was hit with a 4 week suspension before the British & Irish Lions kept their test series hopes alive therefore Williams missed that deciding test in Auckland.

And the results of the quarterfinals of this years Super Rugby Pacific are in as the Crusaders are the 1st team to reach the semifinal after slaying the Reds in a rematch of the final round robin game at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch a day before the Chiefs rattled the Waratahs at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton to book a place in the semi against the Crusaders in a replay of last year's Super Rugby Aotearoa final then the Blues advance to the final four off the back of a Beauden Barrett double against the Highlanders at Eden Park in Auckland in a rematch of the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final from last year which was marred by the red card of Highlanders starting hooker Andrew Makalio for a dangerous tackle (They had lost Bryce Heem during the match as a result of a concussion & is likely to miss both the semis & the final if the Blues make it (They had lost influential captain Dalton Papali'i after an injury sustained during the captain's run already along with both other injured players Anton Segner & Caleb Clarke) which deemed to be always banned as said by the Australian referee Angus Gardner before he sent Makalio off for 20 minutes under the red card law interpretations while he had to be replaced by another player after 20 minutes but the red carded player can't come back on the field before the Brumbies (Who had Len Ikitau sent off for a dangerous tackle during the game & has missed a crucial semifinal game against the Blues but is likely to miss the 1st Wallabies test against England in Brisbane as a result of a suspension being handed out by the judiciary) have snapped a 3 match losing streak when they were no match against the Hurricanes in style to make the semifinal at GIO Stadium in Canberra (And the Brumbies had to deliver a Boston Celtics like performance in which the Celtics dominated in the 4th quarter to down the Golden State Warriors in game 1 of the NBA Finals (And one of the Brumbies players provided the Jayson Tatum (Who is a star player of the Celtics compared to Stephen 'Steph the Chef' Curry (Son of ex-NBA player Dell & a 3 time NBA champion with that franchise (The last time the Warriors won an NBA Championship was in 2017-18 in which they had gone back to back while the last time the Boston Celtics (Who are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers with 17 as the most successful NBA franchise but if the Celtics win the NBA finals, the record for most NBA championships is broken) triumphed in the NBA Finals was in 2007-08 including their good player which is the Finals MVP from 2008 of Paul Pierce (Who joined the likes of both Bill Russell & Larry Bird (Who had a formidable rivalry with Earvin 'Magic' Johnson of the LA Lakers during the Celtics-Lakers rivalry which had occured during the 1980's) as their other successful players playing for the Celtics) & has formed a formidable trio of him & 2 others such as Klay Thompson & Draymond Green (But both players who use to play for the Warriors & Celtics such as Kevin 'KD' Durant & Kyrie Irving respectively who now ply their trade with the Brooklyn Nets (Who got beaten by the Celtics in the Eastern conference quarterfinals) of the Golden State Warriors) role in which they ended the Hurricanes 2022 season in an incredible comeback victory in the quarterfinal as well as our hopes & aspirations of claiming a spot in the semi against the Blues (Who'll put their 14 game winning streak on the line against a dominant Brumbies side looking to end the Blues hopes of reaching the final (Unlike England (Who had lost to the Springboks in the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup after Kyle Sinckler came off the field with a head injury early in the game) ended the AB's quest of a historic first ever three peat at the RWC in the semi at the most recent tournament in 2019 just like the Toronto Raptors did against the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA finals) but the men from Canberra has never won a match against the Blues at the garden of Eden since 2013 but let's hope that there will not be an upset on the cards in an highly anticipated rematch of the 1997 Super 12 final in which the Blues won in the end to secure back to back Super 12 titles (And well it is all or nothing to play for, but if the Blues fall to the Brumbies (Who'll have their key player & danger man back for the semis of flank forward Rob Valetini from an injury), their dream of reaching the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final, is over (But fingers crossed by the way, hoping for a Blues - Crusaders final), has ended) in one of the best games from an Australian point of view (Or should I say, perspective) in which the men from Canberra managed to stage a Boston Celtics inspired comeback to win by 10 points after coming from behind.

And here is the confirmed list for the semifinal matches being played in Super Rugby Pacific:

Crusaders Vs Chiefs (Their most recent meeting in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 6 of the competition when the Crusaders ran out as winners against the Chiefs side dealt by problems caused by COVID-19 omicron strain in Hamilton).

& Blues Vs Brumbies (The last time both of these sides had met in Super Rugby Pacific was during the penultimate round of the regular season in which the Blues came away with a win in Canberra after Beauden Barrett secured the match winning drop goal which proved to be successful, therefore breaking Brumbies hearts).

And there has been an update of results of the semis of this years Super Rugby Pacific as the Crusaders are the 1st team to reach the final after a decent win against the Chiefs off the back of a Cullen Grace double (There were 3 yellow cards in the match as well as a red such as Quinn Tupaea for the Chiefs for a dangerous tackle which is a contact to the head on Argentinian born Crusaders loose forward Pablo Matera (Who probably should've gone off for an HIA after being groggy like that) then Matera got his 1st yellow card for continuing to mount penalties such as a no clear release (Tackler not releasing) & his 2nd yellow card which resulted in a red card for a high tackle on Chiefs first five Bryn Gatland by whacking him in the head of a player but he was lucky not to be suspended for the final after the judiciary vowed that Matera had been given the all clear & he is now the 1st Argentinian to win a Super Rugby Pacific title in history (He came so close in 2019 when he was part of the now defunct Jaguares when they clashed the Crusaders in the last ever Super Rugby final) & their record breaking 222 tackles made at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch a day before the Blues have famously beaten the Brumbies, by the barest of margins in a thriller to go through to the final to play the Crusaders at the garden of Eden at Eden Park in Auckland (There were 2 yellow cards dished out in the match such as Kurt Eklund for a lifting/tip tackle on a Brumbies player in which that should've been a red card & Adrian Choat for bashing a Brumbies player in the head but the officiating was dreadful & appalling with New Zealand referee Ben O'Keefe being overlooked for the final but he's not as O'Keefe expected to be the man with the whistle for the Blues clash against the Crusaders in the final) including Blues reserve prop forward Ofa Tu'ungafasi charging down a attempted drop goal by the Brumbies in the dying seconds of the semifinal (Well, I thought Tu'ungafasi was offside to start with when he ran too quick to make the game defining charge down courtesy of that terrible officating by New Zealand referee Ben O'Keefe) match which proved to be the turning point or should I say game changer in which the men from Auckland have won a club record extending 15 in a row (And I love that cheesy one-liner from the other voice of New Zealand rugby of Tony 'TJ' Johnson who said in commentary about the game defining charge down: "Ofa Tu'ungafasi! Where did you come from!?" Compared to Andrew 'Swainy' Swain's comment on Highlander Jona Nareki (The last celeb or famous person I have met in my whole life & there was a photo on Pops Facebook page of me & Pops old students of Jona when I had my hair trimmed back in late 2020 (And when I first met him, Jona tried to shake my hand but I gave him an elbow bump instead) who made that enormous hit to the Western Force player at the time of Jordan Olowofela during a Super Rugby Trans-Tasman game last year, as a heat seeking missile).

So it's the Blues to play the Crusaders in the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final (It is a rematch of the 1998 & 2003 finals in which the Crusaders & the Blues had won the Super 12 titles respectively but their most recent meeting between the 2 teams was 2 months ago in which the Blues won the match at Orangetheory Stadium in which the Blues had ended an 18 year drought to beat the Crusaders (Also the Blues first victory against the Crusaders in Super Rugby since 2014 at Eden Park) in Christchurch but will it be stand-in Blues skipper Beauden Barrett or his brother, the Crusaders captain Scott Barrett to become the new Super Rugby Pacific winning captain to lift the new Super Rugby Pacific trophy this year?) at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday night New Zealand time to decide who will become the 1st ever Super Rugby Pacific champion (Well, I can't wait this Saturday because I am so looking forward to it, so too is Pops not only because he is just a rugby fanatic like me).

And finally there has been an update of the Super Rugby Pacific final as the Scott 'Razor' Robertson coached Crusaders end the Blues quest of becoming champions of the Super Rugby Pacific title in front of a sell out crowd of 43,000 people at Eden Park in Auckland but hopefully that the Blues can change of winning it next year after falling short to the dominant Crusaders side who dented the Blues hopes by snapping a 15 match winning streak & they won their 13th overall title (That's 10 Super Rugby championships, both Super Rugby Aotearoa titles & now, the Super Rugby Pacific championship (And what a disappointing end for the Blues, what a match for our viewers right around the world, but I wonder the headlines will say: CRUSADERS CRUSH BLUES HOPES OF SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC GLORY or more like: BLUES MISS OUT ON WINNING SRP TITLE AGAINST CRUSADERS) because it was supposed to be the Blues year this year but that didn't happen (And it has been all Crusaders as they were in charge during the 1st half (Including a drop goal & a penalty goal by their main key playmaker Richie Mo'unga (Who played like Steph Curry (Who was widely regarded as the best shooter in NBA) when he received his 1st NBA finals MVP as the Golden State Warriors won against the Boston Celtics in game 6 of this year's NBA finals & claim their 7th NBA title) & a try from Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall which was successfully converted by Mo'unga but there is hope for Scott Robertson of becoming the new All Black coach if Ian Foster loses his job by falling out of form because Robertson should've taken over from Steve Hansen back in 2019 after a dismal Rugby World Cup (And Foster got the nod instead with Robertson being overlooked although Razor still has a contract with the Crusaders as coach until at least 2024) but I didn't watch the 2nd half meaning that the Crusaders were always going to win, & they did due to the fact that they've got it, but I'm not watching the replay of the final because I can't watch this anymore, but this is like the All Whites - Costa Rica match for a place in this year's Football World Cup in Qatar with the Costa Ricans dominated by winning the match to secure the last qualification spot therefore they scored an early goal to put them in front & held on until the end, but the match was marred by the red card of New Zealand player Kosta Barbarouses for a foul play incident in which he got suspended for both games against the Socceroos of Australia (Who already qualified by beating Peru on penalties (Just like 2005 in which John Aloisi broke Uruguayan hearts to secure qualification for the 1st time since their debut appearance in 1974 in the 2006 tournament (They qualified by beating Japan but they lost to Brazil before they had a draw against Croatia (Including a goal from Harry Kewell denying the Croatians a chance of making it into the round of 16) in the group games to make it into the round of 16 when they eventually fell against the eventual champions Italy) & in 2017 when they beat Honduras with Mile Jedinak providing the heroics with a hat-trick of goals to make it to Russia in 2018 (They didn't make it into the knockout stages after defeats against the eventual champions France & Peru & a draw against Denmark) but I did a story of the Australian football/soccer team's history at the Football World Cup before in my blog that I did last month) in the 2 game series (The 1st one is in Brisbane followed by Auckland hosting the 2nd game) & of course, the Warriors winning the NBA title for the first time since they had gone back to back in 2017-18 after ending the Celtics hopes of forcing a decider with the win in game 6), & not only they were inconsistent (And that's the Blues 1st defeat since against the Hurricanes in round 2 of this year's competition with Ardie Savea providing the heroics with a game defining try with a kick to come which was successfully converted by Ruben Love in a game was held behind closed doors as a result of omicron throughout the country earlier this year) but what went wrong for the Blues to lose a final like this? Well, they got it all wrong, especially the lineouts that they did not improve (And Luke Romano should've come on early to sort the Blues lineout issues that they heard) which affected their performance on the field & at least the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final is reminiscent to the 1998 Super 12 final that the Crusaders have begun their dominance in Super Rugby, ending the Blues (Who dominated the competition 2 years running in 1996-97) hopes of what would be a chance of a historic threepeat (And it's similar to the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup this year (And I have been watching hockey a lot here in New Zealand, especially on TV when it was shown on ESPN) by ending the Tampa Bay Lightning's hopes of a threepeat).

So that is my 461st blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 9th of this year, stay safe & one love.

P.S. And just wanted to say that it's the late Nan's birthday out there today so I miss her, I always miss her a lot since she passed away in January 2016 (I took over from her by living with Pops since February 2017 after my success that I had when we had the Christmas lights in December 2016 & Pops was impressed so I agreed with him to terms meaning that my days living with Dad from childbirth had ended not only because I did not know that Dad had a job while Pops was retired already in 2011 along with the late Nan in which he had an early retirement) but I always loved her a lot when she was alive.

And finally that we're 1 year away until the next men's Rugby World Cup in France with the opening match between the host nation of the French & the 3 time champions of the tournament of the All Blacks in Pool A at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Whoever wins this will play the top ranked rugby playing nation in the world of Ireland (New Zealand's preferred opponents in the quarterfinal & the nation that has never reached both the semifinal & final stages of the tournament & have never beaten the All Blacks before at a Rugby World Cup (We swept past them in both 1995 in a pool game & at the most recent tournament in 2019 in the quarters) in the quarterfinal who has now taken over as favourites to win the 2023 tournament from the 3 time defending world champions & current World Cup holders South Africa (The AB's preferred opponents in the final in which the Springboks (Who'll open their campaign as well as their title defence against Scotland at Stade Velodrome in Marseille) have never lost the final of the RWC before, but if we lose to France in the opening game of the tournament, it'll be the South Africans in the quarters as I mentioned in my previous blogs (And bear in mind that New Zealand has never lost a pool game before & they have never lost a quarterfinal match since 2007 against the French in controversial circumstances) with the 2023 Rugby World Cup is going to be the most competitive tournament in history in all of the previous Rugby World Cups being held, (And my thoughts would be, a year out until next years tournament? Bring on 2023).

Renholder/Thinking Of You: My 8th blog of the year 2022

Well, the draw for this year's Football World Cup in Qatar has been unveiled so it gives me great privilege to announce the draw for the 2022 Football World Cup:

Group A

Qatar (Hosts)

Ecuador

Senegal

The Netherlands

Group B

England

IR Iran

USA

Wales

Group C

Argentina

Saudi Arabia

Mexico

Poland

Group D

France (Defending champions)

Australia

Denmark

Tunisia

Group E

Spain

Costa Rica

Germany

Japan

Group F

Belgium

Canada

Morocco

Croatia

Group G

Brazil

Serbia

Switzerland

Cameroon

Group H

Portugal

Ghana

Uruguay

Korea Republic

And my thoughts of this year's Football World Cup draw? Well, so many matchups that are going to be interesting such as England taking on the USA (Who'll face Iran for the 1st time in 24 years at a Football World Cup but there was hostility between the 2 countries that they had since 1980) for the 1st time since 2010 where the Americans defeated the English (Who has never beaten the United States at a Football World Cup before but are they about to change?) in a group match while Argentina haven't fought against Mexico in 12 years (And of course the Uruguayans will play South Korea as well just like in 2010) with the Argentinians coming away with the victory against the Mexicans in the round of 16 match in 2010 & it looks likely that the defending world champions France (Who are looking to become the 1st side since Brazil (The only football playing nation to have appeared in every tournament since it began in 1930 (Both the 1942 & 1946 tournaments were cancelled out due to World War II) in 1962 to successfully defend the Football World Cup & it was in 2014 that their plans of winning the 2018 edition of the tournament started after a quarterfinal defeat against eventual champions Germany when a nation just needed to get in shape in order to get back on top of the football world) will play Denmark (Who'll face Australia (They'll take on France just like in 2018 in which the French began their successful road to the title with a win against the Aussies (Who beat Peru to qualify for this years Football World Cup in Qatar) in their opening group game but the 1st time that Australia had been to the Football/Soccer World Cup, it was in 1974 & had appeared since 2006 (They are now part of the Asian confederation since 2010 in which they qualified because they were once part of the Oceanian confederation until after the 2006 tournament) just like in 2018 after the match had ended in a draw (Denmark were in front during the match until Australia had equalized after they awarded themselves a penalty via VAR (Video assistant referee), ending their Danes hopes of winning) again just like in 2018 (Along with Portugal playing Uruguay then Brazil (Who are in fact the tournament favorites since they're ranked number 1 in the world (They took over from Belgium as the top ranked football playing nation) & haven't triumphed since 2002 in which they beat the Germans in the final in Yokohama with the Brazilian Ronaldo (Not Cristiano Ronaldo (Who had lost his newborn son due to a tragic passing but had scored a goal for his club Manchester United against Arsenal in a Premier League match in which they lost (The Arsenal fans praised him but Ronaldo's celebrations were subdued as he scored his century of goals in the Premier League) getting a brace after making an incredible but astonishing comeback from a serious injury sustained in a Serie A game in Italy in 2000 playing for his club at the time, Inter) playing both Serbia (Who'll face the Swiss again just like 4 years ago) & Switzerland (Who'll have a chance of redemption to take victory against the Swiss after a draw last time out during the group stages at the previous tournament in Russia in 2018) then Spain taking on Germany for the 1st time in 12 years (It was the Spanish (Whose plans of winning the 2010 Football World Cup began after losing to France in the round of 16 during the 2006 tournament) who were victors in the semi final against the Germans (Their chances of winning the tournament would have to wait until 4 years later in 2014 in which they beat Lionel Messi & co of Argentina in the final with a superb goal scored by super sub Mario Goetze during the 2nd period of extra time at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 4 years before they had a disappointing World Cup in 2018 most recently, as they were unable to defend their title but they couldn't advance to the knockout stages after defeats to both Mexico & Korea Republic despite beating Sweden in the 2nd group game meaning that it was the 3rd consecutive tournament that the Football World Cup holders had failed to get past beyond the group stages (It was Italy in 2010 followed by Spain in 2014 but France was a perfect example of them way back in 2002) to go through to the final against Holland for a successful challenge of winning their one & only Football World Cup title in South Africa way back in 2010 (The 2nd time that the All Whites of New Zealand (Who have our intercontinental playoff match in hand against Costa Rica for a chance to qualify in Qatar (Our last shot at it before the expansion to 48 football playing nations in 2026) appeared in most recently (We had 3 draws against Slovakia, Italy & Paraguay to end our campaign undefeated but did not make the round of 16) after previously appeared by making our Football World Cup debut in 1982 (We had lost all 3 games against Brazil, Scotland & the USSR), & we have not appeared since (After failing to qualify in the previous 2 Football World Cups therefore losing to Mexico in 2014 & Peru in 2018, both in an intercontinental playoff) & of course Portugal (Who thought that they were out of it until the defending European champions of Italy (Who lost to Sweden in a qualification playoff in 2017 therefore failing to qualify for the most recent Football World Cup in Russia in 2018) got belted by North Macedonia in an historic upset during the UEFA qualification playoff semifinal before the Portuguese (Who had beaten Turkey in the other semi of the UEFA qualification playoff) easily beat the North Macedonians to book their golden ticket to Qatar) will play Ghana (Who have not appeared at a Football World Cup since 2014 along with Cameroon, Ecuador, the Netherlands & the USA but they are playing against Uruguay for the 1st time at a Football World Cup since 2010 (In which Uruguayan player Luis Suarez (Who deliberately bit Italian defender Giorgio Chellini in the chest in 2014 in which he didn't get sent off by the referee during the match in which Uruguay won the last time Italy had played in the Football World Cup (They failed to qualify on both occasions in the next 2 tournaments (They lost against Sweden in 2017 in a qualification playoff for a place in Russia 2018 & North Macedonia (Who pulled off one of international football's biggest boil overs) this year in a UEFA qualification semifinal & is the 1st time since 2006 that the current European Football Championship holders, will not be involved in this years tournament (Remember Greece won it in 2004 when they defeated hosts at the time of Portugal in the final then they failed to qualify for Germany 2006) before being handed a lengthy ban (He missed the round of 16 game against Colombia in which the Colombians prevailed with a goal of the 2014 tournament scored by James Rodriguez) for the incident) illegally made a save before he got red carded for that (He missed the semi against the Netherlands through suspension) moments before the Ghanaians missed a penalty by Asamoah Gyan in which they agonizingly came so close of winning that quarterfinal in which they fell short even though Suarez was celebrating but in the end, Uruguay had won on penalties by ending Ghana's hopes of becoming the 1st African nation to reach the semifinal) but those returning from the previous tournament in 2018 are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, IR Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia & Uruguay compared to Canada who qualified & hadn't been to a Football World Cup arena since 1986 & for Wales who have not appeared for a long time at a Football World Cup since 1958 while Qatar will make it's Football World Cup debut this year as the host nation) for the 1st time at a Football World Cup since 2014 but just a quick update in the FA Cup semi as Leon Benbaruk's football club that he supports, Liverpool are through to the FA Cup final after beating the defending Premier League champions Manchester City in an action packed affair (It was Liverpool's turn as they scored 3 goals in the 1st half but it was Man City who dominated in the 2nd half when they had a tremendous fight back as they scored 2 unanswered goals but it was quite good enough when time had been expired as Liverpool are in the FA Cup final for the 1st time since 2012) & they'll play Chelsea (Who beat Crystal Palace in the other semifinal & are looking for redemption after losing both FA Cup finals on the bounce against Arsenal in 2020 & Leicester City last year) in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London in a rematch of the Carabao Cup final won by Liverpool (Who'll face Real Madrid in the final of this year's UEFA Champions League at the Stade de France (Venue of next year's Rugby World Cup final as well as the opening match of the tournament between hosts France & 3 time world champions New Zealand (Who have never lost a pool match in Rugby World Cup history but let's not hope that the French are looking to become the 1st side to beat the All Blacks in pool play) in Saint-Denis which is a replay of the 2018 final in which Real Madrid dominated to win the match as well as their most recent UEFA Champions League title (It was Liverpool who redeemed themselves with a win against Spurs in 2019 followed by Bayern Munchen in a COVID-19 impacted year in 2020 & of course, Chelsea last year).

And I already heard that our country of New Zealand is now in a worsening state of omicron especially Dad getting it (He was feeling better but he had been tested positive as a result of a close contact (And Pops told me on the 18th of April that he had to be tested again & this time he was negative so that's the good news) but they have cancelled the ANZAC memorial service thing on ANZAC day due to omicron despite nightclubs are opening up) but I don't know whether we enforce the shutdown if there is too many confirmed number of cases compared to Philadelphia in Pennslyvania where there is an outbreak there because of a community case with the city moving to stage 2 shutdown meaning that masks have been mandated indoors according to the restrictions as well as the Chinese city of Shanghai is in fact returning to shutdown after the figures have gone from bad to worse (Especially several unvaccinated people who are in their 80s to early 90s who have passed away from it but there's reports that 30 Chinese cities are now under shutdown restrictions due to the growing number of confirmed cases in the country).

And I have revealed that I've broken my silence about the reason why the Black Ferns sevens lost the gold medal match in Rio 2016 against Australia was the try scoring machine of Portia Woodman had to be sent to the sin bin as a result for a deliberate knock down, just before half time which resulted in a game changer (And it was proved to be the turning point as well) as the Aussies dominated to win gold meaning that we had to settle for the silver, 5 years before our successful shot at redemption as New Zealand would finally win gold in Tokyo 2020 last year (It was originally going to be held in 2020 but changed it to last year due to the pandemic) against France in the gold medal match of the women's rugby sevens with the demons of Rio 2016, being laid to rest.

And there has been a Dutch success in motor racing last year starting with Max Verstappen (The self proclaimed sim racing guru & son of a former F1 & A1 Grand Prix driver, Jos) becoming the Netherlands 1st ever Formula 1 World Champion (Who beat the likes of 7 time Formula 1 world champion (Along with Germany's Michael Schumacher (My sporting hero growing up as a young kid (Although the late All Black Jonah Lomu would be my rugby idol also growing up as a young kid) & the most successful F1 driver from Britain, Sir Lewis Hamilton (One of 4 world champions in this year's F1 grid (3 former which is twice world champion Fernando Alonso from Spain (In which Alonso is the country's only Formula 1 world champion) in the Alpine (Formerly Renault), a 4 time world champion from Germany in the form of Sebastian Vettel (One of 3 Germans along with Michael Schumacher (Father of current F1 racer Mick & brother of former F1 driver Ralf (Mick's uncle) & Nico Rosberg (A Finnish-German who is the son of 1982 world champion Keke & is one of 2 individuals to win an F1 title as the son of a Formula 1 world champion (The 1st was Damon Hill (Son of the late Graeme who is a twice F1 world champion in both 1962 & 1968) way back in 1996) to have won a world championship before) in the Aston Martin (Formerly Racing Point) as well as Hamilton in the Mercedes of course & 1 current which is Verstappen in the Red Bull), in last years title race) then a Kiwi of Dutch origin of Shane van Gisbergen (One of 4 Kiwis to win an Australian touring car racing title along with Jim Richards, Robbie Francevic & Scott McLaughlin) who just won his 2nd Supercars Championship title (His 1st title was in 2016 in which he became the 1st New Zealander since Jim Richards in 1991 to win an Australian Touring Car title to add to his success in the Bathurst 1000 in 2020 (Same year that future Indycar star Scott McLaughlin won his 3rd straight (He 1st did it in 2018 then in 2019 (Same year that he won the great race with a Frenchman named Alex Premat (A former A1GP & DTM ace) in the Bathurst 1000 touring car endurance race under controversial circumstances) & most recent Supercars Championship which has been dominated by Kiwi drivers since 2018 in which McLaughlin won it 3 times followed by Van Gisbergen (Last year's winner of the prestigious New Zealand Grand Prix (He started in pit lane due to an fire extinguisher problem during a Toyota Racing Series (The premier open wheel racing category in our country of New Zealand compared to the S5000 being Australia's single seater racing equivalent) race) who currently races for Triple Eight Race Engineering founded by Roland Dane (Father of his 2 daughters Ali & Jessica) in which they competed since 2004 by taking over from Briggs Motorsport to establish an Australian arm of the race team led by Dane, Ian Harrison & ex-F1 driver, Le Mans winner & World Sports Car champion Derek Warwick after they once took part & dominated in the British Touring Car Championship before they had their interest of intending to move to Australia to participate in the V8 Supercars which was successful (And it was in 2009 that they announced their intentions of changing manufacturers from Ford to Holden beginning in 2010 in which the fans received a bit of backlash & controversy surrounding the Triple Eight camp) once last year (The last Australian to win a Australian touring car racing title was Jamie Whincup (Current team principal of Triple Eight Race Engineering since his retirement from full time racing last year who took over from founder Roland Dane who stepped down in early 2021) in 2017 in his 7th & final Supercars Championship a year after Van Gisbergen in 2016 & a year before McLaughlin in 2018 (The same year that Craig Lowndes (Who is Australia's biggest motor racing personalities when he won 3 Supercars Championship titles in 1996 (And after his Bathurst & Australian Touring Car Championship that he won in which he was the next big thing in Formula 1 when he competed in Formula 3000 (His team boss was Helmut Marko while his teammate was the future Formula 1, Indycar & NASCAR driver of Juan Pablo Montoya) in which he was unsuccessful before returning home to Australia to compete in ATCC again), 1998 & 1999 (Same year that he had a horrifying crash at Calder Park in which his Holden Commodore went airborne & flipped over, resulting in injuries that he had) & winner of the Bathurst 1000 7 times in 1996, 2006 (Including getting emotional when he won in honor of the great man known as Brocky/Peter Perfect/King of the Mountain who tragically passed away in a car rally accident in the same year) to 2008, 2010, 2015 (Same year that he won his 100th Supercars Championship race a day before his 41st birthday) & 2018 but there was a fact in which he finished 2nd in his Bathurst 1000 debut & also he moved to Ford in 2001 in which he drove for until the team that he drove, Triple Eight switched to Holdens in 2010 after he drove for Holden since his Bathurst 1000 debut in 1994 for the Holden Racing Team (The team now known as Walkinshaw Andretti United he used to race for before moving to 00 Motorsport in 2001 then Ford Performance Racing (Before it was known as Prodrive Racing Australia then adapting to the current name of Tickford Racing) in 2003 until he joined Triple Eight in 2005 until last year at Bathurst where he continues to be the ambassador) but his chances of winning the 2005 (Same year that his 1st win with Triple Eight was at Eastern Creek Raceway (Now called Sydney Motorsport Park) & he won in Sandown during the Sandown 500 with Frenchman Yvan Muller) title took a tumble when he served a drive through penalty in the final race of the season therefore costing his big chance of winning his 4th championship (A year before he again narrowly missed out on the championship to Rick Kelly at the same venue after he got collided by Kelly during the race but there was a penalty being given for the collision by Kelly who overcame that penalty by winning the title) which was won by Russell Ingall) stepped down from his full time driving role (His father Frank worked as a mechanic for his idol & mentor, the late Peter Brock) in which drivers from New Zealand had dominated in 5 of the last 6 Supercars Championship seasons) before his surprise defection to Indycar where he joined Team Penske & has been with that team since (He won rookie of the year last year (He placed 2nd behind his fellow countryman & his idol, the 6 time Indycar Series champion Scott Dixon, in the 1st of 2 double-header races at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas) then won the opening Indycar race after starting on pole at St Petersburg in Florida this year, was leading the championship until he had a disappointing race both at Texas & Long Beach most recently, therefore handing victory to one of his Penske teammates, twice Indycar Series champion from America, Josef Newgarden (Who won in Texas) with 4 time winner Garth Tander) last year.

And there has been a name change to the Cleveland Major League Baseball team as they announced most recently starting from this year that they going to change it to the Guardians in order to avoid confusion & controversy surrounding racism related to the George Floyd murder incident in which an American cop named Derek Chauvin had been sent behind bars as a result for a racially related criminal act in a similar fashion to the Washington Football Team now being called as the Washington Commanders after dropping an old team name which was deemed to be racist much like the Washington Bullets NBA team becoming the Washington Wizards over their spate of gun violence in the city as well as both Major League Baseball sides such as the Houston Colt 45's suddenly became the Astros because of the old team name that it was derogatory regarding to a hand gun & the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in which the team name that they thought it was involuntary, & replaced it with Tampa Bay Rays (And unlike the Crusaders kept their team name for the cancelled 2020 Super Rugby season but their logo had to change therefore dropping the medieval theme as a result of the tragic events unfolded such as the Christchurch mosque massacre in March 2019 in which a serious crime that has shocked our country of New Zealand (And it was reminiscent/shades of the deadly shootings in Port Arthur, Tasmania in Australia way back in 1996 (And gun laws might have worked here in New Zealand since by following Australia's footsteps of introducing a ban on high powered weapons such as the semi-automatic rifle (And many of those banned weapons have been seized by police as part of a handover by Amnesty International but gun violence in New Zealand is rare in our country along with Australia since gun laws have been introduced in wake of the mosque shooting tragedy in Christchurch in 2019) like the AR-15 used in the mass killings in an effort to keep our nation safe after a serious gun incident like that in Christchurch which claimed 51 lives (Compared to 35 in Port Arthur).

And that there's only 3 players who played in 5 Rugby World Cups such as both Italians of Mauro Bergamasco (Who played in the 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 & 2015 tournaments) as well as Sergio Parisse (Who was involved in the 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 & 2019 tournaments & was with Mauro Bergamasco as part of the Italian squad from the 2003, 2007, 2011 & 2015 tournaments) & only one Samoan of Brian Lima (The big hitting player who was known as 'The Chiropractor' who appeared in the 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 (Including the one who made a huge hit on South African Derick Hougaard (Who got knocked out after that perfectly legitimate tackle (And then all of a sudden, I was like when I was reacting to the huge hit: Oh mercy me! What a tackle! That could have put him in ward 4! Well, I hope not, that's a maternity ward (And that's a commentary line taken by one of the greatest rugby union video games of all time in history of Jonah Lomu Rugby as well as the Rugby Challenge series) during a pool game between Samoa & South Africa (Who crashed out in the quarterfinal after infamously losing to the AB's including that through the legs pass from Carlos Spencer to set up the try scored by Joe Rokocoko but the match will be remembered as the late Samoan born All Black Jerry Collins (Tana & Mike Umaga's cousin as well as the uncle of the Umaga-Jensen twin brothers of Hurricane Peter & Highlander Thomas & Mike's son Jacob the Englishman who along with Lima as one of the hardest hitters in world rugby) made a monstrous tackle during the match on Springbok player Thinus Delport that sent shivers down their spine & that highly controversial team building preparation known as camp steel wire (AKA Kamp Staaldrad in the Afrikaans language) which caused Springbok coach at the time of Rudolf Straeuli to lose his job) & 2007 tournaments).

And in Super Rugby Pacific news as we are now into the serious stuff in round 12 of the competition as the Blues (The top New Zealand side in this years Super Rugby Pacific competition) managed to stay on top of the table after a thrashing/hiding against the Rebels at Eden Park in Auckland (And they were 14 - 0 down just before the Auckland based franchise were on a points scoring spree in the 1st half) before the Highlanders had another win, this time against the Reds at Lang Park in Brisbane then a day later, the Waratahs have ended Moana Pasifika's hopes for their 2nd win of the competition as they beat them to win 2 in a row at Mount Smart Stadium in South Auckland before the Brumbies topple the Chiefs for their 1st win in 2 years at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton & remain, Australia's best Super Rugby Pacific side to stay in contention of hosting a home playoff then the Crusaders return to winning ways after losing to the Tahs as they decimated the Western Force at Perth Oval in Perth (Including hat-tricks from both Crusaders players such as young winger Leicester Fainga'anuku (Who could be in the mix of playing the All Blacks) & fullback as well as the try scoring machine of Will Jordan) before a day later as the Hurricanes have belted the tournament newcomers the Fijian Drua at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington.

And there has been an update in round 13 of Super Rugby as the Highlanders tore the Western Force apart with a win at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin in Sam Gilbert's 1st start in an unfamiliar position at first five-eighth (Gilbert usually plays on both the wing & fullback but how come? Because his first start at 10 was a success as he didn't miss a kick at goal for the entire match not only he was asked to do the goal kicking but had no problems with it as he had a flawless performance off the kicking tee) in a match marred by the sending off of 2011 Rugby World Cup winning player for the AB's of Richard Kahui for causing a dangerous tackle (And there was a sin binning to one of the Highlanders players of Josh Dickson (Who got sent off before against the Hurricanes) in the 1st half for a head high tackle) followed by the Crusaders who become the 1st New Zealand side this year to topple Australia's best which is the Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra & managed to survive a late surge then the competition newcomers of the Fijian Drua get their 2nd win of the competition as they got the better of fellow newcomers Moana Pasifika at Commbank Stadium in Sydney before the Blues extend their lead on top of the Super Rugby Pacific standings as they demoralised the Reds at Eden Park in Auckland (With both Caleb Clarke & Bryce Heem (Who just came on for the injured Rieko Ioane during the game) picking up 2 tries respectively in the match) to win 11 consecutive matches in this years competition (And they haven't lost a match since Ardie Savea's heroics when the Hurricanes famously won in Dunedin against the Blues in round 2 of Super Rugby Pacific in Dunedin) followed by the Hurricanes who had pummeled the Waratahs by claiming a narrow victory & they overcame a rough start as well as a huge deficit inspired by our Hurricanes skipper Ardie Savea to a tremendous fightback after coming back from 15 - 0 down at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney which was also marred by the red card of reserve Waratahs tight head prop forward Paddy Ryan for a dangerous tackle violation on Hurricanes second-five & utility back Jordie Barrett a day before the unthinkable has happened, as the match winning try from reserve loose head prop forward Ollie Norris (Who was the unlikely hero when they stole a dramatic victory with a last-gasp stunner & scored in the last seconds) has helped the Chiefs snatch an unlikely win over the Melbourne Rebels (The Chiefs would've scored that try just before after half-time but it wasn't game over as the first five-eighth for the Rebels of Carter Gordon who scored a magnificent try off an intercept which was successfully converted to put them back into the contest on the stroke of half-time but it wasn't to be as Norris brings the Chiefs home in familiar fashion at the end (But there were 2 yellow cards in the match, one to Rebels player of Pone Fa'amausili for his antics off the ball after he made a thumping tackle which looked like a wrestling move (But he went into full Brian Lima (One of the hard hitters in world rugby along with the players who play for Pacific Island nations such as Fiji, Samoa or Tonga are known for their reputation as big hitters) or the late Jerry Collins (Another of the hard hitting rugby players along with Lima) mode when he made that monstrous hit) such as the spear (A move used in wrestling but I was like when Fa'amausili made a crunching, bone-jarring hit as "Roman Reigns, eat your heart out" in reference that I made when I watched it on TV to the WWE wrestler of Roman Reigns but he was a mile offside when the referee spotted it) which was a mind blowing moment) & the other to Chiefs player Luke Jacobson for a high tackle) from the jaws of defeat at AAMI Park in Melbourne (And what a disappointing end for the Rebels (And I mean what a way to finish for the Chiefs (And how appropriate that Norris, who had to break Melbourne Rebels hearts to seal a victory in the dying seconds in dramatic fashion despite being down to 14 players with Jacobson spending time in the bin), what a match for our viewers right around the world).

And in Super Rugby Pacific news where there has been an update as the Crusaders clatter the tournament newcomers the Fijian Drua at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch followed by the Reds who easily won in the end against fellow tournament newcomers Moana Pasifika at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane a day before the Chiefs (Who were without leading first choice players through COVID-19 due to a new wave throughout the country (And it looks like omicron is dying down but we have over 6,000 confirmed cases in the country) had a decent win over the Force at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton then the Hurricanes demolished the Rebels at Sky Stadium in Wellington followed by the Blues came out of nowhere as they seal a dramatic win against the Brumbies (Who thought that they almost had it until the end) at GIO Stadium in Canberra with Blues first-five Beauden Barrett (Who is New Zealand's modern day rugby union player since the good old days of Zinzan Brooke, Dan Carter, Sean Fitzpatrick, the late Jonah Lomu, Richie McCaw, Ma'a Nonu (With David Havili, Quinn Tupaea & Jordie Barrett all wanting to become a world class second-five eighth since the international retirement of Nonu (Who is a twice Rugby World Cup winning All Black in 2011 & 2015 along with 13 others such as McCaw, Carter, Kaino, Smith, Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock, Sonny Bill Williams, Owen Franks, Owen's elder brother Ben, Keven Mealamu, Colin Slade, Victor Vito & Tony Woodcock (Unlike 5 Wallabies that were part of the success of both the 1991 & 1999 tournaments of John Eales, Phil Kearns, Tim Horan, Jason Little & Dan Crowley & both Springboks of Os du Randt (Who was part of the success in 1995 & 2007) & Francois 'Frans' Steyn (Was involved in the winning campaigns in 2007 (Who were teammates with du Randt coincidentally) & the most recent one in 2019) but Tupou Vaa'i (And others like Shannon Frizell & Ethan Blackadder) could be an apparent heir of also a 2 time RWC winning player for New Zealand, Jerome Kaino since the AB's wanting to produce a world class blindside flanker after Kaino had since been retired from international rugby union) & Conrad Smith) providing the match winning drop goal during injury time that broke Brumbies hearts to win 12 matches in a row & are on track to host a home playoff (It was the happiest moment of my life throughout the rugby union side of it, not only I had to watch it all over again as many times as I can because of both the joy & relief that I had when Pops came over & spoke to me when Barrett had won it with a field goal at the death during my phone conversation with Aunty Tania but I heard a comment from Pops on the 22nd of May that Dad stayed up to watch the game when the Blues won & he was happy about the result (And also what a disappointing end for the Brumbies, what a match for our viewers right around the world (And I mean also, what a nice way for the Blues to end a Super Rugby Pacific match like this with Beaudy sealing the deal by winning the game via the drop goal (And most Brumbies fans are stunned, they're absolutely stunned, so they should be (And of course the entire Brumbies fan base have been devastated as well as their dreams of knocking over the Blues (Who have both key players missing such as Rieko Ioane & Caleb Clarke, ahead of their final round robin clash against the Waratahs (Who are looking to end the Blues 12 match winning streak since it began with the Blues beat the Chiefs in round 3 of the competition when the Chiefs had a chance to win the game which was virtually decided by a penalty goal from Bryn Gatland but it sailed wide as the Blues got out of jail to begin the 12 game winning run) in Sydney), has been shattered) to remain on top of the standings) then the Waratahs topple the Highlanders (Who had Highlanders first-five Sam Gilbert sent off as a result of a lifting tackle on Waratahs open side flanker & Wallabies captain Michael Hooper during the game (And I felt traumatized about the foul play incident, absolutely traumatized because I felt like I was suicidal to start with after Gilbert had received the red card but I had to stop watching meaning victory was in sight of the Tahs but the Highlanders were without several leading players such as Thomas Umaga-Jensen through both injury & serious illness) at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin to stay in touch of making the quarter-finals of Super Rugby Pacific.

And there has been an update in the final round of Super Rugby Pacific which is round 15 as the Crusaders defeated the Reds at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch to book a place in the quarterfinal then a day later the Chiefs come away with a win against the Fijian Drua by the barest of margins in front of a sell out crowd at Churchill Park in Lautoka to qualify for the quarterfinal before Moana Pasifika claim the biggest boil over in Super Rugby Pacific as they rolled the Brumbies at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland in what was Sekope Kepu's 150th game in Super Rugby marred by that red card for the Moana captain then for the 2nd week in a row, the Blues claim 13 wins in a row with Zarn Sullivan providing the match winning drop goal against the Waratahs just like Beauden Barrett did against the Brumbies also in front of a sell out crowd at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney before the Western Force (Who had a win against Moana Pasifika in a mid-week match in South Auckland) claim the unthinkable as they topple the Hurricanes at HBF Park in Perth thinking that they're good enough to secure qualification into the playoffs but they did not make it as the Highlanders secured a defensive bonus point when they lost to the Rebels by a single point at AAMI Park in Melbourne in the final regular season game of the 2022 season.

And finally, here is the list of the quarterfinal matches being played in Super Rugby Pacific of 2022:

Crusaders Vs Reds (The last time both of these sides had met in Super Rugby Pacific was during the last round of the competition in which the Crusaders had knocked the Reds over in Christchurch (With Argentinian Pablo Matera receiving a yellow card during the game for a lifting tackle on a Reds player similar to Sam Gilbert did on Michael Hooper in which was a red card due to Hooper's head being landed first but he had fronted to the judiciary before he was cleared to play in the quarters after he was lucky not to get banned for that).

Chiefs Vs Waratahs (Their most recent meeting in Super Rugby Pacific was during a Super Round last month in which Chiefs winger Jonah Lowe ran riot when he scored 4 tries in a hiding in Melbourne but the match had been marred with Tahs prop forward Angus Bell sent off for a tip tackle in the opening minutes of the game (And he was lucky not to get suspended for the next match after the judiciary had cleared him as I mentioned in my previous blog).

Blues Vs Highlanders (Their most recent clash in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 6 in which the Blues who had beaten the Highlanders in Dunedin in which they lost star Blues player Beauden Barrett as a result of concussion during the match).

And Brumbies Vs Hurricanes (And also their only meeting between the 2 sides in Super Rugby Pacific was last month in which the Brumbies continue their dominance over the Hurricanes in Canberra (There were 3 sin binnings during the match, one was Jahrome Brown for the Brumbies & the others were both Justin Sangster in the 1st half & Salesi Rayasi in the 2nd half for the Hurricanes).

So that is my 460th blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 8th of this year, stay safe & one love, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And finally I wanted to give a shoutout to my second cousin of Benny (Best known as Kathryn's son as well as Gemma & Huia's brother & Sanne's partner since 2017/18) for his 34th birthday so best wishes out there today along with Jans (My dear half brother whose life is not being well in the aftermath of a dog biting incident from my old pet dog Buck (Who had to be put down following the incident in January last year (And Pops once told Jans about my late pet dog that I once had, but I've asked Pops not to tell Buck in front of Jans because it's time to move on from that but we got a wooden dog in honor & memory of the late pet beagle mastiff cross dog of Buck) who turned 19 yesterday but I would also like to give a shoutout to Jansi as he currently lives in the Hawke's Bay region.

Aqueous Transmission/Over: My 7th blog of the year 2022

Well, there has been a bit of a breaking news such as the 3 New Zealand Super Rugby franchises of the Blues, Crusaders & Highlanders join the Hurricanes as their players had been affected by COVID-19 (With the Blues, Crusaders & Highlanders unable to field 23 fit players compared to the Hurricanes still not able to cope by also not fielding 23 fit players as well) by having their matches in round 5 being postponed for the time being except the Chiefs (Whose players had been unaffected by the corona virus (It's been 2 years since the pandemic had started but from my point of view, they could've suspended the Super Rugby Pacific season here in New Zealand (Unlike the entire 2020 Super Rugby season got cancelled as a result due to travel restrictions surrounding the pandemic) if things continue to escalate due to the rising numbers) match against Moana Pasifika had been brought forward & been given the go ahead as the only New Zealand match to be played in this round of Super Rugby Pacific (And the number of confirmed cases has reached to 10,000 now because we fear that we might get it along with Bernard, Jans & Raewyn's daughter are our family's most affected people but of course Dad (He has COVID-19 omicron now as Pops told me on the 9th of April) who has to self quarantine now (But how come he tested negative? Mainly along with his wife Raewyn while Raewyn's daughter had been tested positive since she picked up a serious disease) & it's now getting worse as nearly 14,000 people have been infected (There is estimates about the 300 to 400 range here in Whanganui (Although Auckland is the worst affected area here in New Zealand to start with) as Pops told me before I went for my walk (He warned me not to approach these people who has been contracting a serious illness by crossing over to avoid the oncoming person) with omicron (And there has been at least 14 to 17 those who passed away from it) but Andy has got the corona virus meaning that Pops & Carole will not be heading to Auckland on the weekend of the 25th to 26th of June, so too is Aunty Tania's partner Rejean, who has picked up a serious illness like COVID-19 back in Canada as Pops told me last month on the 21st of June but now Aunty Tania has got it also back in Canada when Pops also told me a day later (And it must've been the close contact stuff & now has to require to self quarantine at her home in Mont Saint-Hilaire along with Rejean due to getting the corona virus too).

And it has been 25 years on since the release of still considered the greatest video game of all time in the rugby union department called Jonah Lomu Rugby (Both the late William Pollock 'Bill' McLaren & the current World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont were the commentators of that game & I even like that cheesy one-liners including he digs like a demented mole (That would have to be Dad's favourite commentary line) there as well as mercy me! What a tackle! That could have put him in Ward 4. Well, I hope not, that's a maternity ward (And also one of my favourite commentary lines but I always say that every time a player makes a big hit) & marching up the field like a bunch of Sherman tanks) because this video game is about the sport of rugby union & it's star All Black back in the day of the late Jonah Lomu featuring the rugby playing nations that took part in the 1995 Rugby World Cup (Including one Thai player which is Laksanasampong who was a cult hero there) as well as those who took part in the qualifiers of the 1995 tournament but one of the AB's players of Jeff Wilson (He has a son who is a gamer as well as being a huge fan of the NBA 2K series (Well, I'm certainly not a fan of it (I once played a game before called NBA 2K10 on both the PS2 & PS3 formats) but Dad owns one of the NBA 2K series games) said that it was funny about him that he always knocked the damn ball on every time he was trying to make a run, while a current rugby star of Brad Weber embraced the side of it because he used to play that game as a young kid alongside his brother Sam along with Shane Warne Cricket 99 but my thoughts of Jonah Lomu Rugby? Well, I have to say that I've played it before but I was terrible at it but Dad's favourite video game he played was Tony Hawk of course ahead of Rugby League Live 4 that he plays now (My favourite video game series would have to be Gran Turismo as well).

And Pops told me in March that Sonny Bill Williams (A successful rugby league & union legend who was twice the NRL Premiership winning player for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 2004 & the Sydney Roosters in 2013 & was twice a Rugby World Cup winning player for the AB's in 2011 & 2015 & the 1st Muslim All Black in history) knocked out ex-AFL player Barry Hall with 20 seconds to spare before the conclusion of round 1 after a boxing bout that had taken place in Australia & is still undefeated (He is 9 & 0 now but his next fight would be one of the former NRL stars of Paul Gallen).

And it's been 4 years since France were the champions of the world in football as I mentioned in my previous blogs when they triumphed over Croatia 4 - 2 (Including goals from including Croatia's Mario Mandzukic off an own goal, Antoine Griezmann off a penalty as well as Paul Pogba & Kylian Mbappe provide both stunning goals for the French while the goalscorers for Croatia are both Ivan Perisic who leveled the scores & Mario Mandzukic off an goalkeeping error from French captain Hugo Lloris) in the final of the most recent Football World Cup in 2018 (It was the 2nd time where the French have won the Football World Cup & their 1st since 1998 on home soil against Brazil 3 - 0 in the final (Including both goals from Zinedine Zidane (He provided headers from corner kicks not once but twice) & Emmanuel 'Manu' Petit who finished the Brazilians off in style with the final goal of the 1998 tournament) at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis) at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow as well as the rematch of the semifinal in 1998, won by France (Who were hosts at the time), a day after France's national day which is Bastille Day (And the French revolution is successfully conquered in Russia in 2018 when they had the Football World Cup there, 2 years after an unsuccessful attempt to claim the Euros on Bastille Day against the Cristiano Ronaldo (Who is the modern day iteration of both the late Eusebio & Luis Figo) led Portugal in the final of Euro 2016 at the Stade de France (The stadium that the late Nan, Pops & Aunty Tania has been in) in front of their adoring home fans at Saint-Denis with a wonder strike by one of the Portuguese players of Eder during the 2nd period of extra time).

And 3 months ago that Ben (Who Pops saw him at a supermarket) gave me a rock music album to complete my rock music collection but Pops is into old school country music while I am more into the modern stuff (And I have got 16 rock albums now ranging from my 7 favourite rock bands the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as the Foo Fighters (Whose lead singer & guitarist as well as ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl had recently released his autobiography late last year which is Dave Grohl: The Storyteller compared to the front man of the Red Hot Chili Peppers of Anthony Kiedis, who released his autobiography way back in 2004 called Scar Tissue but there is sad news as the rock music world is in mourning with the drummer of the Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, has suddenly passed away a few weeks ago during the bands tour to South America so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the family of Taylor Hawkins (Who Ben told me on the 1st of May during our afternoon tea that he took drugs which resulted in a cause of death), RIP (Well that was a bit of a shock about my reaction to Taylor Hawkins's sudden passing but I'll listen to the Foo Fighters (I had a privilege of owning both Foo Fighters albums which is Greatest Hits & Wasting Light but never saw them in concert before (Only both Andy (Carole's son & Kelsey's wife) & Ben (Kathryn's son as well as Gemma & Huia's brother & Sanne's partner) did) on Friday in honor of & to pay my respects to the now late drummer of Taylor Hawkins (And 5 years ago in 2017 that they lost both Chris Cornell of Audioslave & Soundgarden fame & of course Chester Bennington from Linkin Park (Unlike in 1994 that the lead singer of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain was gone then Layne Staley from Alice In Chains in 2002 & of course, Scott Weiland of both Stone Temple Pilots & Velvet Revolver in 2015 along with Lemmy (A good friend of Dave Grohl) from Motorhead a year before David Bowie, Gene Wilder (Who was that Willie Wonka guy from Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory movie), Muhammad Ali (A world famous boxer who was born as Cassius Clay before he became a Muslim but he had been suspended from boxing before for 3 years from 1967 until 1970 for his religious beliefs that refused him to be enlisted for the US Army to go to Vietnam as a result of a war being broken out in that country), Carrie Fisher (AKA Princess Leia from the Star Wars original & sequel trilogies that I'm always a fan of) & Prince had passed away) who joined the list of famous people who passed away this year such as Sidney Poitier, William Hurt, Shane Warne, Rod Marsh, Inga Tuigamala, Joeli Vidiri & Andrew Symonds), Linkin Park, Incubus, A Perfect Circle (I have both albums now such as Thirteenth Step & most recently, Mer De Noms (My favourite A Perfect Circle song is always Judith but now Orestes has seemed to take over as one of my new favourite A Perfect Circle song), Shihad (One of my favourite rock bands by far from our country of New Zealand but Killjoy is officially, my favourite rock album now) & Filter + Dire Straits (Which is exactly not my favourite rock band but I like their music anyway & I prefer active rock bands because Dire Straits have broken up already) & also Audioslave (Well, it's certainly not my favourite band but I like a bit of inner Cornell) but here is my list of the music albums I own:

A Perfect Circle: Mer de Noms (2000) & Thirteenth Step (2003)

Alanis Morisette: Jagged Little Pill (1995)

Audioslave: Revelations (2006)

Fatboy Slim: Greatest Hits - Why Try Harder (2006)

Filter: Short Bus (1995) & Title of Record (1999)

Foo Fighters: The Colour & The Shape (1997), Greatest Hits (2009), Wasting Light (2011), Medicine At Midnight (2021) & But Here We Are (2023)

Incubus: Make Yourself (1999) & Morning View (2001)

Lenny Kravitz: Greatest Hits (2000)

Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory (2000, remastered in 2020 as Hybrid Theory 20th anniversary edition) & Meteora (2003, remastered in 2023 as Meteora 20th anniversary edition)

Matchbox Twenty: Exile on Mainstream (2007)

Oasis: (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

Red Hot Chili Peppers:  By The Way (2002), Stadium Arcadium (2006) & The Getaway (2016)

& Shihad: Killjoy (1995), Shihad (1996, known as the fish album), The General Electric (1999), the Pacifier album (2002), Beautiful Machine (2008) & Ignite (2010)

And the All Blacks 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign is the most difficult task of our lives in history especially the people of our country of New Zealand because I fear we might not make the semifinals of next year's RWC (Only once in Rugby World Cup history that the AB's has lost a quarterfinal match & it was against hosts at the time, France in 2007 where we produced a worst ever result (Our best result so far was the world champions in 1987, 2011 & 2015) given that we play either Ireland (Who beat us last year along with both France & South Africa, & have always been competitive since their 1st win over the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016) or the defending world champions the Springboks even if we beat or lose to the host nation of the French in the opening match of the tournament but this could be a France - Ireland final compared to a England - New Zealand final, a New Zealand - France final or especially even a South Africa - France final.

And that there is so many matches in sports to look forward to during the weekend (We previously had the Blues defeated MP at Mount Smart Stadium in South Auckland on Tuesday then Australia becoming the 1st side to reach the final of the 50-over women's Cricket World Cup after comprehensively thrashed the West Indies at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Wednesday & of course, England (The defending champions), have put aside South Africa in the other semi which was a replay of the 2017 semifinal at Hagley Oval in Christchurch last night to advance through to the final against the Aussies (Who are looking to dethrone the Poms in order to return to glory come Sunday) for a chance to defend the women's Cricket World Cup that they won in 2017) such as the great southern derby of the Crusaders & the Highlanders tonight at Orangetheory Stadium in the garden city of Christchurch (Otautahi) then tomorrow it's a rematch from last Tuesday between the Blues & Moana Pasifika at Eden Park in the city of sails of Auckland (Tamaki Makaurau) then Sunday, it's the Super Rugby Pacific match between the Hurricanes & the Chiefs at Sky Stadium in the windy city of Wellington (Te Whanganui-a-Tara) but 1st it's the Women's 50 over Cricket World Cup final between Australia (Ahitereiria) & England (Ingarangi) at Hagley Oval in Otautahi (Christchurch).

And in Super Rugby news where round 7 kicked off as the Crusaders end a 2 year wait of beating the Highlanders at home at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch marred by that red card from reserve Crusaders hooker Shilo Klein then a day later the Blues had another win over crosstown rivals Moana Pasifika (Who were without both coach Aaron Mauger & assistant coach Filo Tiatia as part of the virus list) at Eden Park in Auckland with Kurt Eklund having a field day as he becomes the 1st Blues hooker to get a hat-trick but the match has also been marred by the red card of Blues winger & son of famous rugby player Eroni, Caleb Clarke (Who joined Klein along with Fijian Drua captain Nemani Nagusa & Nepo Laulala as part of the suspended players list in Super Rugby Pacific) for a foul play incident a la CJ Stander did against his country of birth of South Africa when he played for Ireland in 2016 before a day later that the Chiefs return to winning ways as they take the victory 3 times in a row against the Hurricanes for the 1st time by the barest of margins in a rescheduled match at Sky Stadium in Wellington.

And here are the results from the other games in the 7th round of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season:

Fijian Drua 14 - 38 Waratahs

& Reds 21 - 7 Brumbies

And there has been an update in Super Rugby where round 8 kicked off as the Highlanders (Who had lost both Shannon Frizell & Manaaki Selby-Rickit to serious injuries) get their 1st win of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season against the discipline ridden Moana Pasifika (They had both players sent to the bin such as both Veikoso Poloniati for continuing to mount penalties & Alamanda Motuga for persistently conceding or should I say, giving away penalties) at Forsyth Barr Stadium (AKA The Glasshouse) in Dunedin then the Crusaders managed to hold on for the win against the Hurricanes (Who thought that Canes second-five Jordie Barrett nearly had an opportunity to go into golden point with a penalty goal but it wasn't to be as he opted for the lineout but that didn't work & I mean how could he that ruined a big chance because it might be the officiating cost them a chance for victory & they had a mid week game in hand against Moana Pasifika in which they had their 1st win against them after Moana beat them earlier in a historic upset) at Sky Stadium (Known as the Cake Tin) in Wellington before the Blues become the 1st side in Super Rugby Pacific history to win the match after overcoming 3 yellow cards (There were 4 in the match, one to the Chiefs (It was Kaylum Boshier for a lifting tackle) & 3 of them to the Blues (First it was Luke Romano for blatantly playing the ball on the ground then Sam Nock for a no clear release & Marcel Renata for repeated infringements such as a tackler not releasing (No release) during the 2nd half) against the Chiefs (Who had chances to score tries but had to be overturned several times by the Television Match Official as the Blues managed to keep the Chiefs scoreless for the entire game) at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton.

And here are the results from the other games in the 8th round of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season:

Force 21 - 22 Rebels

& Fijian Drua 12 - 33 Brumbies

And there has also been an update in Super Rugby where round 9 got underway as the Blues finally end a long awaited drought of winning against the Crusaders in Christchurch after 18 long years (It was one of the Blues skippers of Dalton Papali'i who had a blinder of a game when he scored one of the great tries in the game but the match had been overshadowed by the sending off of Crusaders captain Scott Barrett for a foul play incident in which he dangerously took out Alex Hodgman with a no arms in the tackle straight to the head (And players heads are required to be protected under the guidelines regarding to the tackle area since World Rugby is continuing to crack down players who make dangerous contacts to the head & neck area of an opponent even with the trend of red cards to players for serious foul play incidents such as high shots like that) then a day later, the Chiefs have rattled tournament newcomers Moana Pasifika (Who had only one win so far & it was against the Hurricanes in an historic upset in round 6 of the competition this year but there was a yellow card to Moana Pasifika prop forward of Chris Apoua for causing a high tackle on a Chiefs player during the match) at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton before the Hurricanes had to win against the Highlanders (Who had a man being sent off for a dangerous tackle but why didn't Asafo Aumua had not get a red card for serious foul play? I mean, he could've got 3 weeks for that (And then all of a sudden, he gets a 3 week ban for a reckless head high tackle on Highlanders loose forward Gareth Evans after being cited by the citing officer joining the likes of Josh Dickson, Scott Barrett, Nemani Nagusa, Shilo Klein, Caleb Clarke & Tauina Tualima as part of the suspended players list) but referee Angus Mabey thought that it wasn't even foul play at all (And most fans would be saying, aww come on! But Saula Ma'u had the chance to win the game by scoring a try but the ref had to go & have a look upstairs, but after a consultation from the Television Match Official, referee Mabey says that it's a no try meaning that the Hurricanes had survived a late Highlanders rally & they won meaning that the Highlanders crowd had jeered about the no try decision (And it was reminiscent/shades of the Highlanders trying to beat the Crusaders in 2014 where the decision made by the referee to the TMO decided the match, & it was a no try meaning that the Crusaders managed to hold on in the end (And one of the Crusaders players of Israel Dagg started celebrating because he was happy about the result) by a whisker at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

And here are the results from the other games in the 9th round of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season:

Rebels 32 - 36 Reds

& Force 24 - 41 Waratahs

And there has also been an update in Super Rugby where round 10 got underway (Moana Pasifika's match against the Force had to be called off due to troubles caused by COVID-19 throughout the Western Force camp) in the Super Round as the Chiefs (Who were without wounded players as part of the casualty ward such as Brodie Retallick (He has a thumb injury which rules him out for 6 to 8 weeks), Laghlan McWhannell, Anton Lienert-Brown (Who had been ruled out for 6 months altogether with a broken shoulder that requires to go under the knife), Shaun Stevenson & Etene Nanai-Seturo) had a barn storming win over the Waratahs at AAMI Park in Melbourne with Jonah Lowe who was the hero when he picked up 4 tries but the villain went to Angus Bell for his red card for a tip tackle on a Chiefs player (Angus Bell was lucky not to get suspended for the next game after the judiciary cleared him) a day before the Blues defeated the Drua to remain on top of the table then the Hurricanes had a massive come from behind win against the Reds a day before the Brumbies (Who are one of the best & dominant Aussie sides in Super Rugby Pacific this year & of course they're the Penrith Panthers of Super Rugby Pacific) ended the Highlanders aspirations for victory by scoring one for Australia therefore ending New Zealand's hopes of remaining 100% against Australian & Fijian opposition this year by keeping their title race alive in a 2 horse race with the Blues then finally, the Crusaders (Who had their Argentinian loose forward Pablo Matera (Who led Argentina to its historic 1st ever test victory against New Zealand in Sydney back in 2020) being the stand out player of the game for his good performance on the field) had a decent win over the Rebels who fought so bravely in the last 10 minutes.

And finally of course, we're into round 11 of Super Rugby Pacific as the Chiefs & Blues had narrow wins over the Reds & Force respectively with the Australian teams closing the gap on New Zealand sides a day before the Highlanders notch their 2nd win of the season by defeating the Drua in Suva in front of a sell out crowd of 15,000 people at ANZ Stadium Suva in Suva then the Waratahs finally get the win against the Crusaders (Who had a player named Hamish Dalzell sent off for a foul play incident but high tackles in rugby union are the new coward punch/dog shot/king hit/sucker punch) after 3 years at Leichardt Oval in Sydney before the Rebels (Who had Ray Nu'u (Who had returned from a fortnight's suspension instead of 3 when he completed the intervention programme for suspended players set up by the sport's governing body, World Rugby but now he has to return of attending that intervention programme again to avoid a repeat of what he did) red carded for one of the dirtiest acts of the year as a result of a high tackle violation on Moana player Christian Leali'ifano) earn a narrow victory against Moana Pasifika at AAMI Park in Melbourne & then a day later when the Brumbies continue their dominance against the Hurricanes at GIO Stadium in Canberra therefore they remain, Australia's top Super Rugby Pacific side to stay in the title hunt.

So that is my 459th blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 7th of this year, stay safe & one love, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And I would like to give my shout out to my beloved Pops (He is one of my favourite persons in the whole wide world because it used to be Dad when I used to live with him but Pops used to be a school teacher (First, he went to Ardmore Teachers College in the 1960's to learn the ways of becoming a teacher at a school) as well as a principal at the old Aramoho School (The alma mater of New Zealand rugby players of Fijian origin of both Vilimoni Koroi & Jona Nareki (Both of them used to play the All Blacks sevens before currently playing for both Otago in the Bunnings NPC & the Highlanders in Super Rugby Pacific, but the last celeb/famous person I've met was indeed Nareki back in 2020) which is now defunct from 1989 (Same year that he made the decision to live here in Whanganui with his wife, the late Nan) until his early retirement in 2011 (4 years after I moved here from Raetihi along with Dad, Dad's 2nd partner, Dad's 2nd partner's family & Jans my half brother (I was like "Oh, not again" when he had another accident in the Hawke's Bay region but his car needs fixing up & he is selling that car in order to get it traded (He was in Christchurch at the moment with his partner Millie last month) for his 75th birthday today so best wishes.