Lonely Boy: My 32nd blog of the year 2023

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

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

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

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

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

PLAYING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

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

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

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

SECOND ROW

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

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

LOOSE FORWARDS

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

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

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

BACK LINE

HALVES

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

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

MIDFIELD

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

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

OUTSIDE BACKS

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

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

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

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Codie Taylor

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

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Nepo Laulala

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Dalton Papali'i

21 (Reserve half-back): Finlay Christie

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

& 23 (Reserve back): Braydon Ennor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Polly: My 30th blog of the year 2023

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

Hookers:

Codie Taylor (32, Crusaders / Canterbury, 76)

Dane Coles (36, Hurricanes / Wellington, 84)

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

Props:

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

Fletcher Newell (23, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)

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

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

Tamaiti Williams (22, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)

Tyrel Lomax (27, Hurricanes / Tasman, 23)

Locks:

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

Josh Lord (22, Chiefs / Taranaki, 2)

Samuel Whitelock (34, Crusaders / Canterbury, 143)

Scott Barrett (29, Crusaders / Taranaki, 58)

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

Loose forwards:

Ardie Savea (29, Hurricanes / Wellington, 70)

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

Luke Jacobson (26, Chiefs / Waikato, 12)

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

Samipeni Finau (24, Chiefs / Waikato, *)

Shannon Frizell (29, Highlanders / Tasman, 25)

Halfbacks:

Aaron Smith (34, Highlanders / Manawatu, 114)

Finlay Christie (27, Blues / Tasman, 14)

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

First-five eighths:

Beauden Barrett (32, Blues / Taranaki, 112)

Damian McKenzie (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 40)

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

Midfielders:

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

Jordie Barrett (26, Hurricanes / Taranaki, 48)

Rieko Ioane (26, Blues / Auckland, 59)

Braydon Ennor (25, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)

Dallas McLeod (24, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)

Outside backs:

Caleb Clarke (24, Blues / Auckland, 15)

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

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

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

Will Jordan (25, Crusaders / Tasman, 21)

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

*: Called in as injury cover for Mark Telea

Unavailable through injury:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stand: My 28th blog of the year 2023

Well, in the tennis department in France such as Poland's Iga Swiatek who successfully retained the women's singles title at the French Open in Roland Garros against Czech player Karolina Muchova (Swiatek had done it before in 2020 (That was the year before Barbora Krecjikova won against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to claim her 1st & only grand slam of her career) then last year & this year) while in the men's section that the greatest tennis player of all time of Serbia's Novak Djokovic has won his 23rd Grand Slam title with victory in the French Open men's singles crown against Norwegian Casper Ruud in that epic final (And it is job done for Nole (AKA the Djoker & the Serbinator) who is the man as his hard work must've paid off for the win against Ruud to claim his record breaking 23rd grand slam tennis title).

And in cricket related news that Australia has beaten India to claim their 1st World Test Championship at The Oval in London off the back of a dominant performance in the 1st innings with Travis Head (Who top scored 163 in the first innings) becoming the 1st player in history to score a ton in the WTC final followed by Steve Smith who got 121 in the 1st innings (And I was like: By crikey! Strewth! When the Aussies prevailed over India (Who had batter Shubman Gill fined 15% of his match fee for criticizing the umpires decision during the WTC final) & my thoughts after the Aussies won & became the kings of test cricket (Compared to England who are currently the kings of limited overs cricket (Both the 50 over One Day International & 20 over T20 formats but there should be an interesting battle in the Ashes this year as the kings of limited overs cricket of England prepare to face the kings of test cricket of Australia in test cricket's most important series of who'll be crowned undisputed champions when they lift the Ashes urn) "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, oi, oi!" But I wonder what the headlines would say: WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP FOR AUSTRALIA AFTER VICTORY AGAINST INDIA or more like INDIA FALL SHORT AGAINST DOMINANT AUSSIES IN EPIC WTC FINAL (And I mean, what a disappointing end for India, what a match for our viewers right around the world, & how appropriate that the 3 main players who were part of the playing XI in the 2015 men's 50 over Cricket World Cup, the men's T20 World Cup in 2021 & now the World Test Championship this year of David Warner, Steve Smith & Mitchell Starc who are part of the success that they had but that is the 9th time that Australia (In which the country having a population of 26 million according to the comment I remember from former Australian player Matthew Hayden compared to India (Who overtook China this month as the nation with the biggest population) having 1 billion people) had won a ICC sanctioned tournament when they won the men's 50 over CWC a record 5 times (They first did it in 1987, then 1999, 2003, 2007 & 2015) then they won the Champions Trophy twice (2006 & 2009), the men's T20 WC in the UAE in 2021 & now the WTC this year after missing out on appearing in the 2021 final due to points being deducted (Or should I say docked), for slow over rates in the test against India in 2020/21 (And it is similar to the Argentina football team led by its star mercurial captain of Lionel Messi (Who is set to join the fledging Inter Miami (Owned by English football legend David Beckham whose club had started to win games since Messi's arrival with the club) in Major League Soccer after he took a gamble of leaving the French club Paris St Germain, but there has been an update as the Premier League champs Manchester City who went on to win the FA Cup against city rivals Manchester United at Wembley (Their 1st since 2019), then followed up with their historic first ever Champions League title with a win in that action packed nail biting final against Italian club Inter Milan in Instanbul, Turkey, therefore capping off another incredible season by completing their treble) in which they fought they were going to play a tough opponent in the semifinal against Brazil (Who are in a rebuilding phase after their defeat in the quarterfinal against the Croatians) during the Football World Cup last year, but it was Croatia who had taken their place which was an easier option for the Argentinians for their path of world domination in football, in which they outlasted them before going on to win on penalties against the defending champions at the time of France (Who Leon told me this month that the French should've won the final last year in order to become the 1st side since Brazil in 60 years to successfully defend the World Cup if the trio of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante & Paul Pogba had not been injured (And then all of a sudden, the French trio had picked up serious injuries which opened the door for Lionel Messi & Argentina of bringing their Football World Cup trophy back to their home country since 1986 when they successfully did that late last year), unlike that the All Blacks should've won the semi after going down against England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup should Damian McKenzie had not been injured & in counterpoint, that Ben Smith could've played instead of the most underrated player in world rugby of George Bridge according to the story that I literally remember from Dad in both 2021 & last year), in that memorable final of years to come, but it's also similar that Roman Reigns (Who the WWE has taken over by not only one, but let alone 2 former stablemates of the Shield of Reigns (In which he is currently part of the Bloodline along with Solo Sikoa (Son of Rikishi) & their manager Paul Heyman (Ex-manager of Brock Lesnar) who is the current title holder of the Undisputed WWE Universal championship along with Seth 'SFR' Rollins (Husband of Becky Lynch who took part in the women's Money in the Bank ladder match at MITB in London in which was the best in history which was far superior than the men (It went to Damien Priest (Who is part of Judgment Day along with Irishman Finn Balor (Becky Lynch's trainer who lost to Rollins in a title match at Money In The Bank), Dominik Mysterio (Son of famous wrestler & WWE hall of famer Rey) & the defending WWE Women's champion (Raw) of Australian Rhea Ripley (Who defeated the Canadian of Natalya in a title match at MITB) in the men's section of the Money in the Bank ladder match) but failed along with 4 others (Like Bayley (Iyo Sky's Damage Ctrl stablemate), Zoey Stark, Canadian Trish Stratus & Zelina Vega) because it went to none other than Iyo Sky (One of the female Japanese competitors along with Asuka (Who was the one who defeated the 6 time champion of Charlotte Flair in a title match on Smackdown) of Damage Ctrl (The villainous female tag team stable consisting of Sky, Bayley & our own Kiwi Dakota Kai (Who is currently out through injury) who is currently the WWE World Heavyweight champion) did at Wrestlemania last year after successfully unifying the titles in which he triumphed over Brock Lesnar by setting the tone for the man known as 'The Tribal Chief' & his path of dominance in the WWE since he became the WWE Universal Champion in 2020).

And I have about 24 rock music albums that I own as part from my collection including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park (One of Dad's mates of Bernice (The one who is living in Australia now) is a fan of that band just like me & Sophia Ong (Who currently lives in Wellington with his Welsh husband & their son Shaia but she's pregnant again according to the comment from Leon made to me last month with the child expected to be born in December this year) who was once a follower of that band during her UCOL days), Incubus, A Perfect Circle, Shihad, Filter, Audioslave & Lenny Kravitz to complete it, but I have announced that I'm giving my old Linkin Park Meteora album from 2003 to my dear cuzzie of Paige (Well, I'm not sure that she is into rock, but she listens to any music, just whenever it is on the radio according to the email that I saw in 2016 that she sent to me when I told Dad about it during a phone conversation on the 9th of June) next time when I go to Wellington possibly with Dad to see her but I would like to meet Paige's daughter Norah one day as Dad told me before during our phone conversation.

And here are the results of the quarterfinals of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Blues 41 - 12 Waratahs (It was the Blues night as they crushed the Waratahs to become the 1st side to advance through to the semifinals of the SRP competition at Eden Park in Auckland)

Chiefs 29 - 20 Reds (And it was the Chiefs who prevailed over the Reds who proved to be competitive compared to the Waratahs as they exacted revenge after their defeat in New Plymouth in the regular season to go through to the semi at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton)

Crusaders 49 - 8 Fijian Drua (And it was the Crusaders who hammered the Fijian Drua into pieces exacting payback after their defeat against them during the regular season to reach the semifinals of the competition at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch)

& Brumbies 37 - 33 Hurricanes (And it was the resilient Brumbies side who crush the Hurricanes (Who were inconsistent during the quarterfinal as they fell short, again, just like last year but as a die hard Hurricanes fan, I would have to be disappointed about the defeat after Ardie Savea had a chance of scoring the winning try, but it has been disallowed not only it was a controversial decision) dream of making the semifinal therefore becoming the remaining Australian team in the competition at GIO Stadium in Canberra)

And here are the confirmed matches being played in the semifinal stage (AKA the final four) in this years Super Rugby Pacific tournament:

Crusaders Vs Blues* (Their most recent meeting in Super Rugby Pacific between both sides was in round 12 where the Crusaders continued their dominance against the Blues after Dalton Papali'i had been shown the red card after originally being given a yellow as well as an off-field review by the TMO for a dangerous tackle on Crusaders playmaker Richie Mo'unga)

& Chiefs Vs Brumbies* (The last time both of these sides met was in the penultimate round in round 14 where the Chiefs came away with a win against the Brumbies who had their last loss in this years competition before winning 2 in a row against both the Rebels in the final round of the regular season then the Hurricanes just now in the quarters in which that I'm so gutted about the result after Ardie Savea's disallowed try that robbed us a chance of advancing through to the semi)

*: Key matchups

So that is my 504th blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 28th of this year, viva Ukraine.

Counting Blue Cars (Tell Me Your Thoughts On God): My 27th blog of the year 2023

Well, there are fires breaking out in Canada as smoke from the fires has passed on to America's East Coast while millions of Americans (Who have been given health warnings & guidelines to follow with high quality masks being required to wear outside but not for long (And they must stay indoors folks according to the mayor of New York), just like the days during the COVID-19 pandemic with the war on toxic smoke had been officially declared in the eastern part of the United States who are under attack from the fire taken from the Canadians (They could face sanctions for causing a fire like that) as they braced themselves of a epidemic taken from a dangerous smoke) being affected under air quality alerts as Canada wildfires rage with New York City being the worst in the world in terms of air pollution (And they have postponed both a WNBA game in New York & both MLB baseball games also in NYC & in Philly have been called off but many flights have been delayed across the eastern part of America as well but oh, this is a downward spiral as things especially in New York that have gotten out of control & escalated completely) but a quick news flash that the former US vice president of Mike Pence is announcing his intentions to run for president along with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

And reports straight out of the tennis as the final four at Roland Garros has been confirmed but first in the women's singles as Australian Open women's singles champion of Aryna Sabalenka takes on Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova before world number 1 ranked Iga Swiatek will play Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia then onto the men's department as the highly anticipated showdown between Novak Djokovic & young 20 year old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz has been locked in while Alexander Zverev will play Casper Ruud for a place in the men's singles final at the French tennis open but there has been an update as Karolina Muchova & Iga Swiatek crusing into the women's singles final with their victories in the semi final against both Aryna Sabalenka & Beatriz Haddad Maia respectively while in the men's singles as both Novak Djokovic & Casper Ruud had their wins against Carlos Alcaraz & Alexander Zverev respectively in the semi of the men's singles to advance through to the final.

And in Formula 1 related news such as Max Verstappen (The man who totally dominated Monaco when he won that famous motorsport event in the world on the same day that American Josef Newgarden stole the show as well as the headlines of winning his 1st Indy 500 to add 2 of his Indycar Series championships that he won in both 2017 & 2019, as he held off fellow American Santino Ferrucci for the win in a duel for the last couple of laps a week before the 2021 Indycar champion of Alex Palou who won the most recent race in Indycar on the streets of 'The Motor City' of Detroit, Michigan which returned to the Indycar fold after 32 years (It took place at Belle Isle from 1992 to 2001 then 2007 until last year) has taken victory in Spain therefore claiming his 5th win of the season (First it was Bahrain then Australia, Miami, the aforementioned Monaco race I was discussing before & Spain now) but Mercedes are slowly creeping up as they restore to a pre-2021 pace (And are they're offically back? Well, they could be since 2021 where the F1 crown went down to the wire in Abu Dhabi & now Mercedes have just had sufficent upgrades which made all the difference but it must've been the upgrades which might have worked the best) while Red Bull's 100% winning record this year remains intact.

And finally here are the results of the final round of round 15 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Blues 16 - 9 Highlanders (It was the Blues night as they ended the Highlanders (Who had bid the 2015 Super Rugby winning player for the Highlanders as well as the Rugby World Cup winning player for the All Blacks of Aaron Smith farewell as he heads off to Japan to play for Toyota Verblitz in the Japan Rugby League One competition) hopes of reaching the playoffs at Eden Park in Auckland in a successful effort of hosting a home quarterfinal)

Brumbies 33 - 17 Rebels (And it was the Brumbies who have stunned the Rebels to bits to book a place of hosting a home quarterfinal at GIO Stadium Canberra)

Fijian Drua 41 - 17 Reds (It was the Fijian Drua's day as they were no match against the Reds (Who lost that game despite securing qualification into the playoffs) to book a quarterfinal place at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva)

Hurricanes 27 - 26 Crusaders (And it was the Hurricanes night as they book a place in the playoffs with a win by a single point against the Crusaders who have already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals at Sky Stadium in Wellington, but the Crusaders have a new coach now to replace the All Blacks bound Scott Robertson with Rob Penney set to take over from him commencing next year, compared to Scotsman Clark Laidlaw being appointed as the new Hurricanes coach that I haven't heard of as he is set to take over from Jason Holland)

Waratahs 24 - 33 Moana Pasifika (And it was Moana Pasifika who claim their 1st & only win of the season after upstaging & spoiling the Waratahs (Who had their player Michael Hooper bid an emotional farewell as he scores the last try of the game in his illustrious Super Rugby career) party to register the boil over of the season at Allianz Stadium in Sydney)

& Force 19 - 43 Chiefs (And it was the Chiefs (Led by Anton Lienert-Brown while their Chiefs front line players had to be rested such as Damian McKenzie) who snatch a win against the Force who suffered their 1st home defeat of the season at HBF Park in Perth)

And here are the confirmed matches being played in the quarterfinal stage in this years Super Rugby Pacific tournament:

Blues Vs Waratahs* (The most recent meeting between both teams in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 9 where the Blues totally dominated the game against the Tahs side who were without its star Wallabies players including Lalakai Foketi, Michael Hooper & Mark Nawaqanitawase)

Chiefs Vs Reds* (The last time both of these sides met in SRP was in round 12 where the Reds had won the game to claim the upset of the season against the Chiefs whose 11 game winning streak had been snapped)

Crusaders Vs Drua* (Their most recent clash in Super Rugby Pacific was in round 3 where the Fijian Drua had won to claim the biggest boil over & will meet the Crusaders again for a place in the semi)

& Brumbies Vs Hurricanes* (And also their first meeting between the 2 sides in Super Rugby Pacific since round 10 where the Hurricanes had won against Australia's best which is the Brumbies (Who are by far, the most competitive Australian side against New Zealand opposition)

*: Key matchups

So that is my 503rd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 27th of this year, viva Ukraine.

I Got You: My 26th blog of the year 2023

Well, I have been sharing a lot of stories on my blogs, especially around the sporting department as well as sometimes the international world news & of course sometimes, our family life, but there was once a rugby story that after the 57 - 0 hammering by the All Blacks in 2017 that the Springboks (Who had Raymond Rhule being overlooked for the next test (Then he was dropped from the squad after the events of the 2017 Rugby Championship) after missing a heap of tackles during the game in his worst performance in the Springbok jersey) had hired a new coach in the form of former player Rassie Erasmus (Who is no longer the coach when Jacques Nienaber took over as their current coach since 2020, but Erasmus is currently the director of rugby for the Springboks) a year later in 2018 (The year that South Africa delivered when they pulled off the unthinkable to defeat the All Blacks at Westpac Stadium at the time in Wellington where they gained from strength to strength according to the blog that I did last year, gave them relief for South Africa which set the tone as part of their motivating factor building towards their success at the tournament a year later in Japan) to replace Allister Coetzee, a year out until their successful Rugby World Cup glory in a campaign dubbed as 'Chasing the Sun' against England (The AB's nemesis in the semi) in the final at International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama (To win their 3rd RWC crown inspired by their triumphs in 1995 & 2007 also according to the blog that I did last year & to equal with New Zealand (Champions in 1987 (That was Pops most memorable RWC moment), 2011 (Dad prefers this one as his standout) & 2015 (My most memorable moment of the Rugby World Cup not only that I was stoked about it) as the most successful then the South Africans became the 1st side in history to win the tournament after beginning their campaign with defeat ironically, against the All Blacks (Similar to Spain (Who lost to Switzerland in the opening game before winning all 6 games en route to the title including the final against the Netherlands at Soccer City in Soweto, South Africa in which Andres Iniesta had scored the winning goal during the 2nd period of extra time (It was similar 4 years later in 2014 in the final at the Maracana in Rio, Brazil between Germany who won in the end & Argentina (It was a rematch of the controversial final in 1990 where West Germany at the time won) led by Messi (In his 1st World Cup final which ended in failure, but the Argentinians had a massive turnaround 8 years later against the French in the final) where a winning goal had scored during the 2nd period of extra time which belonged to the German of Mario Goetze) did in 2010 at the Football World Cup along with Argentina (Who just had the one blemish against Saudi Arabia in the tournament opener at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar...then took victory in all of their remaining matches in style including the penalty shootout victory against the defending world champions at the time of France in one of the greatest Football World Cup final in history at the same venue to become world champions) last year in captain Lionel Messi's final ever World Cup game which was a fairytale farewell for him of bringing the Football World Cup trophy back to Argentina after 36 years (In which was the days of the late Diego Maradona who passed away in 2020 & his nation's success of securing their 2nd of 3 Football World Cups that the Argentinians won along with 1978 at their home World Cup led by Daniel Passarella featuring the likes of Mario Kempes) that Erasmus had been touted as the next successful South African rugby coach, then he chose Siya Kolisi to be their captain when Kolisi was hailed as South Africa's future RWC winning captain.

And I once heard a story from Carole about her bro Martin playing tennis against the French great Yannick Noah that every time Marty plays against him, he would lose every damn time, but hell he's so difficult to play against (And unlike Pops beating Dad in tennis matches every time, until Dad turned 14 when he started beating Pops as I heard a story from Pops on the 31st of May when me, Pops & Carole were at The Cobb).

And in motor racing news such as the former twice Indycar champion of Josef Newgarden had won his 1st Indianapolis 500, becoming the 1st American since Alexander Rossi in 2016 (This was the year before Takuma Sato (Japan's most successful racing car driver in American open wheel racing since Toranosuke 'Tora' Takagi according to the blog that I did in February this year) won in 2017 then the defending 2 time Indycar champion Will Power (Who is Australia's most successful racing car driver since the good old days of Alan 'AJ' Jones who won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1980) won it in 2018 becoming the 1st Australian to do so followed by Frenchman Simon Pagenaud in 2019 then Sato again in 2020 which was a COVID-19 affected year as well as Brazil's Helio Castroneves in 2021 as he becomes the most successful driver at the Indy 500 with 4 to join the likes of AJ Foyt, the late 'Big Al' of Al Unser & Rick Mears as well as being the most successful foreign driver to triumph in that event, & Marcus Ericsson last year in which he became the 2nd Swedish driver to win after Kenny Brack in 1999 after his CGR teammate Scott Dixon nearly pulled it off, of winning his 2nd Indy 500 after a pit stop gone wrong which proved costly) to win that prestigious motor racing event in the United States (And I'm not sure that he'll be heading to Formula 1 after his success in the Indianapolis 500 this year, but he'll likely to remain in Indycar for the time being, & for the forseeable future), but I didn't watch it because of the drivers other than the 2 Kiwis of Scott Dixon & Scott McLaughlin were always going to win, & they did when they pulled it off.

And here are the results of the penultimate round of round 14 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition:

Highlanders 35 - 30 Reds (And yes that game was by far, the match of the round when Folau (He'll be the 1st choice halfback for the Landers when next year's Super Rugby Pacific competition begins) had a chance to win it for the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, & he successfully did when he picked the ball up from the ruck then did a dummy before running all the way to the try line to secure the win to keep their playoff hopes alive in Aaron 'Nuggy' Smith's farewell home game as he is announced that he'll be playing for Toyota Verblitz in the Japan Rugby League One competition (And Folau's match winning try was easily the best finishes in the game so far in terms of Super Rugby Pacific this year)

Rebels 52 - 14 Force (It was the Rebels night as they hammered the Force at AAMI Park in Melbourne to boost their playoff bid)

Fijian Drua 47 - 46 Moana Pasifika (It was the Fijian Drua's day as they decimated the winless Moana Pasifika (Who are useless this season as they remain at the bottom of the table & is on a brink of a historic collapse, by completing the season without a single win) by a single point at Churchill Park in Lautoka by delivering both a Boston Celtics & Dallas Stars inspired performance)

Crusaders 42 - 18 Waratahs (And it was the Crusaders who won in the end against the Tahs at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch despite their disappointing game beset with injuries to key players such as Cullen Grace & David Havili (And they go into the last round of the regular season against the Hurricanes with many key men being dealt with injuries (And their reign as Super Rugby champions could end in an instant, not only a new SR Pacific champion will be crowned) while the Crusaders had handed a debut to one of the 39 year old prop forwards of former Blues & 2011 Rugby World Cup winning player of John Afoa who became the oldest player in Super Rugby history, breaking the previous all time record set by Ben May last year (And Afoa had to head back home to his country of birth of New Zealand on Thursday from France to join up the Crusaders squad as injury cover).

Blues 36 - 25 Hurricanes (And it was the Blues who scraped past the Hurricanes (Who had to bring back the trio of captain Ardie Savea, Jordie Barrett & Tyrel Lomax) to host a home quarterfinal at Eden Park in Auckland with 2 test All Black Mark Telea delivering another super human like performance just like in the Highlanders game in Dunedin in the opening round as he scored 4 tries in the game)

& Brumbies 21 - 31 Chiefs (And it was the Chiefs (Who had to rest both Anton Lienert-Brown & Tupou Vaa'i through the AB's rest requirements policy as the majority of the All Blacks top players cannot afford to play their 6th match in a row in Super Rugby Pacific) who were dominant against Australia's best which is the Brumbies (Who brought back their big guns for their all important clash) at GIO Stadium Canberra in Canberra to confirm themselves that they remained on top of the table)

So that is my 502nd blog of the year 2023 (MMXXIII) & my 26th of this year, viva Ukraine.