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2011 Mid-year Rugby Test Series
The 2011 mid-year rugby union tests featured only seven matches due to the upcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup. No test series took place, although the Barbarian F.C., Barbarians did play two matches in the United Kingdom; England and Wales. New Zealand and Australia hosted a respective Tier 2 side, Australia hosted Samoa, New Zealand hosted Fiji. Argentina hosted the Barbarian Rugby Club, French Barbarians, while Japan played a Top League XV side in Tokyo. This was the first time since 1973, and only the second in the past 50 years, that no team representing the Home Nations, Home Unions (England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, Wales national rugby union team, Wales, or the British and Irish Lions) toured the southern hemisphere in the mid-year window. Fixtures Week 1 *As is typical for Barbarians matches, this was an uncapped match for England. *The traditionally uncapped player of the Bar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event (following New Zealand in 1987 and South Africa in 1995). It was the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games, 1992 Cricket World Cup and the 2003 America's Cup. Overseas visitors to New Zealand for the event totalled 133,000, more than the 95,000 that the organisers expected. However, there was a drop in non-event visitors, meaning the net increase i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Hodgson
Charles Christopher Hodgson (born 12 November 1980) is a retired English rugby union player, having previously been a player for Sale Sharks and Saracens. His position was fly-half and he is the leading Premiership points scorer of all time. Hodgson also played for England, until announcing his international retirement in 2012. Hodgson made 18 consecutive starts at fly half for England between 2004 and 2006. Early years Born on 12 November 1980 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Hodgson was educated at Bradford Grammar School; the school hosts a rugby tournament for under-12s called the Charlie Hodgson Cup. He was a huge Halifax rugby league fan long before he ever played rugby union. A family friend invited him to Old Brodleians rugby club and his first game was for the opposition, as they were short. He has also played for Old Brodleians, Durham University and Yorkshire. He was first picked for Yorkshire by Keith Dyas. International He marked his England début with a record-brea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luke Narraway
Luke Narraway (born 7 September 1983 in Worcester) is a rugby union coach and former player, he played for London Irish until the end of the 2016–2017 season before joining Coventry as a player—coach for the 2017–2018 season. He is currently forwards coach at Dragons. Club career Narraway joined Gloucester Rugby from The King's School, Worcester after 4 years at The Chantry High School, Worcestershire. The back-row forward made his first team debut for Gloucester away at Leeds Carnegie in the Zurich Premiership in May 2003. On 29 February 2012 it was announced that Narraway would be joining French Top 14 side Perpignan at the end of the 2011–12 season. On 26 February 2014 London Irish announced that they had signed Narraway on a two-year deal from the beginning of the 2014–15 season. On 21 April 2016, he extended his contract for a further year. On 12 April 2017 it was announced that Luke had signed a two-year contract to become a player- coach at Coventry. Coventry w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Hodgson (rugby Union)
Paul Hodgson (born 25 April 1982) is an English former rugby union player and coach. Hodgson played as a Scrum-half and his most recent professional position was attack coach for London Irish. He has since moved on to become director of sport at Cranmore School in West Horsley, Surrey, in September 2018 after completing his MEd, a position previously held by fellow London Irish player Barry Everitt. Early career Hodgson attended Glyn Technology School, for whom he captained the rugby 'A' team all through his academic career, and was Head Boy in his final year (2000). Hodgson played for his local rugby club Sutton & Epsom RFC from 1989 to 2001, he represented every age group at the club. Hodgson is a former England Captain at Junior level. He has also represented England at U18s and U21s level as well as playing for England 7s in the IRB World Sevens series. Club career Bristol Rugby Hodgson has previously played for Bristol Shoguns. Hodgson joined the Bristol academy in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Banahan
Matthew Andrew Banahan (born 30 December 1986) is a former rugby union player who played for Bath and Gloucester in Premiership Rugby, between 2006 and 2021. Born in Jersey, he played 20 times for but capped 16 times between 2009 and 2011. His main position was wing, however he could also operate as an inside or outside centre. Early life Banahan grew up playing field hockey, earning selection to the Jersey and West of England junior representative sides before he decided his hockey career was stalled and switching to rugby union. Banahan went to La Moye school, Les Quennevais School and Highlands College. Club career Banahan moved to Bath in the summer of 2006, after previously appearing for the London Irish Academy and was brought to the Recreation Ground as a lock. He had also been involved with the RFU's Junior National Academy set-up and, England's sevens set up. He switched to wing where his powerful combination of size, strength and speed made him a potent weapon in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Brown (rugby Union)
Mike Brown (born 4 September 1985) is an English professional rugby union player who plays fullback or wing for Newcastle Falcons. Brown joined the Harlequins senior team in 2005, having played youth rugby at Salisbury and Melksham, and began playing for the England first team two years later. In 2021 Brown joined Newcastle Falcons. During his career, he has won three Six Nations Championship titles with England and two English Premiership titles with Harlequins. Early life Born in Southampton, he was educated at Wyvern College, until aged 15 when he moved to Peter Symonds College. Having mainly played football and little rugby, he initially wanted to play fly half. Under the coaching of Mike Marchant, he changed position to fullback. This brought him to the attention of Salisbury RFC, where he moved to age 18, before a short stint at Melksham RFC. Brown played with Melksham for one season, where his dad was a coach. He has cited his time at Melksham as one of his most enj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Rugby Federation
The French Rugby Federation (french: Fédération Française de Rugby (''FFR'')) is the governing body for rugby union in France. It is responsible for the France national rugby union team, French national team and the National Rugby League (France), Ligue nationale de rugby that administers the country's professional leagues. History It was formed in 1919 and is affiliated to World Rugby, the sport's governing body. In 1934 the FFR set up the ''Fédération internationale de rugby amateur'', now known as Rugby Europe, in an attempt to organise rugby union outside the authority of World Rugby, then known as the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB). It included the national teams of Italy national rugby union team, Italy, France national rugby union team, French national team, Catalonia national rugby union team, Catalonia, Czechoslovakia national rugby union team, Czechoslovakia, Romania national rugby union team, Romania and Germany national rugby union team, Germany nationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christophe Berdos
Christophe Berdos (born 17 April 1970) is a full-time international rugby union referee with the French Rugby Federation and is one of the two French representatives on the IRB's International Referees Panel. Berdos made his debut as a referee in 1988 and refereed in the Under-19 World Championships in 2003 and 2004. He refereed his first Test match, between and , in 2006, and was in charge of the world cup warm-up match between New Zealand and in June 2007. Berdos was one of the 13 referees who were appointed to act as touch judges during the pool stages of the 2007 Rugby World Cup and he subsequently took charge of the game between the Barbarians and at Twickenham in December 2007. Berdos refereed his first Six Nations Championship match on 23 February 2008, when he had charge of the game between and at Croke Park, Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays home matches at the stadium. It is the world‘s largest rugby union stadium, the second largest in the United Kingdom, behind Wembley Stadium, and the fourth largest in Europe. The Middlesex Sevens, Premiership Rugby fixtures, Anglo-Welsh Cup matches, the Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge universities and European Rugby Champions Cup games have been played at Twickenham Stadium. It has also been used as the venue for rugby league Challenge Cup finals and American football, as part of the NFL London Games in 2016 and 2017. Twickenham Stadium has hosted concerts by Rihanna, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Genesis, U2, Beyoncé, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Eagles, R.E.M., Eminem, Lady Gaga, and Metallica. Overview T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruan Pienaar
Ruan Pienaar (born 10 March 1984) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays either as a scrum-half or as a fly-half for the in the Currie Cup. Pienaar is the son of former Springbok fullback Gysie Pienaar. Ruan is regarded as a very skilful rugby player. Besides being able to pass well, he can kick with both feet, and his vision and running style moved former Springbok coach Jake White to compare him with Australian fly-half Stephen Larkham. Pienaar has been part of u19 (2003), u21 (2005) and senior Rugby World Cup (2007) winning squads. He also won the Currie Cup in 2008 and 2019. International career Pienaar made his debut for the Springboks in the 2006 Tri-Nations against New Zealand and was a member of the successful 2007 World Cup squad. As he did not play club rugby in South Africa since June 2010 it seemed unlikely that he would be called up again to play for the national team. SARU has a policy of selecting foreign based players in exc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Smith (rugby Union)
George Smith (born 14 July 1980) is a retired Australian rugby union player. He was a flanker for Bristol Bears, though he is more known for his 12 years (2000–10,13) at the ACT Brumbies in Super Rugby, earning 142 caps. He made his test debut in 2000 against France in Paris and earning 111 caps for Australia, 110 before retiring from international rugby on 5 February 2010 and one final cap against the British & Irish Lions on 6 July 2013. He is the second most capped Wallaby forward behind Nathan Sharpe, and is the second most capped flanker in rugby union behind Richie McCaw. Early life and junior career Smith was born in Manly, Sydney. He began playing rugby with the Manly Roos/Warringah Roos, before moving on to play the majority of his junior career with the Manly Vikings, and Tupou College in Tonga, playing a year above his age group in the Sydney junior rugby competition. Once that team had reached its age limit (18 years old) and moved on to the colts competition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
