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James Downey (rugby Union)
James Downey (born 23 March 1981) is a former Irish rugby union player. He played as a centre. In May 2016, Downey announced his retirement from rugby. Early life Downey was educated at Belvedere College, where he won the Leinster Schools Junior Cup. Leinster Downey made his debut for his home province on 10 October 2003, against Cardiff Blues. He scored his first try for Leinster on 2 April 2004 against Glasgow Warriors. Downey left the province to join Connacht for the start of the 2004–05 season. Connacht Downey struggled to gain game time at Connacht due to injuries, managing only three games during the 2005–06 season, and was released from his contract. Munster In an effort to find more game time, Downey accepted a trial at the then Heineken Cup champions Munster. He made his debut against Cardiff Blues in the Celtic League on 1 September 2006. Downey played two more games for Munster, against Border Reivers and Glasgow Warriors, but left Munster when offered mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 census of Ireland, 2016 census it had a population of 1,173,179, while the preliminary results of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census recorded that County Dublin as a whole had a population of 1,450,701, and that the population of the Greater Dublin Area was over 2 million, or roughly 40% of the Republic of Ireland's total population. A settlement was established in the area by the Gaels during or before the 7th century, followed by the Vikings. As the Kings of Dublin, Kingdom of Dublin grew, it became Ireland's principal settlement by the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest in the British Empire and sixt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park and are the professional arm of Cardiff Rugby Ltd. From 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before reverting to Cardiff Rugby prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. They won European Challenge Cup titles in 2010 and 2018, beating Toulon Rugby and Gloucester Rugby respectively. They most recently made the knockout stages of the European Rugby Champions Cup in 2012. Between 2005 and 2018, they also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup and won the 2009 title, beating Gloucester at Twickenham. History Origins The first reliably recorded Rugby club in Cardiff were Tredegarville, who began playing around 1870. By 1874 a team named Glamorgan FC had been formed and in 1876 they merged with Cardiff Wanderers to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ospreys (rugby Union)
The Ospreys ( cy, Y Gweilch), formerly the Neath-Swansea Ospreys ''www.walesonline.co.uk'', accessed 22 October 2020 is one of the four professional teams from . They compete in the and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Rugby
Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh plays most of its home games at Edinburgh Rugby Stadium. The original Edinburgh District team played the first ever inter-district match against Glasgow District in 1872, winning the match 3–0. The amateur district team was reformed with professionalism, as Edinburgh Rugby, in 1996 to compete in the Heineken Cup, its best performance coming in the 2011–12 season, when the club reached the semi-final but lost out narrowly to Ulster, 22–19. The quarter-final tie against Toulouse attracted a club record crowd of over 38,000 spectators to Murrayfield. In 2003–04 Edinburgh became the first Scottish team to reach the quarter-finals. In the 2014–15 season, Edinburgh became the first Scottish club to reach a major European final, when th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008–09 European Challenge Cup
The 2008–09 European Challenge Cup was the 13th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended with the final at the Twickenham Stoop in London on 22 May 2009, in which Northampton Saints defeated Bourgoin 15–3. With the win, the Saints not only claimed the trophy, but also won a berth in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup. Teams Seven French teams competed instead of the normal eight, as a French team, Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ..., progressed farther in the previous year's Heineken Cup than any English or Italian team. Other nations had their usual number of participants: England six, Italy four, Ireland one, Spain one and Romania o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
CS Bourgoin-Jallieu is a French rugby union club currently competing in the third level of the French league system, Nationale. The club have been runners-up in the French championship and the French Cup competitions, and have won the Challenge Cup. Founded in 1906 as "Club Sportif Bergusien". They play at Stade Pierre Rajon (capacity 9,441). They are based in Bourgoin-Jallieu in the Isère department in the province of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. History The club was established in 1906 as "Club Sportif Bergusien". Runners-up French Cup 1997 In 1997 the club had a very successful season; contesting the Challenge Yves du Manoir final, losing to Section Paloise 13 to 11. Runners-up French Championship 1997 As well as making it to the final of the French championship, where they went down to Toulouse, 12 to 6 at Parc des Princes in Paris. Winners of the European Challenge 1997 Also that year they made it to the final of the Challenge Cup, where they defeated fellow F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinness Premiership
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the top division of the English rugby union system. Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to the Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western Hemispheres, along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedford Blues
Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pro team, with a mix of experienced and young players. The Blues are coached by Mike Rayer. History Foundation and 19th century Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rovers (1876) and Bedford Swifts (1882). Both parent clubs had close connections with Bedford School and Bedford Modern School, and both had fixtures with the leading teams of the period. The Bedford colours of dark and light blue are believed to be a reflection of the schoolmasters association with Oxbridge and the full badge colours are based on the strip of Swifts (black) and Rovers (cerise). Under the captaincy of Alfred Parrott, a Bedford Modern School master, the new club made an auspicious start, losing only once in its first season (t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RFU Championship
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when English clubs were first organised into leagues. Organisation and format The Championship is governed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The current competition format is a double round-robin tournament, where teams play each other home and away. The 2021-22 season had no playoff phase, and no team was promoted to the Premiership as no team met the minimum standards criteria. Current teams Current league table History Precursor competitions (1987–2009) The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England's other two principal team sports. The RFU's reluctance to allow leagues was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Welsh RFC
London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from the RFU Championship in the 2012 and 2014 play-off final. The club returned to Old Deer Park in 2015 after three seasons at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford. The club went into liquidation in December 2016 and was given a temporary licence to complete two fixtures in the Championship. Chairman at the time Bleddyn Phillips claimed to have sold the club to a California-based investment group led by Welshman Trevor Owen Shaw, but no contract or funds ever materialised. On 24 January 2017 it was announced that London Welsh had been removed from the RFU Championship and their results expunged. The RFU stated that their place in the league was "untenable" and the club were dissolved. The remnants of the defunct club were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2006–07 Heineken Cup
The 2006–07 Heineken Cup was the 12th edition of the European Heineken Cup rugby union club tournament. The pool draw took place on 21 June at Twickenham. The pool stages started on 20 October and concluded in January, going for six rounds. Following the quarter- and semi-finals, the final was played on 20 May before a near-capacity crowd at the 82,000-seat redeveloped Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham in London. Wasps RFC, London Wasps defeated Leicester Tigers 25–9, denying Tigers the domestic and European treble. Draw The top seeds from each of the participant nations (France, England, Scotland, Italy, Wales and Ireland) were all drawn into separate pools. These top seeds were; Benetton Rugby, Benetton Treviso (pool 1), Edinburgh Rugby, Edinburgh (pool 2), Sale Sharks (pool 3), Cardiff Blues (pool 4), Ulster Rugby, Ulster (pool 5) and Biarritz Olympique, Biarritz (pool 6). Rules state that no two sides from the same country could be allocated the same pool. However, the seventh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top12
The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2019–2020 season, following the Italian federation's decision to name Peroni as the official partner of the Top10 competition. The leading teams qualify to play against teams from the other leading rugby union nations in Europe in the European Challenge Cup. Aironi and Benetton Treviso began competing in the league now known as Pro14 in the 2010–11 season, and took both Italian places in the Heineken Cup. Owing to financial problems, the FIR revoked Aironi's professional licence after the 2011–12 season; that team was replaced in Pro12 by the FIR-operated Zebre. From 2014 to 2015, one of the two Italian Pro12 sides competes in the Heineken Cup's replacement, the European Rugby Champions Cup; the other plays in the European Rugby Challen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
