John Mitchell (rugby Union)
John Eric Paul Mitchell (born 23 March 1964) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is currently defence coach for the Japan national team. He is the former head coach of New Zealand (the All Blacks) and the USA Eagles, English club Sale Sharks, and Super Rugby teams the , , and . Playing career Early career Born 23 March 1964 in Hāwera, New Zealand, Mitchell was a pupil at Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth when he made the first XV; he was a member of the NZ secondary schools basketball team from 1981–83. He represented NZ Juniors in basketball in 1982–83, but then decided to concentrate on rugby. From here, he earned a place at King Country RFU aged 19 before playing for Fraser-Tech from 1984. He was soon selected provincially for the Waikato Colts. Provincial He made his Waikato senior debut in 1985 and played at number eight, blindside flanker and lock before he became firmly established at number eight. Equal top scorer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Western Force
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. Following their axing they played in the National Rugby Championship in 2018 and 2019, replacing the Perth Spirit, and Global Rapid Rugby from 2018 to 2020, an Indo-Pacific competition organised by Andrew Forrest. Following the cancellation of both the 2020 Super Rugby season and 2020 Global Rapid Rugby season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Western Force were invited to compete in the 2020 Super Rugby AU season, a domestic competition organised by Rugby Australia to replace the cancelled Super Rugby season. The Force competed in the 2021 Super Rugby AU season and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, before being confirmed that their return to Super Rugby will be permanent in the revamped 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season. History The bid The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of KwaZulu-Natal
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. History The university was formed by the merger of the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville, in 2004. The Council of the University of Natal voted on 31 May 2002 to offer the post of Vice-Chancellor and University Principal to world-renowned medical scientist and former Medical Research Council President – Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, who assumed office on 1 September 2002. He was entrusted with leading the University of Natal into the merger with the University of Durban-Westville. In so doing, he became the last Vice-Chancellor of the University of Natal. Professor Makgoba succeeded Professor Brenda Gourley as Vice-Chancellor. Having served a brief stint as the interim Vice-Chancellor in 2004 he was formally a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Murray Kidd
Murray Kidd (born 1953 in Te Kuiti) is a New Zealand former rugby union representative player and coach. Playing career Kidd first came to prominence as a 17-year-old, being picked to play for Taranaki against the 1971 British Lions in their 9-14 loss, while still at New Plymouth Boys High School. He acquitted himself well against the likes of David Duckham. He later played for Manawatu (University, 1973) and King Country (Piopio, 1974-84). In 1977 he played for King Country-Wanganui in their 9-60 loss against the British Lions. He also played for the New Zealand Zealand Universities in 1973 and had All Black trials in 1978 (replacing Bruce Robertson after 66 minutes), 1979 and 1981. His first class career included 142 games and 58 tries. Coaching career Kidd worked as a coach in Ireland, at Garryowen Football Club, in 1991/92, and at Sunday's Well, in Division Two of the AIB League. He coached King Country in 1994, when they were placed 8th out of 9 teams in the First Div ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Provincial Championship (1976–2005)
The National Provincial Championship, often simply called the NPC, was an annual promotion and relegation rugby union competition in men's domestic New Zealand rugby. First played during the 1976 season, it was the highest level of competition in New Zealand until Super Rugby launched in 1996. It was organised by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and ceased following the 2005 season. The league was restructured into two distinct competitions. The National Provincial Championship would include professional and semi-professional players, and consist of the top fourteen financial and best performing regional teams. For sponsorship reasons it was rebranded as the Air New Zealand Cup. The remaining teams would form a breakaway amateur competition known as the Heartland Championship. Twenty-eight teams had competed since the inception of the competition in 1976. Auckland were the most successful union with fifteen titles and Bay of Plenty were the inaugural champions. Six other teams had wo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1993 New Zealand Rugby Union Tour Of Britain
The 1993 New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain was a series of thirteen matches played by the New Zealand national rugby union team (the All Blacks) in England, Scotland and Wales from October to December 1993. Twelve of the matches took place in England or Scotland with only the final match against the Barbarians being played in Wales. New Zealand won twelve of their thirteen games, losing only the international match against England – they won the other international against Scotland Matches :''Scores and results list New Zealand's points tally first.'' Touring party *Manager: Neil Gray *Assistant Manager: Earle Kirton *Coach: Laurie Mains *Captain: Sean Fitzpatrick Backs * Shane Howarth (Auckland) * John Timu (Otago) * Matthew Cooper (Waikato) * Va'aiga Tuigamala (Auckland) * Jeff Wilson (Otago) * Eric Rush (North Harbour) * Eroni Clarke (Auckland) * Frank Bunce (North Harbour) * Lee Stensness (Auckland) * Marty Berry (Wellington) * Marc Ellis (Otago) * Stephen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cork Constitution
The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork (city), Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution (newspaper), Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were looking for activities to pursue on Saturday afternoons. In the summer, cricket was played, while in the winter, rugby was the designated activity. The team currently plays in Temple Hill, Ballintemple, Cork, Ballintemple. Due to the introduction of professional rugby union, and its success at producing players who go on to obtain Munster contracts, Con, like many other senior rugby clubs in Ireland, has been unable to field a full strength side for a number of years. In this period though, Con have remained competitive, reaching the final of the All-Ireland League on six occasions since 2001 inclusive; losing in 2001 to Dungannon, losing in 2002 to Shannon, again losin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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All-Ireland League (rugby Union)
The All-Ireland League (AIL), known for sponsorship reasons as the Energia All-Ireland League, is the national league system for the 50 senior rugby union clubs in Ireland, covering both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The league was inaugurated in the 1990–91 season. The league is the second highest level of rugby union in Ireland, as professional teams representing the four provinces of Ireland play in the United Rugby Championship. Division 1 sides may field no more than two professional players in their matchday sides, and only one may be a forward. Division 2 sides may not field professional players. Foreign professional players may not play in the League. Cork Constitution, the inaugural winners , are the only club to have retained top division status since the inception of the league. Competition format The league is divided into five divisions of ten teams each. Teams play each other team in the division twice per season (once at home and once away), for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Plymouth District, which includes New Plymouth City and several smaller towns, is the 10th largest district (out of 67) in New Zealand, and has a population of – about two-thirds of the total population of the Taranaki Region and % of New Zealand's population. This includes New Plymouth City (), Waitara (), Inglewood (), Ōakura (), Ōkato (561) and Urenui (429). The city itself is a service centre for the region's principal economic activities including intensive pastoral activities (mainly dairy farming) as well as oil, natural gas and petrochemical exploration and production. It is also the region's financial centre as the home of the TSB Bank (formerly the Taranaki Savings Bank), the largest of the remaining non-governm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia, New Zealand and from the Pacific islands (specifically a Fijian team, and a New Zealand ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rugby Union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends. Rugby union is a popular sport around the world, played by people of all genders, ages and sizes. In 2014, there were more than 6 million people playing worldwide, of whom 2.36 million were registered players. World Rugby, previously called the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) and the International Rugby Board (IRB), has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886, and currently has 101 countries as full members and 18 associate members. In 1845, the first laws were written by students attending Rugby School; other significant even ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Francis Douglas Memorial College
Francis Douglas Memorial College is an all-boys state integrated Catholic school with boarding facilities located in Westown, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The college was founded in 1959 under the leadership of the De La Salle Brothers, a religious order of brothers based on the teachings of St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle. It is one of two secondary schools established by the Brothers in New Zealand, the other being De La Salle College, Mangere East, Auckland. The name of the school is dedicated to the memory of Father Francis Vernon Douglas, a missionary priest who was killed while doing missionary work in the Philippines during the Second World War. The school educates approximately 760 boys, 130 of whom are boarders. The 60th Jubilee of Francis Douglas Memorial College was held on Queen's Birthday Weekend, 2019. Sporting 74% of students participate in at least one sport. The most popular sport at the school is rugby union, other sports include cricket, basketball, soccer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |