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John Plumtree
John Plumtree is a professional rugby union coach and former first class provincial rugby player. He was previously the head coach for the Hurricanes and the , which competes in the Super Rugby and Currie Cup competitions. As a player Plumtree won two Currie Cup medals with the Sharks (1990, 1996); and as a coach he guided the Sharks to Currie Cup wins in 2008 and 2010. Coaching Profile: John Plumtree. The Sharks Website. Retrieved 5 September 2009. Early life Plumtree was born on 16 July 1965 in Hawera, . Plumtree and |
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] |
The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers in New Zealand, peaking at over 200,000 copies in 2006, although circulation of the daily ''Herald'' had declined to 100,073 copies on average by September 2019. Its main circulation area is the Auckland region. It is also delivered to much of the upper North Island including Northland, Waikato and King Country. History ''The New Zealand Herald'' was founded by William Chisholm Wilson, and first published on 13 November 1863. Wilson had been a partner with John Williamson in the ''New Zealander'', but left to start a rival daily newspaper as he saw a business opportunity with Auckland's rapidly growing population. He had also split with Williamson because Wilson supported the war against the Māori (which the ''Herald'' termed "the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Winterbottom
Peter James Winterbottom (born 31 May 1960 in Otley, West Yorkshire), is a former England rugby union footballer who played as an openside flanker. He was England's most-capped openside (with 58 caps) until being overtaken by Neil Back in 2003. He made his England debut on 2 January 1982 against Australia, and his final appearance on 20 March 1993 against Ireland. Winterbottom was known for his work rate, durability, hard tackling and courage. He was selected on two British and Irish Lions tours in 1983 and 1993, both to New Zealand, where he impressed the locals with his fine play, albeit on losing sides. He was the second England player to reach 50 caps, after Rory Underwood, and was inducted onto the Twickenham "Wall of Fame" in November 2005. Winterbottom played club rugby for Headingley, Harlequins and also for Hawkes Bay in New Zealand and Transvaal in South Africa After rugby Since his playing career ended, Winterbottom carved out a career in finance. He worked as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Whitcombe
Martin Alun Whitcombe (born 14 September 1961 in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English former rugby union footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 2000s. He learnt to play rugby at Keighley RUFC and had a long playing career for Leicester Tigers, Bedford RFC, Sale FC, and Leeds Tykes, at prop i.e. 1 or 3. At a representative level he played for Yorkshire, The Northern Division, and England at 19 Group, Under 23 and England 'B'. Early life Martin Whitcombe was one of four children growing up in the family-run business, the Airedale Heifer Inn, a public house in Sandbeds, Keighley, which was run by his rugby-playing father Frank Whitcombe Jr. He attended Crossflatts Primary School and Bingley Grammar School, where he was capped, four times by England Schools 19 Group in the 1980 Five Nations Tournament. After leaving school Whitcombe joined the Royal Air Force as a physical training instructor. This three-part course included ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Teague
Michael Clive Teague (born 8 October 1960) is a former England and British Lions rugby union footballer. Early life Teague was born and raised on a farm a few miles outside Gloucester. He attended Churchdown School. Personal life Teague married his long term fiancée Lorraine in August 1989 after the British Lions tour to Australia, with his Gloucester back row colleague John Gadd as his best man. Teague also enjoys motorbike scrambling. Club career Teague spent his youth in The Shed watching Gloucester. After cutting his teeth with the local All Blues club, Teague joined the Cherry and Whites during the 1978–79 season aged 18 making 4 appearances, his debut coming at Kingsholm against Exeter University on 15 November 1978 in which he scored a try in a comfortable victory. He combined his rugby with his career as a fitter for the local water authority before becoming a builder in what was the amateur era, eventually setting up his own building firm with his brother-in-law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murray Mexted
Murray Graham Mexted (born 5 September 1953) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played 34 consecutive tests for the All Blacks from 1979 to 1985. He also played 38 non-test games including 7 as captain. During his time with the All Blacks, he wore the Number eight jersey and was considered an excellent ball winner and an effective defender. In 1986, his biography, ''Pieces of Eight'', was published, and he married Lorraine Downes, Miss Universe Lorraine Downes. The couple separated in 1999. In recent years, he has retained a high profile as a television colour commentator. Mexted's father, Graham Mexted, was also a New Zealand rugby union international who won one full cap in 1950. Prior to his rugby career, Mexted worked at his family's car dealership. References External links * 1953 births Living people Rugby union players from Wellington City People educated at Tawa College New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, 2011 and 2015. They were the first country to win the Rugby World Cup 3 times. New Zealand has a 76 per-cent winning record in test-match rugby, and has secured more wins than losses against every test opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, New Zealand teams have played test matches against 19 nations, of which 12 have never won a game against the All Blacks. The team has also played against three multinational all-star teams, losing only eight of 45 matches. Since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number-one ranking longer than all other teams combined. They jointly hold the record for the most consecutive test match wins for a tier-one ranked nation, along with England. The A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
Lions (Super Rugby)
The Lions (known as the Sigma Lions for sponsorship reasons) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. They competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020, and have competed in the United Rugby Championship since 2021. They are the successor of the teams known as Transvaal (1996 Super 12 season, 1996), Gauteng Lions (1997 Super 12 season, 1997) and the Cats (1998 Super 12 season, 1998–2006 Super 14 season, 2006). They had varied results in Super Rugby, finishing at the bottom of the table six times (in 1998, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2012), but reaching the semifinal stage five times (in 2000, 2001, 2016, 2017 and 2018). They reached their first final in 2016 – where they lost to the 20–3 in Wellington – and repeated the feat in 2017, losing 17–25 to the in Johannesburg. The team reached their 3rd consecutive final in 2018 when they lost against the 38–17 in Christchurch. The team plays its home matches a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
