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Luke Fitzgerald
Luke Matthew Fitzgerald (born 13 September 1987) is a former rugby union player. He played at Wing (rugby union), winger or Fullback (rugby union), fullback for Leinster Rugby, Leinster. He retired in June 2016. Having previously studied at Blackrock College he won two Leinster Schools Senior Cups, in 2004 and 2006. He won his first cap for Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland in November 2006. Fitzgerald earned the nickname "Pivot" from Leinster and Irish rugby fans due to his exciting runs and sidesteps from broken play. On 28 June 2016, Fitzgerald announced his retirement from professional rugby. He had suffered a neck injury in the 2016 Pro12 Grand Final, 2016 Pro12 Final and had been advised to retire on medical grounds. Family and personal life An Irish language, Irish speaker, Fitzgerald has a particular interest in the language. He played hurling at underage level. In Gaelic football, he is a fan of the Dublin GAA, Dublin senior football team. He played Gaelic Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2015 Rugby World Cup
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change: Uruguay national rugby union team, Uruguay replaced Russia national rugby union team, Russia. This was the first World Cup with no new teams to the tournament. Reigning champions New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand won the cup and defended their title by defeating Australia national rugby union team, Australia in 2015 Rugby World Cup Final, the final 34–17; South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa defeated Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina to take third place. This was the first Rugby World Cup where no Northern Hemisphere team got beyond the quarter-finals. New Zealand were the first team to retain their title and the first to win for a third time. The highly contested 2015 Rugby Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century. Irish is still spoken as a first language in a small number of areas of certain counties such as Cork, Donegal, Galway, and Kerry, as well as smaller areas of counties Mayo, Meath, and Waterford. It is also spoken by a larger group of habitual but non-traditional speakers, mostly in urban areas where the majority are second-language speakers. Daily users in Ireland outside the education system number around 73,000 (1.5%), and the total number of persons (aged 3 and over) who claimed they could speak Irish in April 2016 was 1,761,420, representing 39.8% of respondents. For most of recorded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as ''Match of the Day'', ''Test Match Special'', ''Ski Sunday'', ''Today at Wimbledon'' and previously '' Grandstand''. Results, analysis and coverage is also added to the BBC Sport website and through the BBC Red Button interactive television service. History The BBC has broadcast sport for several decades under individual programme names and coverage titles. '' Grandstand'' was one of the more notable sport programmes, broadcasting sport for almost 50 years. The BBC first began to brand sport coverage as 'BBC Sport' in 1988 for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, by introducing the programme with a short animation of a globe circumnavigated by four coloured rings. This practice continued throughout the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2009 Six Nations Championship
The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th Six Nations Championship, and the 115th international championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major European national teams: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The tournament was held between 7 February and 21 March 2009. Ireland won the Grand Slam and Triple Crown, only their second Grand Slam, and first since 1948, and first Triple Crown since 2007. It was Ireland's second Grand Slam in total. England finished as runners-up, and also won the Calcutta Cup. The tournament featured the first Friday night game in its history, played between France and Wales at the Stade de France. Summary The tournament began on 7 February 2009, when England hosted Italy in the earlier of the day's two matches. Ireland played France later that evening, with Scotland versus Wales the following day. The reigning champions on entering the 2009 tournament we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian O'Driscoll
Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the British & Irish Lions for their 2005 tour of New Zealand. He is regarded by critics as one of the greatest rugby players of all time. O'Driscoll is the fourth most-capped player in rugby union history, having played 141 test matches: 133 for Ireland (83 as captain), and 8 for the Lions.Irish Rugby: Ireland – Profile: Brian O'Driscoll ; retrieved 21 March 2011 '' |
Lesley Vainikolo
Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his career playing rugby league in Australia for the Canberra Raiders of the National Rugby League and later in England for the Bradford Bulls of Super League. He then moved to English rugby union club Gloucester. In both codes, he has usually played as a . Early life and career Vainikolo was born on 4 May 1979 in Nukualofa, Tonga. He grew up in West Auckland, New Zealand playing rugby union but switched to rugby league as he explains, "I first got into rugby league when I was 11. One of my mates got me into it. His team were short on numbers and my mate asked if I wanted to play. I grew up playing union, so I had the basic skills. I played the game and absolutely loved it. And I've been hooked since." Vainikolo played for the Mangere East Hawks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RTÉ News
RTÉ News and Current Affairs ( ga, Nuacht agus Cúrsaí Reatha RTÉ), also known as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Its services include local, national, European and international news, investigative journalism and current affairs programming for RTÉ television, radio, online, podcasts, on-demand and for independent Irish language public broadcaster TG4. It is the largest and most popular news source in Ireland – with 77% of the Irish public regarding it as their main source of both Irish and international news. It broadcasts in English, Irish and Irish Sign Language. The organisation is also a source of commentary on current affairs. The division is based at the RTÉ Television Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin; however, the station also operates regional bureaux across Ireland and the world. History Early history On 1 January, 1926, 2RN, Ireland's first radio station, began broadcasti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Islanders Rugby Union Team
The Pacific Islanders was a combined international rugby union team that played from 2004 to 2008. It represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga; Niue and the Cook Islands also supplied players to the squad for their tour in 2004. The team did not play at Rugby World Cups, where each of the nations continued to represent themselves. History Australia/New Zealand 2004 The Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) was formed in 2003. The coach is appointed by the Islanders board and in turn supported by the national coaches of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Its team, the Pacific Islanders, is drawn from the best Fijian, Tongan and Samoan players, and created great interest in their inaugural 2004 tour. They lost every game, 29-14 v Australia, 41-26 v New Zealand and 38-24 v South Africa. The Islanders did beat a Queensland XV 48-29 at Ballymore and NSW Waratahs 68-21 at Australia Stadium. Celtic Nations 2006 As the individual nations were primarily concerned with qualifying for the next World Cup the I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008–09 Heineken Cup
The 2008–09 Heineken Cup was the fourteenth edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. Irish side Leinster became the champions, defeating Leicester Tigers 19–16 in the final. Teams Seven French teams competed, as a French team, Toulouse, progressed further in the previous year's tournament than any English or Italian team. Four Welsh teams competed, as Italy forfeited its place in the Italo-Celtic playoff and a Welsh team were the highest-placed team in the previous year's Celtic league not to qualify otherwise. Other nations had their usual number of participants: England six, Ireland three, Italy two and Scotland two. Seeding The seeding system for participating teams changed from previous editions of the Heineken Cup. Previously, each participating nation would seed one of their teams and thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home matches at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in the south of the city. The club has been known by the nickname Tigers since at least 1885. In the 2020-21 Premiership Rugby season Tigers finished 6th, this entitled them to compete in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup. The current head coach is Richard Wigglesworth, who was appointed as interim head coach in December 2022. Leicester have won 21 major titles. They were European Champions twice, back-to-back in 2001 and 2002; have won a record 11 English Championships, and have won eight Anglo-Welsh Cups, most recently in 2017. Leicester last won the Premiership Rugby title in the 2022 season, and appeared in a record nine successive Premiership finals, from 2005 to 2013. Leice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gonzaga College
Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ireland. The curriculum is traditional, with a broad general programme of subjects including Latin and Greek at junior cycle and the opportunity in senior cycle to study eight subjects for the Leaving Certificate. The school is named after the early Jesuit Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and takes its emblem from the coat of arms of the Gonzaga family. The school has a liberal, intellectual, and Jesuit ethos. The annual fee for the 2019–2020 academic year is €6,605. Campus The school is located from Dublin city centre on a large area of land including a front lawn with cricket crease, rugby pitches and tennis courts. The school buildings include a library, chapel, clock tower, theatre, priests' residence, science block, and 84 individual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Des Fitzgerald
Desmond Fitzgerald (born 20 December 1957 in Dublin) is a former Irish rugby union international player who played for the Irish national rugby union team. He played as a prop forward. He played for the Ireland team from 1984 to 1992, winning 34 caps, after making his debut in February 1984 against England in a 12–9 defeat at Twickenham. He played in two Rugby World Cups: 1987 and 1991. He is the father of Irish International rugby player Luke Fitzgerald. Des was also an excellent GAA football player and he won a schools final while playing for De La Salle Rathfarnham National School in Croke Park in 1968. His son Luke is also a former Irish rugby union player who played as a winger or fullback for Leinster Rugby and Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
