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Mark Abbott
Mark Abbott (born 20 February 1991) is a New Zealand-born Japanese rugby union player who currently plays as a lock for Coca-Cola Red Sparks in Japan's Top League. Early career Born in Christchurch and raised in the small town of Darfield, Abbott was educated at St. Andrew's College in his place of birth. After completing high school, he began studying towards a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Canterbury while also making his way through the youth structures with national provincial championship side, . A lack of playing opportunities with Canterbury meant that after graduating university, he headed north to Napier to try and earn a contract with local provincial side, in 2013. Senior career Abbott made his senior debut for during the 2013 ITM Cup and went on to play 11 of the Magpies' 12 games during the year which culminated with them losing 26-25 to in the Championship playoff final. Abbott formed an impressive partnership with fellow Cantabria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / Ōtākaro flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park along its banks. The city's territorial authority population is people, and includes a number of smaller urban areas as well as rural areas. The population of the urban area is people. Christchurch is the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand, after Auckland. It is the major urban area of an emerging sub-region known informally as Greater Christchurch. Notable smaller urban areas within this sub-region include Rangiora and Kaiapoi in Waimakariri District, north of the Waimakariri River, and Rolleston and Lincoln in Selwyn District to the south. The first inhabitants migrated to the area sometime between 1000 and 1250 AD. They hunted moa, which led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016 Mitre 10 Cup
The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season was the eleventh season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 18, when North Harbour hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the Mitre 10 Cup and it was the first season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, North Harbour was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team, Hawke's Bay was relegated to the Championship. Format The Mitre 10 Cup standings were sorted by a competition points system. Four points were awarded to the winning team, a draw equaled two points, whilst a loss amounted to zero points. Unions could also win their side a respectable bonus point. To receive a bonus point, they must have scored four tries or more or lose by seven or fewer points or less. Each team was placed on their total points received. If neces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitre 10 Cup
The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mitres are worn in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, for important ceremonies, by the Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, and also, in the Catholic Church, all cardinals, whether or not bishops, and some Eastern Orthodox archpriests. Etymology μίτρα, ''mítra'' ( Ionic μίτρη, ''mítrē'') is Greek, and means a piece of armour, usually a metal guard worn around the waist and under a cuirass, as mentioned in Homer's Iliad. In later poems, it was used to refer to a headband used by women for their hair; and a sort of formal Babylonian headdress, as mentioned by Herodotus ('' Histories'' 1.195 and 7.90) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Michael Fatialofa
Michael Fatialofa (born 14 September 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a lock for Worcester Warriors in the Premiership. Early career Born in Auckland, Fatialofa was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School in his hometown where he played first XV rugby for 3 years and helped them to lift the Auckland Schools title in 2010. Rated as one of the top New Zealand lock prospects at the time, it came as something of a surprise when he opted to move to the country's far south to play club rugby with the Blues in Southland after he'd finished high school. Senior career He spent the first 4 years of his senior career playing provincial rugby for with whom he racked up 36 appearances. His first season with the Stags saw him play 3 times as they were relegated from the ITM Cup Premiership. The men from Invercargill finished 4th on the Championship log for the next three seasons which saw them qualify for the promotion playoffs, however, each time th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaea Fifita
Vaea Tangitau Lapota Fifita (born 17 June 1992) is a Tongan Rugby Union, rugby union player who currently plays for the Scarlets. Previously he was a Lock (rugby union), lock or Flanker (rugby union), loose forward for the in the international Super Rugby competition, and for in the Mitre 10 Cup. Fifita has played 12 tests for New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand at international level, earning his first test cap against Samoa in 2017. In 2022, following changes to the eligibility rules, he played his first match for Tonga national rugby union team, Tonga. His elder brother Leva Fifita is also a professional rugby union player who also plays international rugby for Tonga. Early life Born and raised on the Tongan island of Vava'u, Fifita attended Tonga College on the larger island of Tongatapu and while there earned selection for the Tonga Schools side ahead of their tour to New Zealand. Impressive displays against New Zealand and Australia Secondary Schools ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016 Super Rugby Season
The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Argentina and the Sunwolves from Japan taking part. This season also saw the return of the Kings, who competed just once before, in the 2013 Super Rugby season. The round-robin games took place every weekend from 26 February to 16 July 2016 (with a break for international matches during June), followed by the finals series at the end of July and culminating in the final on 6 August. The Hurricanes won their first championship after repeating their efforts of 2015 by finishing first in the regular season and hosting the final at Westpac Stadium, but this time they won, beating the Lions 20–3. Unlike 2015, where the Hurricanes looked likely to finish the regular season first with a number of rounds to go, they were sitting in seventh going ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2015 Super Rugby Season
The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include ... Super Rugby in South Africa. The round-robin matches took place every weekend from 13 February until 13 June, followed by the finals series and culminating in the final on 4 July. This was the final season that featured a 15-team format. Competition format Covering 21 weeks, the schedule featured a total of 125 matches. The 15 teams were grouped geographically, labelled the Australian Conference, New Zealand Conference and the South African Conference. The regular seaso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blade Thomson
Blade Neville Thomson (born 4 December 1990) is a former professional rugby union player who played as a lock or loose forward. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, he represented Scotland in international rugby, being eligible for the national team through his paternal grandfather, Robert, who was from Wishaw. He played for Taranaki in the ITM Cup and for the Super Rugby franchise the , and spent the last five years of his career playing in Wales for the Scarlets. Professional career Thomson was a member of the Hurricanes Wider Training Group in 2012, and he joined the squad for the 2013 Super Rugby season. Thomson missed the 2017 Super Rugby season due to shoulder reconstruction surgery. Thomson joined Pro14 team the Scarlets at the beginning of the 2018–19 season. On 16 February 2023, Thomson announced his retirement due to a head injury. International career Thomson was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 team that won the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Broadhurst
James Broadhurst (born 1 December 1987) is a former New Zealand rugby union lock who played provincial rugby for Taranaki, Super Rugby for the Hurricanes, and for the All Blacks. He was also a national representative at the under-19 and under-21 levels. Broadhurst was born in Kaitaia and educated at Campion College in Gisborne. Broadhurst made his debut for New Zealand on 25 July 2015 against South Africa but was subbed off at half-time. In September that year Broadhurst received two serious head knocks while representing Taranaki and was taken off the field due to concussion. Broadhurst has not played a game of rugby since then, with symptoms of concussion still ongoing for him as of early 2017. His brother is Japan rugby player Michael Broadhurst Michael Broadhurst (born 30 October 1986) is a New Zealand born Japanese rugby union player who plays at flanker, lock or number 8 for the Ricoh Black Rams in the Top League and the Japan national rugby union team. Broadhurst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Thrush
Jeremy Thrush (born 19 April 1985) is a rugby union lock who plays for the Western Force. He previously played for in Super Rugby and Wellington Lions in the ITM Cup. He represented the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand Under-19 and New Zealand Secondary Schools teams. He was a part of the victorious 2004 Under-19 World Championship team and was named the 2004 IRB World U19 Player of the Year. Thrush made his debut as a replacement in the 68th minute of the All Blacks' second test against France in the 2013 Steinlager Series. On 13 January 2015, it was announced that Thrush would be joining Aviva Premiership side Gloucester after the 2015 Rugby World Cup. On 10 May 2018, Thrush returned to the southern hemisphere in Australia to sign for Western Force as part of the Global Rapid Rugby competition and recently played for them in Super Rugby AU Super Rugby AU, formerly named the Harvey Norman Super Rugby AU for sponsorship purposes, was a rugby union competition organised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
