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1998–99 Ulster Rugby Season
In Ulster Rugby's fourth season since the advent of professionalism, they were champions of the Heineken Cup, and finished second in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship. Harry Williams was appointed as Director of Rugby, signing a three-year full time contract, starting on 1 July when he resigned as principal of Holywood Primary School. A former prop for Malone and Bangor, Williams had coached Bangor to Ulster League and Cup titles in the 1980s. He was Ulster's coach for four years from 1987, and had led them to four unbeaten seasons in the Interprovincial Championship. He was part of the Irish development squad coaching team for their tour of New Zealand in 1993, and was Ireland A coach for three years. Most recently, he was coach of Dublin side Bective Rangers for 18 months, before resigning for family reasons at the end of 1998. Former Ireland fullback Colin Wilkinson was assistant coach, and Harry Brennan was strength and conditioning coach.Jonathan Bradley, ''The Last Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravenhill Stadium
Ravenhill Stadium (known as the Kingspan Stadium for sponsorship reasons until June 2025) is a rugby stadium located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home of Ulster Rugby. With the opening of a new stand for the 2014 Heineken Cup quarter-final against Saracens F.C., Saracens on 5 April 2014, the capacity of the stadium is now 18,196. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union. History Ravenhill Stadium opened in 1923. It features an ornate arch at the entrance that was erected as a war memorial for those players killed in World War I and World War II. Prior to 1923, both Ulster and Ireland played games at the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society grounds in Belfast. Ravenhill has been the annual venue for the Ulster Schools Cup final since 1924, which is traditionally contested on St Patrick's Day. The stadium is traditionally the venue for the Ulster Towns Cup, played on Easter Monday. Ravenhill has hosted 18 international matches, including pool games in both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangor RFC (Northern Ireland)
Bangor RFC is a Northern Irish rugby union club from Bangor, County Down, playing in the Ulster domestic Championship 1 league. History The club was founded in 1885 and enjoyed senior status between 1924 and the Second World War. The club returned to junior rugby after the war. Historically having played at Ward Park, leased from Bangor Borough Council, in 1968 the club purchased eleven acres of land on the southern outskirts of Bangor and opened a new ground named Upritchard Park (after chairman Joe Upritchard) in September 1969, coinciding with the regaining of senior status. Over the next 20 years, Bangor became one of the top senior clubs in Ulster, culminating in the 1981-82 season, when it won the treble of Ulster Senior League, Ulster Senior Cup and its own floodlit competition, the Boston Cup. Bangor were inaugural members of the All-Ireland League in 1990, but the club went into decline and were relegated back into junior rugby in 2002. The club did regain senior st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Davidson (rugby Union)
Jeremy William Davidson (born 28 April 1974) is a rugby union coach and former player who played as a lock for Ulster, London Irish and Castres, and at international level for Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. Playing career Davidson played lock. He attended Methodist College Belfast. He played club rugby for Dungannon, Ulster, London Irish and Castres Olympique. At international level he represented Ireland with 32 caps. On the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa, he won 3 Test caps and was voted players' player of the tour. Davidson captained Ulster and London Irish. His playing career ended at age 27 after aggravating a long-running knee injury whilst fishing. Coaching career Following a spell as director of rugby at Dungannon RFC, Davidson moved on to coach Castres. In June 2009 he became part of the coaching team at Ulster. As of 2017 he was coaching French team Aurillac. He then coached Brive until 2022 with whom he won promotion to the top tier of French Rugb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paddy Johns
Patrick Stephen Johns, known as Paddy Johns (born 19 February 1968, in Portadown) was an Irish rugby union player from 1990 to 2000. He played mainly as a lock and occasionally in the back-row. He won 59 caps, scoring 4 tries and 20 points. He had his international debut, on 27 October 1990 against Argentina, in Dublin, in a match won 20–18, and his final appearance came on 11 November 2000, with Japan, in a win of 78–9, again in Dublin. He played at the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 1999 Rugby World Cup. He also played for the Ireland national rugby sevens team at the inaugural 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, where Ireland reached the semi-finals, its best ever finish in a Rugby World Cup Sevens. He studied dentistry at Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college ... [...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 the majority of its home games at Edinburgh Rugby Stadium. The original Edinburgh District (rugby union), Edinburgh District team played the first ever inter-district match against Glasgow District (rugby union), 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 Rugby, Ulster, 22–19. The quarter-final tie against Toulouse attracted a former club record crowd of 37,881 spectators to Murrayfield. As of 2025, the attendance record stands at 40,063, achieved against Glasgow Warriors in 2024. In 2003 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Blair (rugby Union)
Mark Blair is an Irish former rugby union player, who played lock professionally for Edinburgh, Ulster, RC Narbonne and the Border Reivers. He attended The Royal School, Armagh, and after leaving school attended technical collage for year while playing for City of Armagh RFC,Jonathan Bradley, ''The Last Amateurs'', The Blackstaff Press, 2018, pp. 81-87 and represented Ulster at under-20 and under-21 levels.Micheal McGeary, "Now Eur a star: from Currie to caviar for Mark", ''Sunday Life'', 3 January 1999 He went to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and played rugby for Currie RFC. He had a trial for Scotland, for whom he qualified through residency. He played club rugby in New Zealand in 1996 and 1997, and was selected a few times for Counties, where he played alongside Jonah Lomu.Michael Sadlier"Blair force one: Well-travelled Mark so proud of Euro joy with Ulster and playing with Jonah Lomu" ''Belfast Telegraph'', 21 June 2020 He signed a professional contract with Edinburgh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", which gave it the nickname ''Saints'' from the 1880s. The team plays its home games at the 15,249 capacity Franklin's Gardens, in the St James End, Northampton, St James area in the west of the town. Since the early 1900s, the team has played in black, green and gold colours. At the conclusion of the 2024–25 Premiership Rugby season, Saints finished 8th, which entitled them to compete in the 2025–26 European Rugby Champions Cup. The current director of rugby is Phil Dowson, who was promoted to director of rugby in the summer of 2022. To date, Saints have won seven major titles. They were European Champions in 2000 Heineken Cup Final, 2000, and English Champions in 2013–14 Premiership Rugby#Final, 2014 and 2023–24 Premi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allen Clarke (rugby Union)
Allen Clarke (born 29 July 1967) is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR). He is the former head coach of Welsh professional side the Ospreys in the Pro14, having previously been the team's forwards coach. Playing career During his playing career, Clarke was a hooker. He was capped at international level by , playing for the senior team eight times from 1995 to 1998. Clarke spent the much of his professional playing career with his native province of Ulster and played in the 1999 Heineken Cup Final victory against Colomiers, the first ever European title for an Irish side. He also spent several seasons with Northampton Saints in England across two spells, having studied at the university in the town and later worked as a teacher there. Clarke was forced to retire due to injury in 2001. Coaching After his retirement from playing Clarke became a part of the Ulster coaching system, helpi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonny Bell (rugby Union)
Jonathan Charles Bell (born 7 February 1974) is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He played centre for Ulster, with whom he won the 1998–99 Heineken Cup, Northampton and , and has coached at Ulster, Gloucester, Glasgow Warriors and Worcester Warriors. From the 2022–23 season until February 2025 he was defence coach at Ulster. Education Bell went to school at Coleraine Academical Institution, playing rugby there. He later gained a PGCE teaching qualification. Playing career Bell first played for Ulster as an 18 year old. He played one season for Northampton Saints in England in 1997–98. He returned to Ulster and in 1999 was part of the Ulster team that won the Heineken Cup, putting in a man-of-the-match performance against Colomiers in the final. Internationally, Bell made his Ireland debut against on 5 June 1994. He earned 36 caps for Ireland between 1994 and 2003, and played at two World Cups. Bell played his last game for Ireland against on 30 August 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Irish
London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champions Cup, and the European Challenge Cup. While competing in the RFU Championship, the second tier of English rugby, during the 2016–17 and 2018–19 seasons, London Irish also took part in the British and Irish Cup and the RFU Championship Cup. For twenty years, the club played its home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire, before relocating to the Brentford Community Stadium in Brentford, West London, for the 2020–21 season. The club was founded in 1898 following the creation of London Scottish F.C., London Scottish, London Cornish RFC, London Cornish and London Welsh RFC, London Welsh for the same reason, allowing Irishmen the chance to play rugby with fellow countrymen in the English capital. They won their only major t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Rugby Football Union
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where adult men's Ireland national rugby union team, Irish rugby union international matches are played. In addition, the Union also owns the Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick and a number of grounds in provincial areas that have been rented to clubs. History Initially, there were two unions: the Irish Football Union, which had jurisdiction over clubs in Leinster, Munster and parts of Ulster and was founded in December 1874, and the Northern Football Union of Ireland, which controlled the Belfast area and was founded in January 1875. The IRFU was formed in 1879 as an amalgamation of these two organisations and branches of the new IRFU were formed in Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Connacht Branch was formed in 1900. The IR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Six Nations Championship and in the Rugby World Cup. Ireland is one of the four unions that make up the British & Irish Lions. They have players eligible to play for Ireland and the Lions. The Ireland national team dates to 1875, when they played their first international match against England. Ireland reached number 1 in the World Rugby Rankings for the first time in 2019; the team returned to number 1 for a second time on 18 July 2022 and did not relinquish the top spot until 2 October 2023. Twelve former Ireland players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. History Early years: 1875–1900 Dublin University Football Club, Dublin University was the first organised rugby football club in Ireland, having been founded in 1854. The club was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
