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Lima Sopoaga
Lima Sopoaga (born 3 February 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays for Lyon in the Top 14 competition. His regular playing positions are Fly-Half and Centre. Early life Sopoaga was born in Wellington, New Zealand. His family comes from Samoa and the Cook Islands. Sopoaga is the oldest among six siblings. His younger brother, Tupou Sopoaga, played for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL but switched codes and played alongside Lima at the Highlanders for a time. In his high school days, Lima Sopoaga attended Wellington College and won four local championships with the 1st XV. He captained the school's side in 2009 and was selected for the NZ Secondary Schools team. Club career Provincial Rugby Wellington Lions At the age of 19, Sopoaga played for Wellington in the 2010 ITM Cup, making his debut against Manawatu.L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metro area, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century, with initial settlement by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. The Wellington urban area, which only includes urbani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southland Stags
Rugby Southland (formerly the Southland Rugby Football Union) is the provincial rugby union who govern the Southland region of New Zealand. Their headquarters are at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill, which is also the home ground of the union's professional team, the Southland Stags who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship Division and challenge for the Ranfurly Shield. Despite their proud history, no Southland team has ever won the top division of the New Zealand National Provincial Championship since organised competition began in 1976. However, they have won the NPC second division title five times and held the Ranfurly Shield seven times, most recently in 2011 where they defended the shield twice before losing it to Taranaki. Southland also plays for the Donald Stuart Memorial Shield against rivals Otago in what is the longest tenured provincial rivalry in New Zealand first-class rugby, with 229 matches. History Formation and early years Founded in 1887 after split ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marty Banks
Martin Banks (born 19 September 1989) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for in the Bunnings NPC and the in Super Rugby. His position is First five-eighth and occasionally Fullback. Career Banks was playing for the Takapuna Rugby Club in Auckland when the opportunity came from the Canterbury Rugby Union to head to Russia to play for Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk. After a season with the side, he was offered a two-year contract with Krasny Yar but Banks chose to leave the country and come back to New Zealand, where he began his career with Buller. He made his provincial debut with the side in the 2012 Heartland Championship, Banks scored a record 131 points for the province, including 16 in Buller's 31–28 win over South Canterbury in the Lochore Cup final. In 2013, Banks featured in the Crusaders development team as well as being included in the extended training squad for . Banks was later called into the squad and made his debut against . He set records with the sid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Moala
George Moala (born 5 November 1990), is a professional rugby union player currently playing for Clermont Auvergne in the French Top 14, having previously played in New Zealand for both Auckland and the Blues. Early career Moala attended Tamaki College where he was prominent in 2008 inter-collegiate rugby season, including scoring a stunning try against New Zealand rugby powerhouse school Auckland Grammar School. In 2010, Moala was selected in the Auckland Under 20 squad. Professional career In 2011, Moala was selected for , in which he played 10 games. In November 2011, Moala was selected in the squad for the 2012 Super Rugby season. He was a standout player for the Blues in 2013, covering left wing for most of the season. In Moala's third season with the franchise he started the year by scoring tries in games against the and the . However, due to Francis Saili's recovery from an injury and Ma'a Nonu making it back into the squad, he regained his preferred position at left wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blues (Super Rugby)
The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by the NZRU in 1996. One of the most successful teams in Super Rugby history, the Blues won the competition in its first two seasons, 1996 and 1997, and again in 2003. Additionally, the team were finalists in 1998 and 2022 and semi-finalists in 2007 and 2011. History Formation, Early Years and Immediate Success (1996–97) Along with New Zealand's other Super Rugby sides, the Blues were established by the NZRU to take part in the newly formed Super 12 competition which, involved teams from South Africa and Australia in addition to New Zealand. Each of New Zealand's five sides represented a number of provincial unions, with the Blues representing the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Thames Valley unions, while the neighbouring Waikato ... [...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 in ... [...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] |
Hurricanes (rugby Union)
The Hurricanes ( ; formerly the Wellington Hurricanes) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in Super Rugby. The Hurricanes were formed to represent the lower North Island, including the East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Horowhenua Kapiti, Manawatu, Poverty Bay, Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui and Wellington unions. They currently play at Sky Stadium (formerly named Westpac Stadium), having previously played at the now-defunct Athletic Park. The Hurricanes had a poor first season in 1996's Super 12, but rebounded in 1997 with a third placing. The team did not reach the play-offs for another five years as they struggled in the bottom four of the table. Since 2003 the Hurricanes have made the post-season play-offs seven times out of fourteen seasons, including the 2006 final, which they lost in foggy weather against the Crusaders 19–12. After hosting but failing to win the final in 2015, the 2016 season was the Hurricanes' best season to date. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Slade
Colin Richard Slade (born 10 October 1987) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He played primarily at first five-eighth, as well as all other backline positions on occasions. He was first selected for the All Blacks in 2009. He was a key member of the 2011 Rugby World Cup winning team. He was also included in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but played in only one match against Namibia. He thus became one of only 20 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. Playing career School boy rugby While at Christchurch Boys' High School, Slade played two years for the 1st XV, winning two National titles in both years playing alongside fellow All Blacks Matt Todd and Owen Franks as well as former Crusaders players Nasi Manu and Tim Bateman. Provincial Rugby Slade made his debut for Canterbury playing first five in the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup, and scored 86 points for his side as Canterbury won the competition. His performances improved subst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2011 Super Rugby Season
The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The season kicked off in February 2011, with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished in early July to allow players a recovery period for the 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in September and October; in future non-World Cup years, the competition will extend into August. This season saw the arrival of the Melbourne Rebels, admitted to the competition as Australia's fifth team after entry by the Southern Kings from South Africa was denied. This was also the first season of a revamped competition format, with a greater focus on matches within each participating country and an expanded finals series. During this season, the first ever Super Rugby gam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Highlanders (rugby)
The Highlanders (formerly the Otago Highlanders) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 competition, and includes the Otago, North Otago and Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish immigrants that helped found the Otago, North Otago, and Southland regions in the 1840s and 1850s. Their main ground through the 2011 Super Rugby season was Carisbrook in Dunedin, with home games occasionally being played in Invercargill and Queenstown. The Highlanders moved into Carisbrook's replacement, Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, for the 2012 season; the stadium opened in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but after the Super Rugby season. They finished the inaugural season eighth, and the following season finished last after winning only three of eleven matches. However, in the 1998, 1999 and 2000 seasons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamie Joseph
James Whitinui Joseph (born 21 November 1969) is a New Zealand-born Japanese former rugby union player and current rugby union coach. A flanker, Joseph represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1992 to 1995, before representing Japan in 1999. Joseph, now head coach of the Japanese national side, has coached since his retirement, coming through the ranks in New Zealand before his first national stint. Early life and family Joseph was born in Blenheim, New Zealand. His father, Jim Joseph, was a prop for the Marlborough rugby team from 1963 to 1977 and also played for New Zealand Māori. His mother Maude (née MacDonald) is the sister of Iwi and Mugwi MacDonald, the daughter of Manny MacDonald, granddaughter of Jack MacDonald and aunt of Hoani MacDonald, all of whom represented New Zealand Māori. Joseph affiliates to Ngāti Maniapoto through his father and Rangitāne and Ngāti Rārua through his mother. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
