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Victor Matfield
Victor Matfield (born 11 May 1977) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played for and captained the South Africa national team (Springboks) as well as the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup and the Bulls franchise in Super Rugby. He is generally considered one of the best locks to have ever played for South Africa and had a long successful partnership with Springbok and Blue Bulls teammate Bakkies Botha. Matfield was known for his success at disrupting opposition line-outs – this skill was a cornerstone of their 2007 World Cup success, where he was crowned IRB (International Rugby Board) player of the Rugby World Cup. In 2008 he captained the first team to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand since England in 2003. Matfield initially retired after the 2011 World Cup, leaving the game as the record Springbok cap holder, but returned after a two-year hiatus, signing a two-year playing contract with the Bulls for 2014 and 2015. Early life Born on 11 May 1977 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietersburg
Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province. City of Polokwane official website. Retrieved on October 15, 2009.), also known by its former name, Pietersburg, is a city and the capital of the Limpopo Province of . It is South Africa's largest urban centre north of . Polokwane was one of the host cities of the |
Craven Week
The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tournament has its humble beginnings in an idea by Piet Malan, then Springbok flanker, in 1949, around the time of the South African Rugby Board's 75th anniversary. He wanted schools to feature in the celebrations and approached Danie Craven in Potgietersrus on how this could be done. Dr Craven took the idea to his board who decided on getting the 15 schools unions together for a week. The man who kept the idea alive however was one Jan Preuyt, a former student at the University of Stellenbosch and teacher at Port Rex Technical School in East London. Preuyt had played rugby for Griqualand West and was also the chairman of Border Schools. At the time there was no such thing as a South African Schools organisation, and the South African ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Gregan
George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973) is a retired Australian rugby union player, and is currently Australia's most capped international player. Gregan was born in Lusaka, Zambia. He played Super 12 (now Super Rugby) for the Brumbies from the inception of that competition in 1996 through 2007, helping to lead them to overall victories in 2001 and 2004. He is a foundation Brumbies player and one of the few players whose career spans both the amateur and professional eras. His appearances as Australian captain include a Bledisloe Cup win in 2002 and an extra-time loss to England in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final. As a member of the Wallabies team, Gregan has attained the zenith of the rugby world, winning the Rugby World Cup in 1999. Gregan and his longtime Wallabies teammate, fly-half Stephen Larkham, also hold the all-time record for Test appearances by a halfback partnership with 79. Early and Personal Life Gregan was born in Zambia to an Australian father and a Zim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RC Toulonnais
Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also known as RCT but usually Toulon; oc, Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they have won the national competition on four occasions. Established in 1908, Toulon currently play their home games at the Stade Mayol, although they have begun to take high-profile matches to the 67,000-seat Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, playing one match there in 2008–09 and two in both 2009–10 and 2010–11. The club colours are red and black. Toulon were Pro D2 champions in 2005, but after finishing 14th in the 2005-06 Top 14 season, they were relegated back down. After signing a number of high-profile players, the club made a strong run at promotion in the 2006–07 season, and succeeded in their promotion quest in 2007–08, winning that season's Pro D2 crown with two rounds to spare. They struggled to avoid relegation for muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rugby Pro D2
Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It is the world's best supported second tier rugby union league. Season structure There is relegation and promotion between both the Top 14 and Fédérale 1, the third-level competition. The top club at the end of the season is automatically promoted to the Top 14; through the 2016–17 season, the 2nd through 5th place teams play each other for the second promotion place. The bottom two are automatically relegated to Fédérale 1. The bottom two clubs of the Top 14 and the top two of Fédérale 1 then enter the Rugby Pro D2 for the next season. There are 30 rounds in the regular season, with each team playing each other team home and away. The two halves of the season are played in the same order, with the away tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, which is owned by News Corp. Times Newspapers also publishes ''The Times''. The two papers were founded independently and have been under common ownership since 1966. They were bought by News International in 1981. ''The Sunday Times'' has a circulation of just over 650,000, which exceeds that of its main rivals, including ''The'' ''Sunday Telegraph'' and ''The'' ''Observer'', combined. While some other national newspapers moved to a tabloid format in the early 2000s, ''The Sunday Times'' has retained the larger broadsheet format and has said that it would continue to do so. As of December 2019, it sells 75% more copies than its sister paper, ''The Times'', which is published from Monday to Saturday. The paper publishes ''The Sunday ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days; 42 matches were played in ten cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff, Wales, and two in Edinburgh, Scotland. The eight quarter-finalists from 2003 were granted automatic qualification, while 12 other nations gained entry through the regional qualifying competitions that began in 2004 – of them, Portugal was the only World Cup debutant. The top three nations from each pool at the end of the pool stage qualified automatically for the 2011 World Cup. The competition opened with a match between hosts France and Argentina on 7 September at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinness Premiership
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the top division of the English rugby union system. Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to the Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western Hemispheres, along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership s ... [...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. Lei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Rugby Board
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rugby competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Rugby Under 20 Championship, World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup. World Rugby's headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. Its membership now comprises 120 national unions. Each member country must also be a member of one of the six regional unions into which the world is divided: Africa, Americas North, Asia, Europe, South America, and Oceania. World Rugby was founded as the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) in 1886 by , and , with joining in 1890. , and became full members in 1949. became a member in 1978 and a further 80 members joined from 1987 to 1999. The body was renamed the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italy National Rugby Union Team
The Italy national rugby union team ( Italian: ''Squadra nazionale italiana di rugby'') represents Italy in men's international rugby union. The team is known as ''gli Azzurri'' (the light-blues). Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946. Italy has played international rugby since 1929, and for decades was considered one of the best European teams outside the Five Nations Championship. Since 2000, Italy has competed annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In 2013, they were holders of the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy which is played annually between Italy and France. Italy is ranked 14th in the world by the IRB as of 18 July 2022. Italian rugby rose to prominence in 2000 when it was added to the Five Nations, creating the Six Nations. Initially on the receiving end of some heavy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lions (Super Rugby Franchise)
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), Gauteng Lions (1997) and the Cats (1998– 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 at Ellis Park Stadium. The team faced relegation from the Super 14 after the Southern S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
