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Pro14 Rainbow Cup
The Pro14 Rainbow Cup (also known as the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow Cup for twelve European clubs and the Rainbow Cup SA for four South African clubs. The winners of each competition then played a final match to determine the overall winner. The tournament operated as a shortened 'Spring season' to allow for the integration of the four new South African teams into the United Rugby Championship ahead of the 2021–22 season. In winning the play-off final against the Bulls of South Africa, Benetton Treviso became the first Italian side ever to win any of the successor championships to the Celtic League. Background The 2020–21 Pro14 was reduced to twelve teams as the two South African teams - the Cheetahs and Southern Kings - were not allowed to travel internationally in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the List of islands of the British Isles, second-largest island of the British Isles, the List of European islands by area, third-largest in Europe, and the List of islands by area, twentieth-largest on Earth. Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the Irish population analysis, population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million living in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the List of European islan ... [...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 Zealan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Rugby
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 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 1998, and took up its current name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CJ Stander
Christiaan Johan Stander (born 5 April 1990) is a South African-Irish former rugby union player. Stander's career began in his native South Africa, where he played for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup between 2010 and 2012 and for the Bulls in Super Rugby in 2012. He moved to Irish province Munster in 2012 and, after qualifying via residency in 2015, made his debut for Ireland in 2016, going on to earn 51 caps for his adopted country, as well as 1 cap for the British & Irish Lions in 2017, before retiring in 2021. Early life Stander was born in George, South Africa, where his family own a farm. Prior to focusing on rugby, Stander was a champion discus thrower as a teenager. Stander's native language growing up was Afrikaans. Rugby career Youth rugby Stander went to Blanco Primary School, where he began playing rugby at the age of nine, playing as a fly-half. He then went to Hoër Landbouskool Oakdale ''(Oakdale Agricultural High School)'', where he shifted into the numbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park and are the professional arm of Cardiff Rugby Ltd. From 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before reverting to Cardiff Rugby prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. They won European Challenge Cup titles in 2010 and 2018, beating Toulon Rugby and Gloucester Rugby respectively. They most recently made the knockout stages of the European Rugby Champions Cup in 2012. Between 2005 and 2018, they also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup and won the 2009 title, beating Gloucester at Twickenham. History Origins The first reliably recorded Rugby club in Cardiff were Tredegarville, who began playing around 1870. By 1874 a team named Glamorgan FC had been formed and in 1876 they merged with Cardiff Wanderers to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Munster Rugby
Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU's Munster Branch, which is responsible for rugby union throughout the Irish province of Munster. The team motto is "To the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible." This is derived from the motto of the MacCarthy clan – "Forti et Fideli nihil difficile". Their main home ground is Thomond Park, Limerick, though some games are played at Musgrave Park, Cork. History Foundation and early years Munster was officially founded in 1879, at the same time as Leinster and Ulster, with Connacht being founded ten years later in 1889. The first interprovincial matches between Leinster, Ulster and Munster, however, were held in 1875. The founding of the Munster branch of the IRFU was intended to organise and oversee the game within the province and prevent an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Rugby AU
Super Rugby AU, formerly named the Harvey Norman Super Rugby AU for sponsorship purposes, was a rugby union competition organised by Rugby Australia. The competition was created to supplant the 2020 Super Rugby season, which had been suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to ongoing international travel restrictions relating to the pandemic, the competition will continue with a second season in 2021. The competition features the four Australian Super Rugby teams from the Australian conference, with the addition of Western Force, in a round-robin tournament over a 12-week period, made up of 10 rounds, a qualifying final and a final. The competition was announced on 12 May, with the first round commencing on 3 July, making it the third sport to return in Australia (behind AFL and NRL) and just the second rugby union competition to return. Initially, all games were played behind-closed-doors, with restrictions on crowds being eased over time. Media coverage Televis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Rugby Aotearoa
Super Rugby Aotearoa currently named the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship purposes is a professional men's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Originally created to supplement the 2020 Super Rugby season, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will continue in 2021 until a new tournament can be arranged for 2022 and beyond. In its first season, the tournament was a 10-week round robin tournament played between the five New Zealand-based teams of Super Rugby However, for 2021 the tournament will have an additional final between the two highest placed teams in the tournament, with a finals system being used by the similarly created Super Rugby AU tournament in Australia. Law adaptions On 2 June, New Zealand Rugby announced that it would implement two optional law trials being offered by World Rugby, including a golden point format for extra time, and that players who receive a red card can be substituted after 20 minutes. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bye (sport)
In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round. In knockout (elimination) tournaments they can be granted either to reward the highest ranked participant(s) or assigned randomly, to make a working bracket if the number of participants is not a power of two (e.g. 16 or 32). In round-robin tournaments, usually one competitor gets a bye in each round when there are an odd number of competitors, as it is impossible for all competitors to play in the same round. However, over the whole tournament, each plays the same number of games as well as sitting out for the same number of rounds. The "Berger Tables" used by FIDE for chess tournaments, provide pairings for even numbered pools and simply state that "Where there is an odd number of players, the highest number counts as a bye." Similar to the round-robin context, in league sports with weekly reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preparation Series
The Preparation Series was a South African rugby union tournament organised by SA Rugby. The tournament was used to be a number of preparation fixtures were announced by SA Rugby. It served as preparation for the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa and South African teams entering the Pro14 Rainbow Cup, who had missed out on significant rugby game time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 8 sides took part in the competition; the four joining the Pro14 Rainbow Cup (the , the , the and the ), along with the , and , who had taken part in Super Rugby Unlocked and the 2020–21 Currie Cup Premier Division, and the who had not played any competitive rugby since the 2019 Currie Cup First Division. Although there was no trophy for this tournament, the ended up in top spot in Pool A and the topped in pool B. Regular season Format The eight teams have been split into two groups and will play cross-pool matches. Each team played four matches. Two at home and two away. The tour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2021 British & Irish Lions Tour To South Africa
The 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour that took place in South Africa in July and August 2021. The British & Irish Lions, a team selected from players eligible to represent England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, played a three-match test series against South Africa, and tour matches against three of South Africa's four United Rugby Championship teams and South Africa A. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the tour, leading to numerous schedule changes and the matches in South Africa taking place without fans present. Before leaving for South Africa, the Lions beat Japan in a warm-up match at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. They won all of their matches against the South African franchises, but lost to South Africa A. South Africa won the test series by two matches to one. The Lions won the first test 22–17 on 24 July, but South Africa won the second test 27–9 a week later before winning the third test 19–16 wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2021 Pro14 Grand Final
The 2021 Pro14 Grand Final was the final rugby match of the 2020–21 Pro14 season. The 2020–21 season was the seventh with Guinness as the title sponsor and the twelfth with a grand final. Leinster won the match 16–6 to win their fourth successive league title and their eighth overall. Route to the final In a change from previous seasons, the 2020–21 Pro14 regular season was shortened to 16 rounds and, forgoing the usual play-offs, the teams finishing in the first place of each conference will advance straight to the final. These changes were made due to the creation of the Rainbow Cup, which will see four South African Super Rugby teams (the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers) join the twelve remaining Pro14 teams in a new tournament. Irish province Munster became the first team to qualify for the final, after their 20–17 win against Connacht in round 14 gave them an unassailable 12 point lead at the top of conference B with two rounds remaining. Defending champi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
