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Carl Hayman
Carl Joseph Hayman (born 14 November 1979) is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer who played at tighthead prop. Hayman played for the Highlanders in Super Rugby, Otago in the NPC, and Newcastle Falcons in the English Premiership, and made 45 appearances for New Zealand at international level. Hayman retired from professional rugby in January 2015, aged 35. Since retiring Hayman has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Career He became the 1000th All Black when he made his debut against Samoa in 2001. In 2005, Hayman played for the New Zealand MÄori, against Fiji in Suva and against the British & Irish Lions in Hamilton. On 19 April 2007 it was announced that Hayman had signed a three-year contract with English Premiership club Newcastle Falcons, turning down an offer from league champions Sale Sharks to do so. On 22 March 2010, it was announced that Hayman would join French club Toulon at the end of the seaso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ÅŒpunake
ÅŒpunake () is a small urban area in the North Island of New Zealand, located within the Taranaki region and governed by the South Taranaki District Council. Positioned along State Highway 45, it lies between HÄwera to the south and New Plymouth to the north. According to the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the MÄori meaning of ÅŒpunake is "the place of where the springs have always been". History Pre-European history In 1833 local chief Wiremu KÄ«ngi Moki Te MatakÄtea held off a war party from Waikato for several weeks with a single musket, and eventually triumphed. The site of Te Namu PÄ is along the coast, just north of the town. European settlement The town was first settled by Europeans in the 1860s, when British army soldiers landed at ÅŒpunake in April 1865 in the Second Taranaki War. By May, soldiers had constructed the ÅŒpunake Redoubt, where 350 soldiers were stationed. In May 1867, the redoubt was gifted to Wiremu KÄ«ngi Moki Te MatakÄtea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Provincial Championship (1976–2005)
The National Provincial Championship, often simply called the NPC, was an annual promotion and relegation rugby union competition in men's domestic New Zealand rugby. First played during the 1976 season, it was the highest level of competition in New Zealand until Super Rugby launched in 1996. It was organised by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and ceased following the 2005 season. The league was restructured into two distinct competitions. The National Provincial Championship would include professional and semi-professional players, and consist of the top fourteen financial and best performing regional teams. For sponsorship reasons it was rebranded as the Air New Zealand Cup. The remaining teams would form a breakaway amateur competition known as the Heartland Championship. Twenty-eight teams had competed since the inception of the competition in 1976. Auckland were the most successful union with fifteen titles and Bay of Plenty were the inaugural champions. Six other teams had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Van Niekerk
Johann "Joe" van Niekerk (born 14 May 1980) is a South African former professional rugby union player who played either as a flanker or number 8. Career overview After starring for the South Africa Schools, under-19, and under-21 sides, and captaining at all three levels, van Niekerk received the rare honour of being called up to the Springboks directly from the U21 side in 2001, in spite of never having played a game in either the Currie Cup or Super 12. He made his debut against the All Blacks in Cape Town. Van Niekerk has experienced injury troubles throughout his senior-level career. When healthy, however, he is considered able to compete with virtually any back-row player in the world. He scored important tries for the Boks in home wins over the Wallabies in the 2002 Tri Nations Series and the 2004 Tri Nations Series. He has often been used as an "impact player" off the bench, especially in the 2005 Tri Nations Series. In 2002, he was voted the South African "Player ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felipe Contepomi
Felipe Contepomi (born 20 August 1977) is an Argentine professional rugby coach who is currently the head coach of the Argentine national side. He was a rugby union footballer who played fly-half or centre; his last club was Club Newman, in the first division of the URBA championship, before signing with professional teams in Europe. He was a key player for Argentina, having played 15 years for the national team. His twin brother Manuel was also a ''Puma''. Contepomi was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in November 2017. Playing career Club rugby Born on 20 August 1977 in Buenos Aires, Contepomi started playing rugby for his secondary school Colegio Cardenal Newman, and then for Club Newman in Buenos Aires. In signed his first professional contract in 2001, signing for English side Bristol before joining Leinster following Bristol's relegation in the 2002–03 Zurich Premiership. He played a major role in Leinster's run in the 2005–06 Heineken Cup, helpin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juan MartÃn Fernández Lobbe
Juan MartÃn Fernández Lobbe (born 19 November 1981 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine rugby union footballer. He played for Toulon in the French Top 14, having moved from Sale Sharks in England's Guinness Premiership. He previously played for Liceo Naval. He usually plays in the back row. He made his debut for the Sale Sharks in 2006 against the Leicester Tigers. His debut season for the Sharks was the 2006–07 Guinness Premiership. He was Sale's first XV captain. He made his international debut for Argentina in 2004 against Uruguay. He was a part of the Pumas team that defeated Wales at home in a two Test series, scoring a try in one game. Fernández Lobbe featured in the side that defeated England at Twickenham in November 2006 as well as back to back victories over Ireland the following year. He was an integral part of the Los Pumas team in their 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign, which succeeded in gaining Argentina's highest World Cup finish, third place. He played in every g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonny Wilkinson
Jonathan Peter Wilkinson, (born 25 May 1979) is an English former rugby union player. A fly-half, he played for Newcastle Falcons and French side Toulon and represented England and the British & Irish Lions. He is particularly known for scoring the winning drop goal in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final and is widely acknowledged as one of the best rugby union players of all time. He played club rugby for twelve seasons in the English Premiership with Newcastle Falcons. In 2009, he moved to Toulon, where he won two Heineken Cups and one Top 14 championship in five seasons. He holds the record of top point-scorer at both clubs. Wilkinson won 91 caps for England. He was an integral member of the England squad which won the 2003 World Cup, scoring the winning drop goal in the last minute of extra time against Australia in the final. He came back from several injuries and was part of the England team which reached the final of the 2007 World Cup. He toured twice with the British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club (which is now a Sale FC Rugby Club, distinct amateur club), it is one of the Oldest football clubs, oldest existing football clubs. It adopted the nickname ''Sharks'' in 1999. Since 2012 Sale have played their home games at the Salford Community Stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, Eccles, Greater Manchester, Salford which they share with Salford Red Devils rugby league club. Between 1905 and 2003 they played at Heywood Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale, before moving to Edgeley Park in Stockport where they stayed until 2012. Historically one of the leading teams in the Northern England, north of England, their traditional colours are blue and white. Domestically, Sale were Premiership champions in 2005-06 Premiership R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premiership Rugby
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, 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 system. The current champions are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2005 British & Irish Lions Tour To New Zealand
In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Maori team, and three test matches against New Zealand (the All Blacks). The Lions lost the test series 3–0, the first time in 22 years that they lost every test match on tour. The team was managed by former England and Lions player Bill Beaumont, coached by former England coach Sir Clive Woodward, and originally captained by Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll. O'Driscoll suffered a controversial tour-ending injury two minutes into the first test, and Wales captain Gareth Thomas took over as captain for the final four games of the tour. The poor test results of the 2005 Lions, despite having one of the most experienced playing squads and the largest management team of any Lions tour, led to criticism of Woodward, particularly his selectio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiji National Rugby Union Team
The Fiji national rugby union team represents Fiji in men's international rugby union. Fiji competed in the Pacific Tri-Nations and now competes in its successor tournament Pacific Nations Cup. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. They have beaten the major rugby playing sides of Wales, Scotland, Australia, France, Italy, Argentina and England. The only major sides Fiji are yet to beat are New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. The "Flying Fijians" as they are nicknamed compete every four years at the Rugby World Cup. Their best performances were the 1987, 2007 and 2023 tournaments when they defeated Argentina, Wales and Australia respectively to reach the quarterfinals. Fiji is one of the few countries where rugby union is the main sport. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000. One obstacle for Fiji is simply getting their rugby players to play for the national team, as many have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samoa National Rugby Union Team
The Samoa national rugby union team represents Samoa in men's international rugby union competitions. They are governed by Samoa Rugby Union and also known as "Manu Samoa", which is thought to derive from the name of a Samoan warrior. They perform a traditional Samoan challenge called the siva tau before each game. Samoa Rugby Union were formerly members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Tonga. They are ranked 13th in the world. Rugby was introduced to Samoa in the early 1920s and a governing body was soon formed. The first international was played as Western Samoa against Fiji in August 1924. Along with Tonga, these nations would meet regularly and eventually contest competitions such as the Pacific Tri-Nations – with Western Samoa winning the first of these. From 1924 to 1997 Samoa was known as Western Samoa. Samoa have been to every Rugby World Cup since the 1991 tournament. That tournament, along with the 1995 competition, saw them ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse over time and can result in dementia. Most documented cases have occurred in athletes involved in striking-based combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and contact sports such as rugby union, rugby league, American football, Australian rules football, professional wrestling, and ice hockey. It is also an issue in association football (soccer), but largely as a result of heading the ball rather than player contact. Other risk factors include being in the military ( combat arms), prior domestic violence, and repeated banging of the head. The exact amount of trauma required for the condition to occur is unknown, and as of 2025 definitive diagnosis can only occur at autopsy. The disease is classified as a tauop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
