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 Rugby Football Union, Otago, North Otago Rugby Football Union, North Otago and Southland Rugby Football Union, Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish New Zealander, Scottish immigrants that founded the Otago, North Otago, and Southland, New Zealand, 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, New Zealand, Queenstown. The Highlanders moved into Carisbrook's replacement, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, for the 2012 Super Rugby season, 2012 season; the stadium opened in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand Rugby Union
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, the governing body of rugby union for the world. It dropped the word "Football" from its name in 2006. The brand name ''New Zealand Rugby'' was adopted in 2013. Officially, it is an incorporated society with the name New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated. The organisation's main objectives, as displayed in the NZR Constitution, are to promote and develop rugby throughout New Zealand; arrange and participate in matches and tours in New Zealand and overseas; represent New Zealand in World Rugby; form and manage New Zealand representative teams; and encourage participation in the sport. NZR Headquarters are located in Wellington, New Zealand, with an office ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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North Otago
North Otago is an area in New Zealand that covers the area of the Otago region between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre for astronomy and for gliding). Geography Prominent rivers include the Shag, the Waianakarua, the Kakanui and the Waitaki. The Kakanui Mountains form the principal cordillera, rising at their highest point, Mount Pisgah, to . These are separated from the lower, parallel Horse Range by the upper valleys of the Waianakarua and Shag rivers. The large east-coast town of Oamaru serves as North Otago's main centre. Other towns and settlements in the region include Alma, Totara, Teschemakers, Reidston, Maheno, Kakanui, Herbert (also known as ''Otepopo''), Waianakarua, Hampden, and Moeraki, all on or close to the coast south of Oamaru. The coastal plain north of Oamaru has the settlements of Hilderthorpe and Pukeuri. Inland settlem ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Super Rugby Franchise Areas
The Super Rugby competition in rugby union, including teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and the List of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands and, in the past, from Argentina, Japan and South Africa, is based on a "Franchise (business), franchise" system of teams. The original member countries – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (until 2020) – all have several regional franchises, while the expansion countries – Argentina, Fiji, Japan and the Pacific Islands – have/had one franchise each. The article covers specific detail as to the areas covered by each Super Rugby team. Bold denotes stadiums that are current primary stadiums for the franchises. Current franchise areas Australia The Australian Super Rugby franchises have evolved from traditional state and territory representative sides. For most of the history of rugby in Australia, the domestic game has been structured around List of Australian club rugby union competitions, regional c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waisake Naholo
Waisake Ratunideuba Naholo (born 8 May 1991 Sigatoka, Fiji) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He previously played for the All Blacks Sevens and on the wing (and occasionally centre) position for London Irish. In May 2022 he signed with Rugby New York, who play in the Major League Rugby competition. Naholo made his test debut for the All Blacks in 2015 and was a member of the 2015 Rugby World Cup-winning team. A former New Zealand under-20 rep, Naholo has played in five Sevens World Series tournaments, and featured in Gordon Tietjens' squad which won the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Naholo earned himself a Blues contract after a superb ITM Cup season in 2012. Starting on the wing, he became a regular try-scoring threat. At provincial level, he began his career with Wanganui before making the switch to Taranaki in 2011. He was also part of the Highlanders team that won the 2015 Super Rugby title. Playing career Early career At just 18, Naholo was playing provincial r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Try (rugby)
A try is a way of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area (on or behind the goal line). Rugby union and league differ slightly in defining "grounding the ball" and the "in-goal" area. In rugby union a try is worth 5 points, and in rugby league a try is worth 4 points. The term "try" comes from "try at goal", signifying that grounding the ball originally only gave the attacking team the opportunity to try to score with a kick at goal. A try is analogous to a touchdown in American and Canadian football, with the major difference being that a try requires the ball be simultaneously touching the ground and an attacking player, whereas a touchdown merely requires that the ball enter the airspace above the "end zone" while in the possession of an opposing player. In both codes of rugby, the term ''touch down'' formally refers only to grounding the ball by the defensive team in their in-goal. A t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Westpac Stadium
Wellington Regional Stadium (commercially known as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situated close to major transport facilities (such as Wellington railway station) north of the CBD. It was built on reclaimed railway land, which was surplus to requirements. The stadium also serves as a large-capacity venue for concerts and is known colloquially as "The Cake Tin". History The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and was the first bowl stadium built in New Zealand. It was built to replace Athletic Park, which was no longer considered adequate for international events due to its location and state of disrepair. The stadium was also built to provide a larger-capacity venue for One Day International cricket matches, due to the Basin Reserve ground losing such matches to larger stadiums in other parts of the count ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hurricanes (rugby Union)
The Hurricanes ( ; ; formerly the Wellington Hurricanes) is a New Zealand professional men's 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 Rugby Football Union, East Coast, Hawke's Bay Rugby Union, Hawke's Bay, Horowhenua-Kapiti Rugby Football Union, Horowhenua Kapiti, Manawatu Rugby Union, Manawatū, Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union, Poverty Bay, Taranaki Rugby Football Union, Taranaki, Wairarapa Bush Rugby Football Union, Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui Rugby Football Union, Wanganui and Wellington Rugby Football Union, Wellington unions. They currently play at Wellington Regional Stadium, Sky Stadium (formerly named Westpac Stadium), having previously played at the now-defunct Athletic Park (Wellington), 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 y ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crusaders (rugby Union)
The Crusaders (; formerly Canterbury Crusaders) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in the competition's history and have won a total of 14 titles (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023, as well as two regionalised Super Rugby titles in 2020 and 2021). Formed in 1996 to represent the upper South Island of New Zealand in the Super 12, the Crusaders represent the Buller, Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, Tasman and West Coast provincial Rugby Unions. Their main home ground since 2012 is Rugby League Park (known for sponsorship reasons as Apollo Projects Stadium). They formerly played out of Jade Stadium prior to it being damaged beyond repair in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The Crusaders struggled in the first season of the Super 12, 1996, finishing last. Their performance improved in 1997 and the team finishe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand, who defeated France national rugby union team, France 8–7 in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, final. The defending champions, South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia national rugby union team, Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event (following New Zealand in 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1987 and South Africa in 1995 Rugby World Cup, 1995). It was the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games, 1992 Crick ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2012 Super Rugby Season
The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the 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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ... competition, an annual rugby union competition that involves teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in its 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Bank, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Super Rugby in South Africa. Including its past incarnations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 17th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The conference games took place every weekend from 24 February until 14 July (with a three-week break between rounds 15 and 16 for 2012 mid-year rugby test series, international matches), followed by the fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown () is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is the seat and largest town in the Queenstown-Lakes District. The town located on the northwestern edge of Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has views of nearby mountains such as The Remarkables, Cecil Peak, Walter Peak (New Zealand), Walter Peak and just above the town, Ben Lomond (Otago), Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill. Queenstown is known for its tourism businesses, especially adventure and ski tourism. Toponymy ''Tāhuna'', the Māori-language, ''te reo'' name for Queenstown, means 'shallow bay'. There are various Apocrypha (fiction), apocryphal accounts of how Queenstown gained its name, of which the following appears to be the most likely: There was then a public meeting to name the ''township on the lake'' in January 1863 (probably the weekend of the 3rd and 4th) in which the town was officially given the name of ''Queenstown'' in re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Invercargill
Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southland regions of New Zealand, region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains to the east of the Ōreti River, Ōreti or New River some north of Bluff, New Zealand, Bluff, which is the southernmost town in the South Island. It sits amid rich farmland that is bordered by large areas of conservation land and marine reserves, including Fiordland National Park covering the south-west corner of the South Island and the Catlins coastal region. Many streets in the city, especially in the centre and main shopping district, are named after rivers in Scotland. These include the main streets River Dee, Aberdeenshire, Dee and River Tay, Tay, as well as those named after the River Tweed, Tweed, River Forth, Forth, River Tyne ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |