1.
Australia national rugby union team
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The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. Australia have competed in all eight Rugby World Cups, and have won the World Cup on two occasions, in 1991 beating England in the final, and in 1999 when their opponents in the final were France. Australia also lost in the final after extra time to England in the 2003 competition, Australia are governed by the Australian Rugby Union. Eleven former Australian players have been inducted into either the International Rugby Hall of Fame or the IRB Hall of Fame, three are members of the International Hall only, four are members of the IRB Hall only, and four are members of both Halls of Fame. In 1882 the Southern Rugby Football Union toured New Zealand, the New Zealand national team toured New South Wales in 1884 – defeating New South Wales in all three matches, and winning all nine matches on tour. The first tour by a British team took place in 1888, a British Isles team toured Australia and New Zealand, though no Test matches were played. Although they had representatives from all four nations, the players were drawn mainly from England. The tour was not sanctioned by the Rugby Football Union as it was organised by entrepreneurs, in 1899 the first officially sanctioned British Isles team toured Australia. Four Tests were played between Australia and the British Isles, the Australian team for the first Test match consisted of six players from Queensland and nine from New South Wales. The first Test was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and won 13–3 by Australia, the first Test between Australia and New Zealand was played on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite Australia losing 22–3, this tour improved rugbys popularity in Australia and helped to increase attendances at matches in Sydney. In 1907 the New South Wales Rugby League was formed and star player Dally Messenger left the Rugby union for the rival code, the next year the first Australian team to tour the British Isles left Sydney. Newspapers in England initially gave the team the name Rabbits, the Australian players thought this nickname derogatory and replaced it with Wallabies. Australias last Test before First World War was against New Zealand in July 1914, the war had a very negative effect on rugby union in Australia. This resulted in all but closed down in New South Wales. In Queensland regular competitions did not commence again until 1928 and this caused many players to switch to rugby league – which did not cease playing during the war. War hero Sir Edward Weary Dunlop also played for Australia before World War II and he played on the side that was the first to win the Bledisloe Cup. The first Test to following World War Two was played at Carisbrook, Australia did not win on the three match tour, beaten 20–0 by New Zealand Maori, and then losing 14–10 to the All Blacks the following week
2.
New Zealand national rugby union team
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The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly called the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in mens rugby union, which is regarded as the countrys national sport. The side has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the tournament in 1987. They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches, since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks are statistically the best side to have played the game, New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the fourteen times in the competitions twenty-one-year history. As of the end of 2016 competition, they hold the Bledisloe Cup, which is contested annually with Australia, New Zealand have achieved a Grand Slam four times –1978,2005,2008 and 2010. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, All Black coaches have won World Rugby Coach of the Year nine times since the awards 2001 launch. The teams first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney, the following year they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game tour of Europe and North America in 1905, New Zealands early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, the team perform a haka – a Māori challenge or posture dance – before each match. The haka performed has traditionally been Te Rauparahas Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango is often performed, the first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides – the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales, a privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the only played provincial sides. The British players were mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales. The first officially sanctioned New Zealand side toured New South Wales in 1893, the following year New Zealand played its first home international game, losing 8–6 to New South Wales. The teams first true test match occurred against Australia on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of over 30,000 spectators, a representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in 1905
3.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
4.
Rugby union positions
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In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards and seven backs. In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players on the bench, players are not restricted to any single position on the field, although they generally specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that specialise in three positions are called utility players. The scrum, however, must consist of eight players, the front row, the row. The players outside the scrum are called the backs, scrum-half, fly-half, the backs play behind the forwards and are usually more lightly built and faster. Successful backs are skilful at passing and kicking, full-backs need to be good defenders and kickers, and have the ability to catch a kicked ball. The wingers are usually among the fastest players in a team, the centres key attacking roles are to try and break through the defensive line and link successfully with wingers. The fly-half can be a kicker and generally directs the backline. The scrum-half retrieves the ball from the forwards and needs a quick, forwards compete for the ball in scrums and line-outs and are generally bigger and stronger than the backs. Props push in the scrums, while the hooker tries to hook the ball, locks are tall and jump for the ball at the line-out after the hooker has thrown it in. The flankers and number eight should be the first forwards to a tackle, there are a maximum of 15 players from each team on a rugby field at one time. The players position at the start of the game is indicated by the number on the back of their shirts,1 to 15, the positions are divided into two main categories, forwards and backs. In international matches, there are eight substitutes that can replace a team member. The substitutes, numbered 16 to 23, can take up the position of the player they replace or the on-field players can be shuffled to make room for this player in another position. Typically, the replacement players will have a number that corresponds with their intended replacement position with the numbers from 16 to 20 being forwards and 21 to 23 being backs. There are no personal squad numbers and a players position. Players can also change positions with players on the field during the match, common examples are the fly-half playing the full-backs position in defence or a prop taking the hookers position at line-outs. Different positions on the field suit certain skill sets and body types, each position has certain roles to play on the field, although most have been established through convention rather than law
5.
Dave Gallaher
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Under Gallahers leadership the Originals won 34 out of 35 matches over the course of tour, including legs in France and North America, the New Zealanders scored 976 points and conceded only 59. Before returning home he co-wrote the classic rugby text The Complete Rugby Footballer with his vice-captain Billy Stead, Gallaher retired as a player after the 1905–06 tour and took up coaching and selecting, he was a selector for both Auckland and New Zealand for most of the following decade. Born in Ramelton, Ireland, Gallaher migrated to New Zealand with his family as a small child, after moving to Auckland, in 1895 he joined Ponsonby RFC and was selected for his province in 1896. In 1901–02 he served with the New Zealand Contingent in the Anglo-Boer War and he first appeared on the New Zealand national team for their unbeaten tour of Australia in 1903, and played in New Zealands first ever Test match, against Australia in Sydney. The Originals Gallaher captained during 1905–06 helped to cement rugby as New Zealands national sport, during the First World War, Gallaher enlisted in the New Zealand Division to fight in Europe. He was killed in 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium and he has since been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, International Rugby Hall of Fame, and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. James was a widower who had married Maria in 1866, a year after the death of his first wife, James had two children from his first marriage, and David was the seventh from his marriage to Maria. The couple had three children after David, but of their ten offspring, three died in infancy. The couples other offspring were, Joseph, Isabella, James, Maria, Jane, Thomas, William, Oswald, David was baptised as a Presbyterian in the First Ramelton Meeting House on 8 January 1874. After the struggling in his business in Ramelton, James decided to emigrate with his family to New Zealand as part of George Vesey Stewarts Katikati Special Settlement scheme. In May 1878 the Gallaghers – minus the sick James Patrick who at eight weeks old was too weak to make the trip – sailed from Belfast on the Lady Jocelyn for Katikati in the Bay of Plenty. On arriving in New Zealand, the family altered their surname to Gallaher in an effort to reduce confusion over its spelling and pronunciation. The Gallaher couple and their six children arrived in Auckland after a three-month voyage and it had been hoped that James would be employed as the agent for the Donegal Knitting Company in New Zealand, which was to be established by Lord George Augusta Hill. But Hill died unexpectedly and his successor did not support the initiative, in January 1886 David spent a week in Auckland hospital undergoing surgery to treat stunted muscles in his left leg which had led to curvature of his spine. His mother became sick that year, and in 1887 lost her teaching position. His mothers condition worsened and she died of cancer on 9 September 1887, with a father in his seventies, the 13-year-old David was compelled to leave school so he could help his brothers to support the family. He took a job with a stock and station agent. The older Gallaher children had to work to prevent the authorities from putting their younger siblings up for adoption
6.
Billy Stead
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Billy Stead, born John William Stead, was a rugby union player born in Invercargill who played for New Zealand, the All Blacks, on their 1905–06 tour. Stead also played provincially for Southland, and later coached various teams, including Southland, a bootmaker by trade, he also co-authored The Complete Rugby Footballer with Dave Gallaher, and was a columnist for the Southland Times, and New Zealand Truth. Billy Stead was born in Invercargill on 18 September 1877, neither Steads primary nor secondary school did much to encourage students to play rugby, but he did manage to get a place in the school team after debuting as a late injury replacement. After joining the club he played for their second and third teams for a couple of years before earning promotion to their side in 1896. He played at First five-eighths for the side, and in his first season earned selected for his province, Stead first played representative rugby for Southland in 1896. He was only 18 at the time, and continued to play for the province until 1908, after representing the South Island in 1903, he was selected for the All Blacks that year. Although he did tour with the team to Australia, he did not play in a Test match until the following year, in his first Test against Great Britain in 1904, Stead captained the side. He was again selected for the All Blacks the following year for their northern hemisphere tour, although he did not participate in the preliminary tour of Australia due to work commitments, Stead did play against Canterbury and then Wellington for the All Blacks. Dave Gallaher was named as the captain, with Stead as vice-captain. On the voyage to Britain, both resigned as captain and vice-captain respectively. They had both been appointed by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, but believed that the players should have a say in the choice of captain. Stead participated in 29 of the Originals matches, and although he only scored 11 tries for the team, jimmy Hunter, who scored 44 tries on tour, said to him at the Originals 50 year reunion, Without you I was nothing. Stead was considered a tactician, and him missing the teams Wales Test was considered a major factor in their only loss. Before the New Zealand squad left Britain, English publisher Henry Leach asked Stead and Gallaher to author a book on rugby tactics and they finished the task in under a fortnight and were each paid £50. Entitled The Complete Rugby Footballer, the book was 322 pages long and included chapters on tactics and play and it was mainly authored by Stead, a bootmaker, with Gallaher contributing most of the diagrams. Gallaher almost certainly made some contributions to the text, including sections on Auckland club rugby, the book showed the All Blacks tactics and planning to be superior to others of the time, and according to Matt Elliott is marvellously astute, it received universal acclaim on its publication. According to a 2011 assessment by ESPNs Graham Jenkins, it one of the most influential books produced in the realms of rugby literature. After the Originals tour, Steads next All Blacks match was not until 1908 when he captained them twice against the Anglo-Welsh, following the 1908 season, Stead went into semi-retirement, but was persuaded to play for the New Zealand Māori
7.
Wellington Rugby Football Union
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The Wellington Rugby Football Union are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington. The main stadium is Westpac Stadium which is located in Wellington, the union also represents the Wellington Lions, which is professional rugby union team who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup competition and contest for the Ranfurly Shield. Before 2006 the Lions competed in the National Provincial Championship, players from Wellington who are eligible to play in the Super Rugby generally play for the Hurricanes, and traditionally contribute the core of the Hurricanes squad. This position is due to the Wellington basing of the Hurricanes. The reorganisation of provincial rugby in 2006 brought all three provinces into the ITM Cup, the senior Wellington representative team, the Wellington Lions play in the ITM Cup, which replaced the National Provincial Championship in 2006 as the Air New Zealand Cup. The Lions have won the competition four times since its inception in 1976. The titles came in 1978,1981,1986 and most recently in 2000 and their colours are gold and black as shown on the Lions jersey. The Lions play their games at the Westpac Stadium, previously playing at Athletic Park until 1999. In 2014 Wellington lost a record nine straight losses and were relegated to the ITM Cup Championship 2015, the Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o Wood, is perhaps the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand domestic rugby. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, the holding union must defend the Shield in home matches, and if a challenger defeats them, they become the new holder of the Shield. Wellington won the first ever shield challenge winning it from Auckland in 1904 and it wouldnt be until 1914 when Wellington would get the shield back by winning it off Taranaki. This marked the longest time Wellington have held the shield successfully defending it for 15 matches until losing it again to Southland in 1920 and they beat Southland a year later to regain the shield before promptly losing to Hawkes Bay after only 2 matches. Wellington held the shield for one match in 1930 and after losing it to Canterbury they would not regain the shield until 1953. Up until the 1980s Wellington had short stints defending the shield, Wellington lost the shield to Canterbury on 29 August, losing 36–14 at Westpac Stadium. Canterbury then held the shield for 4 defences before losing to Southland on 22 October and it is currently held by Waikato who defeated Hawkes Bay on 9 October 2015 by 36–30. Wellington has a team that are part of the Womens Provincial Championship. Wellington Pride is the team aside from Auckland to have won the Womens Championship. Wellington has played a number of times against touring rugby teams
8.
Taranaki Rugby Football Union
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The Taranaki Rugby Football Union are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Taranaki. The main stadium is Yarrow Stadium which is located in New Plymouth, the union also represents the Taranaki Bulls, which is professional rugby union team who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup competition and contest for the Ranfurly Shield. Before 2006 the Bulls competed in the National Provincial Championship, on 25 October 2014 Taranaki won their first ITM Cup, defeating Tasman 36–32 in New Plymouth. This was the first time a team from outside the population centres had won the premier New Zealand domestic rugby competition since Manawatu in 1980. Taranaki has won the NPC second division more than any other Union in New Zealand, Taranaki also plays for the Ryan Wheeler memorial trophy, a trophy played for annually with the Waikato Rugby Union. In 2013, Taranaki changed its Super Rugby allegiance to the Chiefs, after severing ties with the Hurricanes, on May 31,1889 the Hawera club convened a meeting in Hawera, of delegates from the Hawera, Waimate, New Plymouth, Okaiawa, and Eltham clubs. This meeting agreed to form the Taranaki Union, by the turn of the century, Taranaki R. F. U. had produced eleven All Blacks, six of whom toured Great Britain in 1905. Taranaki currently plays in the professional Mitre 10 Cup, which it won in 2014, coastal Rugby and Sports Club, Merger of the Okato Rugby Football Club, the Rahotu Rugby Football Club and the Opunake Rugby Football Club. Eltham Kaponga Rugby Football Club, Merger of the Eltham Rugby Football Club, the Taranaki Rugby Referees Association has the backing of sponsor Farmlands. Each year the TRRA names a Top Five, Top Five after the 2016 season is, Cameron Stone Richard Kelly Will Johnston Max OLeary Trent Mischefski Paul Williams was not considered due to his Super Rugby commitments. These five referees are involved as assistant referees and substitution controllers at the local Mitre 10 Cup, Super Rugby and they are also involved in local development and age-group representative matches as New Zealand Rugby Union have given most of the representative appointments back to the local provinces. The Dean Cup is believed to be the oldest competition trophy still being played for in the sport of rugby union. In 2003 when Whangamomona challenged Strathmore for the cup and the game was played at Yarrow Stadium on 19 April as a curtain raiser to the Hurricanes versus Highlanders Super 12 match. Strathmore were victorious, on occasion, holding on to defend the cup. This is the first time that the Dean Cup has been played for outside of the Eastern Districts. The T. R. F. U. has several teams under its control and their top professional team, the Bulls is coached by Colin Cooper and captained by midfielder Charlie Ngatai. Their traditional colors are amber and black hoops with white shorts and they are also sponsored by Port Taranaki. The Taranaki squad for the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup was announced on 2 August, samoan international Isaia Tuifua was listed as injury cover
9.
Jimmy Duncan (rugby union)
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James Duncan was a New Zealand rugby union footballer, coach and referee. He was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and he appeared for Otago before being selected to play for New Zealand in 1897. He captained New Zealand for the first time against Wellington in 1901 and he captained New Zealand in its first Test, against Australia, in 1903. That was also his last game for New Zealand, Duncan then moved to coaching, coaching New Zealand in its first home test, against Great Britain, in 1904. In 1905 he was selected to coach the New Zealand team to tour the Northern Hemisphere and his appointment as coach was unpopular, and most of the coaching ended up being done by team members Billy Stead and Dave Gallaher instead. In 1908 he refereed a Test between New Zealand and the Anglo-Welsh, Duncan is credited with naming the position five-eight, as there was already positions half-back and three-quarters, he came up with the name according to the fraction between them. All Blacks The Original All Blacks Jimmy Duncan at AllBlacks. com
10.
Billy Wallace
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William Joseph Billy Wallace was a New Zealand rugby union footballer and foundryman. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks, Wallace won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia. In total he played 51 matches for the All Blacks including 11 internationals, following the death of Loftus Armstrong in 1959, Wallace held the distinction of being the oldest living All Black. Wallace died in Wellington in 1972 and was buried at Karori Cemetery
11.
Athletic Park, Wellington
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Athletic Park was a sports ground used mostly for rugby matches in Wellington, New Zealand. The ground was also the home of New Zealands principal knockout football tournament. It has now been demolished and replaced with a retirement village and it was famous for a very steep grandstand which used to sway a little in the regular strong winds that Wellington is famous for. The stand was unsafe as Wellington is very susceptible to earthquakes, throughout the 1980s several proposals were made to modernise the grounds, but instead a decision was made to build a new stadium. Regardless of Westpac Stadiums location to transport and modern features, it has lacked the atmosphere. This could be due to Athletic Park being Rugby specific, which brought spectators close to the action, Westpac Stadiums flaw of attempting to be both a cricket stadium and rugby stadium has led to dwindling numbers of supporters showing up to rectangular sport in Wellington. The ground hosted many famous Test matches involving the All Blacks including the 43 -6 win over Australia in 1996, Athletic Park also played host to other non-sports events, including a visit by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and various rock concerts. KISS performed a concert in 1980 as part of their Unmasked Tour, in 1983, David Bowie and Dire Straits performed at Athletic Park, with further performances by Dire Straits in 1986 and 1991. Elton John performed 2 concerts there, the first on the 10 March 1982 as part of his Jump Up, Tour and the second was on the 22 February 1984 as part of his Too Low for Zero tour. Eurythmics performed on 28 January 1987 as part of their Revenge Tour, michael Jackson planned to perform a concert on 2 December 1987 during his Bad World Tour, but the performance was cancelled. Those attending chanted for the return of the band, New Zealands Street Talk as the music deteriorated
12.
Duncan McGregor
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Duncan McGregor, was a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks and later converted to rugby league when he went on the 1907 New Zealand league tour of Britain and Australia. He stayed in Britain following the 1907–08 tour, and opened a store as well as playing for Merthyr Tydfil RLFC. He returned to New Zealand after five years and continued to be involved in league as an administrator. Duncan McGregor was the son of Alexander McGregor and his wife Barbara McGregor, duncan was born on 16 July 1881 at Kaiapoi. His father Alexander McGregor was a worker, working for the New Zealand Railways Department. HIs father, Alexander McGregor arrived in New Zealand on in and his mother, Barbara Gudex, along with her brother MIchael Gudex left Kindenheim, Germany in 1866 and arrived at Lyttelton on the Mermaid, on 5 January 1867. McGregor made his rugby union debut playing for Canterbury in 1900 when he was just 19. In 1902 he had a season, scoring 17 tries for Canterbury and 2 for South Island in just 10 first class matches. McGregor was subsequently selected for the 1903 New Zealand rugby union tour of Australia and won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia. He transferred to Wellington in 1904 due to his employment taking him to Petone, McGregor represented Wellington and the North Island and retained his place in the All Blacks in 1904 and in 1905 was selected for the All Blacks tour of Great Britain. While on tour, the British press dubbed him the Flying Scotsman in recognition of his speed, while on tour he scored four times in one match in a Test match against the English. In all first class rugby union McGregor scored 66 tries in just 59 games, in 1907 McGregor joined the professional New Zealand team that toured Great Britain and Australia, this team played the sport now known as rugby league. He was a supporter of the tour from the outset and was one of the tours selectors. However, while on tour, he could not consistently make the first team, McGregor only ended up playing in one of the eight test matches on tour. He opted not to return to New Zealand, instead staying behind in Great Britain to open a store in Gloucestershire. In 1912 he suffered an injury and retired from the game. After returning to New Zealand McGregor stayed involved with rugby league, becoming a referee, in 1920 he was made a life member of the New Zealand Rugby League
Australia
New Zealand
