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The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches while Australia hosted 11 matches. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who were the strong favourites and won all their matches comfortably. New Zealand defeated France 29–9 in the final at Eden Park in Auckland. The New Zealand team was captained by David Kirk and included such rugby greats as Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan, Grant Fox and Michael Jones. Wales finished third, and Australia fourth, after conceding crucial tries in the dying seconds of both their semi-final against France and the third-place play-off against Wales.
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", numbered 16–23. Players are not restricted to a single position, although they generally specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that play multiple positions are called "utility players".
Keith Wood is an Irish former international rugby union player who played as a hooker for Ireland, the British & Irish Lions, Garryowen, Harlequins and Munster. He was nicknamed 'The Raging Potato' because of his bald head, and as 'Uncle Fester' due to his resemblance to the character in The Addams Family. Wood is considered by many to have been the best hooker in rugby union during his era, winning the inaugural World Rugby Player of the Year award, and to be among the best hookers in the history of the game.
A rugby league team consists of 13 players on the field, with 4 substitutes on the bench. Each of the 13 players is assigned a position, normally with a standardised number, which reflects their role in attack and defence, although players can take up any position at any time.
John William Smit, OIS, is a former South African rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the South Africa national team, and led the team to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He played most of his senior career as a hooker, but also won 13 caps as a prop, where he had also played for South Africa's under-21 team. He retired from international rugby following the 2011 Rugby World Cup as the most-capped South African player ever, with 111 appearances.
Tommy Bishop is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for Blackpool Borough, Barrow and St Helens in the English Championship, and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia. He also represented Great Britain on several occasions during his career, captaining them on two occasions, his position of choice was as a scrum-half.
Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the scrum-half. Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional attacking 'back-line' play, the five-eighth would receive the ball from the scrum half, who is the first receiver of the ball from the dummy-half or hooker following a tackle.
Mark Aston is the head coach of Sheffield Eagles in the Betfred Championship. He is an English rugby league coach, and former rugby league scrum-half who spent the majority of his playing career with Sheffield Eagles. He also had short spells with Featherstone Rovers and Bramley, and won one cap for Great Britain in 1991. In 1998, he was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy after helping Sheffield win the Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium with a 17–8 victory against Wigan Warriors.
Jeff Probyn is an English former Rugby Union player.
Thomas Sydney Griffin was an Australian rugby union player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Alan Tomes is a former Scotland international rugby union player.
Steve Nash is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s. A Great Britain and England national representative and scrum-half, he played his club rugby for Featherstone Rovers, winning a Challenge Cup title with them and being one of the inaugural inductees into the club's hall of fame. He also played for the Salford club and at representative level for Yorkshire. Nash later coached the Mansfield Marksman club for a season in 1989.
Brian Edgar was an English rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Workington RFC, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain (captain), and England, and at club level for Workington Town, as a prop or second-row, i.e. number 8 or 10, or, 11 or 12, during the era of contested scrums.
Between October 1966 and March 1967 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. Under the captaincy of John Thornett they toured UK, Ireland, France and Canada winning nineteen matches, losing fourteen and drawing three. At one stage they failed to win in four successive matches although in the Test match against England they gave the home side its heaviest defeat in 16 years. The tour marked the climax of the successful "Thornett Era" of Australian Rugby, buoyed by the leadership skills of skipper John Thornett and the outstanding abilities of greats of the game like Ken Catchpole, Peter Johnson and Rob Heming. Dick Marks and Peter Crittle also toured and would later become among the most influential administrators of Australian rugby.
James Hanson is an Australian rugby union player for playing as a hooker. He recently played for English Premiership Rugby side Gloucester
Arthur Brian Erby was a rugby union player who represented Australia.
Francis Wallace Meagher was a rugby union player who represented Australia.
John Wylie P. Breckenridge was a rugby union player who represented Australia.
The 2014 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2014 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 15th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Including the competition's previous incarnations as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship, it was the 120th edition of the tournament.
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