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The Sharks is a South African professional rugby union team based in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. They compete internationally in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR Challenge Cup, having competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. They are centred on the Sharks union, also based in Durban and drawing players from all of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The team plays its home matches at the Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium in Durban.
The Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also involves sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. They competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. They have won one major international championship, the 2021-22 United Rugby Championship, and seven South African 'conference' titles, five in the South African Conference of Super Rugby, and two in the URC equivalent, the South African Shield.
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999.
Percival Colin Montgomery OIS is a Namibian-South African former professional rugby union player. When he ended his international career in August 2008, he held the all-time records for both caps and points for South Africa's national team, known as the Springboks.
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Ruan Pienaar is a retired South African professional rugby union player who played either as a scrum-half or as a fly-half for the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup.
The Sharks are a South Africa rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. The Sharks are the current representative team of the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union and they draw some of their players from the KwaZulu-Natal Province. For most of their history, the team was known simply as 'Natal', with a nickname of 'The Banana Boys' or Piesangboere in Afrikaans, until the mid-1990s when they were re-branded as the Sharks.
Christoffel Johannes van der Linde is a South African former professional rugby union player and currently the scrum coach at French Top 14 side Montpellier. He played first class rugby between 2002 and 2015 in South Africa, Ireland, England and France and also made 75 test matches for South Africa, which included winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup. His usual playing position was prop.
Andy Ward is a New Zealand-born former rugby union player, who played flanker professionally for Ulster and internationally for Ireland.
John Plumtree is a professional rugby union coach and former first class provincial rugby player.
David Humphreys MBE is a former Irish rugby union player. He played 72 times for Ireland, scoring 560 points, including 6 tries, and at the time of his international retirement was Ireland's most capped out-half. He played his club rugby for London Irish and Ulster, winning the 1998-99 Heineken Cup, the 2004 Celtic Cup and the 2005–06 Celtic League with the latter. Since retiring as a player he has served as director of rugby for Ulster and Gloucester, as a performance consultant with the Georgian Rugby Union, and is currently Director of Performance Operations with the England and Wales Cricket Board. He will succeed David Nucifora as the IRFU Performance Director in 2024.
Steven Kitshoff is a South African professional rugby player who currently plays for the Stormers. His playing position is loosehead prop. He represents the South Africa national team and has previously played for Bordeaux in the French Top 14 and Western Province in the Currie Cup. He joined Ulster for the 2023–24 season.
Eben Etzebeth is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship and the South Africa national rugby team. He made his international debut for the Springboks in 2012 and has since won more than 100 caps. His regular playing position is as a number 4 lock.
Jacobus Christo Janse van Rensburg is a South African rugby union footballer. His regular playing position is prop. He represents Grenoble in the Top 14, having previously played for the Lions and Stormers in Super Rugby, the Golden Lions and Western Province in the Currie Cup and for Bayonne in the French Top 14.
Robert Patrick Herring is a professional rugby union player who plays as a hooker for United Rugby Championship club Ulster. Born in South Africa, he represents Ireland at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.
Pieter Willem Gabriel Rossouw is a South African former professional rugby player and current coach. Rossouw played wing for Western Province in the Currie Cup and the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition. He played a total of 43 times for the Springboks, making him one of the most capped Springbok wingers after South Africa's readmission to international rugby. He was also one of South Africa's most prolific try-scoring wingers, post-isolation, with only Breyton Paulse(26) and Bryan Habana(53) scoring more tries. He is 7th on the all-time try-scoring list for the Springboks. Rossouw is currently the backline coach of the Bulls in Super rugby and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup. He was known as "Slaptjips", apparently because the sight of his running legs was like potato chips slapping together. Pieter is the older brother of Chris Rossouw, who played flyhalf for Western Province and the Free State Cheetahs.
Robert Bruce Kempson is a South African former rugby union footballer, and the Director of High Performance and interim head coach of the Southern Kings in Pro14.
Barend Johannes Janse van Rensburg is a South African professional rugby union player for the Bristol Bears in Premiership Rugby. He is a utility back that can play as a fly-half, centre or fullback.
The 2021–22 season was Ulster Rugby's 28th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's fourth season as head coach. They competed in the inaugural United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The 2001–02 season was Ulster Rugby's seventh under professionalism, and their first under head coach Alan Solomons. They competed in the Heineken Cup, the IRFU Interprovincial Championship, and the inaugural Celtic League. Flanker Andy Ward was captain.
References
- ↑ Clinton van Rensburg at ItsRugby.co.uk
- 1 2 Adam McKendry, "How unsung Clinton van Rensburg blazed trail as Ulster’s first Springbok import", Belfast Telegraph, 13 July 2024
- ↑ Barry Roche, "Munster pack most powerful of punches", Sunday Tribune, 4 October 1998
- ↑ Jim Stokes, "Bell and Ward in top gear", Belfast Telegraph, 24 October 1998
- ↑ Cinton van Rensburg at EPCRugby.com
- ↑ Kieran Rooney, "Swansea say no as Ulster lose out on van Rensburg", Irish Independent, 6 January 1999