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Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby 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.
Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender, voluntary grammar school in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural hinterland.
Andrew Trimble is a former Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland at international level.
Rory David Best is an Irish former rugby union player who was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having previously represented the Newcastle Agrics. Best earned 124 caps for Ireland, making his debut in 2005 and retiring at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, his fourth World Cup. Best is one of the most capped rugby players of all time, as well as the most-capped forward to ever represent Ireland.
Andy Ward is a New Zealand-born former rugby union player, who played flanker professionally for Ulster and internationally for Ireland.
Mark Conn McCall is an Irish professional rugby union coach and former player, who is the current director of rugby of Premiership Rugby club Saracens. Arriving as an assistant in 2009 and taking charge of the first-team in 2011, he is considered one of the greatest club managers of all time and holds the record for the most English championships won with six Premiership trophies. McCall also led Saracens to three European Rugby Champions Cup wins.
Sport in Northern Ireland plays an important role in the lives of many Northern Irish people. Most sports are organised on an all-Ireland basis, for example rugby union, Gaelic games, basketball, rugby league, hockey, and cricket, whereas others, like association football and netball are organised on a separate basis for Northern Ireland.
Coleraine Academical Institution was a voluntary grammar school for boys in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Jared Benjamin Payne is a retired rugby union centre who played for Ulster and the Ireland national team. He was a member of the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but did not play a test match. On his retirement from playing in 2018, he took over as Ulster's defence coach, a position he left at the end of the 2021-22 season. Since 2022 he has been defence coach for Clermont Auvergne.
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
William Iain Henderson is a Northern Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team, and has been selected for two tours with the British & Irish Lions. He has been the captain of Ulster since 2019, and captained Ireland in 2021.
Jack McGrath is a former Irish rugby union player who played loosehead prop. He played professionally for Leinster and Ulster and has also played international rugby for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
Ali Birch is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He played at flanker, for Ulster and Rotherham Titans professionally, and at amateur level for Dungannon RFC and City of Armagh RFC. After retiring as a player following a series of concussions in 2017, he became City of Armagh's assistant forwards coach.
Robert Patrick William 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.
Stuart McCloskey is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team.
Jacob Alexander Stockdale is a Northern Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a wing for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team.
Nick Timoney is an Irish rugby union player, who plays in the back row for Ulster and Ireland. He is regarded as a "hybrid" player, an athletic forward with the pace of a back. He was named in the 2021–22 United Rugby Championship Dream Team.
Aaron Sexton is an Irish rugby union player who plays wing or fullback for Ulster in the United Rugby Championship
The 1995–96 season was Ulster Rugby's first season under professionalism. Brian Bloomfield was in his second season as coach. 35-year-old Malone RFC centre Bill Harbinson, who first played for Ulster in 1986, was captain, in his final season before retirement from the game. They played six representative matches, defeating Griqualand West, New Zealand Federation U23 and New South Wales, and losing to a Côte Basque Select XV, the Combined Services and Edinburgh District.
The 1996–97 Ulster Rugby season was Ulster's second season under professionalism, during which they competed in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship and the Heineken Cup.
References
- ↑ "William Denis McBride".
- ↑ "Rugby Union: McBride for Irish: Armstrong faces England". Independent.co.uk . 22 October 2011.
- ↑ "Rugby Union: Ulster lose exiles for Australian test". Independent.co.uk . 22 October 2011.