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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.
The Ulster Schools' Challenge Cup is an annual competition involving schools affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The Schools' Cup has the distinction of being the world's second-oldest rugby competition, having been competed for every year since 1876. The trophy itself is a three-handled silver cup with a plinth mounted on a large shield.
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.
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is Queen's University, the institution pioneered Belfast's first programme of collegiate education. Locally referred to as Inst, the modern school educates boys from ages 11 to 18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school occupies an 18-acre site in the centre of the city on which its first buildings were erected.
The Medallion Shield is an annual rugby union competition involving schools affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The competition is open to all schools within Ulster, but only schools from within Northern Ireland currently enter, with no entries from schools situated in the three Ulster counties within the Republic of Ireland.
Rugby union is a popular team sport on the island of Ireland, organised on an all-Ireland basis, including players and teams from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), was founded in 1879, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland).
Belfast Harlequins is a multi-sports club located off the Malone Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club name provides the overall umbrella for rugby union, men's and ladies' hockey, and squash. The club is associated on and off the field with Methodist College Belfast (MCB).
The Ulster Senior League, currently known as the Ulster Rugby Premiership, is a rugby union competition for senior clubs in the Irish province of Ulster. It was formed by the then Northern Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union in October 1890. It has traditionally being ranked second in importance to the Ulster Senior Cup. It has declined in importance due to the formation of the All-Ireland League and growth in importance of the Heineken Cup.
Bryn Cunningham is an Irish rugby union administrator and former player. He played fullback for Ulster, making 150 appearances between 1997 and 2010, and was the team's Player of the Year in 2002–2003. Since 2014 he has been responsible for player recruitment at Ulster, initially as Team Manager, later as Operations Director.
Matt McCullough is a former Irish rugby union player, who played in the second row for Ulster and Ireland
Roger Wilson is an Irish former rugby union player, who played at number eight for Ulster, Northampton Saints and Ireland. Since retiring in 2017, he has worked in the United States, coaching American football players in rugby tackling techniques.
Darren Cave is a retired professional Irish rugby union player who played centre for Ulster, sharing the province's appearance record with Andrew Trimble and Rob Herring with 229, and won eleven caps for Ireland.
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.
Craig Gilroy is an Irish rugby union player who played wing for Ulster, and a former Ireland international. He was Ulster's player of the year in 2014–15, and was named in the Pro12 Dream Team twice.
David Patrick Lindsay James "Paddy" Jackson is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland who plays for Lyon OU; in the Top 14, in France. He primarily plays at fly-half and previously played for Irish provincial club Ulster in the Pro12, as well as for French club Perpignan and most recently Gallagher Premiership side London Irish.
William Iain Henderson is an 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 and 2023.
Stuart McCloskey is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland, who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team.
Nathan Doak is an Irish rugby union player who plays scrum-half for Ulster in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
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.
References
- ↑ "Event marks proud chapter in Belfast Boys' Model School's sporting history". News Letter . 30 September 2021.
- ↑ "Frank Wilson explains why Boys Model 1971 Schools' Cup 'utopia' tops even Ulster and Ireland honours". Belfast Telegraph . 6 October 2021.
- ↑ "Frank joins rugby's elite". News-Letter. 1 March 1978.
- ↑ "Three Cheers for CI". Ireland's Saturday Night . 6 May 1978.