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The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where adult men's Irish rugby union international matches are played. In addition, the Union also owns the Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick and a number of grounds in provincial areas that have been rented to clubs.
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.
Leinster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Jonathan Charles Bell is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He played centre for Ulster, with whom he won the 1998–99 Heineken Cup, Northampton and Ireland, and has coached at Ulster, Gloucester, Glasgow Warriors and Worcester Warriors. As of the 2022–23 season he is defence coach at Ulster.
Rugby union on the island of Ireland is a very popular team sport. Rugby union is organised on an all-Ireland basis with one national team, governing body and league for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Founded in 1879, the Irish Rugby Football Union is the third-oldest rugby union after England and Scotland, and was formed two years prior to the Welsh Rugby Union.
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. 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 represent Ireland.
Justin Michael Fitzpatrick is an Irish former rugby union player who most recently was head coach of the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for London Irish, Castres Olympique, Dungannon RFC & Ulster. He had also held several other coaching positions, including head coach of Dungannon RFC and the Seattle Saracens, and assistant coach of the United States national rugby union team.
Patrick Wallace is an Ireland rugby union player who played for Ireland's national team and played for Ulster. A native of Belfast, he attended Rockport School and Campbell College. He was a member of the Ireland U19 side that lifted the U19 World Cup in 1998. He was a member of the Ireland Grand Slam winning team of 2009.
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.
Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He split his club career between hometown club Galwegians and Lansdowne in Dublin, starting and finishing his career in Galway, with a stint playing with Lansdowne in the 1990s. Elwood earned 35 caps for Ireland, scoring 296 points for the side. He played 168 games for Connacht scoring 1,152 points. He was the first Connacht player to make 100 appearances for the side, while his points tally remained a record until being surpassed by Jack Carty in 2023. Elwood also made a single appearance for international invitational side the Barbarians before being capped by Ireland.
The 1999 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 1998–99 Heineken Cup, the fourth season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 30 January 1999 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. The match was contested by Ulster of Ireland and Colomiers of France. Ulster won the match 21–6.
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
Jordi Murphy is an Irish international rugby player. He plays for provincial and United Rugby Championship side Ulster as a loose forward, and also plays for the Ireland national rugby union team.
Maurice Field is a former Irish rugby union international player who played as a centre for North of Ireland, Malone, Ulster and Ireland.
John Cooney is an Irish rugby union player who plays scrum-half for Irish provincial side Ulster in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup, having previously played for Leinster and Connacht, and has eleven caps for Ireland. Since joining Ulster in 2017, he has been nominated for EPCR European Player of the Year once, been named in the Pro14 Dream Team four times, and been Ulster's player of the year twice.
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.
The 1997–98 season was Ulster Rugby's third season under professionalism, during which they competed in the Heineken Cup and the IRFU Interprovincial Championship.
In Ulster Rugby's fourth season since the advent of professionalism, they were champions of the Heineken Cup, and finished second in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship.
The 1999–2000 season was Ulster Rugby's fifth season under professionalism, and Harry Williams's second season as head coach. They competed in the Heineken Cup and the IRFU Interprovincial Championship.
References
- ↑ "Gary William Longwell". ESPN scrum.
- ↑ "Ulster crowned Euro champs". BBC. 30 January 1999. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ↑ "Longwell set to tackle new challenge", Belfast Telegraph, 8 June 2005
