The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for their international success, the All Blacks have often been regarded as one of the most successful sports teams in history.
Cameron Michael Henderson GibsonMBE is a former rugby union international player who represented Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
John William Smit, OIS, is a South African former professional rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the Springbok rugby union 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.
Ivor Egwad Jones CBE was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a back-row forward, mainly at flanker, for Llanelli and won 19 caps for Wales, three of them as captain.
Mark Sugden was an Irish rugby union player and rugby author. An outstanding scrum half in the late 1920s and early 30s, he was captain in the 1931 season when Ireland beat England for the third successive time by a margin of a single point. His main claim to fame as a player is that he is credited with developing the dummy pass. He also played cricket for Ireland.
Maurice Joseph Lawson Turnbull was a Welsh cricketer who played in nine Test matches for the England cricket team between 1930 and 1936.
Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club ("GKT") is the name given to the modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having all been founded in the nineteenth century. The teams from Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital were the first to merge following the union of their respective Medical Departments. When King's College Hospital also merged in 1999 the King's College Hospital Rugby Football Club opted to remain separate and in so doing became an open rugby club that no longer represented the Hospital Medics. GKT is notable for having been part of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, and across its joint history has produced many international players.
The Invincibles was a nickname given to the 1924–25 New Zealand national team which toured the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Canada. The team was captained by Cliff Porter, and numbered among its top players George Nēpia and brothers Cyril and Maurice Brownlie. During the test against England Cyril Brownlie was sent off by the Welsh referee Albert Freethy, the first player to be sent off from a test.
Broughton Rangers were one of the twenty-one rugby clubs which met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, in 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. They were originally based in Broughton, Salford, but in 1933 moved to Gorton, Manchester to play at the Belle Vue Stadium, and were renamed Belle Vue Rangers in 1946. The club folded in 1955.
Robert Hiller is a former England international rugby union player.
Kenneth William Kennedy was an Irish rugby union player who played hooker for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
Air Marshal Sir George Robert Beamish, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force from the Second World War to his retirement in the late 1950s. Prior to the Second World War, while Beamish was in the RAF, he was a keen rugby union player, playing for Leicester and being capped 26 times for Ireland and was selected for the 1930 British Lions tour. He was also the chairman of the RAF Rugby Union and an Air Force rugby selector.
Jack Bassett was a Welsh international rugby union full back who played club rugby for Penarth. He won 15 caps for Wales and was selected for the 1930 British Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He captained the Welsh team on nine occasions.
Thomas Ellis Jones-Davies was a Welsh physician and international rugby union centre.
Alfred Nolan Fell was a New Zealand-born international rugby union player for Scotland as a member of Edinburgh University RFC.
Major-General William Brooke Purdon was an Irish soldier, physician and medical administrator. Towards the end of his life he was a representative of the Northern Ireland Government in London and for four years was an Honorary Surgeon to the King. In his youth Purdon was a rugby footballer of some note, representing several Irish clubs and was selected to play international rugby for Ireland on three occasions in 1906.
David Humphreys MBE is an Irish former 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 Director of Performance Operations with the England and Wales Cricket Board. Since June 2024 he has been Performance Director of the IRFU.
Frank Douglas Prentice was an English rugby union player and administrator who played 239 games for Leicester Tigers between 1923 and 1931, was captain of the 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia and served as Secretary of the Rugby Football Union between 1947 and 1962.
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.
Noel Joseph Henderson was a rugby union player from Northern Ireland, who played in the centre position. Henderson played club rugby with North of Ireland F.C., was capped forty times for Ireland, and was a member of the British and Irish Lions team that toured in 1950.
