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Todd Blackadder is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and professional rugby coach. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, 14 times playing a total of 25 games and 12 tests. Blackadder captained the Crusaders to three Super Rugby titles during his time with the franchise while also winning two NPC titles with Canterbury. Blackadder coached the Crusaders for 9 seasons, without winning a title.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, the governing body of rugby union for the world. It dropped the word "Football" from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013. Officially, it is an incorporated society with the name New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated.
The Fiji national rugby union team represents Fiji in men's international rugby union competes every four years at the Rugby World Cup, and their best performances were the 1987 and 2007 tournaments when they defeated Argentina and Wales respectively to reach the quarterfinals. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. Fiji also plays in the Pacific Tri-Nations, and has won the most Pacific Tri-Nations Championships of the three participating teams.
The Tonga national rugby union team represents Tonga in men's international rugby union. The team is nicknamed ʻIkale Tahi . Like their Polynesian neighbours, the Tongans start their matches with a traditional piece of performance art – the Sipi Tau. They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Samoa. The Ikale Tahi achieved a historic 19–14 victory over France in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but having lost to New Zealand and Canada, were unable to achieve what would have been their first-ever presence at the quarter-finals.
The Tonga national rugby league team represents Tonga in rugby league football. They are currently the second ranked team in the world. The team was formed to compete in the 1986 Pacific Cup, and have competed at six Rugby League World Cups, starting in 1995 and continuing consecutively until the most recent tournament. Their best result was at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, where they were semi-finalists.
Tony Eion Brown is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer, who played mainly at first five-eighth. He is an assistant coach for the Japan national rugby union team, having previously been the head coach of Otago and the Highlanders in the Super Rugby competition.
Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The men's national team, the All Blacks, is currently ranked the third best national rugby team in the world. The sport has been known in New Zealand since 1870. The top domestic competitions are the professional National Provincial Championship and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987, and hosted and won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The men have won three World Cups, tied with South Africa, the most of any other country. They are the current World Champions for Women's rugby union and in rugby sevens for men and women.
Christopher Bradley Smylie is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the scrum-half position for Taranaki in the ITM Cup. He was born in Greater Auckland and attended Massey High School. In 2002 he made his professional debut for North Harbour against Auckland in the National Provincial Championship. Smylie then went south and had one season for the Highlanders in 2006, off the back of a hugely impressive debut season for Otago in 2005. The following year he played for the New Zealand Māori and in 2007 saw him play for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, before debuting in 2009 for North Harbour in the Air New Zealand Cup.
Pita Faiva-ki-moana Alatini is a Tongan-born New Zealand rugby union footballer. Alatini is a midfield back who played in 17 tests for the All Blacks between 1999 and 2001, scoring 6 test tries.
Mosese Nasau Rauluni is a retired Fijian rugby union footballer. He usually plays at scrum half, and played for Saracens in the Guinness Premiership in England. He has played for Fiji, including captaining them. He is the younger brother of Jacob Rauluni and first cousin of Waisale Serevi.
The Buller Rugby Union (BRU) is a rugby union province based in the town of Westport, New Zealand. The Buller provincial boundary also includes other notable towns such as Reefton, Karamea, Granity, Charleston, Punakaiki and Murchison.
Dion Alan George Waller is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played for the Wellington Lions, Hurricanes, New Zealand Maori and All Blacks. He was one of the leading locks in New Zealand rugby at provincial level with great lineout attributes, but never got a real opportunity to play internationally as he left New Zealand to play in Japan.
Mark Garry 'Hammer' Hammett is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. Having represented Canterbury provincially 76 times, and the Crusaders 81 times and the All Blacks 30 times – including 29 Test matches, Hammett later went on to coach both Canterbury and Crusaders as a forwards/assistant coach. He is currently on the assistant coach of the Highlanders in Super Rugby and the Tasman Makos in the Mitre 10 Cup.
James Whitinui Joseph is a New Zealand-born Japanese former rugby union player and current rugby union coach. A flanker, Joseph represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1992 to 1995, before representing Japan in 1999. Joseph, now head coach of the Japanese national side, has coached since his retirement, coming through the ranks in New Zealand before his first national stint.
Nick Civetta is an American former professional rugby player who last played for Rugby New York of Major League Rugby. He also played internationally for the United States rugby team. He played as a second row.
John Gregory McKee is a rugby union coach from New Zealand. He is a former coach of the Fiji national team.
Milton Haig is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He was the head coach of the Georgian national team that annually competes the European Nations Cup.
Leicester Ofa Ki Wales Twickenham Fainga'anuku is a Tongan born New Zealand rugby union player who plays for Tasman in the Bunnings NPC competition and the Crusaders in Super Rugby. His position of choice is wing.
Alamanda Motuga is a Samoan rugby union and rugby sevens player who plays as a flanker. He has played for the Counties Manukau in the Bunnings NPC since 2020, and with Moana Pasifika since 2022.
Solomone Funaki is a Tongan rugby union player, who currently plays as a loose forward for Hawke's Bay in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition and Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby.
References
- ↑ "Chance to realise sporting potential". 14 October 2009.
