James Edward Staples (born 20 October 1965 in Bermondsey) is a former rugby union footballer. He played as a fullback.
He had 26 caps for Ireland, scoring 5 tries and 2 conversions, 25 points in aggregate. He played club rugby for London Irish and Harlequins. Staples alongside club colleague Simon Geoghegan also represented Connacht in the Irish Provincial Championship, which at the time served as trial games for selection to the national team.
Martin Osborne Johnson CBE is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.
Fereti Tuilagi is a Samoan former professional rugby footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. After playing rugby union at international level, he turned professional and played rugby league for English clubs Halifax Blue Sox and St. Helens. He played as a wing or centre and is now retired. His first name is often anglicised to Freddie.
Michael John Catt OBE is a South African-born former rugby union player who played for the England national rugby union team. He played professionally for the clubs London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps for England and played in two World Cup Finals, in 2003 and 2007. With his appearance in the October 2007 final, at age 36 years 1 month, he became the oldest ever player to play in a Rugby World Cup final. Since 2008, Catt has coached various rugby teams, and has since 2019 been an assistant coach for the Ireland national rugby team.
London Scottish Football Club is a rugby union club in England. The club is a member of both the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is currently playing in the RFU Championship and share the Athletic Ground with Richmond.
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Football League.
The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the northern hemisphere, with England the hosts of the final. Also for the first time, qualifying competitions were introduced as the number of entrants had increased, from 16 nations four years earlier, to 33 countries. The eight quarter-finalists from 1987 qualified automatically with the remaining eight spots contested through qualifiers by 25 countries. This resulted in only one new side qualifying for the tournament, Western Samoa replacing Tonga. The same 16-team pool/knock-out format was used with just minor changes to the points system. South Africa was again not included because of sanctions imposed on the country by the International Rugby Board (IRB), due to the government's apartheid policies.
Jason Leonard is an English former rugby union player. He won a then-record 114 caps for England men’s rugby team during a 14-year international career.
Shaun Edwards, OBE is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player, who is the defence coach for the France national team. A scrum-half or stand-off, Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 winner's medals. In 2015 he was the 25th person inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.
Andrew David Farrell is an English professional rugby union coach and former player for both rugby league and rugby union. Farrell has been head coach of the Ireland national team since 2019.
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 1875, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland), which were both founded in 1871.
Patrick Richard Lam is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby.
Sailosi Tagicakibau is a rugby union footballer who has played at wing for London Irish and Wasps in the Aviva Premiership.
Gary John Connolly is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s as a fullback and centre for St Helens, Canterbury Bulldogs, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos and for the Great Britain national side. He also played rugby union for Harlequins, Orrell and Irish side Munster.
Stephen Paul Ford was a Welsh international rugby union winger. After being banned from rugby union for an act of professionalism, he was eventually allowed back into the sport and went on to represent the Wales national team. He played club rugby for Cardiff.
Tony Clement is a former Welsh international rugby union player. He played as a fullback and was awarded 37 caps for Wales, scoring 7 tries and a drop goal. He played at the 1991 Rugby World Cup finals and at the 1995 Rugby World Cup finals. Tony represented the British & Irish lions in 1989, touring to Australia. In 1993 he toured New Zealand with the British Lions, scoring £ tries and a drop goal for the Lions. At the time played club rugby for Swansea RFC.
Paul Burnell is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was also a member of the 1990 Grand Slam Scotland team. He toured New Zealand in 1993 with the British & Irish Lions and at the time played club rugby for London Scottish.
Brendan John Mullin is a former Ireland international rugby union football player. He played as a centre.
Kevin Stewart Ellis is a Welsh former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. A Great Britain and Wales national representative. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Bridgend RFC, Maesteg RFC, Treorchy RFC, Sale Sharks, London Irish, Cardiff RFC, Pontypool RFC and Ebbw Vale RFC, at representative level rugby league (RL) for Wales, and at club level for Warrington Wolves, Workington Town, Gold Coast Chargers, Bridgend Blue Bulls and Celtic Crusaders, as a stand-off, scrum-half, or loose forward.
Chris Sheasby is an English former international rugby union player, commentator and coach.
Papali'itele Peter Momoe Fatialofa was a Samoan rugby player who captained Samoa in their first Rugby World Cup appearance in 1991. He was among the first of the New Zealand–based players to represent Samoa. He was nicknamed Fats.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
