Harlequins is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London.
Jacobus Francois Pienaar is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.
Stade Français Paris is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The original Stade Français was founded in 1883. In its current form, the club was founded in 1995 with the merger of the rugby sections of the Stade Français and Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux (CASG).
Bristol Bears are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
Agustín Pichot is an Argentine retired rugby union player, formerly captain of the Argentine team and the English club Bristol. In addition to Bristol, he played for French sides Stade Français and Racing Métro after leaving Argentine team CASI from San Isidro in 1997. In 2011, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame. He was Vice-Chairman of World Rugby between 2016 and 2020.
Simon Daniel Edward Amor is an English rugby union coach and former player. Amor played in the scrum-half and fly-half positions for London Scottish and captained the England national rugby sevens team. He has been the head coach of London Scottish, England sevens, Hong Kong, and, as recently as 2020, was appointed defence-coach for the England rugby union team.
Mike B. James is a former professional Canadian rugby union player. Standing at 196 cm tall and weighing in at 110 kg, James is an imposing figure and is well known for his expertise in the set pieces. He has played for the prestigious French Barbarians, and was featured in the 2005 team that included New Zealand greats Justin Marshall and Kees Meeuws. He last played in France for Stade Français, having started his career with 4 years in Perpignan USAP and was part of the great Stade teams that won the French Premiership titles in 2003, 2004 and 2007. James also played in 2 Heineken Cup Finals in 2001 and 2005.
Gonzalo Quesada is an Argentine rugby former player and current coach, who presently works as head coach for the Italy national rugby union team.
Pieter Joshua de Villiers is a South African-born French rugby union player and coach. As a player he represented France at international level and played in two Rugby World Cups, and ended his club career with Stade Français in the Top 14 competition in France. A prop, he was renowned for his scrummaging ability.
Mario Ledesma Arocena is an Argentine rugby union coach and a former international rugby player. He played in Argentina's successful 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign and had a professional playing career in France spanning 10 years. Since retiring he has coached at the highest level in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and was most recently the head coach of the Argentine national team.
Ben Ryan is an English sports coach who is best known for coaching the Fiji sevens team to a gold medal in sevens rugby at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is currently Performance Director at EPL association football club Brentford.
Chris Wyles is a former American-English rugby union player. Until his retirement from international rugby in January 2016, Wyles had represented the United States in three World Cups. He was the USA Eagles Captain in the 2015 World Cup. In the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 season, he was Captain of the USA National Sevens team, a core team in the World Rugby Sevens series. In 2015, he was selected for the USA Olympic team to compete in the Sevens rugby event at the Rio Olympic Games.
The 2010–11 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Home-and-away play began on August 13, 2010 and continued through April 2011. The regular season was followed by a three-round playoff starting in May that involved the top six teams, culminating in the final on June 4 at Stade de France. Toulouse won the Bouclier de Brennus for the 18th time, defeating Montpellier 15–10.
The 2011–12 Aviva Premiership was the 25th season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the second one to be sponsored by Aviva. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who had claimed their first title after defeating Leicester Tigers in the 2011 final. Worcester Warriors had been promoted as champions from the 2010–11 RFU Championship at the first attempt.
The 2011–12 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Home-and-away play began on August 26, 2011. Two new teams from the 2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Lyon and Bordeaux Bègles in place of the two relegated teams, La Rochelle and Bourgoin.
Tommy Smith is a former rugby union player who represented the United States in 15s and 7s rugby before becoming the coach of the US sevens team in 1999. Smith played, captained, and coached the US National team and has been a member of the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame since his 2017 induction.
The 2012–13 Aviva Premiership was the 26th season of the top-flight English domestic rugby union competition and the third one to be sponsored by Aviva. The reigning champions entering the season were Harlequins, who had claimed their first title after defeating Leicester Tigers in the 2012 final. London Welsh had been promoted as champions from the 2011–12 RFU Championship, their first promotion to the top flight.
Mark Andrew Williams is an American former rugby union player who played center. Williams played for the U.S. national rugby team from 1987 to 1999, earning 37 caps. Williams scored 143 points over his test career, and he retired as the #3 all-time U.S. points scorer. Williams was on the U.S. squad for the 1991 and 1999 Rugby World Cups, and was the leading scorer for the U.S. at the 1991 Rugby World Cup with 16 points.
This page covers the major events of 2017 in rugby union.
The Tel Aviv Heat is the first professional Israeli rugby union team. Based in Tel Aviv, the team competes annually in the Rugby Europe Super Cup. The team is also called the Israeli Springboks, on account of the number of South Africans that are in the team, however have also been described as 'the world's most diverse rugby team'.
