Full name | Ross James Thompson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 15 July 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 231 lb (105 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ross James Thompson (born 15 July 1963) is a former Japan rugby union international . [1]
A number eight, Thompson was an Auckland provincial player in the early 1990s and had a stint in Wales with Abertillery, before relocating to Japan, where he plied his trade with NEC Green Rockets. [2]
Thompson made six capped appearances for Japan in 1998, scoring five tries. [3]
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league.
Newport Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, Wales. They presently play in the Welsh Premier Division. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated on the east bank of the River Usk.
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
The Japan national rugby union team, often a.k.a “Cherry Blossoms”, or a.k.a “Sakura”, and more a.k.a “The Brave Blossoms” is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia and has enjoyed and endured mixed results against non-Asian teams over the years. Rugby union in Japan is administered by the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU), which was founded in 1926. They compete annually in the Pacific Nations Cup and previously in the Asia Rugby Championship. They have also participated in every Rugby World Cup since the tournament began in 1987.
The Wales national rugby union team represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. The team plays its home matches at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, which replaced Cardiff Arms Park as the national stadium of Wales in 1999.
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a member of World Rugby. Rugby Australia has eight member unions, representing each state and the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. It also manages national representative rugby union teams, including the Wallabies and the Wallaroos.
Craig Wing, also known by the nickname of "Wingy", is an Australian-born former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He began his career in rugby league, playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, representing Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin. He switched to rugby union, playing in Japan for the NTT Communications Shining Arcs and the Kobelco Steelers, earning selection for the Japanese national team after completing three years residency.
SANZAAR is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from its member unions.
Rugby union in Australia has a history of organised competition dating back to the late 1860s. Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.
The New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union, or NSWSRU, is affiliated to the New South Wales Rugby Union and runs the competition affectionately known as "Subbies" rugby. There are around 7,500 players and 55 clubs competing across 6 divisions, making "Subbies" the largest centrally administered rugby competition in the world. NSWSRU is truly the grassroots of rugby in Sydney.
The IRB2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change: Uruguay replaced Russia. This was the first World Cup with no new teams to the tournament.
The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is that the player has Māori whakapapa (genealogy). In the past this rule was not strictly applied; non–Māori players who looked Māori were often selected in the team. These included a few Pacific island players and a couple of African descent. Today all players have their ancestry verified before selection in the team.
Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's rugby is gaining a higher profile thanks to international tournaments' exposure and financial investment.
The Japan women's national rugby union team are a national sporting side of Japan, representing them at rugby union. The side first played in 1991.
Josh Navidi is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played as a flanker and a number eight. Navidi played for Cardiff Rugby and Wales before he retired, being captain of the national team briefly in 2019, and represented the British and Irish Lions on their 2021 tour of South Africa. He has also previously captained Wales U20.
The Wales national rugby union team toured southern Africa in June 1998, playing test matches against Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well as tour matches against the Emerging Springboks and three of the South African provincial sides.
The New South Wales Country Cockatoos is an amateur representative rugby union football team. Players in the team are selected by the New South Wales Country Rugby Union from regions of New South Wales excluding Sydney and Southern NSW. New South Wales Country plays regular fixtures with other representative sides including City-Country matches with New South Wales Suburban for the Maher-Ross Cup, and the "Battle of the Borders" Cup against the Queensland Country Heelers.
Rugby union in New South Wales is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports. Rugby football began to be played in Sydney’s schools in the early 1860s. In the more than 150 years since, the game in New South Wales has grown to include more than 100,000 participants and the Rugby World Cup Final has been hosted in Sydney.
The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those from the Southern Hemisphere. These international games counted towards World Rugby's ranking system, with teams typically playing from two to four matches in this period.
The 2022 mid-year rugby union internationals were international rugby union matches that were mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the July international window. For the first time since 2018 all leading Northern Hemisphere teams toured, following a cancelled calendar in 2020 and a largely reversed calendar in 2021.