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Premiership Rugby is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership consists of thirteen clubs, rising to fourteen in 2022, and is the top division of the English rugby union system. Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to the Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western Hemispheres, along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa.
The Top 14 is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism of LNR. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next level down, the Rugby Pro D2. The fourteen best rugby teams in France participate in the competition, hence the name Top 14. The competition was previously known as the Top 16.
Nathan Hines is an Australian-born former rugby union and rugby league footballer. He played at international level for Scotland, winning 77 caps, and at club level for Edinburgh, Perpignan, and Clermont Auvergne among others. He also played rugby league.
Juan Martín Hernández is a retired Argentine rugby union player. A mainstay of the Argentina national team The Pumas. He played for the club Toulon in the French Top 14 competition. His 2010 move to Racing brought him back to the city where he had begun his professional career in 2003 with Stade Français. He has also played in the South African Currie Cup with the Sharks, and was slated to play with the Sharks in Super Rugby in 2010, but suffered a back injury that knocked him out of the Super Rugby season. Hernández is a "utility back" capable of playing at fly-half, centre, or fullback, though he generally prefers fly-half.
Rocky Elsom is a former Australian rugby union player. He played the positions of flanker and number eight. He was selected for 75 caps for Australia. He is the most capped Australian blindside flanker. Rocky was the 76th Australian test captain, having replaced Stirling Mortlock in 2009 for two years. Rocky Elsom played for the Wallabies from 2005 until 2011. Rocky Elsom played professionally for New South Wales, Brumbies and Leinster.
Rory David Best is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having previously represented the Newcastle Agrics. Best earned 124 caps for Ireland, making his debut in 2005 and retiring at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, his fourth World Cup. Best is one of the most capped rugby players of all time, as well as the most-capped forward to ever represent Ireland.
Akapusi Qera is a Fijian professional rugby union player. A Flanker or No.8. He is married to wife Phillipha Talei and together they have four children. Qera is also from a Christian sporting family; his father was an international cricketer for Fiji and his brother also played international rugby for Fiji. He is also a first cousin of Fiji test international Viliame Veikoso. Qera is a current test international and 15's captain for Fiji Qera has also represented the Barbarians.
Richard Huddart was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. A Great Britain and England international representative forward, he played at club level in England for Whitehaven and St Helens, and in Australia for St. George. Huddart was both a Whitehaven and St Helens R.F.C. Hall of Fame inductee.
Roland Suniula is an American international rugby union player who plays for the Austin Elite as a centre in Major League Rugby (MLR).
Guilhem Guirado is a French rugby union player, who plays for French Top 14 side, Montpellier. Guirado was the captain of France from 2016 to 2019.
Matt Hodgson is an Australian sports administrator and former professional rugby union player for the Western Force and the Wallabies, the Australian national team. He is currently head of rugby at Global Rapid Rugby which launched its Asia-Pacific Showcase competition in 2019.
Nikola Matawalu is a Fiji international rugby union player. He plays in the scrum-half position but can also cover wing. He plays for US Montauban in the French Rugby Pro D2. He previously played for Glasgow Warriors. He had over a 100 appearances for the Glasgow club and won the Pro12 title with them in season 2014-15.
Alipate Tuilevuka is a former American rugby union player who played his club career with Old Puget Sound Beach. Tuilevuka played the wing, centre or flyhalf. He is the current head coach for the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR).
Samu Manoa is an American rugby union player who plays for the Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby (MLR).
Jeff Hassler is a Canadian rugby union player. He plays at wing and occasionally at the centre position for the Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby (MLR), and Rugby Canada's National 15s. He has 36 caps for the National squad in all contests, and former member of the Swansea, Ospreys.
The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in Tukwila, Washington. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby, the top-level rugby union competition in the United States that played its first season in 2018.
Brock Staller is a Canadian rugby union player who plays wing for the Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby (MLR). He also plays international test rugby for Canada.
David Faimafiliotamaʻitaʻi Ainuʻu is a rugby union player who plays as a prop for Toulouse in France's Top14 and for the United States men's national team. Ainuʻu has also represented the United States with multiple age-grade sides—including the United States national under-20 rugby union team.
Kieran Joyce is an English-born Irish rugby union player who is currently a member of the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR). He plays as a centre.