The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league competition. The Sharks, as they are commonly known, were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, predecessor of the Australian Rugby League and the current National Rugby League competition, in January 1967. The club competed in every premiership season since then and, during the Super League war, joined the rebel competition before continuing on in the re-united NRL Premiership. The Sharks have been in competition for 56 years, appearing in four grand finals, winning their first premiership in 2016 after defeating the Melbourne Storm at Stadium Australia.
The Bulls, for sponsorship reasons known as the Vodacom Bulls, is a South African professional rugby union team based in Pretoria and they play their home matches at Loftus Versfeld. They compete in the United Rugby Championship, having competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. Prior to 1998, the Bulls competed in the then-Super 12 as Northern Transvaal, as in those years South Africa was represented in the competition by its top four Currie Cup sides from the previous season, instead of the modern Super Rugby teams.
The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super League competition in 1997 and the second in the first season of the National Rugby League (NRL) in 1998. The Rams were not a successful club, winning only 13 out of 42 games. However crowd numbers in the first season were the fifth highest of any first-grade club that year, but dwindled to sixteenth in the second season. The Adelaide club was shut down at the end of the 1998 season as a result of poor on-field performances, dwindling crowd numbers, financial losses and a reduction in the number of teams in the NRL. They remain the only team from the state of South Australia to have participated in top-level rugby league in Australia.
Andrew "ET" Ettingshausen is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He played his first grade Australian club football for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, retiring at the end of the 2000 NRL season having played 328 first grade games for the club, the NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL record for most games at a single club. This record stood for ten years, before ultimately being broken by Darren Lockyer for the Broncos in 2010.
Nigel Faletoese Vagana, also known by the nicknames of "Pablo", and "Chiko", is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, as a wing, centre and five-eighth. A New Zealand and Samoa international representative, he retired as the Kiwis' all-time top try-scorer with 19. Vagana played club football in New Zealand for the Warriors, in England for Warrington, and in Australia for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Vagana represented the New Zealand national team 32 times between 1998 and 2006, including playing in the 2000 World Cup. He is also the cousin of Bradford Bulls prop-forward Joe Vagana, and former Silver Ferns netball player Linda Vagana.
Nathan Merritt is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New South Wales State of Origin representative positions, he played in the National Rugby League for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with whom he won the 2014 NRL Premiership, and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Merritt has also played representative football for the City New South Wales, Indigenous All Stars and Prime Minister's XIII sides. A prolific try-scorer, he was the NRL's top try-scorer in 2006 and 2011, and in 2013 became the 9th player in the history of the League to score 150 tries.
Josh Hannay is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is an assistant coach of the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s.
Endeavour Field is a rugby league stadium in the southern Sydney suburb of Woolooware, New South Wales, Australia. It is the home ground of the Cronulla-Sutherland Rugby League Club, which represents the Cronulla and Sutherland Shire areas in the National Rugby League competition. The Sharks are as of 2023 just one of two professional sporting clubs in Australia that own and operate their home ground as well as Western United's future home ground Wyndham City Stadium. The Sharkies Leagues Club sits beside the stadium.
The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The visiting Bulls won the 2007 Super 14 Final, scoring a try in the 83rd minute and narrowly defeating the Sharks 20–19, thereby becoming the first South African side to win the Super Rugby title in the professional era.
The Jamaica National League is a rugby league competition held annually in Jamaica. It is one of two leagues in Jamaica, the other being the Jamaica Premiership. It started in 2005 when four teams entered the competition and has since grown to six. Currently the league is sponsored by Globe Insurance.
Nick Royle is a current England Rugby Sevens International rugby union player. He plays as a winger. He is currently playing 15-aside rugby for Caldy in the RFU Championship. As of 2018 he is the most prolific try scorer ever in National League 2 North with over 190 tries. Nick has also had success with Lancashire in the Bill Beaumont Cup - winning the competition 3 times. As well as playing international sevens, he was selected by the England Counties XV.
Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They were created in 2009, and had their first match against the British & Irish Lions during their 2009 tour. After competing in Super Rugby in 2013, 2016 and 2017, they joined Pro14 prior to the 2017–18 season, along with the Cheetahs.
The 1980–81 Rugby Football League season was the 86th season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August 1980 until May 1981 for the Slalom Lager Championship.
Patrick Jonathan Lambie is a retired South African professional rugby union player who last played for Racing 92 in the French Top 14. He announced his retirement in January 2019 due to multiple concussions.
Demetri Catrakilis is a former South African professional rugby union player for the Southern Kings in the Pro14. He previously played for Premiership side Harlequins, Top 14 side Montpellier in France, for the Stormers and the Southern Kings in Super Rugby, for Western Province in the Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup competition and for the UCT Ikey Tigers in the Varsity Cup. His regular playing position is fly-half.
George Alexander Whitehead is a South African professional rugby union player for the Cheetahs in Pro14 on loan from Griquas in the Currie Cup and in the Rugby Challenge. He can play as a fly-half or fullback.
Louis Daniel van Zyl Fouché is a South African rugby union player for the Cheetahs in the Pro14 and the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup. His regular position is fly-half.
Frederik Johannes Zeilinga is a South African rugby union player for Canon Eagles in the Japanese Top League. His regular position is fly-half.
Jasper van der Westhuizen Wiese is a South African rugby union player who plays for Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. He previously played for the Cheetahs in the Pro14, the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup and the Free State XV in the Rugby Challenge. He can play as a number 8 or a flanker. He made his debut for South Africa in 2021. He was a Premiership Rugby champion in 2022, scoring a try in the final and being named as the Man of the Match.
