British Isles Rugby Union Trivia

1. The Celtic League was founded in 2001 with teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The competition expanded in 2010 upon the introduction of two teams from which country?

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Italy

As can be seen from its name, the Celtic League was initially contested by sides from the three Celtic nations: Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Upon the introduction of two Italian teams, Aironi and Benetton Treviso, the Celtic League became a somewhat inappropriate name for the competition. The name lingered on but the competition was already far better known as the Magners League by the time of Italian involvement.

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: Bradford

Back in 1890, almost every rugby club stopped playing in early March and packed up for the summer. A man named William Percy Carpmael came up with the idea of putting together a touring side with members from different clubs. At the time, he sat in Leuchters Restaurant in Bradford. The idea soon caught on, and the world's greatest team without a ground or clubhouse came into being. The Barbarians had been born.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Scotland

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: France

In comparison to the very new Celtic League, France's Top 14 had already celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Top 14, instituted in 1892, was one of the oldest competitions in the world predating the modern Summer Olympic Games by four years and the Winter Olympic Games by 32 years.

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: Hull Kingston Rovers

As with quite a lot of rugby league sides, Hull KR started out playing union. In the season 1897-98, they switched codes. The following season they won all 17 league matches they played.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Heroes

Answer: Gordon Brown

Gordon Lamont Brown b. 1st November 1947. A true sporting gentleman. He toured with the British Lions on 3 separate occasions (NZ 1971 & 1977, SA 1974) playing in 8 Tests. He was capped by Scotland 30 times (1969 - 1976). Uniquely, at the time, he replaced his injured brother Peter Brown (Captain of Scotland), during a match in 1970.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Neil Jenkins

Hit his 1,000th point against England in the 6 Nations (2001), although Wales went on to lose 12-44.

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Leinster

After getting off to a magnificent start, Leinster struggled to replicate their achievement in later years. The provincial team would have to wait another six seasons before lifting the trophy for a second time, coming second to neighbouring Ulster between the two victories.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Tony Stanger

Scott Gibbs gave Scotland the 1999 5 Nations crown by scoring against England in the final game.

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Fly Half

Dan Parks, although born in Australia, represented Scotland in international Test matches and the Glasgow Warriors for many years. Parks mainly played in the fly half position, the player who receives the pass from the scrum half at breakdowns, rucks and mauls. The fly half position is one of the most pressurised in rugby union, with the player having to make many of the key decisions during a match. Such decisions involve choosing whether to run with ball in hand, to pass to players down the line or to kick the ball to gain territory. With precision kicks being required in open play, the fly half usually has the best kicking skills of all the players on the team and will thus have the responsibility of kicking penalties and conversions.

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: France

The first tournament was held in France in 1954, the first World Cup of either code. The French had been campaigning for a World Cup since 1935, and the idea gained momentum in 1951-52. At a meeting in 1953, the International Board agreed that France should be the inaugural hosts the following year. On November 13, 1954, Great Britain defeated France in the final.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Heroes

Answer: J J Williams

JJ Williams born 1st April 1948, in Nantyffyllon Bridgend. Against the Springboks for the Lions, he scored two tries in two test matches to set a then world record.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: James Griffiths

A harsh decision, I think the HUGE Samoan deserved it!

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Magners League

The Magners name became so strongly associated with the competition that the official name, the Celtic League, fell almost entirely out of use. When the Magners Irish Cider company's sponsorship of the league came to an end, the elegant green, black and yellow marketing colour scheme fell out of use. It was replaced by the blue, white and orange of RaboDirect, an Irish bank.

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: Willie John McBride

McBride played a total of 63 international matches for Ireland between 1962 and 1975. He also played for the British and Irish Lions 17 times. In 1997, he was one of the first inductees into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, and in 2004, the magazine 'Rugby World' voted him Heineken Rugby Personality of the Century.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Heroes

Answer: Fran Cotton

Francis Edward Cotton born Wigan Lancashire 3rd January 1947. His father was an England Rugby League International. He later became a senior member of the England RU set up.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Rob Andrew

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Jason Leonard

Broke the record against Argentina and still going strong.

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Edinburgh

Edinburgh became the first Scottish side to finish the season in either of the top two positions on the Celtic League table. They were beaten to the 2008-09 title by Munster, the Irish team who had previously won the competition in 2002-03.

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: Salford and Warrington

The tournament was devised exclusively for television, and David Attenborough, the then director of BBC2, was instrumental in setting it up. When the competition started, not many clubs had floodlights, but 21 clubs installed them because of it. In the replay of the 1974-75 final, Salford beat Warrington 10-5.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Keith Wood

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Swansea City

The Ospreys were one of the four Welsh regions that regularly took part in the Celtic League, the other three being the Scarlets, the Dragons and the Blues. The Ospreys represented Neath, Swansea, Bridgend and the surrounding areas of central south Wales. They shared the Liberty Stadium with Swansea City, a professional football team that became the first Welsh side ever to compete in the Premier League. In addition to the aforementioned Welsh regional teams, another Welsh team took part in the 2003-04 season and that was the ill-fated Celtic Warriors (they lasted one season and folded). Their home gorund was taken over by the newly formed rugby league club, Celtic Crusaders (formed in 2005).

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: Tony O'Reilly

Dr. Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly KBE was born in Dublin in 1936. As a rugby player he appeared for Leicester Tigers and London Irish as well as the national side and the British and Irish Lions touring team. He joined H.J. Heinz in 1969 and moved to the American headquarters in 1971. He became chairman of the company in 1987, the first non-Heinz family member to hold the position. He stayed with the company until 1998. His doctorate is in agricultural marketing.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: 1994

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: Referee

The role of the referee is vital but the nature of the job makes it impossible to please everybody and extremely likely to please nobody. Referees are in a special group of people that include tax inspectors, traffic wardens and politicians - they are the group that people love to hate. Nigel Owens, Alain Rolland and George Clancy were amongst the best referees to regularly officiate a Celtic League match. All three had experience at international level with Alain Rolland taking charge of the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Heroes

Answer: Mike Smith

He was also a double Blue at Oxford University at Cricket and Rugby. He was England Cricket Captain for 25 matches between 1963 - 1966.

From Quiz British Isles Rugby Union

Answer: Martin Johnson

A man mountain.

From Quiz Rugby's Celtic League

Answer: RaboDirect Pro12

The Celtic League, after being known as the Magners League for five years, became the RaboDirect Pro12 for the 2011-12 season. Whilst the latter name is not as catchy as the former, the name change brought the competition in line with other rugby union tournaments such as France's Top 14 and the Southern Hemisphere's Super XV.

From Quiz Hooligan's Game Played by Gentlemen

Answer: Mark Wyatt

Mark Wyatt played for Canada between 1982 and 1991. He was able to play at either fly half or full back, and had the ability to produce accurate kicks with either foot. His feat of 8 penalties was achieved in his final season in a game against Scotland.

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