Munster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Munster, is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from Ireland. They compete in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Heineken Cup. The team represents the IRFU Munster Branch, which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish province of Munster. Their main home ground is Thomond Park, Limerick, though some smaller profile games are played at Musgrave Park, Cork. Munster currently play in a red and blue home strip, while the away strip is white striped horizontally with the colours of the six counties of Munster. The Munster Rugby logo consists of three crowns and a stag. The team motto is "To the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible"; it is derived from the motto of the MacCarthy clan – "Forti et Fideli nihil difficile".

Munster is known for its passionate support and games involving Munster hold several Heineken Cup records for highest attendances in every stage of the finals, as well as the highest ever attendance for a rugby game in both Spain and Switzerland. In 2008, Director of Coaching Declan Kidney left to take up the head coach job with Ireland, and Munster ensured continuity by promoting Australian Tony McGahan to the position from within the coaching setup.

Munster (Irish: an Mhumhain / Cúige Mumhan, pronounced [ənˈvuːnʲ]) is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" Irish: rí ruirech. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties. In modern times, clusters of counties have been attributed to certain provinces but these clusters have no legal status. The province itself, while enjoying common usage and forming a strong part of local identity, has no official function for local government purposes. Apart from County Clare, much of the area lies in the South constituency for elections to the European Parliament. Geographically, Munster covers a total area of 24,675 km² (9,527 sq mi) and the most populated city is Cork.

George Hook (born 19 May 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He hosts The Right Hook on the Irish radio station Newstalk and appeared as a coach on RTÉ's reality TV show, Celebrity Bainisteoir.

Hook grew up in Cork and attended Presentation Brothers College, a fee-paying school and rugby union stronghold. Subsequently he attended Rathmines College of Commerce.

Hook has had a number of jobs, beginning as a temporary clerk for CIÉ, and later becoming a travelling salesman for the Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys). He also ran a catering business for over twenty years. He coached London Irish, Connacht, and St. Benildus College, as well as the American National Team in the 1987 Rugby World Cup.

The Right Hook, Hook's radio show on Newstalk, is a popular evening drive-time programme. Hook appears as a rugby pundit on RTÉ on a regular basis and appeared as a judge on RTÉ celebrity dancing show Jigs & Reels. He has also been parodied in The State of Us.

Stu Wilson (born 22 July 1954, in Gore) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He played for Wellington and the All Blacks, captaining the national team in the 1983 tour of England and Scotland.

He played with the All Blacks as a wing from 1976 to 1983, scoring 50 tries (including non-test tries) for his country. He also played 89 matches for Wellington for whom he scored 54 tries, giving him a first-class total of 104 tries. He retired from the game, still in his prime, in 1984. Following retirement, Wilson became a rugby commentator, working on television and radio.

Richard St John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer.

He appeared on stage and in many films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as King Arthur in Camelot (1967), as Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell (1970) and as Albus Dumbledore in the first two films in the Harry Potter series, his final works. He played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970), Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator (2000), Saint John in Apocalypse Revelation (2002), gunfighter English Bob in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven (1992), and Dom Frollo in the 1997 TV movie version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Harris had a top ten hit in the UK and the US with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park".

Harris, the fifth of nine children, was born in Limerick city, Ireland (then known as the Irish Free State) into a middle-class, staunchly Roman Catholic family. His parents were Ivan John Harris (b. 1896, son of Richard Harris, b. 1854, son of James Harris of St. Michael's, Limerick) and Mildred Josephine Harty Harris (b. 1898, daughter of James Harty, St. John's, Limerick, who owned a flour mill.) Harris' siblings include Patrick Ivan (born 1929), Noel William Michael (born 1932), Diarmid (Dermot, born 1939), and William George Harris (born 1942). He was schooled by the Jesuits at Crescent College. A talented rugby player, he was on several Munster Junior and Senior Cup teams for Crescent, and played for Garryowen. Harris' athletic career was cut short when he caught tuberculosis in his teens. He remained an ardent fan of the Munster Rugby and Young Munster teams then until his death, and attending many of its matches, and there are numerous stories of japes at rugby matches with the actors and fellow rugby fans Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton.