Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball with a maximum length and width of 30 centimetres (12 in) and 62 centimetres (24 in) respectively. It is played on a field up to 100 metres (330 ft) long and 70 metres (230 ft) wide with H-shaped goal posts on each goal line.

William Webb Ellis is often credited with the invention of running with the ball in hand in 1823 at Rugby School when he allegedly caught the ball while playing football and ran towards the opposition goal. However, the evidence for the story is doubtful. In 1845, the first football laws were written by Rugby School pupils; other significant events in the early development of rugby include the Blackheath Club's decision to leave the Football Association in 1863 and the split between rugby union and rugby league in 1895. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 the International Rugby Board (IRB) removed restrictions on payments to players, making the game openly professional at the highest level for the first time.

Sonny William 'Sonny Bill' Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand rugby union player, heavyweight boxer and former rugby league player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league. In rugby union he usually plays as a centre. He is particularly known in rugby league and rugby union for his ability to offload the ball in the tackle and, in rugby league, for his shoulder charges.

He started his professional rugby league career with the Canterbury Bulldogs in the Australian NRL. In 2008 he controversially left the Bulldogs mid-season to play rugby union with French club Toulon. In 2010 Williams signed with the New Zealand Rugby Union in an ultimately successful bid to play for the All Blacks at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He played for Canterbury in the 2010 ITM Cup before being selected for the All Blacks' end of year tour in 2010, making his debut against England at Twickenham. He played for the Crusaders in the 2011 season of Super Rugby and plays for the Chiefs in the 2012 Super Rugby season. He was a member of the All Blacks squad that won the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Lote Daulako Tuqiri (born 23 September 1979) is a Fijian/Australian professional rugby league player and former rugby union player who is currently signed to the Wests Tigers in the NRL who has represented Australia in both rugby codes, and Fiji in rugby league. He usually plays as a winger.

He first rose to prominence as a rugby league player for the Brisbane Broncos and Queensland Maroons, as well as the Fiji and Australia national sides. He switched to rugby union in 2002, winning 67 caps for Australia and being a part of their 2003 and 2007 World Cup squads. He played rugby union for the Waratahs in the Super 14, and Leicester Tigers in England in season 2009–10.

Tuqiri's contract with the Australian Rugby Union was terminated on 1 July 2009. No immediate reason was given, and Tuqiri returned to rugby league in 2010.

Tuqiri was born in Korolevu, Fiji to mother Titilia and father Tukula and grew up in Namatakula with family including older sister Mela, younger brother Tevita and sister Sereana. He moved to Australia with his family at the age of 15, settling at Sunnybank, Queensland (a suburb of Brisbane) where he began playing competitive sport for the Souths Sunnybank Rugby League while attending school at Sunnybank State High School.

Jeff Koinange is a Kenyan journalist and chief reporter at TV station K24. He previously served as the Africa correspondent for CNN and CNN International from 2001 to 2007.

Koinange was born in Kenya and worked with Kenya's first independent television channel KTN Kenya Television Network. He attended Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY between 1987–1989 and graduated with an Associate's degree. He also received a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism from New York University. Prior to joining CNN, Koinange worked for Reuters Television from 1995 to 2001, covering Africa and serving as their chief producer from 1999 to 2001. He also worked as a producer at NBC News in 1994 and also worked for ABC News earlier in his career from 1991 to 1992. Seven months after leaving CNN, Koinange was hired as a news anchor by a new Kenyan TV station, K24, which started doing test runs in Nairobi in December 2007. He is the host of Capital Talk Show.

Included among the more significant stories Koinange has covered for CNN in Africa were the crisis in Darfur, the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and the famine in Niger, for which Koinange won an Emmy award.

Benji Marshall (born Benjamin Quentin Marshall; 25 February 1985 in Whakatane, New Zealand) is a professional rugby league footballer with the Wests Tigers of the National Rugby League (NRL). A goal-kicking five-eighth, he is the current captain of the New Zealand national team, with whom he won the 2008 World Cup and 2010 Four Nations tournaments. Marshall has spent his whole NRL career to date with the Tigers, winning the 2005 Telstra Premiership with them. He has been noted for his flamboyant attack, including sidesteps, no-look passes and flick-passes. In 2010 won the Golden Boot Award for the World's best player.

Marshall was raised without his biological father, but has spoken of the influence of his foster-father Michael Doherty, and other men within his extended family. He has said he had, "10 or 11 fathers … which is not a bad thing." He went to school at Whakatane Intermediate. The eldest of three brothers, he was offered a scholarship to play for a high school in the Gold Coast, Queensland when he was 16. While attending Keebra Park Secondary High School, Marshall played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2003. He also represented Australia in touch football that year. Although eligible to represent Australia, Marshall declared his allegiance to the New Zealand Kiwis early in his career. In 2003 he was approached by the NZRL while he was playing with the Australian Schoolboys.