Brendan Venter

Brendan Venter (born 29 December 1969, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a former rugby union player who played at centre and also coached for London Irish. He is currently Technical Director at Saracens. He is a qualified MD (physician).

Venter came on as replacement for James Small in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in which South Africa beat New Zealand to land their first world cup. He was red-carded in the 1999 Rugby World Cup for stamping against Uruguay in the pool stages, he was replaced by Pieter Muller for the rest of the tournament. The Springboks were knocked out in the semi-finals, defeated by Australia.

He earned 17 caps as a Springbok rugby player, representing South Africa between 1994 and 1999.

Career

Venter started off playing rugby for South African schools. He said that even then his studies came first. "I was a good rugby player at school. I saw it as a tool to get a degree—my parents weren't very wealthy. I decided that if I made it as a rugby player it would be a bonus but that even if I didn't it would pay for my studies and I could become a doctor." Venter went to the University of the Orange Free State to study medicine and play rugby. After too much partying in his first year, he just scraped through his exams. "I had a real reality check. I had to decide if I really wanted to be a rugby player or a doctor. So when I returned for my second year there was a complete change in attitude, and rugby took second place. I was determined to be a good doctor and felt that I had to give my studies priority in order to achieve this."

Brendan

Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert (c. 484 – c. 577) (Irish: Naomh Breandán; Latin: Brendanus; Icelandic: (heilagur) Brandanus) called "the Navigator", "the Voyager", or "the Bold" is one of the early Irish monastic saints. He is chiefly renowned for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed," also called Saint Brendan's Island. The Voyage of Saint Brendan could be called an immram (Irish navigational story). He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Saint Brendan's feast day is celebrated on 16 May by the Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox Christians.

Sources

There is very little secure information concerning Brendan's life, although at least the approximate dates of his birth and death, and accounts of some events in his life, are found in the Irish annals and genealogies. The first mention of Brendan occurs in Adamnan's Vita Sancti Columbae, written between 679 and 704. The first notice of him as a seafarer appears in the ninth century Martyrology of Tallaght.

London Irish

London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club originally based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The club competes in the top division of English rugby union, the Aviva Premiership. The club also compete in the Anglo-Welsh Cup as well as one of the two Europe-wide club competitions—the European Champions Cup or European Challenge Cup, depending on their performance in the previous season. The club will continue to play their home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire until 2026.

The team plays in green and white colours, with a reversed away strip. London Irish won its first major trophy in 2002, claiming the Powergen Cup (the competition that later became the Anglo-Welsh Cup). Irish also reached the final of the 2009 Guinness Premiership, narrowly losing 10–9 to Leicester Tigers at Twickenham Stadium. In the 2007/08 season the team came close to a place in the Heineken Cup Final losing out to Stade Toulousain 15–21 in a tense semi-final encounter at Twickenham Stadium. The club's mascot is an Irish Wolfhound called Digger.

Racing 92

Racing 92 (French pronunciation: ​[ʁasiŋ ka.tʁə.vɛ̃.duz]) is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name to Racing 92. "92" is the number of Hauts-de-Seine, a département of Île-de-France, bordering Paris to the west, where they play, and whose council gives financial backing to the club. They currently play in the Top 14, having been promoted as 2008–09 champions of Rugby Pro D2. Racing 92 play at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir stadium at Colombes, where the France national team played for several decades.

History

Racing Club was established in 1882 (it became Racing Club de France in 1885) as an athletics club, one of the first in France. New sections were regularly added thereafter (17 as of 2006, accounting for some 20,000 members). A rugby section was founded in 1890, which became an immediate protagonist of the early French championship, to which until 1898 only Parisian teams were invited. On 20 March 1892 the USFSA organised the first ever French rugby championship, a one off game between Racing and Stade Français. The game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin and saw Racing win 4–3."R.C. France 4 – Stade Francais 3". lnr.fr. Archived from the original on 25 November 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2006.  Racing were awarded the Bouclier de Brennus, which is still awarded to the winners of the French championship today.