Jonah Lomu

Jonah Tali Lomu, MNZM (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand rugby union player. He was the youngest ever All Black when he played his first international in 1994 at the age of 19 years and 45 days. Lomu finished with 63 caps and scored 37 international tries. He has been described as the first true global superstar of rugby union and as having a huge impact on the game. Lomu was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame on 9 October 2007, and the IRB Hall of Fame on 24 October 2011.

Lomu burst onto the international rugby scene during the 1994 Hong Kong Sevens tournament. He was widely acknowledged to be the top player at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa even though New Zealand lost the final to the host Springboks. At one time Lomu was considered 'rugby union's biggest drawcard', swelling attendances at any match where he appeared. He is one of the Rugby World Cup all-time top try scorers with 15 tries, a record he shares with Bryan Habana of South Africa.

Jonah

Jonah or Jonas (Hebrew: יוֹנָה, Modern Yona, Tiberian Yônā ; dove; Arabic: يونس‎ Yūnus, Yūnis or يونان Yūnān ; Latin: Ionas) is the name given in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC. He is the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation. The biblical story of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, in the Qur'an.

Story of Jonah

Jonah is identified as the son of Amittai, and he appears in 2 Kings aka 4 Kings as a prophet from Gath-Hepher, a few miles north of Nazareth. He is therein described as being active during the reign of the second King Jeroboam (c.786–746 BC), and as predicting that Jeroboam will recover certain lost territories.

Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah. Commanded by God to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it "for their great wickedness is come up before me," Jonah instead seeks to flee from "the presence of the Lord" by going to Jaffa, identified as Joppa or Joppe, and sailing to Tarshish, which, geographically, is in the opposite direction. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors try to dump as much cargo as possible before giving up, but feel forced to throw him overboard, at which point the sea calms. The sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large whale-like fish in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed. God commands the fish to spew Jonah out.

World Cup

World Cup commonly refers to:

World Cup can also refer to:

Athletics

Badminton

Bandy

Baseball and softball

Basketball

Chess

Cricket

Equestrian

Football

American football

Association football

Rugby World

Rugby World is a monthly rugby union magazine running since October 1960. It is published monthly by IPC Media and edited by Owain Jones who took over from long standing editor Paul Morgan in January 2012. Paul Morgan was long considered a leader in the industry, the magazine is the world's top-selling rugby magazine and has benefited from a worldwide rise in interest in rugby following the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup.

The magazine was initially published on "the third Wednesday of every month" by Longacre Press Limited (also known as Odhams Press which, in 1961, merged with Fleetway Publications and again in 1963 Fleetway merged with a number of other publishers to form IPC Media, though Odhams remained a distinct sub-company until 1968). The magazine was available through INI Sales and Distribution, 161-166 Fleet Street, London E.C.4. The original cost of the magazine was 2 Shillings (equivalent to £2.06 today). By the end of 1962 it was retailing at 2 Shillings 6 pence (written "2/6d", £2.57 today) and currently retails for £4.30 per issue, though various other deals are available by buying subscriptions and / or the electronic version of the magazine.

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand are the current champions, having defeated Australia in the final of the 2015 tournament in England.

The winners are awarded the William Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil who — according to a popular legend — invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game. Four countries have won the trophy; New Zealand have won it three times, two teams have won twice, Australia and South Africa, while England have won it once.

The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. Sixteen teams were invited to participate in the inaugural tournament in 1987, however since 1999 twenty teams have taken part. Japan will host the next event in 2019.

Format

Qualification

Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second tournament, where eight of the sixteen places were contested in a twenty-four-nation tournament. The inaugural World Cup in 1987, did not involve any qualifying process; instead, the 16 places were automatically filled by seven eligible International Rugby Football Board (IRFB, now World Rugby) member nations, and the rest by invitation.