Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies (or Qantas Wallabies for sponsorship purposes) and competes annually with Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa in The Rugby Championship, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand, as well as the Mandela Challenge Plate with South Africa and the Puma Trophy with Argentina. Australia are ranked second in the World Rugby Rankings, as of the end of August 2015.

Australia have competed in all eight Rugby World Cups, and have won the World Cup on two occasions, in 1991 beating England in the final, and in 1999 when their opponents in the final were France. Australia also lost in the final after extra time to England in the 2003 competition and against New Zealand in 2015. Australia are governed by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU). Eleven former Australian players have been inducted into either the International Rugby Hall of Fame or the IRB Hall of Fame. Three are members of the International Hall only, four are members of the IRB Hall only (one of whom was recognised for non-playing accomplishments in the sport), and four are members of both Halls of Fame.

New Zealand national rugby union team

The New Zealand national men's rugby union team, officially nicknamed the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The All Blacks are three time winners, and current holders of the Rugby World Cup, having won the inaugural competition in 1987, then won consecutive titles in 2011 and 2015, and are the 2015 World Rugby Team of the Year. They have won over 76% of their test matches and are the leading test match points scorers of all time. Their win ratio puts them amongst the most successful teams of any sport in history. They are the only international side with a winning record against every country they have played, and since their international debut in 1903 only five nations have defeated New Zealand in test matches. Since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in October 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks are also the first team to set their hands on the Webb Ellis Cup, the first team to win back to back Rugby World Cups, and the first team to win the cup on three separate occasions.

Bledisloe Cup

Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and crafted by Walker and Hall in Sheffield, England. It is physically the largest trophy in world rugby.

Once played irregularly every few years, Bledisloe Cup matches now happen annually, and include Rugby Championship (formerly Tri Nations) fixtures between the two sides. Their World Cup fixtures do not count as Bledisloe Cup matches, which were always played in Australia or New Zealand. However, 2008 saw a Bledisloe Cup match held outside the two countries for the first time when the teams met in Hong Kong, and a 2009 Bledisloe Cup match was played in Tokyo.

New Zealand has dominated the cup, winning it 13 times in a row (2003–2015).

History

There is some dispute as to when the first Bledisloe Cup match was played. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) contend that the one-off 1931 match played at Eden Park was first. However, no firm evidence has been produced to support this claim, and minutes from a New Zealand union management meeting several days later record Lord Bledisloe wishing to present a cup for the All Blacks and Wallabies to play for. The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) believe that the first match was when New Zealand toured Australia in 1932.

Michael Hooper

Michael Wrenford Hooper (born 2 May 1941) is a retired Anglican bishop in the Church of England. He was the suffragan Bishop of Ludlow from 2002 to 2009.

Hooper was educated at the Crypt School in Gloucester and the University of Wales, Lampeter. He was ordained in 1966 and became a curate at St Mary Magdalene's Bridgnorth and was then, successively, priest in charge at Habberley; Rural Dean of Pontesbury, and then Leominster; and finally, before his ordination to the episcopate, the Archdeacon of Hereford. He is married with four children.

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