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Six legends to be inducted into World Rugby Hall of Fame
By Online Editors
World Rugby has announced that six legends of the game in Richie McCaw (New Zealand), Shiggy Konno (Japan), Os du Randt (South Africa), Peter Fatialofa (Samoa), Graham Henry (New Zealand) and Diego Ormaechea (Uruguay) will be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2019.
The World Rugby Hall of Fame recognises those who have made an outstanding contribution to the game of rugby throughout their careers, while also demonstrating rugby's character-building values of integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline and respect.
This year’s inductees will be honoured at the World Rugby Awards in Tokyo on 3 November, the day following the Rugby World Cup 2019 final. The ceremony will be held at The Prince Park Tower during a night dedicated to the game with important members of the rugby family.
While Fatialofa and Konno will be inducted posthumously, McCaw, Henry and Ormaechea will attend the prestigious event, which will celebrate their careers and contributions to the game.
These six inductees bring the total in the Hall of Fame to 148 since it began in 2006.
World Rugby Chairman and Hall of Fame inductee Sir Bill Beaumont said: “Our beloved game of rugby would not be what it is today without the contributions of remarkable trailblazers, men and women, who form the World Rugby Hall of Fame. They are players and coaches, true legends of the game that have embodied our values and will continue to inspire generations to come.
“On behalf of the rugby family, I would like to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of this year’s six new inductees, Richie McCaw, Shiggy Konno, Os du Randt, Peter Fatialofa, Graham Henry and Diego Ormaechea for their outstanding career and thank them for their immense footprint on our game.
“We look forward to honouring them in November at what promises to be a very special night.”
Fellow World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee and Chairman of the Hall of Fame panel John Eales said: “It is an honour to recognise the contribution of our newest inductees who, over different eras and regions, have inspired millions of rugby players and supporters. Through their induction, they represent the many thousands of men and women who have made our game great.”
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Latest Comments
"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"
I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.
But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.
Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.
"I'm afraid to say"
Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!
Go to commentsYou are a very horrible man Ojohn. Brain injury perhaps?
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