New Zealand’s success story in Rugby

Any kind of rugby story is incomplete without mentioning about the New Zealand national men and women’s team. The sport is embedded in the very culture of the nation. For over 140 years the people in the country have voiced their humongous support for the team wherever they have played. Each household is either directly or indirectly connected with any kind of successful rugby story. The home of Rugby is considered to be Nelson which is at the northernmost tip of the nation. The first Rugby game was played in May 1870. The popularity of the game soon spread across the country which finally led to the establishment of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in 1892. The first team that was formed succeeded in defeating the New South Wales in a convincing manner.

Any rugby superstar that have featured in major competitions for New Zealand can be identified as one of the most successful ones in the history of rugby. Names like George Napia, Brownley brothers, Colin Meads and Don Clarke feature in any of the lists for all time greats of rugby. Richie McCaw is the present New Zealand captain and he inspires his team by alluding to the examples of these legends. The Rugby World Cup has been witness to the greatest number of All Blacks triumph. Starting from the inaugural one to those of late, almost all the generations of players has tasted glory at least for once. Zinzan Broone, Michael Jones, Grant Fox, John Kirwan, Jeff Wilson. Jona Lomu is some of the few superstars whose popularity crossed all bounds because of their performances in the World Cup. The Women’s team is also one of the most dominant forces of the game. They have been able to maintain their position on the top of the rankings for quite a few numbers of years.

Leicester Tigers hooker Chuter retires

Former England international hooker and veteran Leicester Tigers man George Chuter has retired from domestic rugby with immediate effect after spending 13 years with the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club.

The former England man has played a whopping 292 matches for the Tigers and has also played in seven Aviva Premiership playoff finals as well as in four finals of the Heineken Cup.

But the 37 year old featured only four times for the club this season, and all of those appearances have been as a substitute.

Speaking about his career, Chuter stated that to have played almost 300 games for the Tigers along with another 100 for Saracens FC as well as the 40 caps he earned at international level for England at various levels gives him great pride and he can look back with satisfaction with a lot of joy at his playing career.

He went on to add that now, he can finally get a lot of perspective on his career, how long he has been a professional, the vast number of matches he has played for his clubs as well as the number of training sessions he has been involved in.

The former Leicester Tigers mentioned that the longest time he has been on the sidelines was three weeks when he returned from the Rugby World Cup back in 2007 when he had a trimmed cartilage.

He looked certain to be leaving the Leicester Tigers at the end of the season but penned a new deal after Jimmy Stevens moved to the London Irish and club boss Richard Cockerill thanked the player for the services he has given to the club for so long with so much success.

Cockerill also wished the player the best for all his endeavors in the future and wished him success.