Has your club produced a Lion? If yes, then read this...
Having defied the odds to draw with New Zealand in 2017 when wearing the kit of Canterbury, the British and Irish Lions will again link up with the specialist rugby brand for its 2021 tour to newly-crowned world champions South Africa.
As part of the partnership, Canterbury will also be offering Lions Origin Clubs – those teams who have produced a player who has gone on to play for the Lions – the opportunity to have their Canterbury kits personalised with the logo of the Lions Origin Club to proudly celebrate the achievement.
Unveiling their latest partnership, Canterbury held events on Wednesday at four grassroots clubs who have previously developed a Lions player.
Moseley in Birmingham played host to its former Lions player Mike Teague. Manu Tuilagi, a 2013 Lions tourist and recent 2019 World Cup finalist with England, was also in attendance.
Justin Tipuric was present at Trebanos in Swansea where he began his career, Jim Renwick was in attendance at Hawick, while Robbie Henshaw was at Buccaneers – his local club in Athlone – where he was joined by David Wallace, a Lions tourist in both 2001 and 2009.
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Canterbury, who produced kits for seven of the 20 countries at this year’s World Cup in Japan, invited local junior teams along to take part in competitions to design a new kit. The regional winners were then chosen by the Lions stars and the four winning kits will now be put to a public vote on social media to decide the overall winner.
The victors will see their kit brought to life by Canterbury – complete with the commemorative Lions Origin Club logo. Fans can vote for their favourite kit by visiting the Canterbury or British and Lions social channels.
Wales star Tipuric said: “Playing for the Lions and representing your country on the biggest stage is one of the pinnacles of a player’s career and I was honoured to have played a part in the 2013 and 2017 tours.
“Behind every player is a great support network of people who have helped them reach the very top and, for me, that starts with Trebanos where I started seriously playing rugby.
“It is fantastic that they can now display on their kit that they have helped to produce a Lions player. Hopefully, it will act as an inspiration for those players who will pull the jersey on and I would love to see another Lions player come from the club.”
Sean Kavanagh, Canterbury’s global director of sports marketing and sponsorship, added: “We’re really proud to be extending our partnership with the British and Irish Lions and are excited to be working on the new kit designs already. At Canterbury, we want to show that rugby is a game for all and we are always looking at how we can help inspire the next generation of rugby players.
“As a grassroots club, producing a player who goes on to play at the top level is the highest accolade you can receive and we want clubs to be proud of this achievement and be able to shout about it.
“That is why we have introduced the Lions Origin Club logo to our teamwear ranges for those clubs who have identified, nurtured and developed a special talent who has represented the Lions on the global stage. Hopefully, this can help to inspire the next generation of Lions stars.”
The Lions kit is currently in the design process and will be revealed in 2020. Ben Calveley, managing director at the British and Irish Lions, said: “We are delighted to continue our successful partnership with Canterbury. Canterbury’s heritage with the Lions dates back to 1959 and their kit is loved by players and supporters alike.
“We look forward to working closely with them to develop the best technical kit available as well as an iconic Lions playing jersey for our Tour to South Africa in 2021.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Will rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to comments