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<\/p>\nNEWS: World Rugby has announced that four legends of the game will be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2025.<\/p>\n
Matthew Burke and Richard Hill will be the first of four players inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2025, with their induction to take place ahead of the final Test between Australia and the British and Irish Lions in Sydney on August 2.<\/p>\n
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The contributions of former Wallaby fullback Matthew Burke and England and British and Irish Lions flanker Richard Hill will be celebrated at a special event in Sydney, with two female players then inducted during the Women\u2019s World Cup 2025 in England, at the Women\u2019s Summit on September 26.<\/p>\n
Both players tasted victory in a Lions series, Burke kicking five penalties among a 19-point haul to clinch victory in the third and decisive test of the 2001 tour in his native Sydney.<\/p>\n
Hill was part of that beaten Lions pride in Australia, four years after helping the tourists claim a series victory in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Burke is one of Australia\u2019s greatest ever fullbacks, who combined pace, a strong defence, safe hands and an excellent kicking game, while Hill was part of England\u2019s much-vaunted loose trio under Clive Woodward, who helped secure World Cup glory on Australian soil in 2003.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s character-building values of integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline and respect.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s four inductees will bring the total in the Hall of Fame to 175 since it began in 2006.<\/p>\n
World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson said: \u201cOn behalf of the global rugby family, I would like to congratulate Matthew Burke and Richard Hill on their richly deserved inductions into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew was a match-winner for the Wallabies, composed, clinical, and dependable under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis impact in key moments helped define one of the most successful eras in Australian rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard was the engine room of the England back row, selfless, tough, and tactically sharp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a cornerstone of England\u2019s World Cup-winning side, a great British and Irish Lion and a leader by example throughout his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Rugby Hall of Fame exists to honour the greats of our game \u2013 those whose legacy transcends results and statistics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew and Richard have earned their place among rugby\u2019s immortals, and we thank them for the extraordinary contribution they have made to rugby around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also look forward to inducting two further female legends around the Women\u2019s World Cup 2025 Final later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Eales, chairman of the Hall of Fame panel and a Hall of Fame inductee, said: \u201cThe World Rugby Hall of Fame would like to celebrate the British and Irish Lions series in Australia and the Women\u2019s World Cup with our inductees for 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, our four inductees include two players, to be inducted in August, who have participated in previous Lions\u2019 series, and later this year, we will also reveal two outstanding females to be inducted at the Women\u2019s World Cup 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard Hill and Matthew Burke have both been standout players on the international stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard is consistently acknowledged by his peers as one of the most important cogs in the successful English teams of the late 90s and early 2000s, whilst also being a star for the British and Irish Lions across three series.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew Burke was a picture of consistency in his career with standout performances against the best teams on the biggest stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a lynchpin in some of the most successful Wallaby teams of all time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth men remain positive and influential figures off the field and represent the spirit and values of rugby in the highest capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWS: World Rugby has announced that four legends of the game will be inducted into the World Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-34665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}