1.
Federazione Italiana Rugby
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The Italian Rugby Federation or FIR is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Italy. The FIR has one seat on the 28-member World Rugby Council, there are two fully professional Italian clubs that play in the Pro12, in the European Rugby Champions Cup and in the European Rugby Challenge Cup—Benetton Rugby Treviso and Zebre. On 25 July 1911 a Propaganda Committee was formed to promote the sport of rugby union in Italy, in 1928 this body became the Federazione Italiana Rugby. In 1934 the FIR were founder members of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur, the FIR joined the International Rugby Football Board, later known as the International Rugby Board and now as World Rugby, in 1987 when they took part in the inaugural World Cup. The Italy national rugby team have played in the Six Nations Championship since 2000. Italy bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup came close to winning but lost to England by just three votes
Federazione Italiana Rugby
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Italian Rugby Federation
2.
Sergio Parisse
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Sergio Parisse is an Italian rugby union player. He was the first Italian rugby union player to be nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year and he has captained French team Stade Français and is current captain of the Italy national rugby union team. Parisse is widely considered one of the greatest number eights of modern rugby, Parisse was born in La Plata, Argentina, to Italian parents. His father, also Sergio, played for LAquila where he won the Italian Club Championships in 1967 before his job with Alitalia took him to Argentina in 1970, Sergio Junior was born in 1983 and played his early rugby for La Plata. His family spoke Italian at home and every year Sergio would go on holiday to Italy, Parisse moved to Italy and joined Treviso where he played for four years. He joined his Italian team mates Mauro Bergamasco and Mirco Bergamasco at French giants Stade Français in 2005. A number 8 of great handling ability, Parisses positional sense in the lineout and he was capped at the age of just 18 by then Italy coach John Kirwan, in a 64–10 defeat against New Zealand in Hamilton, New Zealand in June 2002. Parisse scored his first Test try against Canada in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, though Italy failed to make it beyond the pool stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Parisse played well. Parisse continued his form into the 2008 Six Nations Championship, Parisse won his 50th cap for Italy against England in the 2008 Six Nations Championship at the age of 24. Parisse is also the Italian captain, appointed in 2008 by Nick Mallett in place of Marco Bortolami, in September 2008 Parisse was nominated for IRB International Player of the Year alongside Dan Carter, Ryan Jones, Shane Williams and Mike Blair. Parisse missed most of the 2009–10 Top 14 season with a knee injury that ruled him out of the 2010 Six Nations Championship. Parisse captained Italy in the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Italy finished third in their group, one place short of qualification, after two losses against Australia and Ireland on top of their two wins against USA and Russia. Parisse scored a total of two tries at the tournament and he captained Italy in the 2012 Six Nations Championship. Italy had a championship with losses against France, Wales, England and Ireland. The following week Italy lost 33-10 to Scotland in an performance at Murrayfield. Parisse missed Italys match with Wales on the 23 February 2013 due to abusing a referee in a game with Stade Francais. Italy struggled without their captain and lost 26-9, Parisse returned for Italys next game against England and despite England being massive favourites Italy put in a competitive display to only lose by seven points, 18-11. In the last week of the championship Italy beat Ireland for the first time ever in a match on a margin of 22 -15 making it one of Italys most successful Six Nations ever
Sergio Parisse
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Sergio Parisse
Sergio Parisse
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Sergio Parisse jumps to catch an up and under during a warm up session in Toulouse
3.
Cap (sport)
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In British sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a players appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in a match of association football. An early illustration of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. These to be termed International Caps, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Thus, a cap is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, the practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a debut or, particularly for national teams. As an example, the England mens association football teams still awards physical caps, Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. In mens association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt, the first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Englands Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England,90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain, however, it is a players choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team. In cricket, there are two types of caps, firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a county cap, the latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance, instead, indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap. The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps. In rugby union,35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012, Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded, the Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, the record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games and second place is former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki with 55 games. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, mens Records and Facts FIFA Players with 100+ Caps RSSSF Picture of International Football Cap National Museum of Scotland Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps
Cap (sport)
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Sports cap awarded to a Perth Academy schoolboy in the UK in the 1930s
4.
Marcello Cuttitta
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Marcello Cuttitta is a former Italian rugby union player who went into coaching after retirement. He attended Pinetown Boys High School with his brother, and they played for Pinetown 1st XV. He played for the Italian national team at the first Rugby World Cup in 1987 as well as representing them at the subsequent World Cups in 1991 and 1995, marcello Cuttitta is the Italian National teams top try scorer. In total, Cuttitta played for Italy 54 times and he usually played on the wing. He often played alongside his twin brother Massimo, RBS6 Nations profile Scrum. com bio
Marcello Cuttitta
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Marcello Cuttitta
5.
Stadio Olimpico
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The Stadio Olimpico is the main and largest sports facility of Rome, Italy. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city, the structure is an asset of the Italian National Olympic Committee and it is intended primarily for football. The Stadio Olimpico is the stadium of Serie A clubs Lazio and Roma. It was rebuilt for the 1990 FIFA World Cup and it hosted the tournament final, rated an UEFA category four stadium, it has also hosted four European Cup finals, the most recent being the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final. Outside football, the stadium is used by the Italian national rugby union team, occasionally, it hosts concerts and events. Throughout its history, the Stadio Olimpico has undegone several renovations, in its first stages, the Stadio Olimpico was called the Stadio dei Cipressi. It was designed and constructed within the project of the Foro Mussolini which was renamed Foro Italico after the war. Construction work began in 1927 directed by the Turinese engineer Angelo Frisa, the construction was completed in 1932, after a few variations to the original plan. For instance, the construction of stands was not part of the initial plan as, originally. In 1937, the construction of a tier of stairs was started but was interrupted in 1940 due to the outbreak of World War II. In December 1950, the site was reopened for the completion of the stadium. The project was entrusted to the engineer Carlo Roccatelli, a member of the Superior Council of Public Works, at first, the plan was for a stadium with a more complex structure than that actually realised. However, the scarcity of funds and the characteristics of the area led to a less ambitious building. On the death of Roccatelli in 1951, the direction of the work was entrusted to architect Annibale Vitellozzi, the stadium now reached a capacity of about 100,000 people, hence the stadium was known as Stadio dei Centomila, until renamed for the 1960 Olympics. The building was inaugurated on 17 May 1953 with a game between Italy and Hungary. During the 1960 Summer Olympics, the hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Seating at ground level was eliminated with the result of a capacity of 65,000 spectators. Subsequently the stadium hosted several editions of the Italian Championships of Athletics, the 1975 Summer Universiade and it still hosts the annual meeting of the Golden Gala
Stadio Olimpico
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UEFA
Stadio Olimpico
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Rugby union match between Italy and France at the stadium in 1954
Stadio Olimpico
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Opening Ceremony of the 1960 Olympic Games
Stadio Olimpico
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Exterior of the stadium.
6.
Kit (rugby football)
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A traditional rugby union kit consists of a collared jersey, shorts, jockstrap / compression shorts, long rugby socks and boots with studs. Some modest padding is allowed on the head, shoulders and collarbone, most players also opt to wear a mouthguard to guard against concussion and chipping of the teeth. Traditionally, rugby boots were of a cut above the ankle. Over the years, such boots have become common, although many players still wear mid-cut boots. Additional ankle support was seen as appropriate given the nature of the game, particularly the stresses of forward play, higher cut boots also provided some protection against knocks. Modern boots are now similar to football boots, with a low cut offering less ankle support. It is essential for safety considerations, particularly in the scrum, the studs may be metal or plastic and must conform to Regulation 12 of World Rugby. This regulation dictates the permissible dimensions of the studs and also defines a standard for the hardness of the material, backs would be advised, on most ground types, to wear boots with some form of stud, to ensure adequate grip when changing direction. Referees are required to all players studs before a game. Any studs that are worn down so that the steel fixing is showing must be changed before the player is allowed to join in the game. The intent of the standard and these pre-match checks is to eliminate the potential for a stud to cause a cut if it comes into contact with a players skin, generally there are two types of stud pattern worn, the 8 stud or the 6 stud. The 8 stud is most often worn by the forwards to provide them with extra grip for scrummaging and mauling. The 6 stud is worn by backs as it allows for more agility, plastic blade studs, common in football, are an increasingly frequent choice among backs. Tackle bags are use during training and warm up in rugby union, tackle bags are padded equipment which allows players to tackle without another player being involved. Tackle bags come in two forms, the shield and the tackle bag. The rucking shield is held in the hand of a coach or fellow player, the tackle bag stands on the ground held loosely by another person, it allows the tackler to practice a full tackle
Kit (rugby football)
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Famous Rugby Jerseys, early 1920s boys magazine illustration of the playing stripes of the top clubs and countries.
7.
World Rugby Rankings
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The World Rugby Rankings is a ranking system for mens national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sports governing body. The teams of World Rugbys member nations are ranked based on their game results, a point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of World Rugby-recognized international matches. Rankings are based on a performance, with more recent results. The ranking system was introduced the month before the 2003 Rugby World Cup, when the system was introduced England were the top team and maintained that position following victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand took the lead from 7 June 2004, after winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, South Africa became the third team to achieve first place. New Zealand have been the most consistently ranked #1 team since the introduction of IRB World Rankings, South Africa and England make up the remainder. The point system is calculated using a Points Exchange system, in which sides receive points each other based upon the match result – whatever one side gains. The exchanges are based on the result, the ranking of each team. As the system aims to depict current team strengths, past successes or losses will fade, thus, it is thought that it will produce an accurate picture depicting the actual current strength and thus rank of the nations. The rankings are responsive to results and it is possible to climb to the top from the bottom in fewer than 20 matches, as all matches are worth a net of 0 points for the two teams combined, there is no particular advantage to playing more matches. A rating stays the same until the plays again. Although matches often result in points exchanges, predictable results lead to minor changes. The system ensures that it is representative of the teams performance despite playing differing numbers of matches per annum, Points exchanges are doubled during the World Cup Finals to recognise the unique importance of this event. All other full international matches are treated the same, to be as fair as possible to countries playing a different mix of friendly, matches that do not have full international status do not count. A win against a highly ranked opponent is a considerably greater achievement than a win against a low-rated opponent. Thus match results are more important than margins of victory in producing accurate rankings and this is because when a highly ranked team plays a lowly ranked team and manages to beat them by over 50 points, it does not necessarily indicate how either team will perform in the future. When calculating points exchanges, the side is handicapped by treating them as though they are three rating points better than their current rating. This results in the home side gaining fewer points for winning and losing points for losing
World Rugby Rankings
8.
Spain national rugby union team
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The Spain national rugby union team, nicknamed Los Leones, represent Spain in rugby union. Rugby union in Spain is administered by the Spanish Rugby Federation, the team annually takes part in the European Nations Cup, the highest European rugby championship outside the Six Nations. As of 6 March 2015, Spain is ranked 22nd in the world, Rugby union in Spain dates back to 1901, although Spain did not play its first international until 1929, beating Italy 9–0 in Barcelona. Throughout the century, Spain mostly played against other European opponents such as France, Italy, Romania, West Germany, the Soviet Union, the teams greatest moment of success came in 1999, when Spain qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Despite being whitewashed, the team performed admirably in a group which included South Africa, today, Spain competes in the European Nations Cup against Georgia, Germany, Portugal, Romania, and Russia. Spain has never been crowned European champions, though has come close, the closest theyve come to becoming European champions was in 2012, having beaten both Romania and Georgia and finishing second. Many players have moved abroad to play professionally in France, in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 or possibly expanded 2023 editions of the World Cup, through the 1920s, the game gradually gained popularity through universities in the country. The first Copa del Rey de Rugby was organized in 1926, an unofficial Spanish XV played France, including Yves du Manoir, in 1927, but it was organised by a rebel governing body. Spain played their first officially recognised match in 1929, winning 9–0 over Italy in the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc, during the 1930s the Spanish rugby team played sporadically in the 1930s, playing against the national teams of Italy, Morocco, Germany, and Portugal. Due to the outbreak of World War II, rugby in much of Europe was suspended, Rugby operations throughout Europe were continued in the 1950s, through this decade the Spanish struggled to the likes of West Germany, Italy and Romania. However, while no official games were played between Spain and the Home Nations or the SANZAR, some Spanish sides traveled to play against various foreign sides, the Spanish were thrashed 66–3 to the Māori, but came close to upsetting Argentina, losing only 28 to 19. The Spanish also received Zimbabwe through various tests in the 80s, the Spanish recorded upsets, defeating Zimbabwe in Harare in 1984, winning 30–18. Even more impressive, the Spanish swept a two-game tour in Zimbabwe, other notable results in this period included beating Uruguay 18–6, as well as giving scares to the sides of England and Scotland, and coming within 10 points of beating the Māori in 1988. By the end of the 80s, Spain was considered one of the best non-5 Nations teams in Europe, just barely behind Romania, Italy, and the Soviet Union. Spain officially joined the IRB in 1987, after not being invited for the 1987 Rugby World Cup, the 1990s provided a mixed fortune of both near misses and eventual success. In the 1991 qualifying rounds, Spain easily toppled its first group consisting of the Netherlands, Poland and Belgium, however, Spain very narrowly missed on qualifying for the Rugby World Cup, losing 19–6 against Romania, finishing third behind Italy and Romania. In 1992, Spain finally beat Romania for the first time in 1992, Spain again nearly beat Argentina that same year, only losing 43–34 in a shootout in Madrid. 1995 began in similar fashion to the 1991 campaign, easily toppling the first group, however, Spain were unfortunately placed in a group with Wales, losing the key fixture 54–0, and again coming close, yet not close enough
Spain national rugby union team
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Spain playing the Czech Republic
Spain national rugby union team
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Spain
Spain national rugby union team
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Spain playing against
Portugal.
9.
Czech Republic national rugby union team
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The Czech Republic national rugby union team is the third tier rugby national team of the Czech Republic. They first started playing as the Czech Republic in 1993 after the split of Czechoslovakia and they have yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, but have entered the qualifiers since the 1995 edition. Rugby union in the Czech Republic is administered by the Česká Rugbyová Unie, the sport is still amateur in the country, but there are several Czech players who are professionals in France, including Martin Jágr. As of February 2017 the team is ranked 31 of 102 in the IRB Rankings, in 2005, they took on Australian Super Rugby side the Waratahs in Prague, losing 3-94. The nation played against Hong Kong at the Synot Tip Arena in Prague on 16 December 2009 and it was the final match for six players, Antonín Brabec, Jan Macháček, Jan Oswald, Pavel Syrový, Ladislav Vondrášek and Jan Žíla. The Czech Republic were relegated from the European Nations Cup First Division to the Second Division in 2014, on 9 November 2016 The Czech Republic played in a historical match against the Barbarians to celebrate the Czech Rugby Unions 90th anniversary. The match was held at the Marketa Stadium in Prague and they lost the match to the Barbarians, 71-0. Rugby union in the Czech Republic Česká Rugbyová Unie Česká Rugbyová Unie - Official Site Current Squad
Czech Republic national rugby union team
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Czech Republic
Czech Republic national rugby union team
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Spain vs. Czech Republic 11 November 2007,
Madrid.
Czech Republic national rugby union team
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Netherlands v Czech Republic. Match in Amsterdam, 20 Nov 2010.
10.
South Africa national rugby union team
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The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks, is governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerseys with white shorts, and their emblems are the Springbok, the team has been representing South Africa in international rugby union since 30 July 1891, when they played their first test match against a British Isles touring team. The team made its World Cup debut in 1995, when the newly democratic South Africa hosted the tournament, South Africa regained their title as champions 12 years later, when they defeated England 15–6 in the 2007 final. They were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards, the Springboks also compete in the annual Rugby Championship, along with southern-hemisphere counterparts Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. They have won this championship on three occasions in sixteen years and they also play Test matches against the various rugby-playing nations. Their position in the World Rugby Rankings has varied between the No.1 and No.7 positions, the first British Isles tour took place in 1891, at Diocesan College. These were the first representative games played by South African sides, the tourists won all twenty matches they played, conceding only one point. The British Isles success continued on their tour of 1896, winning three out of four tests against South Africa, South Africas play improved markedly from 1891, and their first test win in the final game was a pointer to the future. In 1903 the British Isles lost a series for the first time in South Africa, Rugby was given a huge boost by the early Lions tours, which created great interest in the South African press. South Africa would not lose another series—home or away—until 1956, the first South African team to tour the British Isles and France occurred during 1906–07. The team played tests against all four Home Nations, England managed a draw, but Scotland was the only one of the Home unions to gain a victory. The trip instilled a sense of pride among South Africans. The South Africans played a match against a France team while the official French team were in England. It was during this tour that the nickname Springboks was first used, the 1910 British Isles tour of South Africa was the first to include representatives from all four Home unions. The tourists won just one of their three tests, the Boks second European tour took place in 1912–13. They beat the four Home nations to earn their first Grand Slam, by the first World War, New Zealand and South Africa had established themselves as rugbys two greatest powers. A Springbok tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1921 was billed as The World Championship of Rugby, the All Blacks won the first Test 13–5, The Springboks recovered to win the second Test 9–5, and the final Test was drawn 0–0, resulting in a series draw. The 1924 British and Irish Lions team to South Africa lost all four Tests to the Springboks and this was the first side to pick up the name Lions, apparently picked up from the Lions embroidered on their ties
South Africa national rugby union team
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1891 British Isles versus Cape Colony match—the first match of the British Isles tour of South Africa.
South Africa national rugby union team
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South Africa
South Africa national rugby union team
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The 1906 Springboks team.
South Africa national rugby union team
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The Springboks team that faced
New Zealand in 1921.
11.
Rugby World Cup
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The Rugby World Cup is a mens rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand, New Zealand are the current champions, having defeated Australia in the final of the 2015 tournament in England. Four countries have won the trophy, New Zealand have won it three times, two teams have won twice, Australia and South Africa, while England have won it once, the tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sports international governing body. Sixteen teams were invited to participate in the tournament in 1987. Japan will host the event in 2019. Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the tournament, where eight of the sixteen places were contested in a twenty-four-nation tournament. The remaining twelve positions were filled by continental qualifying tournaments, positions were filled by three teams from the Americas, one from Asia, one from Africa, three from Europe and two from Oceania. Another two places were allocated for repechage, the second repechage position was determined between the runners-up from the Asia and Oceania qualifiers. The qualification system for the eight places is region-based, with a total eight teams allocated for Europe, five for Oceania. The last place is determined by an intercontinental play-off, the 2015 tournament involved twenty nations competing over six weeks. There were two stages, a pool and a knockout, Nations were divided into four pools, A through to D, of five nations each. The teams were seeded before the start of the tournament, with the seedings taken from the World Rankings in December 2012, the four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D. The next four highest-ranked teams were drawn into pools A to D. The remaining positions in each pool were filled by the qualifiers, Nations play four pool games, playing their respective pool members once each. A bonus points system is used during pool play, if two or more teams are level on points, a system of criteria is used to determine the higher ranked, the sixth and final criterion decides the higher rank through the official World Rankings. The winner and runner-up of each pool enter the knockout stage, the knockout stage consists of quarter- and semi-finals, and then the final. The winner of each pool is placed against a runner-up of a different pool in a quarter-final, the winner of each quarter-final goes on to the semi-finals, and the respective winners proceed to the final. Losers of the semi-finals contest for third place, called the Bronze Final, if a match in the knockout stages ends in a draw, the winner is determined through extra time
Rugby World Cup
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The Webb Ellis Cup is awarded to the winner of the Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup
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The opening ceremony of the 2007 tournament
Rugby World Cup
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A scrum between
Samoa (in blue) and
Wales (in red) during the 2011 World Cup
Rugby World Cup
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Gavin Hastings is one of four players to have kicked a record eight penalties in a single World Cup match.
12.
1987 Rugby World Cup
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The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby Union World Cup. New Zealand and Australia agreed to co-host the tournament, New Zealand hosted 20 matches —17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals and the final. Australia as the junior partner hosted 12 matches — seven pool matches, the event was won by co-hosts New Zealand who were the strong favourites, and won all their matches comfortably. Sixteen teams competed in the inaugural tournament, seven of the 16 places were automatically filled by the International Rugby Football Board members—New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France. South Africa was unable to compete because of the sports boycott due to apartheid. There was no process to fill the remaining nine spots. Instead invitations were sent out to Argentina, Fiji, Italy, Canada, Romania, Tonga, Japan, Zimbabwe and this left Western Samoa controversially excluded, despite their better playing standard than some of the teams invited. The USSR were to be invited but they refused the invitation on political grounds, the tournament witnessed a number of one-sided matches, with the seven traditional IRFB members proving too strong for the other teams. Half of the 24 matches across the four pools saw one team score 40 or more points, New Zealand defeated France 29–9 in the final at Eden Park in Auckland. The New Zealand team was captained by David Kirk, and included such rugby greats as Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan, Grant Fox, the tournament was seen as a major success and proved that the event was here to stay. It also led to many countries joining the International Rugby Football Board which in turn led the IRFB to become the authority for the running of international rugby union. There was no qualification for the inaugural World Cup so the tournament comprised the seven then-members of the IRFB, South Africa was excluded due to its pro apartheid policies. Soviet Union were to be invited but declined, Western Samoa was not invited despite having a better record than some of the other invited nations. There was no qualifying tournament to determine the participants, and instead the 16 nations were invited by the International Rugby Football Board to compete, the runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter finals. The winners moved on to the finals, with the winners then moving onto the final. Fiji qualified for the highest number of tries France qualify as pool winner having scored three tries while Scotland scored two in their drawn match 20 all, the event was broadcast in Australia by ABC and in the United Kingdom by the BBC. Official Rugby World Cup Site Full Results and Statistics at ESPN Origins of the 1987 World Cup
1987 Rugby World Cup
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1987 Rugby World Cup
13.
1991 Rugby World Cup
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Following on from the success of the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, the 1991 World Cup received increased attention and was seen as a major global sporting event for the first time. This however resulted in one new side qualifying for the tournament. The same sixteen team format was used with just minor changes to the points system. Also notable in pool play was that Canada finished second in their pool to qualify for the quarterfinals in what remains Canadas best performance in the Rugby World Cup, Scotland beat Ireland to top their pool, again both teams qualifying. In the quarter-finals, neither Canada nor Western Samoa proved a match for New Zealand or Scotland, meanwhile, England knocked out 1987 finalist France in a bruising encounter. The World Cup Final was played at Twickenham Stadium in London, the following 16 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Of the 16 teams, eight of those places were filled by quarterfinalists from the 1987 World Cup. 25 nations competed in a process designed to fill the remaining eight spots. In the event, there was one change from the 1987 tournament. Nations were awarded 2 points for a win,1 for a draw and zero for a loss, the runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter finals. The winners moved on to the finals, with the winners then moving onto the final. The event was broadcast in the United Kingdom by ITV who took over the rights from the BBC, official Rugby World Cup Site Full Results and Statistics at ESPN World Cup Referees on RugbyRefs. com
1991 Rugby World Cup
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1991 Rugby World Cup
14.
1995 Rugby World Cup
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The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to place in South Africa following the end of apartheid. The World Cup would also be the last major event of rugby unions amateur era, in the final, held at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 24 June, South Africa defeated New Zealand 15–12, with Joel Stransky scoring a drop goal in extra time to win the match. Following South Africas victory, Nelson Mandela, the President of South Africa, wearing a Springboks rugby shirt and cap, the eight quarter-finalists from the 1991 Rugby World Cup all received automatic entry, as did South Africa, as hosts. The remaining seven of the 16 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers, the qualifying tournaments were broken up into regional associations, Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Côte dIvoire qualified through Africa, Japan through Asia, Argentina through the Americas, Italy, Romania and Wales through Europe, the 1995 tournament was the first Rugby World Cup to be hosted by just one country, and thus, all the venues are within the one country. In total, nine stadiums were used for the World Cup, most being owned by municipalities. Six of the nine stadiums were South African Test grounds, the four largest stadiums were used for the finals, with the final taking place at Johannesburgs Ellis Park. There were games originally scheduled to have played in Brakpan, Germiston, Pietermaritzburg and Witbank. This reduced the number of venues from 14 to 9, the reasons cited for this change had to do with facilities for both the press and spectators, as well as the security. The change in the itinerary occurred in January 1994, further changes occurred in April, so that evening games were played at stadiums with good floodlighting. It is also thought that Potchefstroom was an original venue, the competition began on 25 May, when the hosts South Africa defeated Australia 27–18 at Newlands in Cape Town. The tournament culminated with the final between South Africa and the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 24 June, in total, the tournament ran for thirty days. The nations were broken up into four pools of four, with each consisting of two teams that were automatically qualified and two that went through the qualifying tournaments. For example, the winner of A faces the runner up of B, the whole finals stage adopts a knock-out format, and the winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals, where winner 1 faces winner 2, and winner 3 faces winner 4. The winners advance to the final, and the losers contest a third/fourth place play-off two days before the final, a total of 32 matches were played throughout the tournament over 30 days from Thursday 25 May 1995 to Saturday 24 June 1995. Three minutes into the match between Côte dIvoire and Tonga, the Ivorian winger Max Brito was crushed beneath several other players, the final was contested by New Zealand and hosts South Africa
1995 Rugby World Cup
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This article is about the rugby union event. For the rugby league event, see
1995 Rugby League World Cup.
15.
1999 Rugby World Cup
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The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia and this was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sports professional era. Although the majority of matches were played outside Wales the opening ceremony, the first match, qualification for the final 16 places took place between 63 other nations. The 1999 tournament saw the introduction of a repechage, effectively a chance for teams that had finished runners-up in each qualifying zone. The tournament began with the ceremony in the newly-built Millennium Stadium, with Wales beating Argentina 23–18. The overall attendance for the tournament was 1.75 million, the following 20 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Of the 20 teams, only four of those places were automatically allocated and these went to the champions, runners-up and the third-placed nations at the 1995 and the tournament host, Wales. A record 65 nations from five continents were involved in the qualification process designed to fill the remaining 16 spots. Wales won the right to host the World Cup in 1999, other venues in Wales were the Racecourse Ground and Stradey Park. An agreement was reached so that the unions in the Five Nations Championship also hosted matches. Venues in England included Twickenham and Welford Road, rugby union venues, as well as Ashton Gate in Bristol and the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield, venues in Ireland included Lansdowne Road, the traditional home of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Ravenhill and Thomond Park. France used five venues, the most of any nation, including the French national stadium, Stade de France, the five pool runners-up and the best third-placed side qualified for the quarter-final play-offs. The unusual format meant that two winners in the quarter-finals would have to play each other. From the quarter-final stage it became a knockout tournament. The semi-final losers played off for third place, the draw and format for the knock-out stage was set as follows. The tournament began on 1 October 1999 in the newly built Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the Pool stage of the tournament played out as was widely expected with the Tri Nations teams of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia all winning their pools easily without losing a single game. For the then Five Nations Championship teams who all played their matches in their own countries it was a case of mixed fortunes with France winning their pool without losing a game. Host Wales also won their pool, though they suffered 31–38 defeat at the hands of Samoa in front of a crowd at the Millennium Stadium
1999 Rugby World Cup
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1999 Rugby World Cup
16.
2003 Rugby World Cup
–
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. The tournament began with host nation Australia defeating Argentina 24–8 at Telstra Stadium in Sydney, Australia went on to defeat New Zealand 22–10 in the semifinal, to play England in the final. The following 20 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a record 81 nations from five continents were involved in the qualification process designed to fill the remaining 12 spots, which began on 23 September 2000. The overall stadium capacity was 421,311 across 11 venues and this was a reduction from the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales which had a total capacity of 654,677 across 18 venues. Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane was a new A$280 million venue designed specifically for rugby league, rugby union and soccer, the Central Coast Stadium was also a newly built rectangular venue built for union, league and soccer. It was built on the site of the old Grahame Park ground and was opened in February 2000 at a cost of A$30 million, the Sydney Football Stadium was one of two venues in Sydney that were used for football during the 2000 Olympic Games. The other venue in Sydney was Stadium Australia, which was the centrepiece of the 2000 Olympic Games, by 2003 Stadium Australia was known as Telstra Stadium. It was built as the stadium of the 2000 Olympics at a cost of A$690 million. The only stadium with a retractable roof used was the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, with forty matches to be played in the pool stage on top of the knock-out matches would make the event the largest Rugby World Cup tournament to be played to date. For the first time, a point system was implemented in pool play. The ARUs main promotion for the event was Show Your True Colours, the Australian media criticised the competition early in the tournament as the smaller nations were crushed by the rugby superpowers by 60 points or more. However, some of smaller, third tier nations, such as Japan. In pool C, Samoa gave England a fright with an approach that allowed them to take an early lead, however. This match was marked by controversy, as England fielded 16 players at one point during the game, coinciding with a last-gasp try-saving tackle, the big clashes ran mainly to form. A disappointing South Africa limped through the pool, eventually capitulating to England to relegate them to a quarter final against New Zealand. Australia however only beat Ireland by one point to top their pool, whilst Wales pushed the All Blacks to the wire, France beat Scotland to round out the quarter-finals. The quarter-final stage produced the widely predicted set of semi-finalists, although England again made heavy weather of defeating a resurgent Wales, France destroyed an Irish side who had gone into the match hopeful of a win, scoring 31 early points to put the game out of reach. In the other quarter-finals, a disappointing South Africa fell to New Zealand, the first semi-final produced an upset, when Australia defeated the fancied New Zealand to become the first defending champions to reach the following championship final
2003 Rugby World Cup
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England 2003 World Cup winners
2003 Rugby World Cup
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2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
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The opening game at
Telstra Stadium between Australia and Argentina
2003 Rugby World Cup
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Celebrations in
Trafalgar Square
17.
2007 Rugby World Cup
–
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days,42 matches were played in ten cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff, Wales, the top three nations from each pool at the end of the pool stage qualified automatically for the 2011 World Cup. The competition opened with a match between hosts France and Argentina on 7 September at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. The stadium was also the venue of the final, played between England and South Africa on 20 October, which South Africa won 15–6 to win their second World Cup title, both England and France bid to host the tournament. The tender document for the 2007 bidding process was due out on 31 October 2001, both England and France were invited to re-submit their plans. The International Rugby Board stated that countries must comply with tender document terms in one bid, but in their second option. The IRB said Englands original proposal contained three plans for hosting the tournament with a traditional, new and hybrid format all on offer. The French bid, while complying with the document in all other respects. Englands bids included a tournament and altering the structure of the qualifying tournament. It was announced in April 2003 that France had won the right to host the tournament, the tournament was moved to the proposed September–October dates with the tournament structure remaining as it was. It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, the eight quarter-finalists from the 2003 World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other 12 nations coming from qualifying series around the world. Ten of the 20 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers, the qualifying tournament was divided into five regional groups, Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Qualifying matches began in 2004 and were completed in early 2007, including the automatic qualifiers, over 90 nations were in qualifying contention for the final tournament. In July 2005, both Samoa and Fiji were confirmed as the qualifiers from Oceania, as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively, in July of the following year, Argentina qualified as Americas 1 by defeating Uruguay 26–0 in Buenos Aires. Americas 2 was filled in August when Canada defeated the United States 56–7 in Newfoundland, the United States went on to qualify as Americas 3 after beating Uruguay in a two-legged tie in early October. Namibia qualified for their third consecutive World Cup after they earned their spot in France by defeating Morocco over two legs in November, in late 2006, it was announced that the IRB had withdrawn Colombo as the venue of the final Asian qualifying tournament due to security problems. Japan won the only Asian allocation after the tournament was moved to Hong Kong, georgia was 14 points the better of Portugal over two legs to claim the last European place
2007 Rugby World Cup
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The opening ceremony of the 2007 Rugby World Cup
2007 Rugby World Cup
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2007 Rugby World Cup
2007 Rugby World Cup
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The
Eiffel Tower in Paris decorated with a giant rugby ball for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
2007 Rugby World Cup
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The 2007 World Cup was hosted by France, with additional venues at Edinburgh and Cardiff.
18.
2011 Rugby World Cup
–
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan, the tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals, the result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event. It was the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup,1990 Commonwealth Games,1992 Cricket World Cup, overseas visitors to New Zealand for the event totalled 133,000, more than the 95,000 that the organisers expected. However, there was a drop in non-event visitors, meaning the net increase in visitors over the year was less than 80,000. The games ran over six weeks, commencing on 9 September 2011 with the Opening Ceremony showcasing New Zealands history, the final was played on Sunday 23 October 2011, a date chosen because it fell on a long weekend of New Zealands Labour Day holiday. The final was played at Eden Park in Auckland, after speculation that the number of participating teams would be reduced to 16, the IRB announced on 30 November 2007 that the 2011 tournament would again feature 20 teams. Twelve teams qualified as a result of finishing in the top three in each pool in the 2007 tournament, the remaining eight berths were determined by regional qualifying tournaments. Of the 20 countries that competed in the previous World Cup in 2007, host selection Three nations bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup — New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa. The 2011 New Zealand bid contained plans to enlarge the size of Eden Park, Japan was bidding to become the first Asian nation to host the first Rugby World Cup. Japan had the infrastructure already in place, by virtue of its co-hosting the 2002 FIFA World Cup. South Africa had hosted the tournament in 1995, the 2011 South African bid, led by former national captain Francois Pienaar, had strong support from their national government. South Africa had also won the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the IRB Council meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005 announced that New Zealand had been selected after IRB inspections of each applicant host nation during June and July 2005. The event was expected to cost about NZ$310 million to run, in Auckland, the city where many of the most important games took place, the costs to the local ratepayers alone was estimated at $102 million. 4% of the quarterly GDP. Concerns were raised about the process of upgrading Eden Park to expand the capacity to the 60,000 required by the IRB. In late 2008 Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said the remaining consent process might need to be overridden by legislation for the work to be completed on time. The construction of Dunedins Forsyth Barr Stadium, known during the tournament as Otago Stadium, was a source of concern as the project was operating in a time frame. If the project had not been completed on time, organisers would have reverted to Carisbrook as the backup option, Forsyth Barr Stadium was officially opened on 6 August 2011
2011 Rugby World Cup
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Auckland
2011 Rugby World Cup
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2011 Rugby World Cup
2011 Rugby World Cup
2011 Rugby World Cup
19.
2015 Rugby World Cup
–
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October, of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change, Uruguay replaced Russia. This was the first World Cup with no new teams to the tournament, reigning champions New Zealand won the cup and defended their title by defeating Australia in the final 34–17, South Africa defeated Argentina to take third place. This was the first Rugby World Cup where no Northern Hemisphere team got beyond the quarter-finals, New Zealand were the first team to retain their title, and the first to win for a third time. As a result, much attention was drawn right from the beginning of this tournament. The International Rugby Board requested that any member unions wishing to host this tournament or the 2019 Rugby World Cup should indicate their interest by 15 August 2008 and this would be purely to indicate interest, no details had to be provided at this stage. A record ten unions indicated formal interest in hosting the 2015 and/or the 2019 events, Australia, England, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. Argentina had been reported in early 2008 as having given preliminary consideration to bidding, of the 10 nations that had expressed formal interest, many withdrew their candidacy in early 2009. Jamaica was the first to withdraw its candidacy, Russia withdrew in February 2009 to concentrate on bidding for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Australia and Ireland withdrew in spring 2009 due to financial reasons. Scotland withdrew in April 2009 after they were unable to secure co-hosting partners for the tournament. Wales was the last nation to pull out after they failed to submit a bid by 8 May 2009. The final nations that bid for the right to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup were England, Japan, South Africa, four confirmed bids was a record number for the Rugby World Cup. RWCL chairman Bernard Lapasset revealed the result on 28 July 2009 at IRB headquarters, in September 2007, The Guardian reported that the Rugby Football Union had decided to submit a bid. BBC News reported in February 2009 that the intent was for a bid from the RFU. It was hoped that the 2015 World Cup would add to Britains Decade of Sport, the chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, Francis Baron, said that the tournament would target sales of 3 million tickets. Englands package was projected to generate £300m for the IRB – £220m in commercial returns from broadcasting, sponsorship and merchandising, Italy stated its desire to host, and an Italian bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2015 or 2019 was confirmed on 20 July 2008. Italy declared that it wanted to host For the Enlargement of the Frontiers of Our Sport and it was a slogan relevant to the then-current landscape of World Cup rugby, given that 2007 was the first time that the Rugby World Cup was hosted by a primarily non-English-speaking country. The Italian bid offered the largest cities and stadiums in the country, the Italian Rugby Federation also included the importance of the population and the growth of rugby since Italy joined the Six Nations in 2000 as reasons for hosting a World Cup
2015 Rugby World Cup
–
London
2015 Rugby World Cup
2015 Rugby World Cup
2015 Rugby World Cup
20.
Six Nations Championship
–
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions are England, having won the 2017 tournament, the Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship, played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which was the first international rugby union tournament. With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship, the winners of the Six Nations Championship are sometimes unofficially referred to in the media as the European Champions or Northern Hemisphere Champions. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title, although Scotland were the last outright winners of the Five Nations. Played annually, the format of the Championship is simple, each team every other team once. Prior to the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss, unlike many other rugby union competitions the bonus point system has not previously been used. On 30 November 2016, the 6 Nations Committee announced that the point system will be trialled for the 2017 Championship. The system will be similar to the one used in most rugby championships, a review on how well the system worked will take place following the tournament. If a team wins all its games, they are said to have won a Grand Slam, victory by any Home Nation over the other three Home Nations is a Triple Crown. Although this achievement has long been a feature of the tournament, also, the team that finishes at the bottom of the league table is said to have won the Wooden Spoon, although no actual trophy is given to the team. A team which has lost all five matches is said to have been whitewashed, since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided the Wooden Spoon award. Italy are the holders of the most Wooden Spoon awards in the Six Nations era with eleven, however, each of the other five nations has accumulated more than that through competing in previous eras. Several individual competitions take place under the umbrella of the tournament, the oldest such regular competition is for the Calcutta Cup, contested annually between England and Scotland since 1879. It is named the Calcutta Cup as it is made from melted-down Indian Rupees donated by the Calcutta Club, prior to 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since then, ties have been broken by considering the difference of the teams. The rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both points and points difference, the team which scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the teams would share the championship. To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship, the winners of the Six Nations are presented with the Championship Trophy
Six Nations Championship
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The Original Six Nations Championship Trophy (1993-2014) and The Triple Crown Trophy
Six Nations Championship
–
The official RBS 6 Nations logo
Six Nations Championship
–
The
Aviva Stadium,
Dublin
21.
England national rugby union team
–
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and they are ranked second in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 20 June 2016. England were the first, and to date, the team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup. They were also runners-up in 1991 and 2007, the history of the team extends back to 1871 when the English rugby team played their first official Test match, losing to Scotland by one goal. England dominated the early Home Nations Championship which started in 1883, following the schism of rugby football in 1895, England did not win the Championship again until 1910. England first played against New Zealand in 1905, South Africa in 1906, England was one of the teams invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and went on to appear in the final in the second tournament in 1991, losing 12–6 to Australia. Following their 2003 Six Nations Championship Grand Slam, they went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup – defeating Australia 20–17 in extra time and they again contested the final in 2007, losing 15–6 to South Africa. England players traditionally wear a shirt with a Rose embroidered on the chest, white shorts. Their home ground is Twickenham Stadium where they first played in 1910, the team is administered by the Rugby Football Union. Four former players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, Englands first international match was against Scotland on Monday 27 March 1871. Not only was this match Englands first, but it proved to be the first ever rugby union international. Scotland won the match by a goal and a try to a try, in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. A subsequent international took place at the Oval in London on 5 February 1872 which saw England defeat Scotland by a goal, in those early days there was no points system, it was only after 1890 that a format allowing the introduction of a points system was provided. Up until 1875 international rugby matches were decided by the number of goals scored, in 1875, England played their first game against the Irish at the Oval, winning by one goal, one drop goal and one try to nil, the match was Irelands first ever Test. England defeated Scotland in 1880 to become the first winners of the Calcutta Cup and their first match against Wales was played on 19 February 1881 at Richardsons Field in Blackheath. England recorded their largest victory, defeating the Welsh by seven goals, six tries, in 1889, England played their first match against a non-home nations team when they defeated the New Zealand Natives by one goal and four tries to nil at Rectory Field in Blackheath. In 1890 England shared the Home Nations trophy with Scotland, England first played New Zealand in 1905. The All Blacks scored five tries, worth three points at this time, to win 15–0, England first played France in 1905, and Australia in 1909 when they were defeated 9–3
England national rugby union team
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England before they played in the first international; versus
Scotland in Edinburgh, 1871.
England national rugby union team
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England
England national rugby union team
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England versus
The Original All Blacks in 1905; the New Zealanders won 15–0.
England national rugby union team
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Celebrations at
Trafalgar Square after England's
2003 World Cup victory.
22.
France national rugby union team
–
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and they have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams. Eight former French players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British, and on New Years Day 1906 the national side played its first Test match – against New Zealand in Paris. France played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them to form a Five Nations tournament in 1910, France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. The national team came of age during the 1950s and 1960s and they won their first Grand Slam in 1968. Since the inaugural World Cup in 1987, France have qualified for the stage of every tournament. They have reached the three times, losing to the All Blacks in 1987 and 2011 and to Australia in 1999. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where, as in 2003, France traditionally play in blue shirts with white shorts and red socks, and are commonly referred to as les tricolores or les bleus. The French emblem is a golden rooster imposed upon a red shield and their alternative strip is composed of a white shirt and navy blue shorts and socks. Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by English merchants and students, on 26 February 1890, a French rugby team recruited from the Janson Desailly Lyceum defeated an international team at the Bois de Boulogne. Although France were represented at the 1900 Summer Olympics, their first official test match did not take place till New Years Day,1906 against the New Zealand All Blacks in Paris. France then played intermittently against the Home Nations until they joined them to form the Five Nations tournament in 1910, in 1913 France faced South Africas Springboks for the first time, losing 38–5. France also competed at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics, France were ejected from the Five Nations in 1932 after being accused of professionalism in the French leagues at a time when rugby union was strictly amateur. Forced to play against weaker opposition, France went on a winning streak, France was invited to rejoin the Five Nations in 1939 but did not compete until 1947 as international rugby was suspended during World War II. French rugby came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, they won their first Five Nations championship and their first championship was won in 1954 when they shared the title with England and Wales. France won their first outright Five Nations championship in 1959, they won with two wins, a draw and a defeat, France first toured South Africa winning the test series in 1958. The Springboks also visited Paris in 1961, the test was not completed due to fighting amongst the players. France also toured New Zealand and Australia in 1961 losing both tests against the All Blacks but defeating Australias Wallabies and they won their first Five Nations Grand Slam in 1968 by beating all four other competing teams, and won numerous titles in the following years
France national rugby union team
–
France playing Wales during the
Six Nations Championship.
France national rugby union team
–
France
France national rugby union team
–
The jersey of the French rugby team, with the traditional
Gallic rooster symbol
France national rugby union team
–
France hosting the
All Blacks at the
Stade de France which is in
Saint-Denis, Paris
23.
Ireland national rugby union team
–
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship, which they have won twelve times outright, the team also competes every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions. Ireland is also one of the four unions that make up the British and Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions, Irelands highest ever position in the World Rugby Rankings is second, which they reached for the first time in 2015. Dublin University was the first organised football club in Ireland. The club was organised by students who had learnt the game while at public schools in Great Britain, carlow, UCC, and Ballinasloe which amalgamated with Athlone to form Buccaneers. In 1874, the Irish Football Union was formed, Ireland lost their first test match against England 7–0 at the Oval on 15 February 1875. Both teams fielded 20 players in match, as was customary in the early years of rugby union. Irelands first home game was also against England in the year held at the Leinster Cricket Club in Rathmines as Lansdowne Road was deemed unsuitable. The first match at Lansdowne Road was held on 11 March 1878 and it was not until 1881 that Ireland first won a test, beating Scotland at Ormeau in Belfast. Ireland turned up two men short for their game in Cardiff in 1884 and had to borrow two Welsh players, the first victory Ireland had at Lansdowne Road took place on 5 February 1887. It was also their first win over England, by two goals to nil, on the third of March 1888, Ireland recorded their first win over Wales with a goal, a try and a drop goal to nil. In 1894, Ireland followed the Welsh model of using seven backs instead of six for the first time, after victory over England at Blackheath, Ireland won back-to-back matches for the first time when recording their first win over Scotland on 24 February 1894. Ireland went on to beat Wales in Belfast and win the Triple Crown for the first time, in the 1890s, Rugby was primarily a game for the Protestant middle class, the only Catholic in Edmund Forrests 1894 team was Tom Crean. Of the eighteen players used in the three games, thirteen were from three Dublin clubs – Wanderers, Dublin University and Bective Rangers – and the five were from Ulster. Such was the level of interest in the visit of the first All Blacks team to Dublin in November 1905 that the IRFU made the match the first all-ticket rugby international in history, Ireland played only seven forwards, copying the then New Zealand method of playing a rover. The game ended New Zealand 15 Ireland 0, on 20 March 1909, Ireland played France for the first time, beating them 19–8. This was Irelands biggest victory in international rugby at that time, their highest points tally,30 November 1912 was the first time the Springboks met Ireland at Lansdowne Road, the 1906 tour game having been played at Ravenhill. Ireland with seven new caps were overwhelmed by a margin of 38–0
Ireland national rugby union team
–
First Ireland rugby team: played England on 19 February 1875 and lost by 2 goals and a try to nil
Ireland national rugby union team
–
Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
–
1920 illustration of the Ireland versus Wales rugby match
Ireland national rugby union team
–
Ireland playing at
Croke Park.
24.
Scotland national rugby union team
–
The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union, the team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years. As of 27 February 2017, Scotland are fifth in the World Rugby Rankings, the Scottish rugby team dates back to 1871, where they beat England in the first international rugby union match at Raeburn Place. Scotland competed in the Five Nations from the tournament in 1883. In 2000 the competition accepted a sixth competitor, Italy, thus forming the Six Nations, since this change, Scotland have yet to win the competition. Their best finish came in 1991, where they lost to the All Blacks in the third place play-off, Scotland have a strong rivalry with the English national team. They both annually compete for the Calcutta Cup, each year, this fixture is played out as part of the Six Nations, and Scotland last won it in 2008. In December 1870 a group of Scots players issued a letter of challenge in The Scotsman and in Bells Life in London, in front of around 4000 spectators, the Scots won the encounter by a try and a goal to a solitary try scored by England. England later got revenge by winning the match at the Kennington Oval. The Calcutta Cup was donated to the Rugby Football Union in 1878 by the members of the short-lived Calcutta Rugby Club, the members had decided to disband, the cup was crafted from melted-down silver rupees which became available when the Clubs funds were withdrawn from the bank. The Cup is unique in that it is competed for only by England and Scotland. The first Calcutta Cup match was played in 1879 and, since that time, in 1882 the Home Nations Championship, the fore-runner of the modern Six Nations Championship was founded with Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland taking part. Further Triple Crowns wins for Scotland followed in 1901,1903 and 1907, however, Scotlands triumph in 1907 would be the last for eighteen years as the First World War and Englands dominance afterwards would deny them glory. In 1897 land was purchased, by the SFU, at Inverleith, thus the SFU became the first of the Home Unions to own its own ground. The first visitors were Ireland, on 18 February 1899, international rugby was played at Inverleith until 1925. The SFU bought some land and built the first Murrayfield Stadium which was opened on 21 March 1925, in 1925 Scotland already had victories over France at Inverleith, Wales in Swansea and Ireland in Dublin. England, the Grand Slam champions of the two seasons were the first visitors to Murrayfield. 70,000 spectators saw the lead change three times before Scotland secured a 14–11 victory which gave them their first-ever Five Nations Grand Slam
Scotland national rugby union team
–
Scotland's first national team, 1871, for the 1st international, vs. England in Edinburgh.
Scotland national rugby union team
–
Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
–
The
Calcutta Cup
Scotland national rugby union team
–
Scotland v Ireland 2007
25.
Wales national rugby union team
–
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy, Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 26 times outright. Wales most recent championship win came in 2013, the governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union, was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. Wales performances in the Home Nations Championship continued to improve, experiencing their first golden age between 1900 and 1911 and they first played New Zealand, known as the All Blacks, in 1905, when they defeated them 3–0 in a famous match at Cardiff Arms Park. Welsh rugby struggled between the two World Wars, but experienced a golden age between 1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships. Wales played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where they achieved their best ever result of third, following the sport allowing professionalism in 1995, Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup and, in 2005, won their first Six Nations Grand Slam. That was the first Grand Slam won by a team playing most of the matches away from home, Wales won two more Grand Slams in 2008 and in 2012, and in 2011 came fourth in the Rugby World Cup. Their home ground is the Millennium Stadium, currently known for reasons as Principality Stadium. Eight former Welsh players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, Rugby union took root in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St Davids College, Lampeter, where he introduced the sport. Wales played their first international on 19 February 1881, organised by Newports Richard Mullock, Wales played against England, losing by seven goals, one drop goal, on 12 March 1881, the Welsh Rugby Union was formed at The Castle Hotel, Neath. Two years later, the Home Nation Championship – now the Six Nations Championship – was first played, however, rugby in Wales developed and, by the 1890s, the Welsh had developed the four three-quarters formation. This formation – with seven backs and eight forwards, instead of six backs and nine forwards – revolutionised the sport and was adopted almost universally at international. With the four three-quarter formation Wales became Home International Champions for the first time in 1893, Wales next won the Championship in 1900, heralding the first golden age of Welsh rugby which was to last until 1911. They won two more Triple Crowns in 1902 and 1905, and were runners up in 1901,1903 and 1904, when Wales faced New Zealands All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in late 1905 they had not lost at home since 1899. The referee ruled a scrum to Wales and the score did not change, the loss was the All Blacks only loss on their 35-match tour. In 1906, Wales again won the Home Championship, and later that played the South African national side. Wales were favourites to win the match, but instead South Africa dominated in the forwards, two years later, on 12 December 1908, Wales played the touring Australians, the Wallabies, who they defeated 9–6. In 1909, Wales won the Home Championship and then, in 1910 – with the inclusion of France – the first Five Nations and it would be nearly forty years before they achieved a Grand Slam again
Wales national rugby union team
–
The 1895 Wales team before playing England in the Home Nations Championship
Wales national rugby union team
–
Wales
Wales national rugby union team
–
Wales' 1905 team that defeated
New Zealand
Wales national rugby union team
–
A scrum in the Wales victory over New Zealand's
Original All Blacks in 1905
26.
IRB World Rankings
–
The World Rugby Rankings is a ranking system for mens national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sports governing body. The teams of World Rugbys member nations are ranked based on their game results, a point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of World Rugby-recognized international matches. Rankings are based on a performance, with more recent results. The ranking system was introduced the month before the 2003 Rugby World Cup, when the system was introduced England were the top team and maintained that position following victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand took the lead from 7 June 2004, after winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, South Africa became the third team to achieve first place. New Zealand have been the most consistently ranked #1 team since the introduction of IRB World Rankings, South Africa and England make up the remainder. The point system is calculated using a Points Exchange system, in which sides receive points each other based upon the match result – whatever one side gains. The exchanges are based on the result, the ranking of each team. As the system aims to depict current team strengths, past successes or losses will fade, thus, it is thought that it will produce an accurate picture depicting the actual current strength and thus rank of the nations. The rankings are responsive to results and it is possible to climb to the top from the bottom in fewer than 20 matches, as all matches are worth a net of 0 points for the two teams combined, there is no particular advantage to playing more matches. A rating stays the same until the plays again. Although matches often result in points exchanges, predictable results lead to minor changes. The system ensures that it is representative of the teams performance despite playing differing numbers of matches per annum, Points exchanges are doubled during the World Cup Finals to recognise the unique importance of this event. All other full international matches are treated the same, to be as fair as possible to countries playing a different mix of friendly, matches that do not have full international status do not count. A win against a highly ranked opponent is a considerably greater achievement than a win against a low-rated opponent. Thus match results are more important than margins of victory in producing accurate rankings and this is because when a highly ranked team plays a lowly ranked team and manages to beat them by over 50 points, it does not necessarily indicate how either team will perform in the future. When calculating points exchanges, the side is handicapped by treating them as though they are three rating points better than their current rating. This results in the home side gaining fewer points for winning and losing points for losing
IRB World Rankings
27.
International Rugby Board
–
World Rugby, previously known as the International Rugby Board until 2014, is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sports most recognised and it also organises a number of other international rugby competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup. World Rugbys headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland and its membership now comprises 119 national unions. Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional unions into which the world is divided, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and the Caribbean, South America, and Oceania. World Rugby was founded as the International Rugby Football Board in 1886 by Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became full members in 1949. France became a member in 1978 and a further eighty members joined from 1987 to 1999, the body was renamed the International Rugby Board in 1998, and took up its current name in November 2014. In 2009, the International Olympic Committee voted to include rugby sevens in the 2016 Summer Olympics, World Rugby gained membership of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations in 2010. Until 1885 the laws of football were made by England as the founder nation. However, following a try in an international between Scotland and England in 1884, letters were exchanged in which England claimed that they made the laws. Scotland refused to play England in the 1885 Home Nations Championship, following the dispute, the home unions of Scotland, Ireland and Wales decided to form an international union whose membership would agree on the standard rules of rugby football. The three nations met in Dublin in 1886, though no formal regulations were agreed upon, England refused to take part in the founding of the IRFB, stating that they should have greater representation, as they had more clubs. The England Union also refused to accept the IRFB as the recognised lawmaker of the game and this led to the IRFB taking the stance of member countries not playing England until they joined, and no games were played against England in 1888 and 1889. In 1890 England joined the IRFB, gaining six seats while the unions had two each. The same year, the IRFB wrote the first international laws of rugby union, in 1893, the IRFB was faced with the divide between amateurism and professionalism, which was nicknamed the Great Schism. Following the introduction of working men to the game in Northern England, clubs began paying broken time payments to players. Cumberland County Union also complained of another club using monetary incentives to lure players, the IRFB was warned by all the chief clubs in Lancashire and Yorkshire that any punishment would lead to the clubs seceding from the union. The debate over broken time payments ultimately caused the 22 leading clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire to form the Northern Rugby Football Union, the competing unions laws of the game diverged almost immediately, the northern bodys code eventually became known as rugby league football. Englands seats on the IRFB were reduced from six to four in 1911, the three Southern Hemisphere unions were given a second seat each in 1958
International Rugby Board
–
The minutes of the first formal meeting of the IRFB, from a meeting attended by Lyle and McAlistair of Ireland, Carrick and Gardner of Scotland,
Mullock and
Lyne of Wales
International Rugby Board
–
World Rugby
International Rugby Board
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Japan playing Tonga in the Pacific Five Nations, 2006.
28.
2011 Six Nations
–
The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS6 Nations due to the tournaments sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship. The annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship was contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, the tournament was won by England. Including the competitions previous incarnations as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship, the biggest development for this season was Irelands opening of their new Aviva Stadium on the former site of Lansdowne Road. The completion of the Aviva ended the IRFUs arrangement with the Gaelic Athletic Association that allowed the team to use the GAAs flagship venue of Croke Park for rugby internationals. Ireland played their first Tests at the Aviva in November 2010, for the first time in its history, the tournament opened with a Friday night fixture. For the first time in a decade, all of the teams had the head coach as in the previous years tournament. This tournament was notable for a major upset, with Italy coming up from the bottom of the table. Despite this upset, Italy would still end up finishing last. The champions were England, who won their first four matches, but were denied the Grand Slam, italys Andrea Masi was named as the Six Nations Player of the Championship, becoming the first Italian player to win the award with 30% of the voting. The runners up were Fabio Semenzato in second, Sean OBrien in third, England won the championship after winning four out of their five matches, losing only one against Ireland meaning they did not achieve a Grand Slam. Due to France defeating Wales in the match of the tournament. Had England beaten Ireland it would have led to their first Grand Slam since 2003, Italy lost their final match against Scotland to claim the wooden spoon for the ninth time since entering the competition in 2000. The teams involved are, See 2011 Six Nations Championship squads, tom Wood made his international debut. Fergus McFadden made his international debut, chris Ashtons four-try performance marked a number of milestones, He became the first player of any nation to score four tries in a Six Nations match since the competition expanded in 2000. He also became the first England player to have scored four tries in a Six Nations, Five Nations and his six tries in the tournament equalled the single-season record in the Six Nations era, shared by Will Greenwood of England and Shane Williams of Wales. Carlo Del Fava earned his 50th cap Alex Corbisiero and Fabio Semenzato made their international debuts, josh Turnbull and Rhys Priestland made their international debuts. Alessandro Zanni and James Hook each earned their 50th caps, dimitri Yachvili earned his 50th cap. Jonny Wilkinsons 52nd-minute penalty for England made him the leading point scorer in international rugby, carlo Festuccia earned his 50th cap This was the first time Italy had ever beaten France at home, and the first time they had won the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy
2011 Six Nations
–
Italy and France during the 2011 Six Nations at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome
29.
2013 Six Nations
–
It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Including the competitions previous incarnations as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship, Wales won the tournament for the second time in two years, the first time they had won back-to-back championships since their 1978 and 1979 wins. France collected the wooden spoon by finishing last for the first time since 1999 and it was also the first time every team managed to win at least 3 competition points since 1974. 1 Except the opening match against Italy where Pascal Papé was the captain but was ruled out of the two matches due to injury. On 1 March, it was announced that Papé would miss the remaining matches in the Six Nations. Martin Castrogiovanni was captain of that match, parisse later returned after Italy appealed his ban, and the FFR agreed to reduce his suspension to 20 days and therefore became eligible to play England and Ireland. When Warburton returned against Italy, Jones took over the captaincy for the matches against Italy. However, an injury sustained against Scotland meant that Gethin Jenkins was appointed captain for the final game against England. At the start of the 2013 Six Nations Championships England were favoured to win by many pundits after they beat the world champion New Zealand team in December 2012, France, enjoying a winning streak prior to the competition, were also considered strong contenders. In contrast defending champions Wales had suffered seven consecutive defeats and were without their head coach Warren Gatland. France however were upset in their first game, going down 23–18 against Italy, the following week both England and Wales won their matches, against Ireland and France respectively. Scotland meanwhile beat Italy 34–10 in the game, their first Six Nations victory since 2011. In week three Wales roundly defeated Italy 9–26 and England beat France 23–13, in the remaining match, Scotland defeated Ireland for a second consecutive victory. Wales won their week four clash against Scotland 26-13 and in the process achieved a fifth consecutive away win in the Six Nations. England remained undefeated after beating Italy 18-11, Ireland and France tied 13–13, giving France their first points in the competition. England having won all four matches to this point and Wales with three victories meant that their match against each other in the week, on 16 March. A victory by Wales would give two points and put them on equal footing with England. If they won by more than seven points they would move ahead on points differential, England were slight favourites heading into the game due to their unbeaten run, although Wales had the advantage of a more experienced side and playing at home in the Millennium Stadium
2013 Six Nations
–
2013 Six Nations Italy vs Wales
30.
Number eight (rugby union)
–
In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards and seven backs. In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players on the bench, players are not restricted to any single position on the field, although they generally specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that specialise in three positions are called utility players. The scrum, however, must consist of eight players, the front row, the row. The players outside the scrum are called the backs, scrum-half, fly-half, the backs play behind the forwards and are usually more lightly built and faster. Successful backs are skilful at passing and kicking, full-backs need to be good defenders and kickers, and have the ability to catch a kicked ball. The wingers are usually among the fastest players in a team, the centres key attacking roles are to try and break through the defensive line and link successfully with wingers. The fly-half can be a kicker and generally directs the backline. The scrum-half retrieves the ball from the forwards and needs a quick, forwards compete for the ball in scrums and line-outs and are generally bigger and stronger than the backs. Props push in the scrums, while the hooker tries to hook the ball, locks are tall and jump for the ball at the line-out after the hooker has thrown it in. The flankers and number eight should be the first forwards to a tackle, there are a maximum of 15 players from each team on a rugby field at one time. The players position at the start of the game is indicated by the number on the back of their shirts,1 to 15, the positions are divided into two main categories, forwards and backs. In international matches, there are eight substitutes that can replace a team member. The substitutes, numbered 16 to 23, can take up the position of the player they replace or the on-field players can be shuffled to make room for this player in another position. Typically, the replacement players will have a number that corresponds with their intended replacement position with the numbers from 16 to 20 being forwards and 21 to 23 being backs. There are no personal squad numbers and a players position. Players can also change positions with players on the field during the match, common examples are the fly-half playing the full-backs position in defence or a prop taking the hookers position at line-outs. Different positions on the field suit certain skill sets and body types, each position has certain roles to play on the field, although most have been established through convention rather than law
Number eight (rugby union)
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The forwards are in the scrum while the backs are lined up across the field.
Number eight (rugby union)
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A normal rugby union team formation illustrating each of the positions and their respective numbers.
Number eight (rugby union)
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A
scrummage in a
traditional football game in
Lower Normandy, France, 1852
Number eight (rugby union)
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A full-back,
Pat McCabe, fields the ball from a kick.
31.
Rugby union in Italy
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Rugby union in Italy is governed by the Italian Rugby Federation. Rugby was introduced to Italy in the early 1900s, Two Italian professional teams compete in Pro12, a league that also includes sides from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. One of the teams is guaranteed a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup, the National Championship of Excellence is the main national club competition. Four Italian clubs from the national championship compete in a tournament that awards two places in the Challenge Cup. Italy compete in the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup, the governing body of Italian rugby union is the Federazione Italiana Rugby. An original organisational committee was established in 1911, although it was in 1928 when the became the FIR. In 1934 the FIR became founding members of the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur, there are 1,024 rugby clubs within Italy. These clubs support 73,419 registered male players, as well as 8,118 registered female players, many teams are either from Veneto or Lombardy in the North of Italy. Rugby has not achieved a presence, with large areas in southern Italy without any significant clubs. Italian players also play for other European rugby clubs, such as those in the Aviva Premiership, the remote ancestry of rugby has been linked to a Roman game known as harpastum, which spread throughout their Empire, include the province of Britannia. Athenaeus writes, Harpastum, which used to be called Phaininda, is the game I like most of all, great are the exertion and fatigue attendant upon contests of ball-playing, and violent twisting and turning of the neck. Hence Antiphanes, Damn it, what a pain in the neck Ive got and he describes the game thus, He seized the ball and passed it to a team-mate while dodging another and laughing. He pushed it out of the way of another, another fellow player he raised to his feet. All the while the crowd resounded with shouts of Out of bounds, Too far, Right beside him, Over his head, On the ground, Up in the air, Too short, Pass it back in the scrum. Galen, in On Exercise with the Small Ball, describes Harpastum as, better than wrestling or running because it exercises every part of the body, takes up little time and it was profitable training in strategy, and could be played with varying degrees of strenuousness. This game was apparently a Romanized version of a Greek game called phaininda, the general impression from ancient descriptions is of a game quite similar to rugby. Additional descriptions suggest a line was drawn in the dirt, and this seems rather like an inverted form of football. If the opponents had the ball on their side of the line, another remote Roman ancestor of rugby may be a game called trigon, which involved three players passing a ball to one another by hand
Rugby union in Italy
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The badge on the national uniform
Rugby union in Italy
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A match of
Calcio Fiorentino, in
Florence, sometimes seen as a parallel development to rugby.
Rugby union in Italy
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Italy kicking off against
Scotland in their match at
Murrayfield in the
2007 Six Nations Championship.
Rugby union in Italy
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The
Stadio Flaminio during a rugby union match in the
2011 Six Nations Championship between Italy and
France, which resulted in an upset victory for Italy.
32.
Italian Rugby Federation
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The Italian Rugby Federation or FIR is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Italy. The FIR has one seat on the 28-member World Rugby Council, there are two fully professional Italian clubs that play in the Pro12, in the European Rugby Champions Cup and in the European Rugby Challenge Cup—Benetton Rugby Treviso and Zebre. On 25 July 1911 a Propaganda Committee was formed to promote the sport of rugby union in Italy, in 1928 this body became the Federazione Italiana Rugby. In 1934 the FIR were founder members of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur, the FIR joined the International Rugby Football Board, later known as the International Rugby Board and now as World Rugby, in 1987 when they took part in the inaugural World Cup. The Italy national rugby team have played in the Six Nations Championship since 2000. Italy bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup came close to winning but lost to England by just three votes
Italian Rugby Federation
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Italian Rugby Federation
33.
Rugby Europe
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Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, the predecessor to Rugby Europe was the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur. FIRA agreed to come under the auspices of World Rugby in the 1990s, changed its name, in 2014 it changed its name from Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur – Association Européenne de Rugby to Rugby Europe as part of a rebranding strategy. The tournament began in 1883, and is the oldest international rugby tournament, the tournament has been known as the Six Nations Championship since 2000, when Italy joined, it had previously been known as the Five Nations. There is no promotion or relegation, and since 2000, no country has entered or left the Six Nations, of these six countries, all but Germany have been in Division 1A since 2007, and all but Germany have played in a Rugby World Cup. There is promotion and relegation between the ENC Division 1A and lower divisions, in total, the ENC has seven divisions, with a system of promotion and relegation linking all seven. The following table shows the professional rugby union competitions in various European countries, notes, Average attendances vary significantly by country within the Pro12—Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and Italy. The English Premiership and French Top 14 both turned professional in 1996, two Italian teams joined the Celtic League in 2010. Englands second-level Championship became fully professional in 2009 after having been semi-professional, Rugby Europe has 48 member unions and 1 union under suspension, as of January 2015. Not all European member unions are members of World Rugby, Rugby Europes members are listed below, with the year each union joined World Rugby shown in brackets. World Rugby associates are shown in italics, as a result, Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur was founded in 1934. It was designed to organise rugby union outside the authority of the International Rugby Football Board, the founder members were Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Catalonia, Romania and Germany. In 1941 the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco forcibly merged Catalonias team into the Spanish rugby team, nowadays the Catalan Federation is trying unsuccessfully to reverse this decision, claiming the historical rights as a founder member. In 1965, FIRA inaugurated the FIRA Nations Cup, and in 1974 the FIRA Championship, the ENC provided international competition for European countries outside the Five Nations. The ENC was played in three divisions, iconcluding virtually every country in Continental Europe, the ENC later expanded its horizons, taking in Morocco, Tunisia and other non-European countries. The ENC first division competition was won most often by France, but Romania won it five times, Italy once, in its last edition in 1995–1997, France and Italy no longer play in the ENC, as both countries now play in the Six Nations Champsionship. In 1990s the FIRA recognised the IRB as the body of rugby union worldwide and after negotiations with the IRB. In 1999 it changed its name to FIRA – Association of European Rugby, to promote and rule over rugby union in the European area and to run the junior world championship
Rugby Europe
–
Rugby Europe
34.
Belgium national rugby union team
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The Belgium national rugby union team represents Belgium in international rugby competitions. Rugby union in Belgium is administered by the Belgian Rugby Federation, Belgium have been ranked in the Top 30 since 2010. Belgium have yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, Belgium participates in the European Nations Cup. The Belgium rugby team played their first match on 13 March 1932 against the Netherlands and they contested annual games against the Netherlands for half a decade starting in 1932. They drew the 1932 game, but lost subsequent matches during the 1930s and they also played Italy and Germany in 1937, losing both games. During the 1950s, Belgium continued playing the Netherlands, as well as teams like Spain and they managed to obtain a draw in the 1960s against Portugal. In the 1970s they won the majority of their games, as well as playing a range of European nations. This trend continued throughout the 1980s, Belgium had a six-game winning streak in the late 1980s. They began playing games against their regular European opponents as they entered the 1990s. A Belgium side played the Argentina national rugby union prior to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. A Belgium XV played the Barbarians on 24 May 2008, since their induction to the first 30 rugby nations in the international ranking, they have managed to maintain their place. Belgium had a successful campaign during the 2010-2012 European Nations Cup. They gained promotion to the ENC 1A for the 2012-14 competition, where they play against sides such as Spain, Portugal, jacques Rogge, the current International Olympic Committee president, was a member of the Belgium national team. 1987 - Not invited 1991 - Did not qualify 1995 - Did not qualify 1999 - Did not qualify 2003 - Did not qualify, finished last in 2001 Round 2 Pool B.2007 - Did not qualify. Finished second behind Germany in 2005-06 Round 3A, finished second behind Ukraine in 2008-2010 ENC 2A. 2016-2017 Rugby union in Belgium http, //www. rugbyevents. be Belgian Rugby Federation Belgium XV Official Games Belgium on rugbydata. com
Belgium national rugby union team
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Belgium national rugby union team
Belgium national rugby union team
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Germany playing Belgium in Qualifiers for the 2007 Rugby World Cup
Belgium national rugby union team
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Poland playing Belgium in Qualifiers for the 2011 Rugby World Cup
35.
Portugal national rugby union team
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The Portugal national rugby union team is the rugby union side representing Portugal at international level. They are rated as a team in the new IRB four-band classification system. Portugal had their first match in 1935 and now compete in the European Nations Cup, the team as well as all rugby union in Portugal is administered by the Federação Portuguesa de Rugby. Portugal qualified for their first Rugby World Cup in 2007 where they were grouped in Pool C along with New Zealand, Italy, Romania and they are nicknamed Os Lobos, Portuguese for The Wolves. Portugal have experienced modest success in recent years and they have qualified to the 2007 World Cup in France and although they lost all their matches they managed to score one try in all their games and led the score against Romania until the late minutes. Portugal were the winners of the 2003–04 European Nations Cup. The IRB Sevens World Series circuit has allowed the Portuguese players to improve their game, in 2006–07 Portugal competed at every IRB sevens event for the first time. Portugal played their first ever international in April 1935 against Spain. Portugal lost the game by a point, 6–5. They played Spain again the year with Spain winning 16–9. Portugal had more competition from the mid-1960s, and won their first game in 1966. Portugal played Italy for the first time in 1967, losing 6–3 and they also had their first match against Romania soon after and lost by 40 points. They defeated Belgium in 1968, and also played Morocco for the first time, the first game of the 1970s turned out to be a draw against the Netherlands. Portugal managed to draw with Italy in 1972 and following that, after a number of mixed results throughout the early 1970s, Portugal won five matches in a row from 1979 through to 1981. They played Morocco, who won the encounter, after a 1983 draw against Spain, Portugal managed a seven-game winning streak from 1984 to 1985, including wins over Belgium, Denmark, Morocco, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Zimbabwe. The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987, though it was by invitation, from 1989 to 1990, the 1991 World Cup qualifiers were held for the European nations. Portugal started in Round 2b in October 1989 and they defeated Czechoslovakia 15 to 13 in Ricant to advance to Round 2c. However here they were defeated by the Netherlands 32–3 and eliminated from qualifying, Portugal again participated in the 1995 World Cup qualifying competition for European teams, starting in Round 1
Portugal national rugby union team
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Portugal (in red) playing Italy
Portugal national rugby union team
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Portugal
36.
Catalonia national rugby union team
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The Catalonia national rugby union team is the national rugby team of Catalonia. It was a member of FIRA in 1934, but since 1941 is a former official national team. It is currently trying to be official again, the Catalan Rugby Federation, created in 1922, was one of the founding members of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur in 1934. It played its first match in 1923 against the French club team Toulouse Lalande Olympique and its first international match as an official national team was in 1934 against Italy. The teams tied, 5–5, in front of a crowd of more than 15,000 in the Camp de Les Corts, one month later Catalonia played France, losing 15–22. In 1941, after the Spanish Civil War, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco forcibly merged Catalonias team into the Spanish rugby team, nowadays some people are trying to reverse this decision, claiming the historical rights as a founding member of the FIRA in 1934. Catalonia vs. Sweden Rugby union in Catalonia Catalan Rugby Federation
Catalonia national rugby union team
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Catalonia vs Sweden in 2010
37.
Romania national rugby union team
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The Romania national rugby union team, nicknamed The Oaks, is the representative side of Romania in rugby union. Rugby union in Romania is administered by the Romanian Rugby Federation, the team plays in yellow and blue strips. France first played rugby against Romania in 1924 when they tried to establish a rival to the Five Nations championship, although not regarded as a top-tier team in more recent times, their history includes wins against four of the Six Nations Championship teams. Romania have played in every Rugby World Cup as of 2015, however, the likes of Georgia have challenged Romania for top spot below the Six Nations, and Georgia, along with Portugal have both won the European Nations Cup. The game itself was introduced by students returning with rugby balls from their studies in Paris to form such as Stadiul Roman from 1913 onwards. Seventeen other teams would be formed in the capital, Bucharest, Romanias first international was played against the USA in 1919. France first officially played rugby union against Romania in May 1924 when they tried to establish a rival to the Five Nations Championship, France were victorious by 59 points to 3. Romania were one of three teams who entered the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France won 59–3, scoring 13 tries including four by the fine Stade Francais winger Adolphe Jaureguy. The USA then defeated Romania 39–0, Romania finishing third claimed the bronze medal. The Federaţia Română de Rugby was formed in 1931, in 1939 a team was formed in Braşov at an aircraft factory. This was the first team outside Bucharest, the communist regime used rugby union like it used other sports, as a propaganda tool during the Cold War with the West. Every international success was presented as a result of the righteousness of the communist rule. All the financial resources were directed toward the preparation of the team to the detriment of domestic development. Top players were employed in the army or the police, whose sides CSA Steaua București and these infrastructures bred a talented national side. A generation of French school trained coaches from late ’40s, and ’50s built a system and led the team to success of the 1960s, ’70s. In this era Romania began to more regularly against the major nations. Their first win over France came in 1960 in Bucharest, in a match won by 11-5. In 1974 Romania won against France 15 –10 in Bucharest, in 1975 Romania went for an 8-game tour to New Zealand, concluding in Wellington with a 10-10 draw against the Junior All Blacks
Romania national rugby union team
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Romania versus
France at the
Inter-Allied Games of 1919
Romania national rugby union team
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Romania
Romania national rugby union team
–
Romania versus
Ireland at
Lansdowne Road in 2005.
Romania national rugby union team
–
Romania's current top point scorer of all time
Florin Vlaicu.
38.
Holland national rugby union team
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The Netherlands national rugby union team are the national sporting side of the Netherlands, representing them at rugby union. The side first played in 1930, the team competes in the lower divisions of the European Nations Cup, and has never qualified for the Rugby World Cup. The Netherlands played Belgium and Germany as well as Romania, during the 1940s they played regularly against Belgium and Germany. The 1960s saw the side play West Germany regularly as well as fixtures including matches against Poland, Sweden, Spain. The 1970s saw fixtures played against teams including Italy and they won a number of games from 1984 through to 1987. Currently the team plays in the European Nations Cup, since the introduction of the Rugby World Cup, the Netherlands has yet to qualify for the finals tournament. For the 2010-11 season, they lost all 5 of their games with their first to Czech Republic by 25 –13 and they then lost to Poland, Belgium and Moldova 32 –18,30 –18 and 22 –15 respectively. The 2011-12 season started with loss to Germany 23 –7, followed by Czech Republic 22 –10 and the worst of the lot. They then had something to smile about even though it had no outcome to their standing, as they beat Moldova 40 –26. Rugby union in the Netherlands Nederlandse Rugby Bond - Official Site Netherlands at RugbyData. com
Holland national rugby union team
–
Netherlands
39.
Germany national rugby union team
–
Germany currently plays at the second level of European rugby but is yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup. The national team first played in 1927, with rugby union in Germany being administered by the German Rugby Federation, Germany competes in the Championship Division, the top tier of the Rugby Europe International Championships, the senior mens rugby tournament for European nations below the Six Nations. With the exception of players who play in France, the German team is still largely an amateur side. Germanys greatest achievement in rugby is arguably the silver medal won at the 1900 Olympic Games. Germanys declared aim was originally to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, Germany recently caused an upset downing the more fancied Uruguay side at home. The German rugby union teams history began on 17 April 1927, the team established itself in their early years as number two in continental Europe, behind the French. They played 14 tests against their neighbour before the Second World War, as an indication of the teams strength, they did not lose to any team but France until 1937, when Italy beat them 9–7. Because Germany never played any of the Home nations, it is difficult to judge the strength of the team from that era. With the outbreak of the war in 1939, rugby came to a halt and Germany only played one game, against Italy. Germany lost almost a complete first XV in the war, and thus out of it as a much weaker side. After an absence of 12 years, Germany, now reduced in size and under the name of Federal Republic of Germany, played its first post-war international in 1952. At the same time, in the Eastern part of the country, the German Democratic Republic, the DRV continued to offer the East German DTSB to play a rugby friendly, but this was always declined by the East. Until 1965, Germany played friendlies only as there was no European rugby competition it could take part in, the team also made an appearance at Englands home ground, Twickenham Stadium, in 1956, losing 8–26 to Harlequin F. C. on 8 September of that year. From 1965, it part of the second tier of FIRA rugby, effectively the third tier of European rugby. In 1975, it played its first international against a non-European nation, the teams greatest success in the second half of the 20th century was promotion to the A group of FIRA rugby in 1981. From 1981 to 1983, Germany played ten games at this level, after this, the team dropped briefly to the C level in 1985 but promptly returned to the second tier. With the German reunification, in 1991, the German Democratic Republic national rugby team was dissolved. In 1994, Horst Kemmling, Germanys long-standing captain, ended his international career, with the reorganisation of the European Nations Cup in 2000, Germany became part of the second division
Germany national rugby union team
–
Germany playing
Belgium in qualifiers for the 2007 Rugby World Cup
Germany national rugby union team
Germany national rugby union team
–
Germany, represented by
SC 1880 Frankfurt, at the
1900 Summer Olympics
40.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
Rugby union
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South African
Victor Matfield takes a line-out against New Zealand in 2006.
Rugby union
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Rugby School in
Rugby, Warwickshire, with a rugby football pitch in the foreground
Rugby union
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James Ryan, captain of the New Zealand Army team, receiving the Kings Cup from George V.
Rugby union
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Sébastien Chabal (far left) in number eight position before entering the scrum.
41.
John Kirwan (rugby)
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Sir John James Patrick Kirwan KNZM MBE is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player of both rugby union and rugby league. He also played league for the Auckland Warriors in their first two seasons. He is the head coach of the Blues in Super Rugby. In recent years, he has spoken openly about his battles with depression, a grandson of Jack Kirwan, who represented New Zealand in rugby league, John Kirwan was educated at De La Salle College, Mangere East in Auckland. Kirwan played for Marist Brothers Old Boys RFC and Auckland domestically, winning 142 caps with the latter during an era when the side dominated the NPC, from 1985 to 1989 he played in Italy, at Benetton Treviso. After his spell in rugby league, he finished his rugby playing career with NEC in Japan from 1997-1999. Kirwan played 63 test matches for New Zealand from 1984 until 1994, Kirwan played a major role in the All Blacks’23 test unbeaten run from 1987 to 1990, including winning the 1987 World Cup. He scored 10 tries in five tests against Wales and Australia during 1988, in all he scored 35 test tries for New Zealand. He also scored 67 tries in all appearances with the All Blacks which is still the national record and his total of 199 first class tries remains a New Zealand record. As a result, he and Kirk were the ones not temporarily barred from playing with the All Blacks upon their return. At age 30 Kirwan signed for the newly formed rugby league club Auckland Warriors for the 1995 ARL season, playing on the wing, he was a staunch opponent of the ARL during the Super League war. Kirwan was the Warriors top try scorer in the 1996 sesason, in 2001, Kirwan was an assistant coach with the Auckland Blues, his first professional coaching role. In 2002, Kirwan moved to Italy to become the coach of the Italian national rugby team, after a winless 2005 Six Nations campaign, he was relieved of his managerial duties on 8 April 2005. At the start of 2007 Kirwan was appointed the coach of the Japan national rugby union team, interviewed by the Daily Yomiuri, Kirwan said, The level of rugby has improved greatly in Japan in the last ten years and they did well at the last World Cup. But their recent performances at national level have, I want to find that Samurai Spirit that all the players can identify with. And then that style of rugby can start to spread throughout the country. On 9 April 2007 the national team was featured at their first training camp since Kirwans appointment in the NHK national news and he said in front of the camera, We want to be the worlds fittest team. He added that he wanted Japan to play to its strengths which he believed were speed and agility, at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Japan drew 12–12 with Canada, breaking a 16-year, 13-match losing streak
John Kirwan (rugby)
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Sir John Kirwan
42.
Naas Botha
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Hendrik Egnatius Botha, commonly known as Naas Botha is a Northern Transvaal and Springboks former Rugby union player. He was voted Rugby Player of the Year in 1979,1981,1985 and 1987, Botha mostly played in the fly-half position and is now a rugby commentator for the South African M-Net and Supersport TV channels. Botha was born in the town of Breyten in the Eastern Transvaal, South Africa, as a child, Botha aspired to playing professional baseball and applied for a sport scholarship in the United States. Botha was also an excellent schools cricket and tennis player and also a hurdles athlete, however, Botha was selected to play for the South African under-20 rugby team, where he caught the eye of the selectors while still a student at the University of Pretoria. As a result, Botha played his first Test for the Springboks on 26 April 1980 at the age of 22 in the position against South America at Wanderers. Botha was best known for extremely accurate kicking, which earned him the nickname Nasty Booter from the British press when the British Lions toured South Africa in 1980. He is best remembered for his abilities as a very successful drop-kicker in high pressure situations and is considered to have had an outstanding tactical understanding of rugby. As a result, he scored tries and contributed to many more. However, some consider that he was weak in defense. Nevertheless, Danie Craven once said, Give me Naas, Botha remained the highest points scorer in Springbok rugby history for a number of years, with a points total of 312. His tally was passed by Percy Montgomery on 17 July 2004, however, Montgomery passed him in his 50th match, while Botha had only played in 28. In addition to his Springbok rugby-playing duties, Botha also played for the Northern Transvaal province from 1977 to 1995, during this period his contributions ensured that they dominated domestic South African rugby and won the Currie Cup nine times. He was also captain of the province a record 128 times, in 1981 Botha travelled with the Springboks to South America, they subsequently beat Ireland and France in their warm-up to their tour of New Zealand. South Africa lost the series 2–1, but the implications of the tour went far beyond rugby. Domestically he made up for it, however, in 15 seasons playing for Northern Transvaal he played in 11 Currie Cup finals, winning nine, in the pre-professional era that Botha played in, being paid to play rugby was always a controversial subject. This move was not successful, however, and he returned to South Africa to continue his rugby career, while in the United States, Naas played rugby with the Dallas Harlequins, where he led them to the 1984 USA National Club Championships. In 1987, once again primarily for monetary considerations, Botha moved to the Italian club Rugby Rovigo, Bothas career lasted long enough for him to see South Africa let back into the international rugby fold and to play in one-off Tests against World Cup holders Australia and New Zealand. Both games ended in defeat and Botha then toured France with the Springboks before bowing out in a 33–16 defeat on 14 November 1992 at the age of 34 as flyhalf against England at Twickenham, London
Naas Botha
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Naas Botha
43.
National Championship of Excellence
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The competition runs from September to May. After a home-and-away season, the top four teams play a knock-out competition to decide the championship, the season-ending play-offs have one feature which distinguish them from rugby play-offs in most other countries, the semi-finals are two-legged, with the winner determined by aggregate score. Until season 2008–09 the Super 10 was operated by the L. I. R. E, but since its folding, the Italian Rugby Federation has taken over its organisation. The leading Super 10 teams qualify to play against teams from the leading rugby union nations in Europe in the European Challenge Cup. Aironi and Benetton Treviso began competing in the now known as Pro12 in the 2010–11 season. Due to financial problems, the FIR revoked Aironis professional licence after the 2011–12 season, both Pro12 teams are intended to concentrate the best domestic talent and help develop the quality of Italian players and therefore improve the talent pool for the national team. In 1986–87 it was named Serie A1 and the second took the name as Serie A2. Since the season 1987–88 the Championship has gone into a play-off phase after a season. After a major restructuring for the 2001–02 season, the championship was named Super 10 and Serie A1 and A2 became the second. The name of championship was changed to Eccellenza once again for the 2010-11 season and these two clubs would also be the basis of the proposed new Magners League side, Praetorians Roma. LAquila and Prato were promoted from Serie A taking Calvisanos place, the withdrawal of Viadana and Benetton Treviso from the league has been compounded by club mergers. Rugby Viadana, Gran Parma and Colorno have merged to form GranDucato Rugby, overmach Parma and Noceto have merged to form Crociati, both new clubs to be based in Parma. These changes created two vacancies in the Super 10, additionally Colorno and Noceto created vacancies in the second tier of Italian rugby as these five Parma area sides would only now field two professional senior teams between them. All five clubs are shareholders in Aironi, for the 2011–12 season, Calvisano, Reggio and San Gregorio Catania were all promoted. Apart from the teams no one has won more than five titles. The team that wins the Championship wears the Scudetto on their jerseys the following season, Parma with is the only city to have two teams. The majority of the teams are from either Veneto or Lombardy in the north of Italy. Treviso, Viadana and Calvisano have dominated the championship in recent years, Italian rugby union is evolving, the clubs are better equipped, better organised and have improved their players training
National Championship of Excellence
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National Championship of Excellence
44.
Five Nations Championship
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The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions are England, having won the 2017 tournament, the Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship, played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which was the first international rugby union tournament. With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship, the winners of the Six Nations Championship are sometimes unofficially referred to in the media as the European Champions or Northern Hemisphere Champions. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title, although Scotland were the last outright winners of the Five Nations. Played annually, the format of the Championship is simple, each team every other team once. Prior to the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss, unlike many other rugby union competitions the bonus point system has not previously been used. On 30 November 2016, the 6 Nations Committee announced that the point system will be trialled for the 2017 Championship. The system will be similar to the one used in most rugby championships, a review on how well the system worked will take place following the tournament. If a team wins all its games, they are said to have won a Grand Slam, victory by any Home Nation over the other three Home Nations is a Triple Crown. Although this achievement has long been a feature of the tournament, also, the team that finishes at the bottom of the league table is said to have won the Wooden Spoon, although no actual trophy is given to the team. A team which has lost all five matches is said to have been whitewashed, since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided the Wooden Spoon award. Italy are the holders of the most Wooden Spoon awards in the Six Nations era with eleven, however, each of the other five nations has accumulated more than that through competing in previous eras. Several individual competitions take place under the umbrella of the tournament, the oldest such regular competition is for the Calcutta Cup, contested annually between England and Scotland since 1879. It is named the Calcutta Cup as it is made from melted-down Indian Rupees donated by the Calcutta Club, prior to 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since then, ties have been broken by considering the difference of the teams. The rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both points and points difference, the team which scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the teams would share the championship. To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship, the winners of the Six Nations are presented with the Championship Trophy
Five Nations Championship
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The Original Six Nations Championship Trophy (1993-2014) and The Triple Crown Trophy
Five Nations Championship
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The official RBS 6 Nations logo
Five Nations Championship
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The
Aviva Stadium,
Dublin
45.
European Nations Cup (Rugby Union)
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The Rugby Europe International Championships, – sometimes referred to as the Six Nations B or Rugby Europe Championship – is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The tournament is split into 5 levels, each with 5 or 6 teams, all levels play on a one-year cycle, replacing the old format of a two-year cycle, with the teams playing each other both home and away. From September 2016, there still be an annual champion. After the setup of the system in 2000, Romania won the first competition with maximum points. Russia then replaced Morocco in 2001 when Georgia secured the title and were crowned champions after a 31–20 win over Romania in Bucharest, as the competition format changed from a one-year tournament to two-years, the Netherlands were not relegated after this season. Romania started 2002 trailing Georgia after the 2001 results, but managed to win all of the five games. Portugal were 16–15 winners over Romania in Lisbon and installed themselves at the top of the 2003–04 table, in the second half of the competition, Romania beat 36–6 against Portugal in Constanța, but went down 24–33 to Russia in Krasnodar. Then Portugal clinched their first title with a last-minute 19–18 home win over Russia, the Russia – Czech Republic game was rescheduled due to bad weather and was eventually cancelled. The 2005–06 championships also served as a pool for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Romania triumphed finishing level on points with Georgia, while Ukraine were relegated after losing all matches, the 2007–08 edition saw the return of the Spanish to the top division. The winners were Georgia, following their display at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the Russians recorded their best ever placement, finishing in second. The Czech Republic were the team to finish on the bottom of the table, losing all of their matches, a new format was decided at the beginning of 2009. Each calendar year had its own champion, but the cumulated ranking over two years determined which team was relegated, the 2009–10 edition was also basis for European qualification to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The 2009 season saw the début of Germany in the top division, Georgia defended their title, faced with the possibility of missing a Rugby World Cup for the first time, Romania were managed the 2010 title. Germany were relegated after failing to win any games, Georgia won the 2011 edition, after beating Romania 18–11 in Tbilisi. The promoted team, Ukraine, lost all but one of their matches, for the 2010–2012 competition, the top two divisions were redefined as 1A and 1B, both having six teams. The next four levels become 2A-2D, under the new system, in principle, each division is to encompass a different type of competition. In Division 1, groups have six teams, a significant fraction of the players are assumed to be professional or semi-professional, from a five-team group, one team is promoted, one team is relegated and two teams play in playoffs
European Nations Cup (Rugby Union)
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Key
46.
All Blacks
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The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly called the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in mens rugby union, which is regarded as the countrys national sport. The side has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the tournament in 1987. They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches, since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks are statistically the best side to have played the game, New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the fourteen times in the competitions twenty-one-year history. As of the end of 2016 competition, they hold the Bledisloe Cup, which is contested annually with Australia, New Zealand have achieved a Grand Slam four times –1978,2005,2008 and 2010. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, All Black coaches have won World Rugby Coach of the Year nine times since the awards 2001 launch. The teams first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney, the following year they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game tour of Europe and North America in 1905, New Zealands early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, the team perform a haka – a Māori challenge or posture dance – before each match. The haka performed has traditionally been Te Rauparahas Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango is often performed, the first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides – the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales, a privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the only played provincial sides. The British players were mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales. The first officially sanctioned New Zealand side toured New South Wales in 1893, the following year New Zealand played its first home international game, losing 8–6 to New South Wales. The teams first true test match occurred against Australia on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of over 30,000 spectators, a representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in 1905
All Blacks
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The team that toured New South Wales, Australia, in 1884
All Blacks
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New Zealand
All Blacks
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The Original All Blacks that toured the British Isles, France and the United States during 1905–06. The team won 34 of their 35 tour matches.
All Blacks
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The All Blacks at the climax of their haka before a 1932 test against
Australia.
47.
British Sky Broadcasting
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Sky UK Limited is a telecommunications company which serves the United Kingdom. Sky provides television and broadband services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers. It is the UKs largest pay-TV broadcaster with 11 million customers as of 2015 and it was the UKs most popular digital TV service until it was overtaken by Freeview in April 2007. Its corporate headquarters are based in Isleworth, formed in November 1990 by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, Sky became the UKs largest digital subscription television company. Following Skys 2014 acquisition of Sky Italia and a majority 90. 04% interest in Sky Deutschland in November 2014, the United Kingdom operations also changed the company name from British Sky Broadcasting Limited to Sky UK Limited, still trading as Sky. Sky UK Limited is an owned subsidiary of Sky plc, with its current company directors being Andrew Griffith. Griffith acts as the Chief Financial Officer and the Managing Director for the commercial businesses division, after the two companies merged, subscribers could get access to both channels, and later the sports channel Sky Sports also became encrypted. In the autumn of 1991, talks were held for the broadcast rights for Premier League for a five-year period, ITV were the current rights holders, and fought hard to retain the new rights. ITV had increased its offer from £18m to £34m per year to control of the rights. BSkyB joined forces with the BBC to make a counter bid, Murdoch described sport as a battering ram for pay-television, providing a strong customer base. A few weeks after the deal, ITV went to the High Court to get an injunction as it believed their bid details had been leaked before the decision was taken. ITV also asked the Office of Fair Trading to investigate since it believed Rupert Murdochs media empire via its newspapers had influenced the deal. A few days later neither action took effect, ITV believed BSkyB was telephoned and informed of its £262m bid, and Premier League advised BSkyB to increase its counter bid. BSkyB retained the rights paying £670m 1997–2001 deal, but was challenged by On Digital for the rights from 2001–2004, in May 2006, the Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports was awarded two of the six Premier League packages that the English FA offered to broadcasters. Sky picked up the four for £1. 3bn. In February 2015, Sky bid £4. 2bn for a package of 120 premier league games across the three seasons from 2016 and this represented an increase of 70% on the previous contract and was said to be £1bn more than the company had expected to pay. The move has been followed by staff cuts, increased subscription prices, in September 1993, BSkyB launched Sky Multichannels which was the present digital platforms analogue predecessor. Sky Multichannels was a package that gave access not only to Skys own channels
British Sky Broadcasting
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Sky
Minidish
48.
Rugby Football Union
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The Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby in 1886. It promotes and runs the sport, organises international matches for the England national team and it is based at Twickenham Stadium, London. In September 2010 the equivalent womens rugby body, the Rugby Football Union for Women, was able to nominate a member to the RFU Council to represent women, the RFUW was integrated into the RFU in July 2012. On 26 January 1871 a meeting attended by representatives from 21 clubs was held in London at the Pall Mall Restaurant on Regent Street. C, kings College Hospital, St Pauls, Queen’s House, Lausanne, Addison, Mohicans, and Belsize Park. The one notable omission was the Wasps, as a result of this meeting the Rugby Football Union was founded. Algernon Rutter was elected as the first president of the RFU, three lawyers who were Rugby School alumni drew up the first laws of the game, which were approved in June 1871. The RFU took strong action against the involved in the formation of the NRFU, all of whom were deemed to have forfeited their amateur status. A similar interpretation was applied to all players who played either for or against such clubs and these players were barred indefinitely from any involvement in organised rugby union. The RFU long resisted competitions and leagues fearing that they would encourage foul play, the first club competition, then known as the R. F. U. Club Competition, took place in 1972, following a sponsorship agreement it became known as the John Player Cup in 1976. The RFU agreed to the formation of a pyramid in 1987. In 2005 the RFU began talks about a merger with the body for womens rugby union the RFUW. In September 2010 the RFUW was able to nominate a member to the RFU Council to represent women, the RFUW was integrated into the RFU in July 2012. Andrew also had the task of building bridges with the premiership clubs, on 6 January 2011 his role of Director of Elite Rugby was scrapped in an overhaul of the organisations structure. Official website Official RFU Clubs Website Army Rugby Union
Rugby Football Union
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The First England Team, 1871, in the 1st international, vs Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland won by 1 goal & 1 try to 1 try
Rugby Football Union
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Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
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Plaque marking the foundation location of the RFU
49.
Lansdowne Road
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The Lansdowne Road Stadium was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union that was primarily for used rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the construction of the Aviva Stadium, the stadium took its name from the adjacent street called Landsdowne Road. The stadium was situated in the neighbourhood of Ballsbridge in the citys Dublin 4 area, the stadium had convenient public transport links as the Lansdowne Road station of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit rail system is adjacent to the site and passed directly underneath the West Stand. The stadium was named after the road, which in turn was named after William Petty-FitzMaurice. The Marquis was also the Earl of Shelburne, and nearby Shelbourne Road is also named after him, the stadium had a total capacity of 49,250, with 25,000 seats. However, competitive football matches could not use the entire capacity because the stands at both ends of the ground were standing-only terraces. FIFA and UEFA both mandate that international matches be played in all-seated venues, a temporary capacity of 36,000 was the result for competitive soccer. World Rugby, known as the International Rugby Board when the current Aviva Stadium opened, for non-competitive international football matches, the FIFA/UEFA all-seated mandate does not apply. At the IRFU ground, Irish rugby and football matches were played. Leinster also used the ground on a number of occasions when crowd size meant their home of Donnybrook was not large enough. In 1999 and 2003, Lansdowne Road played host to the Heineken Cup final, since 1990, Lansdowne was also a regular host of the FAI Cup Final. The stadium had also hosted concerts from artists such as Michael Jackson, Robbie Williams, Oasis, U2. The Lansdowne Road Stadium was the brainchild of Henry Dunlop, the organiser of the first All Ireland Athletics Championships, Dunlop, a decorated track walker and engineering graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, founded the Irish Champion Athletic Club in 1871. After an initial meeting at Trinity College, the Provost of the College banned any further meeting on campus, Dunlop had to find a new home for his sporting endeavours. Writing in 1921, Dunlop stated, I was therefore forced to look for another plot, on the tennis club grounds the first tennis championship was held long before Fitzwilliam meetings. Dunlop founded Lansdowne Football Club in 1872 and that club has played rugby union ever since at the grounds, being one of the most prominent and successful clubs in Leinster. Wanderers Football Club, founded in 1869, joined Lansdowne at the grounds later, the two clubs were tenants since that time, and also use the new Aviva stadium. Some 300 cartloads of soil from a trench beneath the railway were used to raise the ground, Dunlop charged the IRFU £5 and half of any profits over £50 after expenses
Lansdowne Road
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Lansdowne Road Bóthar Lansdún
Lansdowne Road
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A
DART train passes under the Lansdowne Road Rugby Football Stadium and over the
level crossing as it enters the
station of the same name.
Lansdowne Road
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Lansdowne Road was replaced by the
Aviva Stadium, shown here during construction
Lansdowne Road
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The inside of the Aviva Stadium, after construction
50.
Bologna
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Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, located in the heart of an area of about one million. The first settlements back to at least 1000 BC. The city has been a centre, first under the Etruscans. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna is also an important transportation crossroad for the roads and trains of Northern Italy, where many important mechanical, electronic and nutritional industries have their headquarters. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city, Bologna is home to numerous prestigious cultural, economic and political institutions as well as one of the most impressive trade fair districts in Europe. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, the city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country, after a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century under Bishop Petronius. According to legend, St. Petronius built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Po plain. In 728, the city was captured by the Lombard king Liutprand, the Germanic conquerors formed a district called addizione longobarda near the complex of S. Stefano. Charlemagne stayed in this district in 786, traditionally said to be founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely considered to be the first university. The university originated as a centre of study of medieval Roman law under major glossators. It numbered Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca among its students, the medical school is especially famous. In the 12th century, the families engaged in continual internecine fighting. Troops of Pope Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace, in 1530, in front of Saint Petronio Church, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII. Then a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, the population later recovered to a stable 60, 000–65,000. However, there was also great progress during this era, in 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the centre of the University
Bologna
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A collage of the city, showing
Fountain of Neptune,
Piazza Maggiore,
Basilica of San Petronio,
Two towers (Due Torri),
Tagliatelle al
ragù bolognese (dish of Bologna origin), and endless city arcades typical for Bologna
Bologna
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Porta Maggiore, one of the twelve medieval city gates of Bologna.
Bologna
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Depiction of a 14th-century fight between the militias of the Guelf and Ghibelline factions in Bologna, from the Croniche of Giovanni Sercambi of Lucca.
Bologna
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Bologna in 1640.
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