The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Lions are a Test side and most often select players who have already played for their national team, but they can pick uncapped players who are eligible to any one of the four unions. The team currently tours every four years, with these rotating between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order. The most recent Test series, the 2017 series against New Zealand, was drawn 1–1.
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, 2011 and 2015.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, the governing body of rugby union for the world. It dropped the word "Football" from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013. Officially, it is an incorporated society with the name New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated.
Rugby union is a football code within Australia with a history dating back to 1864. Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.
{{Sport overview | country = New Zealand | sport = rugby union | image = All Blacks England.jpg | imagesize = 200px | caption = [[New Zealand national rugby union team|New Zealand playing England. | union = New Zealand Rugby Union | nickname = All Blacks | first = 1870, Nelson | registered = 146,893 (total)
28,648 (adults) | clubs = 600 | intl_list =
The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Māori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is that the player has Māori whakapapa (genealogy). In the past this rule was not strictly applied; non–Māori players who looked Māori were often selected in the team. These included a few Pacific island players and a couple of African descent. Today all players have their ancestry verified before selection in the team.
Patrick Bernard "Nimmo" Walsh was a pioneer Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer, a dual-code international, who saw active duty with the Australian Imperial Force in the first World War. He represented the Wallabies in three Tests in 1904 and the Kangaroos in three Tests on the first tour of Great Britain in 1908–09.
The first clash in rugby union between Australia and New Zealand took place in a test match on 15 August 1903 in Sydney, New South Wales. On that occasion, New Zealand won 22–3.
The 1903 New Zealand tour rugby to Australia was the fourth tour by the New Zealand national team to Australia. Nine matches were played against regional and district sides along with one test match between the two national sides, the first played by New Zealand in their history.
The 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain was made by a group of New Zealand rugby footballers who played matches in Australia, Ceylon, England and Wales between 1907 and 1908. Most of the matches were played under the rules of the Northern Union, a sport that is today known as rugby league. As such, the team were the immediate predecessors of the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour had a large role in establishing rugby league in both Australia and New Zealand, and also gave birth to international rugby league. The tour party has come to be known as the professional All Blacks or All Golds, although at the time they were commonly referred to as the All Blacks—a named popularised by the New Zealand rugby union team that toured the Northern Hemisphere in 1905.
The 1974 New Zealand rugby union tour of Ireland, Wales and England was a series of eight matches played by the New Zealand national rugby union team in November 1974.
The 1921 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia and New Zealand was the third tour made by the Springboks rugby team, and their first tour to Australia and New Zealand. South Africa played three Test matches against the All Blacks. The series was drawn 1–all, and the long-running controversy between the countries over the All Blacks' inclusion of Maori players began.
The 1920 New Zealand tour rugby to New South Wales was the ninth tour by the New Zealand national team to Australia. The three most important matches on the tour were played against the New South Wales selection, and the All Blacks won the 3 match series 3–0.
The 1922 New Zealand tour rugby to New South Wales was the tenth tour by the New Zealand national team to Australia.
The 1924 New Zealand tour rugby to New South Wales was the 11th tour by the New Zealand national rugby union team to Australia.
The 1925 New Zealand tour rugby to New South Wales was the 12th tour by the New Zealand national team to Australia.
The 1926 New Zealand tour rugby to New South Wales was the 13th tour by the New Zealand national rugby union team to Australia.
Rugby union has a long history in New Zealand. Today, New Zealand holds tier one status with World Rugby.
The New South Wales Country Cockatoos is an amateur representative rugby union football team. Players in the team are selected by the New South Wales Country Rugby Union from regions of New South Wales excluding Sydney and Southern NSW. New South Wales Country plays regular fixtures with other representative sides including City-Country matches with New South Wales Suburban for the Maher-Ross Cup, and the "Battle of the Borders" Cup against the Queensland Country Heelers.
