The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for any of the Home Nations – the national teams of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Lions are a Test side and generally select international players, but they can pick uncapped players available to any one of the four unions. The team currently tours every four years, with these rotating among Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The most recent series, the 2017 series against New Zealand, was drawn 1-1.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is controlled by Rugby Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisation. This has since been supplanted by Super League, the Championship and League 1.
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos are ranked first in the RLIF World Rankings. The team is the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having contested all 15 and winning 11 of them, failing to reach the final only once; the inaugural tournament in 1954. Only four nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia have an overall win percentage of 67%.
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. The team's colours are black and white, with the dominant colour being black, and the players perform a haka before every match they play as a challenge to their opponents. The New Zealand Kiwis are currently third in the RLIF World Rankings. Since the 1980s, most New Zealand representatives have been based overseas, in the professional National Rugby League and Super League competitions. Before that, players were selected entirely from clubs in domestic New Zealand leagues.
The France national rugby league team represent France in international rugby league tournaments. They are referred to as les Chanticleers or less commonly as les Tricolores. The team is run under the auspices of the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII and is largely made up of players from Super League and the Elite One Championship.
Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. Although used primarily for rugby union in winter and cricket in summer, it has hosted rugby league and football matches. In 2011 it hosted pool games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final of 2011 Rugby World Cup. In doing so it became the first stadium in the world to host two Rugby World Cup Finals, having held the inaugural final in 1987. It was a venue for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Eden Park is considered one of rugby union's most difficult assignments for visiting sides: New Zealand's national rugby union team, the All Blacks, have been unbeaten at this venue for over 40 consecutive test matches stretching back to 1994.
New Zealand Māori rugby league team is a rugby league representative side made up of New Zealand Māori players. The side represents the New Zealand Māori Rugby league. Like its union counterpart, the rugby league team competes in international competitions.
Rugby league in New Zealand dates to the beginning of the sport in England.
Villeneuve XIII RLLG originally called Sports Athletic Villeneuvois XIII are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Villeneuve-sur-Lot in the region of Aquitaine in southern France. Formed in 1934, the first French rugby league club, they currently play in the Elite One Championship the highest level of rugby league in France. They have won both the league title and the cup on nine occasions. Their home stadium is the Stade Max Rousie.
Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The national team, the All Blacks, ranks as the top international team in the world. The sport has been known in New Zealand from 1870. The top domestic competitions are the semi-professional ITM Cup and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987, and hosted and won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. They are the current world champions for men and women. They are also the current World Champions in 7s rugby for men and women.
Alexander Douglas McLean Jr. was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player, a dual-code rugby international.
The Australian Schoolboys rugby league team is the national rugby league football team for secondary school students in Australia.
The 1893 New Zealand tour rugby to Australia was the second tour by the New Zealand national rugby union team to Australia. Ten matches were played against regional and district sides, but no Test matches were played. It was first tour arranged by New Zealand Rugby Football Union which was founded the year before. The only previous New Zealand national team was the side that toured New South Wales in 1884. Immediately before departing for Sydney, the tourists played a match against a "Combined XV" in Wellington, which New Zealand won 7–4.
Puhipi James Rukutai was a New Zealand rugby league player and coach who both represented and coached New Zealand. The Auckland Rugby League's minor premiership, the Rukutai Shield, is named after him.
James Devereux (1887–1934) was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer of the earlier 20th century. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative three-quarter back, he played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from its first season in 1908 for the North Sydney club, before playing several seasons in England will Hull FC. He later returned to Australia and coached North Sydney.
Jim Davis (1887–1934) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer. He was one of his country's first national representative players making the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and then had a patchy first grade club career in the first decade of the code's popularity in Sydney.
The 1938 New Zealand tour rugby to Australia was the 16th tour by the New Zealand national rugby union team to Australia.
The 1936 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand was a collection of rugby union games undertaken by the Australia team in New Zealand against invitational and national teams of New Zealand.
