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 2009 Test series was lost 1–2 to South Africa, while the 2013 Test series was won 2–1 over Australia. The most recent series, the 2017 series against New Zealand, was drawn 1-1.
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions are Ireland, who won the 2018 tournament.
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 Ireland men's national rugby league team, known as the Wolfhounds, is organised by Rugby League Ireland. The representative team is dominated by players from the Super League and sometimes includes players from the Australasian National Rugby League. Ireland is also represented by an Ireland A side, which is made up of players from the domestic Irish competition.
The Scotland national rugby union team 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 19 November 2018, Scotland are 7th in the World Rugby Rankings.
The Russia national rugby league team represent Russia in international rugby league tournaments and other rugby league fixtures. The Bears, played their first fixtures against two British club sides: York Wasps and Fulham RLFC. In 2013, Russia became a full member of the Rugby League International Federation.
The United States national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, is controlled by USA Rugby. USA Rugby is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until sevens made its debut at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic champion in rugby, having won gold at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics.
The Canada national rugby union team is governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and white. Canada is classified by World Rugby as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and thirteen tier two nations. Canada competes in competitions such as the Americas Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup.
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition. This has been achieved 39 times in total, for the first time by Wales in 1908, and most recently by Ireland in 2018. The team to have won the most Grand Slams is England with 13.
Donal Gerard Lenihan is a retired Irish rugby union player with 52 international caps.
The Ireland Wolfhounds are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They have previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons and the full national teams of Canada and the United States, as well as with a selection of other nations' 1st, 2nd and 3rd representative sides. They also play against other 6 Nations countries' A sides during the RBS 6 Nations. Now and again they will also play touring sides. For example, they played South Africa in 2000, the All Blacks in 2001 and Australia in 2006. On the 21 June 2009, Ireland A won their first Churchill Cup, beating the England Saxons 49–22 in the final. They also won the Churchill Plate three times in 2006, 2007 and 2008. They were renamed Ireland Wolfhounds in January 2010. They have not competed in a competition since the IRFU declined to compete in the 2016 Tibilisi Cup.
A test match in rugby union is an international match, usually played between two senior national teams, that is recognised as such by at least one of the teams' national governing bodies.
Justin Tipuric is a Welsh international rugby union player who plays for Wales as an openside flanker. He plays club rugby for the Ospreys regional team, having previously played for Aberavon RFC. He is of Croatian descent, and he got married in Croatia.
The1973 Italy rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia was a series of matches played between June and 1973 in South Africa and Rhodesia by Italy national rugby union team.
The 1989 Italy rugby union tour of Argentina was a series of matches played in June 1989 in Argentina by the Italy national rugby union team.
The Campeonato Argentino de Rugby 1999 è stato dalthe selection of Unione di Buenos Aires The 21 teams participating were divided on three levels : "Campeonato", "Ascenso", "Promocional".
The 2013 Australia national rugby union team tour of Great Britain, Ireland and Italy was a rugby union tour between the away team Australia and the homes teams of England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. They also played an additional Test match against New Zealand, which acted as the third and final Bledisloe Cup match for 2013.
The 1988 Samoa rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland was a series of ten rugby union matches played in October and November 1988 in Wales and Ireland by the Samoa national rugby union team, who competed under the name of Western Samoa at the time. Samoa lost both their international matches but won four of their eight non-international games against club and regional teams.
