The 1987 Rugby World Cup, was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches while Australia hosted 11 matches. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who were the strong favourites and won all their matches comfortably. 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 and Michael Jones. Wales finished third, and Australia fourth, after conceding crucial tries in the dying seconds of both their semi-final against France and the third-place play-off against Wales.
The Romania national rugby union team represents Romania in men's international rugby union competitions, nicknamed Stejarii, is long considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations. They have participated in all but one Rugby World Cup and currently compete in the first division of the European Nations Cup, which they won in 2017. Rugby union in Romania is administered by the Romanian Rugby Federation.
The Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations.
The Andorra national rugby union team, nicknamed Els Isards represent Andorra in international rugby union competitions. They play most of their home games in Andorra la Vella, the country's capital, though have had some matches in Foix, which is in France.
The Greece national rugby union team represents one of the world's newest rugby union playing nations. The national team is governed by the HRF . Greece has been participating in international competitions since October 2005 playing its first international game against Austria in Vienna. Since then, they have played several international games in FIRA competition 3D, and in Greece. Greece played Slovakia in the Final on 12 May 2007 in Thessaloniki, where they won 20–17 and in doing so gained promotion to division 3C.
The Russia national rugby union team, nicknamed Medvedi, represented Russia in men's international rugby union international competitions. The team is administered by the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR). The RUR is considered the official successor union of the Soviet Union by World Rugby and the combined CIS team which played in the early 1990s. Since 1992, the team has played as Russia. Its first test match as Russia was against the Barbarians in Moscow in June 1992 and the country's first test against an official Test nation was against Belgium later that same year.
Rugby union in France is a popular team sport. Rugby union was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents, which makes the country one of the few early exponents of the sport. Elite French clubs participate in the professional domestic club league, the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competition, the European Rugby Champions Cup, which replaced the Heineken Cup from 2014 to 2015.
The 1988 Women's European Cup was the first women's rugby European championship and the first multi-national women's rugby competition of any sort, albeit not an official FIRA competition.
The 1996 FIRA Women's European Championship was the second edition of the Women's European Championship. It saw the debut of Germany and a five-nation event.
The 2001 FIRA Women's European Championship featured 12 countries and was the first divided into two pools - A and B, with the strongest eight sides in the former. The tournament was also for the first time spread around several grounds in a region, rather than being played at one location. The A Pool was won by Scotland, and the B pool by Sweden. Both France and England were represented by their second string "A" teams.
With most of the senior nations preparing for the World Cup, FIRA organised a "Women ENC XV a side Tournament" for the six leading nations who were not in the Six Nations. While it does not appear to be part of the Women's European Championship sequence, it was very similar to the European Championship, especially the Pool B competitions.
The USSR national rugby union team represented the Soviet Union in rugby union until the early 1990s.
The 2008 FIRA Women's European Championship was the 11th rugby union women's European championship organised by FIRA - AER.
The most successful teams in women's international rugby union have been England, France, and New Zealand.
The 2008 European Sevens Championship was a rugby sevens competition, with the final held in Hanover, Germany. It was the seventh edition of the European Sevens championship and also functioned as a qualifying tournament for the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. The event was organised by rugby's European governing body, the FIRA – Association of European Rugby (FIRA-AER).
The Rugby Europe Under-18 Championship is an annual rugby union championship for Under-18 national teams, held since 2004. The championship is organised by rugby's European governing body, Rugby Europe.
The 1995–97 FIRA Trophy was arranged with a new format. In this season the schedules for France, Italy and Romania were modified to allow preparation for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, with a preliminary tournament being held for Division 1 only. The second tier teams played a tournament to qualify seven teams to the 1995–96 edition Trophy.
The 1996–97 FIRA Tournament was the 32nd edition of the European rugby union championship for national teams organized by the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA).
The 2012–14 European Nations Cup Second Division is the third tier rugby union in Europe behind the Six Nations Championship and the 2012-2014 European Nations Cup First Division.
Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby. However, it is not responsible for the organisation of the Six Nations Championship or the competitions run by European Professional Club Rugby.
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