Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 only included teams from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.
Todd Blackadder is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and professional rugby coach. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, 14 times playing a total of 25 games and 12 tests. Blackadder captained the Crusaders to three Super Rugby titles during his time with the franchise while also winning two NPC titles with Canterbury. Blackadder coached the Crusaders for 9 seasons, without winning a title.
Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.
The Bulls, for sponsorship reasons known as the Vodacom Bulls, is a South African professional rugby union team based in Pretoria and they play their home matches at Loftus Versfeld. They compete in the United Rugby Championship, having competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. Prior to 1998, the Bulls competed in the then-Super 12 as Northern Transvaal, as in those years South Africa was represented in the competition by its top four Currie Cup sides from the previous season, instead of the modern Super Rugby teams.
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries. The Championship is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe, the most successful teams from which go forward to compete in the highest-level continental club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. Since 2022–23, despite the name, South African teams have been eligible to qualify for European competitions.
Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became the first Scottish team to win a major trophy in rugby union's professional era. The side is known for its fast, dynamic and attacking style of play, using offloads and quick rucks. Defensively the club prides itself on its 'Fortress Scotstoun' where the club play at home.
Ayr Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club. Its professional men's side currently plays as Ayrshire Bulls in the Super 6 competition; and its women's side play in the Scottish Womens National One. The club also runs a "Club XV" which competes in the Tennent's National League 1, a 2nd XV "Ayr-Millbrae", which plays in the SRU West Reserve League Division 1, and various age group teams, from age 4, up to age 18.
Rugby union in Scotland is a popular team sport. Scotland's national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever international rugby match was played on 27 March 1871, at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh, when Scotland defeated England in front of 4,000 people. Professional clubs compete in the United Rugby Championship, European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup, while the Scottish League Championship exists for over 200 amateur and semi-professional clubs, as does a knock-out competition, the Scottish Cup. The governing body, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), is one of the ten first-tier member nations of World Rugby.
Domestic club rugby union within Scotland remains a predominantly amateur sport; however, semi-professional and professional outfits have been created in recent decades to participate in cross-border competitions.
The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. Originally competed by various interlocking combinations of club, second-tier national and top national sides, the current international tournament has the top national sides competing. The current format provides these top national teams with additional test matches to be counted in the World Rugby Rankings.
Bristol All Golds is a rugby league team based at North Bristol RFC
The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception in 1996 to 2014, it was known as the European Challenge Cup and governed by European Rugby Cup (ERC). Following disagreements in the structure of the tournament's format and division of revenue, the English and French leagues withdrew to form the EPCR, which organized the Challenge Cup and the Champions Cup since the 2014–15 season.
Murray Douglas is a Scottish professional rugby union player who currently plays for the Shizuoka Blue Revs in Japan Rugby League One. His position is lock or blindside flanker.
The SRU Super Series, known as the FOSROC Super Series for sponsorship reasons, and prior to 2023 known as Super 6 is a professional league for Scottish rugby union clubs, which began in 2019. As of 2023, the league consists of two competitions;
Super League XXV, known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th season of the Super League and 126th season of rugby league in Great Britain. St Helens were the reigning champions going into Super League XXV.
The 2019–20 Super 6 is the inaugural season of a semi-professional rugby union competition for Scotland's club sides.
The 2021 Super Rugby season was the 26th season of Super Rugby, an annual men's international rugby union tournament organised by SANZAAR, involving teams from Australia and New Zealand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was wholly regionalised, with the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season and the 2021 Super Rugby AU season replacing the previous 15 side format used from 2018 till 2020. Super Rugby Trans-Tasman followed these tournaments, a crossover competition that featured the five Australian sides playing the five New Zealand sides.
Hannah Smith is a Scottish rugby player from Falkirk. Since 2013, she has played in multiple Women's Six Nations Championships, including the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship. She was selected for the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics Team GB Rugby Sevens.
The 2021–22 Super 6 is the second season of a semi-professional rugby union competition for Scotland's club sides. The season tournament for 2020–21 did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2022-23 Super 6 is the third season of a semi-professional rugby union competition for Scotland's club sides. The season tournament for 2020–21 did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scotland 