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Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league.
The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams from a wide array of countries.
The Wales national rugby union team represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. The team plays its home matches at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, which replaced Cardiff Arms Park as the national stadium of Wales in 1999.
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States of America Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, and is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until rugby returned to Olympic competition, with sevens at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having defeated the one other competitor in 1920 and the two other competitors at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons.
The Canada men's national rugby union team represents the Canada in men's international rugby union competitions. They are overseen by Rugby Canada the governing body of rugby union in Canada.
Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2022, it was the most watched sport on Australian television with an aggregate audience of 137.3 million viewers. The premier club competition is the National Rugby League (NRL), which features ten teams from New South Wales, four teams from Queensland, and one team each from Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The premier representative competition is the annual Rugby league State of Origin featuring two sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is often referred to as "Australian sport's greatest rivalry", it is one of Australia's premier sporting events, attracting huge interest and television audiences.
While rugby league has been played in the United States since 1954, with Australia and New Zealand playing games there on their return from the Rugby League World Cup in France, serious attempts to start the sport in the United States began only in the late 1970s. The establishment of a national team and a domestic competition in the late 20th century has seen more recent progress.
Martyn Elwyn Williams, is a Welsh former professional rugby union player who played as a flanker. He earned 100 caps for the Wales national team, the most by a forward until he was surpassed by Gethin Jenkins in November 2013. He remains Wales's most-capped back-row forward. He also played for the British & Irish Lions, touring Australia in 2001, New Zealand in 2005 and South Africa in 2009. Overall, he played 17 times for the Lions across the 3 tours scoring 2 tries which included 4 test matches.
Rugby union in the United States is played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.
Thomas James "Rusty" Richards, MC was an Australian military officer and national representative rugby union player, who was born at Vegetable Creek, Emmaville in New South Wales. Richards is the only Australian-born player to ever represent both Australia and the British Lions and as such the Tom Richards Trophy is named in his honor. He is an inductee to the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.
David Hodges is an American businessman and former professional rugby union player and coach. His current role within rugby is uncertain following his last employer, the Austin Gilgronis, being expelled from the MLR. He was an American rugby union coach of the United States national rugby union team, the Eagles. Hodges is a former professional rugby union player, professional, collegiate American football player, and collegiate American football coach. Hodges was captain of the U.S. national rugby team for 28 matches, a U.S. record that stood until 2013. Since retiring from the international game, Dave has had a long run of bad fortune in the business of rugby. He was let go from Rhino Rugby as the Vice President of Sales, let go from USA Rugby after a woeful 2019 Rugby World Cup as the Men's National Team General Manager, and more recently has found himself out of work after his most recent employer, the Austin Gilgronis, we're expelled from the MLR.
Wycliff Palu, known as Cliffy Palu, is an Australian former professional rugby union footballer of Tongan descent. He played for the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby and represented Australia in 58 tests.
The Denver Barbarians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Barbarians have won 4 national championships dating back to their first DI title in 1990. The club's second title came in 1999, during the height of the Rugby Super League, defeating Belmont Shore RFC 22-18. The Barbarians third title came in the 2018 DII National Championship, defeating the Detroit Tradesmen in an all-time thriller at Infinity Park, 39-38. The Barbarians added a fourth title with a 49-34 victory over a strong Boise United side in the 2023 DII National Championship in St Charles, Missouri.
Christopher Hobart McKivat was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests and tour matches from 1907 to 1909 and the Kangaroos in 5 Tests from 1910 to 1912. He is unique in Australian rugby history as the only man to captain both the national rugby union and rugby league teams. Following his playing career he became the most successful coach of North Sydney in the club's history.
David Niumataiwalu, better known as David Niu, is an Australian-American dual-code international rugby league and rugby union administrator, coach and former player. Regarded as one of the founders of rugby league in the United States, he established the American National Rugby League (AMNRL), the United States' first domestic rugby league competition and formerly the national governing body for the sport. He later served as president of AFL Global, an organization promoting arena football.
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.
Michael Zachary Petri is a former American rugby union player who played for Rugby United New York (RUNY) of Major League Rugby (MLR). His position was scrum-half. He is known as "Peaches" by his teammates. He currently is the head coach for RUNY's academy development program.
Taylor Flavio Paris is a Canadian rugby union player. He is currently signed with the Castres Olympique and also regularly plays for the Canadian Men's 15's and 7's teams. Previously Paris had played with Markham Irish Canadians, James Bay Athletic Association, Ontario Blues, Glasgow Warriors, Agen and also had a brief stint with Northampton Saints Academy.
Thomas Coolican is a former Australian-American rugby union player. He played professionally for the San Francisco Rush in 2016. He previously played in Australia for Sydney University in the Shute Shield and Sydney Stars in the National Rugby Championship.
References
- ↑ Starr, Jason (July 3, 2003). "Rowe traveling with U.S. development team". Summit Daily News .
- ↑ Robinson, Joshua (December 9, 2009). "Oxford and Tradition Take on a New Meaning". The New York Times .
- ↑ "Wales aim to shine in US heatwave". The Independent . June 3, 2005.