Rugby union, widely known simply as rugby, is a full-contact team sport that originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professional era.
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days; 42 matches were played in ten cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff, Wales, and two in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Georgia national rugby union team, nicknamed The Lelos, represents Georgia in men's international rugby union. The team is administered by the Georgian Rugby Union and takes part in the annual Rugby Europe Championship and the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions – winning the Grand Slam 13 times and the Triple Crown 26 times – making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. As of 15 October 2020, England are ranked second in the world by the International Rugby Board. They are currently the only team from the Northern Hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament in 2003, and have been runners-up on three other occasions.
The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union 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 2 November 2020, Scotland are 7th in the World Rugby Rankings.
The Italy national rugby union team represents Italy in men's international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri. Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946.
The Romania national rugby union team represents Romania in men's international rugby union competitions, nicknamed The Oaks (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 most recently in 2017. Rugby union in Romania is administered by the Romanian Rugby Federation. The team plays in yellow and blue strips.
The United States men's national rugby union team, represents United States of America in men's international rugby union, nicknamed the Eagles it is controlled by USA Rugby. USA Rugby 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 Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations.
The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in men's international rugby union and it is governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and white. Canada is classified by World Rugby as a tier two rugby nation. Canada competes in competitions such as the Americas Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup.
The Portugal national rugby union team is rated as a performance team in the World Rugby four-band classification system, the second highest. Portugal had their first match in 1935 and now compete in the European Nations Cup and occasionally in the IRB Nations Cup. The team as well as all rugby union in Portugal is administered by the Federação Portuguesa de Rugby. Portugal qualified for their first Rugby World Cup in 2007 where they were grouped in Pool C along with New Zealand, Italy, Romania and Scotland. They are nicknamed Os Lobos, Portuguese for "The Wolves".
The Russia national rugby union team represents Russia in men's international rugby union international competitions, nicknamed the Bears, 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 is a moderately popular team sport played in Romania with a tradition of more than 100 years. The Romanian men's national team are currently 19th in the World Rugby Rankings as of 31 October 2020.
The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match was played at Ajinomoto Stadium in Chōfu, Tokyo, with the final match being held at International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama. This was the first time that the tournament had taken place in Asia and outside the traditional Tier 1 rugby nations.
The history of rugby union matches between France and Scotland dates back to 1910 when the two teams played against each other in Edinburgh. Scotland won the match 27–0. Since then there have been a total of 97 games played, resulting in 56 wins for France, 38 wins for Scotland and 3 draws, as of November 2020.
Georgia and Romania have played each other on 23 occasions. Georgia have won 13 times, Romania 9 times and 1 match has been drawn. They regularly play each other in the Rugby Europe Championship.
Italy and Romania have played each other on 42 occasions. Italy have won 23 times, Romania 16 times and 3 matches were drawn.
The 2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals, also known as the 2016 Autumn Internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between the visiting Southern Hemisphere countries: Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – and the European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.
