Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union or more often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in England in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply 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.
World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
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.
Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924.
The 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland, in April 1993. This tournament was the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament. The International Rugby Board invited the established rugby union nations but also were keen to involve emerging nations in the event, recognising the fact that Sevens was providing the bridge between the developed rugby nations and those whose rugby union traditions were less well established.
The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limited board after considering bids from the Rugby Football Union and the German Rugby Union – it had been England's third successive bid after being rejected in 2002 and 2006. The tournament was again being organised by the International Rugby Board (IRB) as opposed to the host union, and included five matches for all teams played on 20, 24, 28 August and 1 and 5 September. In May 2009 it was announced that the semi-final, 3rd place play off and final would take place at The Stoop and not Twickenham as had previously been suggested. Pool games were held at the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.
Alfred Ronald Dawson played hooker for Ireland. He was captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their 1959 tour to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Sydney Millar was a Northern Irish rugby union prop who played for Ballymena RFC and Ulster and international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions. After retiring from playing rugby he became a rugby coach and a rugby administrator. He became chairman of the Irish Rugby Union in 1995 and from 2003 until 2007 was chairman of the International Rugby Board. Former Lions captain Willie John McBride stated that Millar had given "his whole life to the game".
The IRB International U19 Player of the Year was awarded by the International Rugby Board in the autumn each year from 2002 to 2007. In 2008, it was combined with the IRB International U21 Player of the Year into the IRB Junior Player of the Year award.
The IRB International U21 Player of the Year was awarded by the International Rugby Board in the autumn each year from 2001 to 2006. In 2008, it was combined with the IRB International U19 Player of the Year to create the IRB Junior Player of the Year award.
The IRB International Sevens Team of the Year was awarded by the International Rugby Board in the November or December each year from 2002 to 2007. In 2002 and 2003, the award was called the IRB Sevens Team of the Year.
The World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year is awarded by World Rugby each year. It was first awarded in 2004. The award is based in large part on the player’s performance over the course of the World Rugby Sevens Series, along with other Sevens tournaments during the year.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) awarded the 2007 Under 19 Rugby World Championship to the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the Ulster branch hosted it. The Tournament, which took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 4–21 April, was split into two divisions of twelve teams. Division A games took place in Belfast at Belfast Harlequins' Deramore Park, Ulster Rugby's Ravenhill Stadium, and Cooke RFC/Instonians' Shaw's Bridge complex. Division B games were held in Queen's University of Belfast's The Dub complex and Malone RFC's Gibson Park in Belfast, and Bangor RFC's Upritchard Park in Bangor.
Rugby union trophies and awards have been given out to teams and participants from the very earliest days of the sport's history. In common with many other sports rugby union has an array of competitions, both domestic international, covering the spectrum of competition structures from season long leagues, to one-off matches. The list below is divided into sections such that trophies and awards competed for by national sides are grouped together, as are those competed for by club and provincial sides. In both cases, the type of award can differ. The award might be a perpetual trophy, which is one competed for in perpetuity by two sides such that on each occasion they meet, which may or may not be on a regular basis, that honour is contested. The award may be one that is given to the winner of a tournament, or as a subset of this, as an award for a particular honour attained in that tournament. Additionally, the sport of rugby union bestows certain honours on individual players, and these too have their own dedicated section below.
The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August.
James Mathieson Fleming MBE is a retired Scottish Rugby Union Referee who refereed 42 major international matches and was a touch judge in a further 75. He also refereed 7 women’s internationals including the 1994 World Cup Final. The international matches that he controlled were between 1985 and 2001 and included matches in four Rugby World Cups. He is Scotland’s most capped referee and was an International referee for 18 years
The IRP Men's Try of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The International Rugby Players (IRP) – formerly International Rugby Players Association – select the nominees from which the winner is decided by a public vote. As of 2017, the IRPA selection panel comprises Isaac Boss, Andries Pretorius, Hale T-Pole and Stefan Terblanche.
This page covers the major events of 2017 in rugby union.
The Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service, previously called the IRB Distinguished Service Award, is awarded by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. It has been awarded annually since 2001. It honours an individual, Union or group, male or female, who has given outstanding service to their country and contributed to the International Game in as many as possible of the following areas: Playing, Coaching, Management, Training, Administration, Media & Broadcast.
Ireland 
Australia 
Wales 
England 
India 
Uruguay 
