The New Zealand national rugby union team, called the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's rugby union, which is known as the country's national sport. The team has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015 as well as the inaugural tournament in 1987.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is controlled by Rugby 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 competes in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on a total of 28 occasions, 13 times winning the Grand Slam and 25 times winning the Triple Crown, making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are ranked third in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 9 September 2019. England are to date the only team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup, when they won the tournament back in 2003. They were also runners-up in 1991 and 2007.
The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos are ranked first in the RLIF World Rankings. The team is the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having contested all 15 and winning 11 of them, failing to reach the final only once; the inaugural tournament in 1954. Only four nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia have an overall win percentage of 67%.
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup. Ireland is also one of the four unions that make up the British and Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions.
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, 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 Canada national rugby union team is governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and white. Canada is classified by World Rugby as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and thirteen tier two nations. Canada competes in competitions such as the Americas Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup.
John Noel Tait is a Canadian former rugby union player.
The 2006 New Zealand rugby league season was the 99th season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the seventh season of the Bartercard Cup competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League. The Auckland Lions won the Cup by defeating the Canterbury Bulls 25-18 in the Grand Final.
Kieran James Crowley is a New Zealand rugby union coach, who was previously head coach of the Canadian men's rugby team. He is now the head coach of Italian side Benetton. He is a former member of the New Zealand All Blacks where he played as a fullback. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial side Taranaki.
Kieran James Read is the current captain of the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby union team. He also plays for the Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition as a number 8. Read made his international debut for New Zealand in 2008, after representing Canterbury, as Captain, in the Mitre 10 Cup. Read is currently signed to the Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union, but has not played for them in the Mitre 10 Cup due to international duties.
The 2013 end of year rugby tests, also known as the 2013 Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between European sides - England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, and visiting Southern Hemisphere countries - Argentina, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa and Tonga.
The 2012 New Zealand Māori rugby union tour of England was a series of three matches played by the Māori All Blacks in England.
The 2014 end-of-year rugby tests, also known as the 2014 autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were international rugby union matches predominantly played between visiting Southern Hemisphere countries and European nations.
On 23 May 2013, it was announced by the New Zealand Rugby Union that following a successful tour in 2012, the Māori All Blacks will tour North America to take on Canada and the United States. The fixtures would not be the first time the national sides have met the invitational side, as the teams participated in the now defunct Churchill Cup, and the Māoris faced Canada during their 2012 tour where the Māoris were victorious 32-19. The head coach for the tour was announced as Taranaki's head coach Colin Cooper. He was assisted by Crusaders assistant coach Tabai Matson, and former All Black Carl Hoeft as the scrummage coach.
Throughout July and August 2011, various teams played Test match and non-test match fixtures for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The matches were primarily in the Northern Hemisphere involving the Six Nations Championship teams. Although Tier 2 European sides did play some fixtures against domestic clubs from the Aviva Premiership and Pro12.
This article is about the rugby union competition, for the rugby league competition see the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup.
The 2021 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth Women's Rugby World Cup, to be held in New Zealand. This will be the first time ever the Women's Rugby World Cup is held in the southern hemisphere. The eighth World Cup was played in 2017 in Dublin and Belfast setting record attendances and viewership numbers.
