The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national team, although they can pick uncapped players who are eligible for any of the four unions. The team currently tours every four years, with these rotating between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order. The most recent test series, the 2021 series against South Africa, was won 2–1 by South Africa.
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School 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 Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a similar tournament in the Northern Hemisphere.
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.
Twickenham Stadium in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays home matches at the stadium.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, the governing body of rugby union for the world. It dropped the word "Football" from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013. Officially, it is an incorporated society with the name New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated.
The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions.
The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, 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 Commission, the Kangaroos are ranked fourth in the RLIF World Rankings. The team is the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having contested all 15 and won 11 of them, failing to reach the final only once, in the inaugural tournament in 1954. Only five nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia has an overall win percentage of 70%.
Rugby league has been played in France since 1934. As with rugby union, rugby league was introduced by the English and the heartland of the game is in the south of France.
The South is a select rugby union team that draws its players from the South of Scotland, mainly the Scottish Borders where there has always been a proud tradition of rugby union. Historically the South team played matches against touring teams visiting Scotland from abroad, and also competed in the Scottish Inter-District Championship. After rugby union became a professional sport in 1995, the team was replaced in 1996 by the new Border Reivers team based in the same geographical area as the South and who wore the same colours as the old team.
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship beats all the others during one year's competition. This has been achieved 40 times in total, for the first time by Wales in 1908, and most recently by the French team in 2022. The team with the most Grand Slams is England with 13.
Rugby union is a football code within Australia with a history of organised competition dating back to 1864. Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.
Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The men's national team, the All Blacks, is currently ranked the fourth best international rugby team in the world, after (3) South Africa, (2) France and (1) Ireland. The sport has been known in New Zealand since 1870. The top domestic competitions are the semi-professional Mitre 10 Cup and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987, and hosted and won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The men have won three World Cups, tied with South Africa, the most of any other country. They are also the current World Champions in 7s rugby for men and women.
Rugby union in Argentina is a popular team sport. The first rugby match played in the country dates back to 1873, as the game was introduced by the British. The Argentina national team, sometimes referred to as the Pumas, have competed at the Rugby World Cup, and are considered a tier one nation by the sport's governing body, World Rugby.
In 1912-13 the South Africa national rugby union team toured England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, playing a series of test matches, as well as games against club, regional, and representative teams. South Africa accomplished their first Grand Slam by winning all four tests against the Home Nations sides, and also won the test match against France. This was the second South African tour of the Northern Hemisphere, after the very successful 1906 tour.
The contest between The Wallabies and The Springboks is one of the major rivalries in rugby union.
Established in 1950, The East Africa rugby union team is a multi-national rugby union team drawing players from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, though the vast majority of these came from Kenya which has traditionally been the strongest rugby playing nation in this part of the world. The team has played against incoming international, representative and club touring sides and it conducted seven tours between 1954 and 1982.
For the most recent Mid-year window go to 2022 July rugby union tests
The 2013 mid-year rugby union tests were international rugby union matches that were played in June 2013, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere.
Noel Joseph Henderson was a rugby union player from Northern Ireland, who played in the centre position. Henderson played club rugby with North of Ireland F.C., was capped forty times for Ireland, and was a member of the British and Irish Lions team that toured in 1950.
