List of winners
| Year | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Richie McCaw |  New Zealand |
| 2002 | Pat Barnard |  South Africa |
| 2003 | Ben Atiga | New Zealand |
| 2004 | Jerome Kaino | New Zealand |
| 2005 | Tatafu Polota-Nau |  Australia |
| 2006 | Lionel Beauxis |  France |
| International U21 Player of the Year | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | IRB |
| First awarded | 2001 |
| Last awarded | 2006 |
The IRB International U21 Player of the Year was awarded by the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) 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.
| Year | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Richie McCaw | New Zealand |
| 2002 | Pat Barnard | South Africa |
| 2003 | Ben Atiga | New Zealand |
| 2004 | Jerome Kaino | New Zealand |
| 2005 | Tatafu Polota-Nau | Australia |
| 2006 | Lionel Beauxis | France |
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. 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 world 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 rugby competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport outside of the Summer Olympics.
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 since 2017.
John Sydney Millar is a former rugby union prop from Northern Ireland who played international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions. After retiring from playing rugby he became a rugby coach and later a rugby administrator. He became chairman of the Irish Rugby Union in 1995, and from 2003 until 2007 was the chairman of the International Rugby Board.
The Samoa national rugby sevens team, referred to as Samoa Sevens or Manu Samoa 7s, competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series. Representing the polynesian country of Samoa, with a population of about 202,000, the team competes against some of the wealthiest countries in the world. The Samoa sevens team is overseen by the Samoa Rugby Football Union, which oversees all of rugby union in Samoa.
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 World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby, the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in rugby was disclosed in 2001 following the Annual Meeting of the International Rugby Board Council in Copenhagen, and the first ceremony was first awarded later that year. The International Rugby Players' Association also gives out awards, for Try of the Year, and Special Merit, as a part of the programme. As of 2021, they now present Women's Try of the Year.
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.
Uale Mai Vala is a retired rugby union player who played for the country's national teams, Manu Samoa and Samoa Sevens. He is a former captain of the Samoa Sevens team which represent Samoa internationally in the IRB Sevens World Series. He was at the time of his retirement sevens rugby's most capped player, and Mai is considered one of the greats in the international sport. Mai has been one of the top points scorers in the IRB World Sevens Series.
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.
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.
Collins Injera is a former Kenyan rugby player. He holds the second place for number of tries scored on the World Rugby Sevens Series with 271. He is known for his achievements with Kenyan national rugby sevens team.
Zachary "Zack" Test is a retired American rugby union player who played for the United States national rugby sevens team. With 143 career tries in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Test led all U.S. players in tries scored until Perry Baker broke his record in early 2018. He is the current head coach of the San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby (MLR).
The United States national under-20 rugby union team, for sponsorship reasons known as the AIG Men's Junior All-Americans, is the United States' junior rugby team at the national level. The U-20 team has competed at the IRB Junior World Championship and at several IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy tournaments.
Samisoni Viriviri Nasagavesi is a Fiji rugby union player. He played for the Fiji sevens team, and in 2014 won the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year award after leading the 2013-14 World Rugby Sevens Series in tries scored.
Magali Harvey is a Canadian rugby union player.
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.
The World Rugby Referee Award honours referees with a distinguished long-term service to the game and refereeing.