The England national rugby union team represents the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

(RFU) in international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. They compete in the annual

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

with

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. England have won the championship on 29 occasions (as well as sharing 10 victories), winning the Grand Slam 14 times and the Triple Crown 26 times, making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are currently the only team from the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

to win the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

, having won the tournament in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, and have been runners-up on three further occasions. The history of the team extends back to 1871 when the English rugby team played their first official test match, losing 0–1 to Scotland. England dominated the early Home Nations Championship (now the Six Nations Championship) which started in 1883. Following the

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

of rugby football in 1895 into union and league, England did not win the Championship again until 1910. They first played against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1905,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1906, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1909. England was one of the teams invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. They progressed to the final in the second tournament in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, but lost to the eventual champions Australia. Following their Grand Slam in

, England went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup, defeating Australia in extra time. They contested the final again in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

in defence of their title but lost to South Africa. They reached the final for the fourth time in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, but lost to South Africa. England players traditionally wear a white shirt with a rose embroidered on the chest, white shorts, and navy blue socks with a white trim. England's home ground is

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

where they first played in 1910. The team is administered by the RFU. Five former players have been inducted into the

International Rugby Hall of Fame The International Rugby Hall of Fame (IRHOF) was a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF accepted ...

. One of them is also a member of the

IRB Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and othe ...

. Seven other former players are members of the IRB Hall of Fame, four solely for their accomplishments as players, two solely for their achievements in other roles in the sport, and one for achievements both as a player and administrator. They have been branched in many different squads since the start of England Rugby, such as junior teams and women's teams.

History

Early years

The expansion of rugby in the first half of the 19th century was driven by former pupils from many of England's public schools, especially Rugby, who, upon finishing school, took the game with them to universities, to London, and to the counties. England's first international match was against

on 27 March 1871; not only was this England's first match, but it is also noted as being the first rugby union international. Scotland won the match by one goal and a try to England's one unconverted try, in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. A subsequent international took place at

the Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in London on 5 February 1872, when England defeated Scotland by a goal, a drop goal and two tries to Scotland's one drop goal. The early matches did not use a structured points system; this would not be introduced until after 1890 when a suitable format for the scoring system had been devised. Up until 1875, international rugby matches were decided by the number of goals scored (conversions and dropped goals), but from 1876 the number of tries scored could be used to decide a match if the teams were level on goals. In 1875, England played their first game against

at the Oval, winning by one goal, one drop goal and one try to nil; this was Ireland's first test match. England defeated Scotland in 1880 to become the first winners of the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between teams of England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy con ...

. Their first match against

was played on 19 February 1881 at Richardson's Field in Blackheath, where England recorded their largest victory, winning by seven goals, six tries, and one drop goal to nil, and scoring 13 tries in the process. The subsequent meeting the following year at St. Helen's in Swansea was a closer contest, with England defeating Wales by two goals and four tries to nil. Two years later, England emerged as the inaugural winners at the first Home Nations championship. In 1889, they played their first match against a non-home nations team when they defeated the New Zealand Natives at Rectory Field in Blackheath by one goal and four tries to nil. England shared the Home Nations trophy with Scotland in 1890. England first played

(known as the "All Blacks") in 1905 at Crystal Palace in London. New Zealand scored five tries, worth three points at the time, to win 15–0. England played

for the first time in March 1906 in Paris, winning 35–8, and later that year they first faced

(known as the "Springboks"), again at Crystal Palace. James Peters was withdrawn from the England squad when the South Africans refused to play against a black player; the match was drawn 3–3. England first played

(known as the "Wallabies") in January 1909 at Blackheath's Rectory Field, where they were defeated 9–3. England vs allblacks Gillett 1905

The year 1909 saw the opening of

as the RFU's new home, heralding a golden era for English rugby union. England's first international at Twickenham in 1910 brought them victory over Wales on their way to winning the

International Championship The International Championship is a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Ding Junhui. History The event was introduced in the 2012–13 snooker season, 2012/2013 season. It was named as the ...

(known from then as the Five Nations) for the first time since 1892. Although England did not retain the Five Nations title in 1911, they did share it (with Ireland) in 1912. England then achieved their first Five Nations Grand Slam in 1913, another in 1914, and a third in 1921 after the First World War. A further two consecutive Grand Slams followed for the England team in 1924 and 1925, this despite having started 1925 with an 17–11 loss to the " Invincibles" in front of 60,000 fans at Twickenham. After winning a sixth Grand Slam in 1928, England were subjected to a 7–0 defeat by the Springboks in front of 70,000 spectators at Twickenham in January 1932. Following the expulsion of France from the International Championship in 1931 due to professionalism, which reverted the Five Nations tournament back to the Home Nations, England proceeded to win the 1934 and 1937 championships with a Triple Crown, and achieved their first victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham in January 1936.Polanski (2003), pp. 38–39. When the Five Nations resumed with the readmission of France in 1947 after the Second World War, England shared the championship with Wales. The early Five Nations competitions of the 1950s were unsuccessful for England, winning one match in the 1950 and 1951 championships. England won the 1953 Five Nations, and followed this up with a Grand Slam in 1957, and win in 1958. England broke France's four-championship streak by winning the 1963 Championship. After this victory, England played three Tests in the Southern Hemisphere and lost all three: 21–11 and 9–6 against the All Blacks, and 18–9 against Australia. England did not win a single match in 1966, and managed only a draw with Ireland. They did not win another Championship that decade. Don White was appointed as England's first coach in 1969. According to former Northampton player Bob Taylor, "Don was chosen because he was the most forward-thinking coach in England". His first match in charge was an 11–8 victory over South Africa at Twickenham in 1969. Of the eleven games England played with White in charge they won three, and drew one and lost seven. He resigned as England coach in 1971. England had wins against Southern Hemisphere teams in the 1970s; with victories over South Africa in 1972, New Zealand in 1973 and Australia in 1973 and 1976. The 1972 Five Nations Championship was not completed due to

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

in Northern Ireland when Scotland and Wales refused to play their Five Nations away fixtures in Ireland. England played in Dublin in 1973 and were given a standing ovation lasting five minutes. After losing 18–9 at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

, the England captain, John Pullin famously stated, "We might not be very good but at least we turned up." England started the following decade with a Grand Slam victory in the 1980 Five Nations – their first for 23 years. However in the 1983 Five Nations Championship, England failed to win a game and picked up the

wooden spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

. In the first

in New Zealand and Australia, England were grouped in

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

A alongside Australia,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. England lost their first game 19–6 against Australia. They went on to defeat Japan and the United States, and met Wales in their quarter-final, losing the match 16–3. In 1989, England won matches against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, followed by victories in their first three Five Nations games of 1990. They lost to Scotland in their last game however, giving Scotland a Grand Slam. England recovered in the following year by winning their first Grand Slam since 1980. England hosted the 1991 World Cup and were in pool A, along with the All Blacks,

and the United States. Although they lost to the All Blacks in pool play, they qualified for a quarter-final going on to defeat France 19–10. England then defeated Scotland 9–6 to secure a place in the final against Australia which they lost 12–6. The next year, England completed another Grand Slam and did not lose that year, including a victory over the Springboks. In the lead up to the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, England completed another Grand Slam – their third in five years. In the World Cup, England defeated

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, Italy and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in pool play and then defeated Australia 25–22 in their quarter-final. England's semi-final was dominated by the All Blacks and featured four tries, now worth five points each, by Jonah Lomu; England lost 45–29. They then lost the third-place play-off match against France.

Professional era

England won their 20th Triple Crown title in 1997, but came second in the 1997 Five Nations Championship after a narrow defeat to France at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. Sir

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach (sport), coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 Britis ...

replaced Jack Rowell as the England head coach later that year. On 6 December 1997, England drew with New Zealand at Twickenham, after being heavily defeated by

at the same venue the week before and by

in Manchester two weeks previously. In 1998, England toured Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; many of the experienced players were unavailable for what was to become nicknamed the "Tour from Hell" during which England lost all of their matches including a punishing defeat by the Wallabies. In the last Five Nations match on 11 April 1999, with England poised to win the championship, Welsh centre Scott Gibbs sliced through six English tackles to score a try in the last minute, and the ensuing conversion by Neil Jenkins handed the final Five Nations title to Scotland. England world cup

England commenced the new millennium by winning the inaugural

, although they lost their last match to Scotland. They successfully defended their title the following year, but missed out on the Grand Slam by losing (14–20) to Ireland in a postponed match at Lansdowne Road. Although France won the 2002 Six Nations Championship, England defeated the other Home Nations teams to win the Triple Crown. In 2002, England beat Argentina (26–18) in Buenos Aires, and in the Autumn internationals they defeated New Zealand (31–28), Australia (32–31), and South Africa (53–3) at Twickenham. At the 2003 Six Nations Championship, England won the Grand Slam for the first time since 1995, followed by wins over Australia and the All Blacks on their June summer tour. Going into the 2003 World Cup as one of the tournament favourites, England reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on 22 November 2003 against host Australia. The game went into extra time with the score tied at 14–14, after one penalty apiece and with just seconds to spare, a match-winning drop goal by fly-half Jonny Wilkinson brought the final score to 20–17, making England rugby world champions for the first time. Not only was this England's first Rugby World Cup victory, but it was the nation's first world title since the

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

won the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

. On 8 December, the England team were greeted by 750,000 supporters on a victory parade through London before meeting Queen

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Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

England finished third in the 2004 Six Nations Championship after losing their matches to both France and Ireland. Clive Woodward resigned as head coach on 2 September and

Andy Robinson Richard Andrew Robinson Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 3 April 1964) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol Bears, Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland ...

was appointed to replace him. Robinson's first Six Nations campaign in 2005 resulted in fourth place for England, and although they defeated Australia at Twickenham in the Autumn internationals, this was followed by a loss to the All Blacks. A loss to South Africa in the 2006 Autumn internationals was England's eighth defeat in nine test matches, their worst losing streak. Andy Robinson resigned as head coach after this run, and attack coach Brian Ashton was appointed as his replacement in December. England started the 2007 Six Nations Championship with a Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland. That year's championship included a historic match at

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

which England lost (13–43), their heaviest defeat against Ireland. At the 2007 World Cup, England were grouped in Pool A with Samoa,

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, South Africa, and the United States. They progressed to the knockout stage despite a 36–0 loss to South Africa, and narrowly defeated Australia in the quarter-finals. England then faced hosts France in the semi-finals and triumphed (14–9) to qualify for the final, where they were subjected to a second defeat by the Springboks at this World Cup, losing the match 15–6. England followed up their World Cup disappointment with two consecutive second-place finishes in the Six Nations Championship, behind Wales (

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

) and Ireland (

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

). Former England team captain Martin Johnson took up the job of head coach in July 2008 but, unable to replicate his on-field success in the management role, he resigned in November 2011 following a miserable

which featured a series of on- and off-field controversies and ended in quarter-final defeat by France. In March 2012, the

appointed Stuart Lancaster, the former Elite Rugby Director at Leeds Carnegie, as England's head coach. He had previously been employed in the position on a short-term basis, assisted by existing forwards coach Graham Rowntree, and Andy Farrell. Lancaster was considered a success in his first campaign as head coach: defending champions England took second place in the 2012 Six Nations Championship after losing to Wales at Twickenham, but successfully defended the Calcutta Cup by defeating Scotland at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

. England finished the year on a high when they beat World Cup holders New Zealand at Twickenham in the Autumn internationals; the England team dominated the match and completely outplayed the All Blacks, who had been unbeaten in 20 matches. At the

2013 Six Nations Championship The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship ...

, England again finished in second place behind Wales, and were deprived of the opportunity to win the Grand Slam for the first time since 2003 when they were defeated 30–3 by Wales in Cardiff. It was the first time since 1974 that every team in the Six Nations managed to win at least three competition points (the equivalent of a win and a draw, or three draws). However, England retained the Calcutta Cup by defeating Scotland at Twickenham. Lancaster took an experimental side on a summer tour of Argentina in 2013; after beating a South American XV on 2 June, England achieved a 2–0 series victory over Argentina, their first away series win against ''the Pumas'' for 32 years. In 2015, England hosted the

, but were eliminated in the pool stage. Despite this setback, and following the appointment of new head coach Eddie Jones, England won the Grand Slam in the 2016 Six Nations Championship, and remained unbeaten for the whole of 2016, including a series whitewash of Australia in Sydney. They went on to equal the world record of 18 consecutive test wins with a 61–21 victory over Scotland in securing the 2017 Six Nations Championship. 2018 began well for England, seeing off a spirited challenge from Italy, and winning a tight contest against Wales in the first two rounds of the Six Nations. However, it was not until June before England recorded another win, as the team lost their remaining games against Scotland, France and eventual Grand Slam winners Ireland at home in Twickenham. On their summer tour of South Africa, England lost the first two matches, before winning the third test against a mostly second-string Springbok side. That autumn, after adding former New Zealand and United States coach John Mitchell to the coaching setup, England won the return match against South Africa by a single point, and lost an equally close contest with New Zealand, both in controversial circumstances. England rounded out the year with wins over Japan and Australia. The win over Australia continued an unbroken run of victories over the Wallabies under former Australia coach Eddie Jones. England finished second in the 2019 Six Nations Championship. They beat Ireland, France, Italy but lost to Wales and drew 38–38 with Scotland after leading 31–0. In the 2019 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches they defeated Wales at Twickenham before losing in Cardiff. They then recorded their largest win over Ireland with a 57–15 victory at Twickenham before defeating Italy at

St James' Park St James' Park is a Association football, football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United. With a seating capacity of 52,305, it is the List of football stadiums in England, 8th la ...

. In the 2019 Rugby World Cup, England became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals following a win over Argentina in Chōfu. After their final match was cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis, England topped

Pool C Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

and faced Australia in the quarter-finals. England won the quarter-final, recording a seventh consecutive victory over Australia which resulted in the Wallabies largest ever Rugby World Cup defeat. England then defeated New Zealand in the semi-final, equalling New Zealands largest Rugby World Cup defeat with a victory in which the All Blacks were kept scoreless for 57 minutes. On 2 November 2019, England were defeated (12–32) by South Africa in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. In the 2020 Six Nations Championship, England were defeated in their opening game against France in Paris before recording victories against Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland and Wales at Twickenham. The tournament was then halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and resumed with the matches played in empty stadiums in October. In the postponed matches, England recorded a bonus point win over Italy in Rome before France defeated Ireland by eight points which meant that England won the championship on points difference. Due to the pandemic, the scheduled 2020 Autumn Internationals were replaced by the Autumn Nations Cup. England defeated Georgia, Wales and Ireland before facing France in the final match, winning after extra time at Twickenham to secure the tournament. England finished fifth in the 2021 Six Nations Championship, beating France and Italy but losing to all three home nations for the first time since 1976 and conceding defeat to Scotland at Twickenham for the first time since 1983. In the 2021 Autumn Internationals, England played three matches at Twickenham. They secured a victory over Tonga, recorded their 8th consecutive victory over Australia (32–15) and also beat the current World Champions South Africa (27–26). England finished third in the 2022 Six Nations Championship after defeating Italy and Wales but lost Ireland, France and Scotland. In the 2022 tour of Australia, England faced the Wallabies in a three-test series. They lost the first test match in Perth, but won the last two test matches in Brisbane, and in Sydney to win the test series 2–1. In the 2022 Autumn Internationals they lost to Argentina, beat Japan, drew with New Zealand, and lost to South Africa. England finished fourth in the 2023 Six Nations Championship. England defeated Italy and Wales but was beaten by Scotland, France and Ireland. At the 2023 Rugby World Cup, England beat Argentina, Japan, Chile, and Samoa to go undefeated in the pool stage. In the quarter-final, they defeated Fiji before losing to the eventual champions South Africa in the semi-final. They ended their campaign with a win over Argentina in the bronze final to finish the tournament in third place. England finished third in the 2024 Six Nations Championship. They defeated Italy, Wales and Ireland, but lost to Scotland and France. In the 2024 English tour of New Zealand, England faced the All Blacks in a two-test series. They were defeated in both test matches in Dunedin and in Auckland. In the 2024 Autumn Internationals, England lost to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, but won against Japan.

Home stadium

Twickenham is the largest dedicated rugby stadium in the world. In the early years, the English rugby team used a number of venues in several different locations around England before settling at Twickenham Stadium in 1910. After sell-out matches at Crystal Palace against New Zealand in 1905 and South Africa in 1906, the

(RFU) decided to invest in their own ground and arranged for sportsman and entrepreneur Billy Williams to find a home ground for English Rugby. The land for the ground was purchased in 1907 for £5,572 12 s and 6 d, and construction began the following year. The first international test match at Twickenham took place on the 15th of January 1910 between England and Wales. The home team won (11–6), beating Wales for the first time since 1898. The stadium was expanded in 1927 and again in 1932, but there were no further upgrades until 1981 when a new South stand was built and the 1990s when new North, East and West stands were built; the South stand was replaced in 2005 and 2006 to make the stadium into a complete bowl. England played their first test match at the redeveloped Twickenham on the 5th of November 2006 against the All Blacks, losing the test match (20–41), in front of a record crowd of 82,076. The pitch at Twickenham was replaced in June 2012 with a hybrid 'Desso' type, which uses artificial fibres entwined with real grass. This type of pitch surface is particularly hard wearing in wet conditions.

England home matches outside Twickenham

Although England have played home matches almost exclusively at Twickenham since 1910, they have occasionally used alternative English venues. England home matches have been hosted at Leicester's Welford Road (1923), London's

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

(1992),

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

(1997 and 2009), Huddersfield's

McAlpine Stadium MacAlpine, McAlpine, MacAlpin or McAlpin is a Scottish surname. It may refer to: People * The Scottish House of Alpin * Its claimed descendants, the Siol Alpin and/or Clan McAlpin(e) * Kenneth MacAlpin, founder of said dynasty * His brother and ...

(twice in 1998), Manchester's Etihad Stadium (2015), and

in Newcastle upon Tyne (2019). The first of a two-test series, this match was originally scheduled to be held in Argentina but moved by the

Argentine Rugby Union The Argentine Rugby Union (, abbreviated "UAR") is the governing body for rugby union in Argentina. It is a member of World Rugby, with a seat on that body's Executive Council, and a founding member of Sudamérica Rugby. The UAR organises all the ...

for financial reasons.
This was a Pool A match at the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. England also played a Five Nations match against Wales at Wembley Stadium on 11 April 1999. Wales was the "home team" on this occasion because Wembley was being used as a temporary base while their new stadium in Cardiff was being constructed. Wales won the match (32–31).

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is commonly sung at England fixtures, especially at Twickenham. In the last match of the 1988 season, against Ireland, three of England's tries were scored by Chris Oti. A group of boys from the Benedictine school

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

, following a tradition at their school games, sang the song on his final try, and other spectators around the ground joined in. Since then "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" became a song to sing at England home games. In 1991, the RFU marketing director Mike Coley wanted the team to launch a song leading up to that year's Rugby World Cup. He had wanted to use "

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

", but it was used in the Rugby League Challenge Cup final that year, so the song was changed at short notice to "Swing Low". There were a number of versions recorded and the version released did reach the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart during the competition.

Playing kit

England rugby union players typically wear all-white jerseys and white shorts, with predominantly navy blue socks. The emblem on the jerseys is a red

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

. As of July 2023, the strip is manufactured by Umbro and the shirt sponsor is O₂. The away strip is usually red or dark grey (described as "anthracite"); prior to the introduction of the grey strip, red was the traditional change colour. Navy blue has also been used in the past and was reintroduced for the 2016–17 and 2020–21 seasons. Purple was used during the 2009 autumn internationals, reflecting the traditional colour of the original England tracksuits from the 1960s until the 1980s. The away strip was black for the first time during the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

. About that kit, the RFU stated that they had requested approval from the New Zealand Union, which said "it has no qualms with England wearing the strip". England rugby shirt rose 1871

The

(RFU) had created the national side's emblem prior to an English team being sent to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

to play a Scottish side. A red rose was chosen to be the side's emblem. The white kit worn by the national team was taken from the kit used at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

. Alfred Wright, an employee of the Rugby Football Union, is credited with the standardisation and new design of the rose, which up until 1920 had undergone many variations in its depiction. The Wright design is thought to have been used without minor alteration until the late 1990s. It was not until 1997 that the rose was modernised, when Nike became the official strip supplier (with the stem section of the rose being green rather than brown as previously). In 2003, England first used a skin-tight strip. This was intended to make it more difficult for the opposition to grasp the shirt when tackling.

Kit providers

Performances

Six Nations

England competes annually in the

, which is played against five other European nations:

, and

. The Six Nations started out as the Home Nations Championship in 1883 which England won with a Triple Crown. England have won the title outright 29 times (a record for the tournament) and shared victory ten times. Their longest wait between championships was 18 years (1892–1910). During the Six Nations, England also contests the

with Scotland (which England first won in 1880) and the Millennium Trophy with Ireland (which England first won in 1988). The matches between England and France are traditionally known as " Le Crunch". Note: England are the only team to have won more than two successive grand slams, on more than one occasion, doing so in 1913–1914, 1923–1924 and 1991–1992; while Wales and France the only other teams to have done so twice, in 1908–1909 for Wales and 1997–1998 for France.

Test series victories

* –

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* –

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* –

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

* –

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

* –

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

* –

England have previously played one or more series against these nations, but have never won an overall test series against them: * *

Rugby World Cup

England have contested every

since the tournament began in

, reaching the final four times and winning the title in the

tournament. In the inaugural tournament, England finished second in their pool before losing to Wales (3–16) in the quarter-finals. They again finished pool runners-up in

but bounced back to beat France (19–10) in the quarter-finals, and then Scotland (9–6) in the semi-finals, en route to a (6–12) defeat to Australia in the final at Twickenham on 2 November 1991. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, England topped their pool and defeated Australia (25–22) at the quarter-final stage before being beaten by the All Blacks (29–45) in the semi-finals. They lost their bronze medal match (9–19) to France. In the 1999 tournament, England again finished second in their pool. Although they proceeded to win a play-off game against Fiji (45–24), they went out of the tournament in the quarter-finals, losing (21–44) to South Africa. England topped their pool in

and progressed to the playoffs. They beat Wales (28–17) and France (24–7) in the quarter and semi-finals. With a drop goal in the last minute of extra time, England won the final (20–17) against Australia in Sydney on 22 November 2003. England made a poor start to their title defence in

, with a below par victory over the United States and a heavy (0–36) defeat to South Africa, leaving the title holders on the brink of elimination at the pool stage. Improved performances against Samoa and Tonga ensured that England again reached the knockout stage as pool runners-up. They defeated Australia (12–10) in the quarter-finals, and beat France (14–9) in the semi-finals. The victory over France gave England the chance to play in their 2nd consecutive final. In the final, held in Paris on 20 October, England lost (6–15) to South Africa, their second defeat by the Springboks during the 2007 tournament. England topped their pool in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. They reached the quarter-finals but were defeated (12–19) to France. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, England became the first host nation to fail to qualify for the knockout stage, after losing to Wales and Australia in the pool stage. In

, England topped their pool. They defeated Australia (40–19) and New Zealand (19–7) in the knockout stage. On 2 November 2019, they suffered a (12–32) defeat to South Africa in the final in Yokohama, becoming World Cup runners-up for the third time in their history. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, England topped their pool. They defeated Fiji in the quarter-finals (30–24) before losing to the eventual champions South Africa (15–16) in the semi-finals. They beat Argentina in the bronze medal match (26–23) to finish the tournament in 3rd place. England's Jonny Wilkinson is the highest points scorer in the Rugby World Cup, having scored 277 points between 1999 and 2011. England have the fourth most points and the fourth most tries scored in the Rugby World Cup.

Recent results

The following is a list of England's recent match results, as well as upcoming scheduled fixtures, during the 12 months up to and including November 2025: ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Overall

When the World Rugby Rankings were first introduced in early September 2003, England were ranked 1st; they fell to 2nd for a week in November 2003 before regaining 1st place. They again dropped to 2nd in the rankings, and then to 3rd, from mid-June 2004. Following the 2005 Six Nations, they fell to 6th in the world rankings, where they remained until moving up to 5th place in December of that year. After a decline in form in 2006, England finished the year ranked 7th; however, they bounced back to 3rd in 2007 due to their good run in that year's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, where they finished runners-up. Their ranking slipped again in 2008 and during the 2009 Six Nations they dropped to their lowest ranking of 8th, where they remained for the duration of the 2009 autumn internationals. After a brief resurgence that saw them rise to a ranking of 4th in the world, England again slipped following a poor showing at the

and were ranked 6th in February 2012. The team entered the

ranked 4th, but after failing to progress beyond the pool stage, England again sank to 8th in the world in November 2015. In March 2016, after securing the Grand Slam in the 2016 Six Nations, England rose to second place, where they remained the following year after winning the 2017 Six Nations. A poor fifth-place performance in the 2018 Six Nations saw them fall to sixth place. In October 2019, England defeated

in the semi-final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup to top the World Rugby Rankings for the first time since 2004. After losing the final to

, England were ranked third. In November 2020, they regained second place following New Zealand's loss to

. During the 2021 Six Nations, a fifth-place finish saw England fall from second to third after defeats to

and

. After

won 5 matches in a row during the 2021 Rugby Championship, England fell to fourth until defeats of Australia and South Africa in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series saw them regain third place. During the 2022 Six Nations, England again suffered three defeats to Scotland, Ireland and

and fell from third to fifth. England entered the 2023 Six Nations in fifth, but defeats to Scotland, France and Ireland again saw them fall to sixth. During the 2023 World Cup warm-ups, England suffered further defeats away to Ireland and Wales and a first ever home loss to

to enter the 2023 World Cup in eighth. A third-placed finish at the 2023 Rugby World Cup saw England rise to fifth. During the 2024 Six Nations, England retained fifth position despite away defeats against Scotland and France.

Players

Current squad

On 14 January 2025, England head coach Steve Borthwick named a 36-player squad for the 2025 Six Nations. ⁽¹⁾ On 21 January 2025, Arthur Clark, Curtis Langdon, Henry Pollock, Raffi Quirke and Ben Spencer were added to the training squad as injury cover. ⁽²⁾ On 4 February 2025, Alex Lozowski was called up to the squad, ahead of the second round fixture against

. ⁽³⁾ On 16 February 2025, Alex Coles and Alex Dombrandt were called up to the squad, ahead of the third round fixture against

. ⁽⁴⁾ On 10 March 2025, Max Ojomoh was called up to the squad, ahead of the fifth round fixture against

. ''Caps Updated to:'' 15 March 2025

Contracted players

On 25 October 2024, the RFU announced 17 England players had been awarded Enhanced Elite Player Squad (EPS) contracts.

Notable players

Five former England representatives have been inducted into the

: Bill Beaumont, Martin Johnson, Jason Leonard, Wavell Wakefield and Jonny Wilkinson. Seven former England internationals are also members of the

. Four of them – Johnson, Alan Rotherham, Harry Vassall and

Robert Seddon Robert Lionel Seddon (birth registered October→December 1860 in Salford district – 15 August 1888) was an English international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Broughton Rangers and Swinton and county rugby for Lancashire. S ...

– were inducted for their accomplishments as players. Two other former England players, John Kendall-Carpenter and

, were inducted into the IRB Hall for non-playing accomplishments in the sport. Another former England player, Alfred St. George Hamersley, was inducted for achievements as both a player and a rugby administrator.

Individual records

World Rugby Awards

The following England players have been recognised at the

World Rugby Awards The World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby (until November 2014, known as the International Rugby Board), the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in ru ...

since 2001:

Six Nations Player of the Championship

The following England players have been shortlisted for the Six Nations Player of the Championship since 2004:

Rugby Players' Association Player of the Year

The following players have been voted as the RPA England Player of the Year since 2013:

Statistical leaders

Ben Youngs Benjamin Ryder Youngs (born 5 September 1989) is a former English professional rugby union player who played as a Scrum-half (rugby union), scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers, and is the List of England national rugby union ...

holds the record for most appearances for England, with 127 caps – placing him joint 14th all-time in international rugby. * Owen Farrell holds the record for most points scored for England, with 1,237 points – placing him second all-time in international rugby. * Rory Underwood holds the record for most tries scored for England, with 49 tries – placing him sixth all-time in international rugby.

Summary

Players active at international level as of March 2025 are listed in ''bold italics''.

Coaches

Current coaching staff

The following table outlines the current England senior coaching team, as of the 2025 summer tour to Argentina and the United States.

History of head coaches

The following is a list of all England head coaches. The first appointed coach was Don White in 1969. The most recent former coach was Eddie Jones. Jones took over from Stuart Lancaster a week after the latter's resignation, and he became the first foreigner to coach the English national side. Jones' winning percentage of 73% is the highest of any England coach. Updated to: 15 March 2025

Rob Andrew Christopher Robert Andrew (born 18 February 1963) is a former English rugby union player who as a fly-half played 71 Tests for England between 1985 and 1997. Since his retirement from playing he has held administration roles in both rugby and ...

coached the team for the 2008 summer tests in New Zealand in Martin Johnson's absence. Note 1: Richard Cockerill served briefly as interim head coach in December 2022, between the dismissal of Eddie Jones and appointment of Steve Borthwick. No test matches were played during his tenure. Note 2: Between September 2015 and March 2017, England won 18 test matches in a row – equalling the record for a top tier nation – 17 of which occurred under Eddie Jones.

World Rugby Coach of the Year

The following former England head coaches have been nominated for and won the World Rugby Coach of the Year award since its inception in 2001:

Former assistant coaches

The following names represent a list of previous assistant coaches for the England men's senior squad: Former coaches appointed to the British & Irish Lions while part of the England coaching staff are listed in ''bold italics''. * ''Dave Alred'' * Simon Amor * Jon Callard *

Mike Catt Michael John Catt OBE (born 17 September 1971) is a South African-born former rugby union player who played for the England national rugby union team. He played professionally for the clubs London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps ...

* Jon Clarke * Richard Cockerill * Alex Codling * Glen Ella * Nick Evans * '' Andy Farrell'' * '' Mike Ford'' * Martin Gleeson * Joe Gray * Paul Gustard * Neal Hatley * Brett Hodgson * Felix Jones * Phil Keith-Roach * Danny Kerry * George Kruis * '' Phil Larder'' * Joe Lydon * John Mitchell * '' Phil Pask'' * Ian Peel * Matt Proudfoot * ''Dave Reddin'' * Tony Roques * '' Graham Rowntree'' * Jason Ryles * Anthony Seibold * Brian Smith * ''Paul Stridgeon'' * Tom Tombleson * Sam Vesty * Aled Walters * John Wells * Jonny Wilkinson * Scott Wisemantel

Club versus country

Although the England team is governed by the

(RFU), players have been contracted to their clubs since the advent of professionalism in late 1995. Since then, players have often been caught in a "power struggle" between their clubs and the RFU; this is commonly referred to as a "club versus country" conflict.Tuck (2003), pg 195. The first major dispute between England's top clubs (who play in the English Premiership) and the RFU occurred in 1998, when some of the clubs refused to release players to tour Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tour became known as the "Tour from hell" after an England squad of second-string players were defeated in all four Tests, including a 76–0 defeat by Australia. The clubs also withdrew from the 1998–99 Heineken Cup.Morgan (2002), pg 56. In 2001, the top clubs and the RFU formed "England Rugby" to help govern the club and international game. The parties agreed to restrict the number of matches at club and international level that elite players (a group of 50 or 60 players selected by the RFU) could play in order to reduce player burnout and injuries. In return for releasing players from club commitments, the clubs were to receive compensation from the RFU. This agreement was considered central to the England victory in the 2003 World Cup. Clive Woodward, England coach from November 1997, resigned in 2004 because he was unable to get the access to the players that he wanted: "I wanted more from the union – more training days with the players, more influence over the way they were treated – and ended up with less."

, Woodward's successor, blamed the lack of control over players for his team's unsuccessful record. Brian Ashton, who took over from Robinson, intentionally named his playing squad for Six Nations matches in 2007 early in the hope that their clubs would not play them in the weekend prior to a Test. The RFU and the Premiership clubs are negotiating a similar deal to the one in 2001 that will enable international players to be released into the England squad prior to international matches.

Training

Pennyhill Park Hotel Pennyhill Park Hotel is a 19th-century country house hotel and spa in Bagshot, Surrey in the southeast of England. History The first historical reference to Pennyhill Park's land relates to when the site was used as a Beacon#For defensive commun ...

in Bagshot,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, is the chosen training base for the team in the

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

Bisham Abbey Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the t ...

and the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

grounds served as training bases prior to this agreement. Martin Johnson noted the hotel's facilities and its proximity to Twickenham and Heathrow as deciding factors in this decision. The team had their own pitchside gym and fitness rooms constructed on the hotel premises at the start of the long-term arrangement. Since its completion in 2010 the team also regularly use Surrey Sports Park at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

in nearby

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

for much of their training.

Media coverage

England's summer internationals are televised live on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, while their autumn internationals are televised live by TNT Sports. Highlights of the autumn tests are currently not shown by a free-to-air broadcaster. As of 2024, all Six Nations games are broadcast free-to-air on the BBC and ITV.

Bibliography

* * * * * *

References

External links

* {{Authority control Rugby union in England European national rugby union teams Laureus World Sports Awards winners 1871 establishments in England