Rugby union 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 it ...

is a popular sport in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

(

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

), including

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and Ireland. The game was arguably invented in 1823 by

William Webb Ellis William Webb Ellis (24 November 1806 – 24 January 1872) was an English Anglican clergyman who, by tradition, has been credited as the inventor of rugby football while a pupil at Rugby School. According to legend, Webb Ellis picked up the ba ...

, and in 1871 the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Rugby Football Union was the first national rugby football union to be founded. It is organised separately in each of these countries, and also on an

all-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

basis. Rugby union in the British Isles is discussed in the following articles, corresponding to the separate organisations governing the sport: *

Rugby union in England Rugby union in England is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England, was formed by 21 rugby clubs, and the first international match, which invo ...

Rugby union in Ireland Rugby union in Ireland ( ga, Aontas Rugbaí) is a very popular team sport. Rugby union is organised on an all-Ireland basis with one national team, governing body and league for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Founded in 18 ...

Rugby union in Scotland Rugby union in Scotland is a popular team sport. Scotland's national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever international rugby match was played on 27 March 1871, at Raeburn Place in Edi ...

Rugby union in Wales Rugby union in Wales ( cy, undeb rygbi) is considered a large part of Welsh national culture. Rugby union is thought to have reached Wales in the 1850s, with the national body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) being formed in 1881. Wales are considere ...

And also in the Crown Dependencies: *

Rugby union in Guernsey Rugby union in the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a popular sport. Outside the island of Guernsey itself, it is occasionally played in Alderney and Sark. Sark has its own rugby team, although it regularly has to pick up "guest" players to make up ...

Rugby union in Jersey Rugby union is a popular sport in Jersey. Governing body Rugby union is played in Jersey under the auspices of the Jersey Rugby Association (JRA), which is affiliated to the Hampshire Rugby Football Union but is not a member of the Rugby Footba ...

Rugby union in the Isle of Man Rugby union in the Isle of Man is a popular sport. It has no national competitive side of its own, and is not affiliated to the IRB in its own right. For this reason, it has no IRB ranking. Governing body Rugby Union is played in the Isle of Ma ...

And also in various British Overseas Territories: * Rugby union in Anguilla *

Rugby union in the Cayman Islands Rugby union is a growing sport in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands national rugby union team is ranked 62nd in the world, with 2,256 registered players.IRB.com retrieved 24 August 2009 Governing body The governing body is Cayman Rugby, wh ...

Rugby union in Gibraltar Rugby union is a popular sport since its introduction by British military personnel in the 19th Century. Governing body The Gibraltar Rugby Football Union (GRFU) has existed since the 1980s when the border with Spain was opened. Rugby is pla ...

Rugby union in the British Virgin Islands Rugby union in the British Virgin Islands is a minor but growing sport. They currently have around 440 registered players.IRB.com, retrieved 5 July 2009 Governing body The governing body is BVI Rugby Football Union, which is affiliated to the ...

However areas where the sport is similar between the

Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

will be discussed in this article.

National team

Men's

Unlike in

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

, no combined British and Irish national rugby union team has ever competed in a major tournament such as the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

. Instead, the

British & Irish Lions 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 ...

go on tours to the traditional Southern Hemisphere nations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, currently occurring on a four-year cycle; the first was an 1888 tour to New Zealand and Australia. The team also plays in select one-off matches as preparation for the tour test series. In major competition the

represent themselves as: * England national rugby union team *

Scotland national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union and is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, w ...

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played the ...

* Ireland national rugby union team

Women's

There is also a unified Great Britain women's national rugby union team; however, in most cases, women's rugby also sees the

represented individually by: *

England women's national rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, also known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. ...

Scotland women's national rugby union team The Scotland women's national rugby union team represents Scotland in women's international rugby union and is governed by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team competes in the annual Women's Six National Championship and has competed in five of t ...

Wales women's national rugby union team The Wales women's national rugby union team first played in 1987. Wales plays in the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Six Nations Championship History Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women te ...

Ireland women's national rugby union team The Ireland women's national rugby union team represents Ireland in international women's rugby union competitions such as the Women's Six Nations Championship and the Women's Rugby World Cup. They have also represented Ireland in the FIRA Wo ...

Domestic competitions

The Home Nations run individual competition across four league systems: *

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

Scottish rugby union system Domestic club rugby union within Scotland remains a predominantly amateur sport; however, semi-professional and professional outfits have been created in recent decades to participate in cross-border competitions. Professional Outfits With the adv ...

* Welsh rugby union system * Irish rugby union system

Stadiums

Each national team has their own

national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

: *

Twickenham Stadium 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 ...

for

* Murrayfield Stadium for

* Millennium Stadium for

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and ...

for

Tournaments hosted

;XV ;Sevens

Rugby Sevens

Rugby Sevens is a version of Rugby Union played with seven players per side instead of the usual fifteen. The home nations field individual national teams however the, what could be considered the United Kingdom's greatest achievement in the sport came in the 2016 Summer Olympics, as two united Great Britain teams competed in the inaugural edition of the sport's tornement at the Summer Olympics. The Great Britain teams were formed only ten weeks prior to the games and saw the men's team reach the final achieving a runners up place, and the women's team achieved fourth.

National teams

;Great Britain *

Great Britain national rugby sevens team The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. After having played at the World Games in 2001 and 2005, they made their Olympic debut at the 2016 Summ ...

Great Britain women's national rugby sevens team The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the women's Olympic representative team of Great Britain at the rugby sevens tournament at the Summer Olympic Games. The team played their first competitive match at the 2016 Summer Olympic ...

;Home nations *

England national rugby sevens team The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...

England women's national rugby sevens team The English women's national rugby sevens team has competed in the Hong Kong Women's Sevens tournaments since 1997. England are also one of six teams announced by the International Rugby Board as "core teams" that will compete in all four round ...

Scotland national rugby sevens team The Scotland national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. The head coach is Ciaran Beattie, supported by manager Sean Lamont and skills coach Graham Shiel. During 2006, ...

Scotland women's national rugby sevens team The Scotland women's national sevens team is a minor rugby sevens team. They regularly compete at the Europe Women's Sevens. History Scott Wight was appointed as head coach in 2017. Scotland competed at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens Fina ...

Wales national rugby sevens team The Wales national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens and in the Commonwealth Games. Wales were the World Cup Sevens Champions after winning the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in the United Ara ...

Wales women's national rugby sevens team The Wales Women's National Sevens Team represents Wales in Rugby sevens. History In 2006 Wales won the 2006 European Women Sevens Championship, European Women Sevens Championship after beating England women's national rugby sevens team, Englan ...

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Ireland competes as a "core team" on the World Rugby Sevens Series, a competitio ...

* Ireland women's national rugby sevens team

Notes

References

{{Rugby union in Europe 1823 establishments in the United Kingdom Sport in the British Isles