Portal:Rugby union
Rugby union – commonly referred to as just rugby, or union, and in New Zealand occasionally as football or footy – is a code of football. Rugby union is a contact sport played by teams with fifteen players. The name is derived from the name of the game's original governing body, the Rugby Football Union, with the suffix union used to differentiate it from other codes of rugby football. The game developed from the variant of football at played Rugby school in England. The crucial differences from association football are that in rugby the ball is a prolate spheroid instead of a sphere, and that the players are allowed to pick the ball up and run with it. The players are also allowed to throw the ball from player to player, but are not allowed to throw it forward – the ball must only be passed sideways or backward.
The game has established itself as a major global sport, and is especially popular in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Rugby is also gaining popularity in Italy, which was accepted into the Six Nations Championship in 2000, and Japan. Rugby is the most popular team sport in Georgia and is popular in Romania, Namibia, the United States of America and Canada.
The Top 14 is a professional rugby union club competition played throughout France. The Top 14 is the top competition of the national league system of Ligue Nationale de Rugby. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next competition down, the Rugby Pro D2. Currently there are 14 teams in the competition, though the competition was previously known as the Top 16, with 16 clubs. The first ever final took place in 1892, between two Paris-based sides, Stade Français and Racing Club, with the latter becoming the inaugural champions. The competition has been held on an annual basis since, with the exception being between 1915 and 1919 due to World War I. The current champions are Biarritz Olympique. (More...)
- 21 March 2015 : Ireland win 2015 Six Nations Championship
- 2 August 2014: The NSW Waratahs win the 2014 Super Rugby title for the first time after defeating 7-time champions, Crusaders 33-32.
- 27 July 2014: The South Africa sevens team wins gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games after defeating reigning champion, New Zealand in the final.
- 28 June 2014: Fiji defeat the Cook Islands to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
- 25 May 2014: Japan win the 2014 Asian Five Nations to qualify for 2015 Rugby World Cup.
- 24 May 2014: Toulon defeat Saracens 23–6 in the final of the 2013–14 Heineken Cup.
- 17 May 2014: New Zealand win the '2013–14 IRB Women's Sevens World Series
- ... that the iconic guerilla Che Guevara (pictured) played fly-half for Club Universitario de Buenos Aires and edited a rugby fanzine?
- ... that women's rugby union dates back to at least 1884, possibly earlier?
- ... that Alfred Clunies-Ross was the first non-white rugby international, and played for Scotland in the first ever rugby international?
- ... that snow rugby is played in many parts of the world including Afghanistan?
- ... that Richard Summers, Edward Peake, Godfrey Darbishire and Richard Williams were all single cap Wales rugby union players after the team was humiliated by England in its first international match
- ... that rugby union footballer David Gage played in 68 of 74 matches played by the 1888–89 New Zealand Native team during their tour of the British Isles?
- ... that Stephen Fry was an engineer and aspiring jazz pianist before he captained South Africa's rugby team against the British Lions?
- ... that the English actor Nick Frost known for Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul, Attack the Block etc used to play for Barking Rugby Football Club?
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- Articles
England national rugby union team
France national rugby union team
Wales national rugby union team
- Lists
List of 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team matches
Tri Nations Series champions Template:/box-footer
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