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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Rugby League World Cup.
"RWC" redirects here. For other uses, see RWC (disambiguation).
This article is about the men's rugby union tournament. For the current women's World Cup in union, see Women's Rugby World Cup. For other world cups for rugby, see World cup of rugby.
Rugby World Cup
Current season or competition:
2023 Rugby World Cup
A gold cup with two handles inscribed with "The International Rugby Football Board" and "The Web Ellis Cup"
The Webb Ellis Cup is awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup
Sport Rugby union
Instituted 1987; 36 years ago
Number of teams 20 (finals)
Regions Worldwide (World Rugby)
Holders South Africa (2019)
Most titles New Zealand (3 titles)
South Africa (3 titles)
Website rugbyworldcup.com
A rugby field with drummers on the perimeter, and a large multicoloured flag in the middle.
The opening ceremony of the 2019 tournament
Tournaments
198719911995199920032007201120152019202320272031
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 Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis who, according to a popular legend, invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game.
The tournament was first held in 1987 and was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Four countries have won the trophy; New Zealand and South Africa three times, Australia twice, and England once. South Africa is the current champion, having defeated England in the final of the 2019 tournament.
Sixteen teams participated in the tournament from 1987 until 1995; since 1999, twenty teams have participated in each tournament. Japan hosted the 2019 Rugby World Cup and France is hosting the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Beginning 2021, the women's equivalent tournament was officially renamed Rugby World Cup to promote equality with the men's game.
Format
Qualification
Main article: Rugby World Cup qualification
Under the current format, 20 teams qualify for each Rugby World Cup. Twelve teams qualify automatically based on their performance in the previous World Cup — the top three teams in each of the four group (pool) stages of the previous tournament qualify for the next tournament as seeded teams.[1][2] The qualification system for the remaining eight places is region-based, with a total eight teams allocated for Europe, five for Oceania, three for the Americas, two for Africa, and one for Asia. The last place is determined by an intercontinental play-off.[3]
Tournament
The tournament involves twenty nations competing over six weeks.[2][4] There are two stages — a pool, followed by a knockout round. Nations are divided into four pools, A through to D, of five nations each.[4][5] The teams are seeded based on the World Rankings. The four highest-ranked teams are drawn into pools A to D. The next four highest-ranked teams are then drawn into pools A to D, followed by the next four. The remaining positions in each pool are filled by the qualifiers.[2][6]
Nations play four pool games, playing their respective pool members once each.[5] A bonus points system is used during pool play. If two or more teams are level on points, a system of criteria determines the higher ranked.[5]
Eight teams — the winner and runner-up from each of the four pools — enter the knockout stage. The knockout stage consists of quarter- and semi-finals, and then the final. The winner of each pool is placed against a runner-up of a different pool in a quarter-final. The winner of each quarter-final goes on to the semi-finals, and the respective winners proceed to the final. Losers of the semi-finals contest for third place, called the 'Bronze Final'. If a match in the knockout stages ends in a draw, the winner is determined through extra time. If that fails, the match goes into sudden death and the next team to score any points is the winner.[5]
History
Main article: History of the Rugby World Cup
Beginnings
Prior to the Rugby World Cup, there was no truly global rugby union competition, but there were a number of other tournaments. One of the oldest is the annual Six Nations Championship, which started in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship, a tournament between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It expanded to the Five Nations in 1910, when France joined the tournament. France did not participate from 1931 to 1939, during which period it reverted to a Home Nations championship. In 2000, Italy joined the competition, which became the Six Nations.[7]
Rugby union was also played at the Summer Olympic Games, first appearing at the 1900 Paris games and subsequently at London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris again in 1924. France won the first gold medal, then Australasia, with the last two being won by the United States. However rugby union ceased to be on Olympic program after 1924.[8][9][a]
The idea of a Rugby World Cup had been suggested on numerous occasions going back to the 1950s, but met with opposition from most unions in the IRFB.[10] The idea resurfaced several times in the early 1980s, with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU; now known as Rugby Australia) in 1983, and the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU; now known as New Zealand Rugby) in 1984 independently proposing the establishment of a world cup.[11] A proposal was again put to the IRFB in 1985 and this time passed 10–6. The delegates from Australia, France, New Zealand and South Africa all voted for the proposal, and the delegates from Ireland and Scotland against; the English and Welsh delegates were split, with one from each country for and one against.[10][11]
The inaugural tournament, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was held in May and June 1987, with sixteen nations taking part.[12] The inaugural World Cup in 1987, did not involve any qualifying process; instead, the 16 places were automatically filled by seven eligible International Rugby Football Board (IRFB, now World Rugby) member nations, and the rest by invitation.[13] New Zealand became the first-ever champions, defeating France 29–9 in the final.[14] The subsequent 1991 tournament was hosted by England, with matches played throughout Britain, Ireland and France. Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second tournament, where eight of the sixteen places were contested in a twenty-four-nation tournament.[15] This tournament saw the introduction of a qualifying tournament; eight places were allocated to the quarter-finalists from 1987, and the remaining eight decided by a thirty-five nation qualifying tournament.[15] Australia won the second tournament, defeating England 12–6 in the final.[16]
In 1992, eight years after their last official series,[b] South Africa hosted New Zealand in a one-off test match. The resumption of international rugby in South Africa came after the dismantling of the apartheid system.[17][18] With their return to test rugby, South Africa were selected to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup.[19] After upsetting Australia in the opening match, South Africa continued to advance through the tournament until they met New Zealand in the final.[20][21] After a tense final that went into extra time, South Africa emerged 15–12 winners,[22] with then President Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey,[21] presenting the trophy to South Africa's captain, Francois Pienaar.[23]
Professional era
The 1999 tournament was hosted by Wales with matches also being held throughout the rest of the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. The tournament included a repechage system,[24] alongside specific regional qualifying places.[25] The number of participating nations was increased from sixteen to twenty — and has remained to date at twenty.[26] Australia claimed their second title, defeating France in the final.[27] The combination of the sport turning professional after 1995 and the increase in teams from sixteen to twenty led to a number of remarkably lopsided results in both the 1999 and 2003 tournaments, with two matches in each tournament resulting in teams scoring over 100 points; Australia's 142–0 win over Namibia in 2003 stands as the most lopsided score in Rugby World Cup history.
In 2003 and 2007, the qualifying format allowed for eight of the twenty available positions to be automatically filled by the eight quarter-finalists of the previous tournament. The remaining twelve positions were filled by continental qualifying tournaments.[28] Ten positions were filled by teams qualifying directly through continental competitions.[28] Another two places were allocated for a cross-continental repechage.[29]
The 2003 event was hosted by Australia, although it was originally intended to be held jointly with New Zealand. England emerged as champions defeating Australia in extra time. England's win broke the southern hemisphere's dominance in the event. Such was the celebration of England's victory that an estimated 750,000 people gathered in central London to greet the team, making the day the largest sporting celebration of its kind ever in the United Kingdom.[30]
Ireland v Argentina in 2007
The 2007 competition was hosted by France, with matches also being held in Wales and Scotland. South Africa claimed their second title by defeating defending champions England 15–6. The biggest story of the tournament, however, was Argentina who racked up wins against some of the top European teams — France, Ireland, and Scotland — to finish first in the Pool of death and finish third overall in the tournament.[31] The attention from Argentina's performance led to Argentina participating in SANZAAR and the professionalization of rugby in Argentina.
A player holds a ball in front of two opposing groups of eight players. Each group is crouched and working together to push against the other team.
A scrum between Samoa (in blue) and Wales (in red) during the 2011 World Cup
The 2011 tournament was awarded to New Zealand in November 2005, ahead of bids from Japan and South Africa. The All Blacks reclaimed their place atop the rugby world with a narrow 8–7 win over France in the 2011 final.[32]
The opening weekend of the 2015 tournament, hosted by England, generated the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history when Japan, who had not won a single World Cup match since 1991, defeated heavily favored South Africa. Overall, New Zealand once again won the final, this time against Australia. In doing so, they became the first team in World Cup history to win three titles, as well as the first to successfully defend a title.[33]
Japan's hosting of the 2019 World Cup marked the first time the tournament had been held outside the traditional rugby strongholds; Japan won all four of their pool matches to top their group and qualify to the quarter-finals for the first time. The tournament saw South Africa claim their third trophy to match New Zealand for the most Rugby World Cup titles. South Africa defeated England 32–12 in the final.[34]
Starting in 2021, gender designations were removed from the titles of the men's and women's World Cups. Accordingly, all World Cups for men and women will officially bear the "Rugby World Cup" name. The first tournament to be affected by the new policy will be the next women's tournament to be held in New Zealand in 2022, which will retain its original title of "Rugby World Cup 2021" despite having been delayed from its original schedule due to COVID-19 issues.[35]
Trophy
Main article: Webb Ellis Cup
Winners of the Rugby World Cup are presented with the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis. The trophy is also referred to simply as the Rugby World Cup. The trophy was chosen in 1987 for use in the competition, and was created in 1906 by Garrard's Crown Jewellers.[36][37] The trophy is restored after each game by fellow Royal Warrant holder Thomas Lyte.[38][39] The words 'The International Rugby Football Board' and 'The Webb Ellis Cup' are engraved on the face of the cup. It stands thirty-eight centimetres high and is silver gilded in gold, and supported by two cast scroll handles, one with the head of a satyr, and the other a head of a nymph.[40] In Australia the trophy is colloquially known as "Bill" — a reference to William Webb Ellis.
Selection of hosts
Main article: Rugby World Cup hosts
Tournaments are organised by Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL), which is itself owned by World Rugby. The selection of host is decided by a vote of World Rugby Council members.[41][42] The voting procedure is managed by a team of independent auditors, and the voting kept secret. The host nation is generally selected five or six years before the competition.
The tournament has been hosted by multiple nations. For example, the 1987 tournament was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. World Rugby requires that the hosts must have a venue with a capacity of at least 60,000 spectators for the final.[43] Host nations sometimes construct or upgrade stadia in preparation for the World Cup, such as Millennium Stadium – purpose built for the 1999 tournament – and Eden Park, upgraded for 2011.[43][44] The first country outside of the traditional rugby nations of SANZAAR or the Six Nations to be awarded the hosting rights was 2019 host Japan. France is currently hosting the 2023 tournament. The next tournament to be hosted by a nation outside the traditional nations will be the 2031 tournament in the United States.[45]
Tournament growth
Media coverage
Organizers of the Rugby World Cup, as well as the Global Sports Impact, state that the Rugby World Cup is the third largest sporting event in the world, behind only the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics,[46][47] although other sources question whether this is accurate.[48]
Reports emanating from World Rugby and its business partners have frequently touted the tournament's media growth, with cumulative worldwide television audiences of 300 million for the inaugural 1987 tournament, 1.75 billion in 1991, 2.67 billion in 1995, 3 billion in 1999,[49] 3.5 billion in 2003,[50] and 4 billion in 2007.[51] The 4 billion figure was widely dismissed as the global audience for television is estimated to be about 4.2 billion.[52]
However, independent reviews have called into question the methodology of those growth estimates, pointing to factual inconsistencies.[53] The event's supposed drawing power outside of a handful of rugby strongholds was also downplayed significantly, with an estimated 97 percent of the 33 million average audience produced by the 2007 final coming from Australasia, South Africa, the British Isles and France.[54] Other sports have been accused of exaggerating their television reach over the years; such claims are not exclusive to the Rugby World Cup.
While the event's global popularity remains a matter of dispute, high interest in traditional rugby nations is well documented. The 2003 final, between Australia and England, became the most watched rugby union match in the history of Australian television.[55]
Attendance
See also: List of sports attendance figures
Attendance figures[56]
Year Host(s) Total attendance Matches Avg attendance % change
in avg att. Stadium capacity Attendance as
% of capacity
1987 Australia Australia
New Zealand New Zealand 604,500 32 20,156 — 1,006,350 60%
1991 England England
France France
Ireland Ireland
Scotland Scotland
Wales Wales 1,007,760 32 31,493 +56% 1,212,800 79%
1995 South Africa South Africa 1,100,000 32 34,375 +9% 1,423,850 77%
1999 Wales Wales 1,750,000 41 42,683 +24% 2,104,500 83%
2003 Australia Australia 1,837,547 48 38,282 –10% 2,208,529 83%
2007 France France 2,263,223 48 47,150 +23% 2,470,660 92%
2011 New Zealand New Zealand 1,477,294 48 30,777 –35% 1,732,000 85%
2015 England England 2,477,805 48 51,621 +68% 2,600,741 95%
2019 Japan Japan 1,698,528 45† 37,745 –27% 1,811,866 90%
2023 France France To be determined
†Typhoon Hagibis caused 3 group stage matches to be cancelled permanently. As a result, only 45 of the scheduled 48 matches were played in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Revenue
Revenue for Rugby World Cup tournaments[56][57]
Source 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019[c][58] 2023
Gate receipts (M £) — — 15 55 81 147 131 250 259[59] —
Broadcasting (M £) — — 19 44 60 82 93 155 136 —
Sponsorship (M £) — — 8 18 16 28 29 — 105 —
Surplus (M £) 1 4 18 47 64 122 92 150 136 —
Notes:
The host union keeps revenue from gate receipts. World Rugby, through RWCL, receive revenue from sources including broadcasting rights, sponsorship and tournament fees.[56]
Results
Tournaments
Keys
aet: result/match won after extra time
Ed. Year Host First place game Third place game Num.
teams
1st place, gold medalist(s) Champion Score 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Third Score Fourth
1 1987 Australia
New Zealand
New Zealand 29–9
Eden Park, Auckland
France
Wales 22–21
Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua
Australia 16
2 1991 England
France
Ireland Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Australia 12–6
Twickenham Stadium, London
England
New Zealand 13–6
Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
Scotland 16
3 1995 South Africa
South Africa 15–12 (a.e.t.)
Ellis Park, Johannesburg
New Zealand
France 19–9
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
England 16
4 1999 Wales
Australia 35–12
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
France
South Africa 22–18
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
New Zealand 20
5 2003 Australia
England 20–17 (a.e.t.)
Stadium Australia, Sydney
Australia
New Zealand 40–13
Stadium Australia, Sydney
France 20
6 2007 France
South Africa 15–6
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
England
Argentina 34–10
Parc des Princes, Paris
France 20
7 2011 New Zealand
New Zealand 8–7
Eden Park, Auckland
France
Australia 21–18
Eden Park, Auckland
Wales 20
8 2015 England
New Zealand 34–17
Twickenham Stadium, London
Australia
South Africa 24–13
London Stadium, London
Argentina 20
9 2019 Japan
South Africa 32–12
International Stadium, Yokohama
England
New Zealand 40–17
Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Wales 20
10 2023 France To be determined
Stade de France, Saint-Denis To be determined To be determined
Stade de France, Saint-Denis To be determined 20
11 2027 Australia To be determined To be determined 24[60]
12 2031 United States To be determined To be determined 24
Performance of nations
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See also: National team appearances in the Rugby World Cup
Map of nations' best results (excluding qualifying tournaments)
Twenty-five nations have participated at the Rugby World Cup (excluding qualifying tournaments). The only nations to host and win a tournament are New Zealand (1987 and 2011) and South Africa (1995). The performance of other host nations includes England (1991 final hosts) and Australia (2003 hosts) both finishing runners-up, while France (2007 hosts) finished fourth, and Wales (1999 hosts) and Japan (2019 hosts) reached the quarter-finals. Wales became the first host nation to be eliminated at the pool stages in 1991 while England became the first solo host nation to be eliminated at the pool stages in 2015.[61] Of the twenty-five nations that have participated in at least one tournament, ten of them have never missed a tournament.[d]
Team records
Team Champions Runners-up Third Fourth Quarter-finals Apps in top 8
New Zealand 3 (1987, 2011, 2015) 1 (1995) 3 (1991, 2003, 2019) 1 (1999) 1 (2007) 10
South Africa 3 (1995, 2007, 2019) — 2 (1999, 2015) — 2 (2003, 2011) 8a
Australia 2 (1991, 1999) 2 (2003, 2015) 1 (2011) 1 (1987) 3 (1995, 2007, 2019) 9
England 1 (2003) 3 (1991, 2007, 2019) — 1 (1995) 3 (1987, 1999, 2011) 9
France — 3 (1987, 1999, 2011) 1 (1995) 2 (2003, 2007) 3 (1991, 2015, 2019) 10
Wales — — 1 (1987) 2 (2011, 2019) 3 (1999, 2003, 2015) 7
Argentina — — 1 (2007) 1 (2015) 2 (1999, 2011) 5
Scotland — — — 1 (1991) 6 (list) 7
Ireland — — — — 7 (list) 8
Fiji — — — — 2 (1987, 2007) 3
Samoa — — — — 2 (1991, 1995) 2
Canada — — — — 1 (1991) 1
Japan — — — — 1 (2019) 1
a South Africa was excluded from the first two tournaments due to a sporting boycott during the apartheid era.
Qualification results
As of the 2023 World Cup, 26 nations have qualified to compete across 10 tournaments.
Team AustraliaNew Zealand
1987 United KingdomFranceRepublic of Ireland
1991 South Africa
1995 Wales
1999 Australia
2003 France
2007 New Zealand
2011 England
2015 Japan
2019 France
2023 Australia
2027 United States
2031 Years
Argentina INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Australia INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Canada INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q - TBD TBD 9
Chile - - - - - - - - - Q TBD TBD 1
England INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Fiji INV Q - Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 10
France INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Georgia - - - - Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD TBD 6a
Ireland INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Italy INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Ivory Coast - - Q - - - - - - - TBD TBD 1
Japan INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Namibia - - - Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD TBD 7
New Zealand INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Portugal - - - - - Q - - - Q TBD TBD 2
Romania INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q E Q TBD TBD 9
Russia - - - - E - Q - Q B TBD TBD 2b
Samoa - Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD TBD 9
Scotland INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
South Africa - - Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 9c
Spain - - - Q - - - - E E TBD TBD 1
Tonga INV - Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD TBD 9
United States INV Q - Q Q Q Q Q Q - TBD Q 9
Uruguay - - - Q Q - - Q Q Q TBD TBD 5
Wales INV Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q TBD 11
Zimbabwe INV Q - - - - - - - - TBD TBD 2
Total 16 16 16 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 TBD
Legend
= Hosts
Q = Qualified, or INV = Invited (just for the 1987 World Cup)
- = Did not qualify (or not invited to the 1987 World Cup)
E = Expelled after qualification
B = Banned
a Georgia could not qualify or be invited to the 1987 and 1991 World Cups, as they were part of the USSR and not an independent country yet.
b The USSR rugby declined the invite to the 1987 World Cup. Also, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Rugby and Rugby Europe suspended Russia from international and European continental rugby union competition.
c South Africa was excluded from the first two tournaments due to a sporting boycott during the apartheid era.
Records and statistics
Main articles: Records and statistics of the Rugby World Cup, List of Rugby World Cup try scorers, and List of Rugby World Cup hat-tricks
A middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie holding the Scottish flag.
Gavin Hastings of Scotland is one of four players to have kicked a record eight penalties in a single World Cup match.
The record for most points overall is held by English player Jonny Wilkinson, who scored 277 during his World Cup career.[62] New Zealand All Black Grant Fox holds the record for most points in one competition, with 126 in 1987;[62] Jason Leonard of England holds the record for most World Cup matches: 22 between 1991 and 2003 along with Richie McCaw 22 between 2003 and 2015.[62] All Black Simon Culhane holds the record for most points in a match by one player, 45, as well as the record for most conversions in a match, 20.[63] All Black Marc Ellis holds the record for most tries in a match, six, which he scored against Japan in 1995.[64]
New Zealand's Jonah Lomu is the youngest player to appear in a final – aged 20 years and 43 days in the 1995 final.[65] Lomu (playing in two tournaments) and South African Bryan Habana (playing in three tournaments) share the record for most total World Cup tournament tries, both scoring 15.[64] Lomu (in 1999) and Habana (in 2007) also share the record, along with All Black Julian Savea (in 2015), for most tries in a tournament, with 8 each.[64] South Africa's Jannie de Beer kicked five drop-goals against England in 1999 – an individual record for a single World Cup match.[65] The record for most penalties in a match is 8, held by Australian Matt Burke, Argentinian Gonzalo Quesada, Scotland's Gavin Hastings and France's Thierry Lacroix,[63] with Quesada also holding the record for most penalties in a tournament, with 31.
The most points scored in a game is 145, by the All Blacks against Japan in 1995, while the widest winning margin is 142, held by Australia in a match against Namibia in 2003.[66]
A total of 25 players have been sent off (red carded) in the tournament. Welsh lock Huw Richards was the first, while playing against New Zealand in 1987. No player has been red carded more than once.
See also
Sports portal
World portal
International rugby union player records
International rugby union team records
Rugby World Cup Sevens – men's and women's tournaments held simultaneously at a single site
References
Printed sources
Collins, Tony (2008). "'The First Principle of Our Game': The rise and fall of amateurism: 1886–1995". In Ryan, Greg (ed.). The Changing Face of Rugby: The Union Game and Professionalism since 1995. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84718-530-3.
Davies, Gerald (2004). The History of the Rugby World Cup Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-86074-602-0.
Farr-Jones, Nick, (2003). Story of the Rugby World Cup, Australian Post Corporation. ISBN 0-642-36811-2.
Harding, Grant; Williams, David (2000). The Toughest of Them All: New Zealand and South Africa: The Struggle for Rugby Supremacy. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-029577-1.
Martin, Gerard John (2005). The Game is not the Same – a History of Professional Rugby in New Zealand (Thesis). Auckland University of Technology.
Peatey, Lance (2011). In Pursuit of Bill: A Complete History of the Rugby World Cup. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-74257-191-1.
Phillpots, Kyle (2000). The Professionalisation of Rugby Union (Thesis). University of Warwick.
Williams, Peter (2002). "Battle Lines on Three Fronts: The RFU and the Lost War Against Professionalism". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 19 (4): 114–136. doi:10.1080/714001793. S2CID 145705183.
Notes
However an exhibition tournament, the 1936 FIRA Tournament, did take place at the 1936 Games. Rugby was reintroduced to the Olympics in 2016, but as men's and women's rugby sevens (i.e., seven-a-side rugby).[8]
Against England in 1984.[17]
Figures published by World Rugby (WR) are for the entire year, and are not specific to the tournament.
Argentina, Australia, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales are the nations that have never missed a tournament, playing in all nine thus far. South Africa has played in all seven in the post-apartheid era (as of 2019).
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Burgess, Michael (23 October 2011). "Logic debunks outrageous numbers game". The New Zealand Herald. APN New Zealand. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
Derriman, Phillip (1 July 2006). "Rivals must assess impact of Cup fever". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 1 July 2006.
International Rugby Board Year in Review 2012. International Rugby Board. p. 62. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
"Year in Review 2015". World Rugby. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
"World Rugby Consolidated Financial Statements Financial Year Ended 31 December 2019" (PDF). resources.world.rugby. World Rugby (WR). 2020.
"Rugby World Cup 2019: Review of Outcomes" (PDF). assets.ey.com. Ernst & Young. 24 June 2020.
Kitson, Robert (4 October 2023). "World Rugby to reject plate competition for emerging nations at World Cups". Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
"England become first host nation eliminated at pool stage of Rugby World Cup", Evening Standard, Tom Dutton, 3 October 2015.
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"All Time RWC Statistics". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
Peatey (2011) p. 244.
Peatey (2011) p. 245.
Peatey (2011) p. 242.
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rugby, football game played with an oval ball by two teams of 15 players (in rugby union play) or 13 players (in rugby league play). Both rugby union and rugby league have their origins in the style of football played at Rugby School in England. According to the sport’s lore, in 1823 William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, defied the conventions of the day (that the ball may only be kicked forward) to pick up the ball and run with it in a game, thus creating the distinct handling game of rugby football. This “historical” basis of the game was well established by the early 1900s, about the same time that foundation myths were invented for baseball and Australian rules football. While it is known that Webb Ellis was a student at Rugby School at the time, there is no direct evidence of the actual event’s having taken place, though it was cited by the Old Rugbeian Society in an 1897 report on the origins of the game. Nevertheless, Rugby School, whose name has been given to the sport, was pivotal in the development of rugby football, and the first rules of the game that became rugby union football were established there in 1845.
Who actually invented rugby?
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Rugby is now a popular sport in many countries of the world, with clubs and national teams found in places as diverse as Japan, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Uruguay, and Spain. Rugby among women is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. At the turn of the 21st century, the International Rugby Board (IRB; founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board), headquartered in Dublin, boasted more than 100 affiliated national unions, though at the top level the sport was still dominated by the traditional rugby powers of Australia, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales.
History
Origins
Different forms of football have existed for centuries. (For more on the development of football sports, see football.) In Britain, football games may have been played as early as the time of Roman occupation in the 1st century bce. During the 14th and 15th centuries ce, Shrove Tuesday football matches became annual traditions in local communities, and many of these games continued well into the 19th century. These localized versions of folk football (a violent sport distinctive for its large teams and lack of rules) gradually found favour within the English public (independent) schools, where they were modified and adapted into one of two forms: a dribbling game, played primarily with the feet, that was promoted at Eton and Harrow, and a handling game favoured by Rugby, Marlborough, and Cheltenham.
Game playing, particularly football, was encouraged at Rugby School by influential headmaster Thomas Arnold (1828–42), and many boys educated at this time were instrumental in the expansion of the game. Rugby football soon became one of the most significant sports in the promotion of English and, later, British imperial manliness. The game’s virtues were promoted by books such as Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s School Days (1857). The cult of manliness that resulted centred on the public schools and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, where boys were sent to learn how to become young gentlemen. Part of the schoolboy’s training was a commitment to arduous physical activity, and, by the late 19th century, rugby and cricket had become the leading sports that developed the “civilized” manly behaviour of the elite. It was believed that rugby football instilled in the “muscular Christian” gentleman the values of unselfishness, fearlessness, teamwork, and self-control. Graduates of these public schools and of Oxford and Cambridge formed the first football clubs, which led to the institutionalization of rugby.
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Once they had left school, many young men wanted to continue playing the game of their youth, and the early annual matches between alumni and current senior students were not enough to satisfy these players. Football clubs were formed in the mid-19th century, with one of the very first rugby clubs appearing at Blackheath in 1858. Rugby enthusiasm also spread rapidly to Ireland and Scotland, with a club founded at the University of Dublin in 1854 and the formation by the Old Boys of Edinburgh of the Edinburgh Academicals Rugby Football Club in 1858. In 1863 the tradition of club matches began in England with Blackheath playing Richmond.
Representatives of several leading football clubs met in 1863 to try to devise a common set of rules for football. Disputes arose over handling the ball and “hacking,” the term given to the tactics of tripping an opponent and kicking his shins. Both handling and hacking were allowed under rugby’s rules but disallowed in other forms of football. Led by F.W. Campbell of Blackheath, the rugby men refused to budge over hacking, calling those against the practice “unmanly.” Though Campbell’s group was in the minority, it refused to agree to the rules established for the new Football Association (FA) even though many elements of rugby rules were included in early compromises. Ultimately, rugby was left outside the FA. Despite the initial reluctance to abandon hacking, rugby clubs began to abolish the practice during the late 1860s. Blackheath banned it in 1865, and Richmond supported a similar prohibition in 1866.
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Rugby received bad publicity after a Richmond player was killed in a practice match in 1871, prompting leading clubs to respond to Richmond and Blackheath’s call for an organizational meeting. Thus, in 1871 members of leading rugby clubs met to form the Rugby Football Union (RFU), which became the governing body for the sport. By this time, hacking had largely disappeared from club rugby, though it remained a part of the game’s “character building” qualities at Rugby School. As a result of its continued adherence to the practice, Rugby School did not join the RFU until 1890.
The growth of the game
Rugby rapidly spread from its elitist origins in England, Scotland, and Ireland to middle- and working-class men in the north of England and in Wales and to the British colonies in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. It also spread to North America, where it was transformed into a new style of football.
Northern Hemisphere
Unlike association football (soccer), which embraced player payments and league play in the 1880s, the RFU staunchly resisted professionalism, cup competitions, and leagues, though international rugby between England and Scotland began immediately. As soon as the six Scottish clubs heard of the formation of the RFU, they issued a challenge to it for a match to be held in Scotland on March 27, 1871. The match was played in front of 4,000 spectators, with each side scoring a try, though only Scotland could convert the try with a goal (see below Play of the game). Ireland began playing England in 1875 and Scotland in 1877. The three national teams formed what became known as the “Home Nations.” Significantly, club rugby matches remained ad hoc in England until the latter decades of the 20th century, and, as a result, international matches took on a special meaning.
Northern England and the split
In the north of England, rugby was organized somewhat differently from in the south. Teams became the focus of civic pride, and league and cup competitions quickly arose in Yorkshire. The game spread throughout Yorkshire to Cumbria and parts of Lancashire, and many working-class men were playing by the mid-1880s. Northern clubs campaigned for “broken time” payments for their working-class players who lost time from work in order to play. Matters came to a head at an 1893 general meeting of the RFU, where the legalization of broken time payments was soundly defeated by southern clubs, which controlled a majority of the votes. On August 29, 1895, in the town of Huddersfield in Yorkshire, 22 of the leading clubs in the north of England resigned from the RFU and created the Northern Rugby Football Union, which became the Rugby Football League in 1922. The majority of northern clubs joined the Northern Union, but it failed in efforts to expand its influence farther afield within Britain.
Wales
In Wales rugby clubs were established as town clubs in both large communities and small mining towns during the 1870s and ’80s. Many early players had some experience of the game in the north of England and took their interest with them to Wales. By the early 1880s rugby had become a vital part of working-class culture in south Wales, which distinguished the game there from its upper-class association in other parts of the British Isles. Wales had high levels of immigration in the late 19th century, and rugby emerged at this time as a focal point of a new modern Welsh nationalism. As a result, the Welsh Rugby Union formed in 1881, and Wales soon entered the Home Championship, competing with England, Ireland, and Scotland. Wales won its first title in 1893. Unlike England, a more competitive system arose in Wales, with a South Wales Challenge Cup being contested between 1878 and 1897 and an unofficial league system appearing by the 1930s. As the only team to defeat the powerful New Zealand team on its first tour of the British Isles, in 1905, Wales cemented its place as a dominant rugby power.
Rugby remained central to modern Welsh identity, particularly in the period between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s, when players such as Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett, Gerald Davies, J.P.R. Williams, and others kept Wales at the top of Northern Hemisphere rugby. During the 1980s many coal mines were closed, which led to the deterioration of mining valley communities that had been the cradle of Welsh rugby for a century. Since that time Wales has struggled to regain its position as a leading rugby nation.
France
Rugby union football spread more slowly outside the British Empire, though it was played in France as early as 1870. There were 20 or more French clubs by 1892, mostly in and around Paris. Soon the game diffused to southwestern cities such as Bordeaux, Lyon, and Perpignon, where it became the most popular team sport. France joined the British Home Championship in 1910 to create the Five Nations Championship. In France the game was governed by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, a multisports group, from 1887 and by the French Rugby Federation from 1920.
French attitudes toward professionalism were much more relaxed than in the British Isles, which led the Home Nations unions to sever relations with France in 1932, though they were restored in 1945. France broke with the traditional British practice in rugby union of holding series of “friendly” matches rather than formal league competitions and in 1892 formed a national club championship. In 1978 France was finally admitted to the IRB, joining England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Following the inharmonious split with the Home Nations in 1932 over questions of professionalism, France embraced rugby league, known there as jeu à treize (“game of thirteen”). In 1934 the French rugby league federation (Ligue Française de Rugby à XIII) was formed. Like rugby union, the league game in France is largely confined to the southern part of the country. During World War II, rugby league play was outlawed in France by the Vichy government, but the sport made a comeback in the postwar era.
Italy
In the 1920s rugby also gained a foothold in Italy, particularly in the northwestern part of the country. The Italian Rugby Federation was founded in 1928. In the 1980s clubs supported by large companies began to organize payment of players in their club competition, and leading international players such as Naas Botha of South Africa, David Campese of Australia, and John Kirwin of New Zealand played rugby union in Italy. Italian rugby advanced significantly by the 1990s, and in 2000 Italy joined the Five Nations competition, which was then renamed Six Nations.
Canada and the United States
Rugby rules appeared in North America before the 1870s and were used in a famous game between McGill University of Montreal and Harvard University of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1874. In 1876 representatives of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia universities formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, which, in general, agreed with the RFU’s 1871 rules. Rugby rules were soon modified in the United States and later in Canada, however, to create the distinct codes of gridiron football played in North America. Although gridiron football had largely supplanted both association football and rugby in the United States by late in the 19th century, rugby enjoyed a revival from 1905 on the Pacific Coast after gridiron football was banned there in the aftermath of a public furor over violence and player deaths and injuries. Rugby remained popular there after the gridiron sport was restored to its preeminent position. West Coast players largely made up the national rugby teams that won at the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, after which rugby was dropped as an Olympic sport. Rugby also retained a foothold in British Columbia in Canada. Into the 21st century a large proportion of players on the U.S. and Canadian national teams came from the West Coast region.
Southern Hemisphere
It was in the Southern Hemisphere that rugby assumed new levels of cultural meaning and innovation. In New Zealand and South Africa, the sport became an integral part of national identity and at times a flash point for social and political issues.
Australia
In Australia the game was closely associated with the eastern coastal region. The Southern Rugby Football Union was formed in Sydney in 1874. Only five clubs played in Sydney at that time, but by 1900, 79 clubs existed, with a senior and four junior competitions. The Metropolitan Rugby Union, later the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU), was founded in 1897 to administer league competitions in Sydney and devised a district system that led to increased spectator interest. By the 1880s matches between teams representing New South Wales and New Zealand began, as rugby in Australia remained largely confined to the big east coast cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The national Australian Rugby Union was not formed until 1949. In other parts of Australia, Australian rules football had already established itself as the dominant sport.
The issue of payment to players appeared in Australia by the early 1900s, centring in particular on compensation for injured footballers. Alex Burdon, a barber by trade, injured his shoulder in July 1907; however, the NSWRU refused to pay compensation. At the same time, a professional team of New Zealand rugby players, known as the All Golds, prepared to travel to England to play against Northern Union clubs. The tour inspired Sydney clubs and players to form the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) on August 8, 1907. The NSWRL adopted the rules of the Northern Union and organized an Australian team to play against the All Golds before they left for England. In 1908 a rugby league competition began in Sydney with working-class clubs leaving rugby union to play by the new rules. The first Australian rugby league players toured Britain in 1908–09, followed by another tour of Britain in 1911–12, thus establishing international links between Northern and Southern Hemisphere breakaway groups. The main centres of rugby league in Australia are Sydney and Brisbane, though it is widely played in cities and towns throughout the country and has a larger following than has rugby union.
New Zealand
In New Zealand the first rugby match was played at Nelson in 1870. However, rugby spread slowly owing to problems of distance and sparse population, and while regional unions appeared throughout the country by the mid-1880s, a national union, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), was not founded until 1892. A New Zealand “Natives” tour (1888–89) of Australia and the British Isles was organized by an entrepreneur keen to exploit British perceptions of the “exotic” Maori population of New Zealand. A team made up mostly of Maori players toured Britain, winning 49 of its 74 matches, including many matches against clubs in the north of England that largely consisted of working-class players and that had become the best club teams in the country. In 1902 the Ranfurly Shield was presented by Earl Ranfurly, the governor of New Zealand, to serve as a trophy for a challenge competition between provincial rugby teams. The shield remains one of the most prized trophies in New Zealand’s domestic competition. In 1903 New Zealand played a truly national Australian team for the first time. New Zealand’s national team, known as the All Blacks for their black uniforms, defeated a visiting British national team in 1904, and on the All Blacks first tour of Britain, France, and North America the following year, they posted a stunning 34–1 record. Success in international rugby supported by strong domestic teams formed the backbone of New Zealand rugby and cemented its place as the country’s top sport.
Indeed, there are few countries whose national identity is as tied to a single sport as New Zealand’s is to rugby. Pride in the country, its history, and its culture commingle in New Zealanders’ rabid support for the All Blacks, who enact a ritual before each match that is the embodiment of this national spirit; the haka, borrowed from the country’s indigenous Maori culture, is a traditional war dance and chant that inspires the All Blacks while issuing a challenge to their opponents to do battle.
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South Africa
A form of rugby football was played in South Africa in 1862, and the game was first played in Cape Town in 1875. British regiments helped found a club at King William’s Town in 1878. The expanding population that followed the Kimberley diamond discovery spread the game into that region (1883–86), and rugby was being played in the Johannesburg and Pretoria areas by 1888. The Western Province formed a union in 1883; the South African Rugby Football Board was established in 1889. South Africa too has leagues for clubs and a national competition between provincial teams for the Currie Cup, first given in 1891 by Sir Donald Currie.
From the 1930s through the ’60s, the South Africa national rugby union team could make arguable claims to being unofficial world champions. After 1960, however, the issue of apartheid, under which South Africa sanctioned racial segregation and discrimination against nonwhites, began to infringe on the team’s reputation and on international rugby. Black South Africans were excluded from playing in the whites-only rugby competitions run by the South African Rugby Board and were forced to play in separate competitions over the course of the 20th century. Pivotal to the success of South African rugby, as well as to its continued segregation, was the controversial Danie Craven, a legendary player who also served as coach of the national team and president of the Rugby Board.
As a core cultural activity of white South Africans, rugby became the target of protests by black South Africans and international antiapartheid protesters, who called for boycotts of both South Africa and its national rugby team. Significant protests first emerged in New Zealand in 1959–60 when the NZRFU did not select Maori players for the 1960 tour of South Africa in order to comply with apartheid restrictions. New Zealand postponed a planned visit to South Africa in 1967 because South Africa still would not accept Maoris as part of New Zealand’s national team. The tour was rescheduled for 1970 after South African authorities permitted Maoris to tour as “honorary whites.” By this time South Africa had been expelled from the Olympic movement, and the focus on South African rugby intensified. In response to disquiet among black Commonwealth countries, the New Zealand government canceled a planned 1973 tour by South Africa, in order to save the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. In 1976, 23 African countries boycotted the Montreal Olympics in protest against New Zealand’s presence because the All Blacks had played against South Africa that year even after the June 16 massacre of black protesters, many of them children, in Soweto.
The most-dramatic events surrounding rugby occurred in 1981 during the South African tour of New Zealand. The second match of the tour was canceled when protesters occupied the field. Flour “bombs” were dropped from a plane during the final Test match, and police barricades went up throughout the country as the tour progressed. In 1985 the New Zealand courts stopped a proposed tour of South Africa at the last minute, and in 1986 a “rebel” tour of New Zealanders went there. During the 1980s, however, South Africa became progressively isolated as the sports boycott took effect. Notably, it was excluded from the first two Rugby World Cups in 1987 and 1991.
The dismantling of apartheid began in 1991, and South Africa was again accepted by the international sports community. The country hosted the rugby union World Cup in 1995 and won the championship with a nearly all-white team, which, with the open support of then president Nelson Mandela, unified the country in a brief moment of transracial national identification.
Other countries
Other countries where rugby has developed to a high level include Argentina and the Pacific Island nations of Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga. Rugby was introduced to Argentina in the 1870s, and by the turn of the 20th century four clubs based in Buenos Aires had formed the River Plate Rugby Football Union. The Argentine national team, known as the Pumas, has a reputation for being particularly physical in the scrum. Although rugby did not reach the Pacific Island countries of Samoa and Tonga until the 1920s, it had been played in Fiji since the 1880s. In 1924 Fiji and Samoa (then Western Samoa) met in the region’s first Test match. All three countries continue to focus on their individual national teams, but in the early 21st century they also began to play together periodically as a single team representing the Pacific Islands.
The modern era
In the latter part of the 20th century, both rugby union and rugby league were affected by the growing influence of commercialism and television. The development (and success) of World Cup competitions was a particular spur to the enormous growth of rugby football in the decades leading into the 21st century.
The first Rugby World Cup competition organized by the IRB was held in 1987 in New Zealand and Australia and was a popular and financial success. It was staged four years after a failed attempt to launch a global “rebel” (that is, outside the control of the IRB) professional championship. Rugby union thus embarked upon a road toward professionalism and new levels of commercialism that eventually led to the full professionalization of the sport in 1995. The 1991 World Cup, held in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France and won by Australia, had confirmed its place as a major international sporting festival. By 1995 the chairman of the Rugby World Cup could claim that the event was the fourth largest international televised sporting event as the tournament reached an estimated 124 countries and 2.7 billion viewers.
Just prior to the 1995 cup, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia Rugby, Inc. (SANZAR), was formed to develop what it called “the perfect rugby product,” including the Super Rugby provincial competition and the Rugby Championship international series. SANZAR then sold exclusive global television rights to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for $555 million over 10 years.
In rugby league, television became crucial to the wider promotion of the game. In the late 1980s and ’90s the premier rugby league competition in Australia expanded from Sydney to include teams from other parts of Australia and then a team from New Zealand. In 1980 the State of Origin competition between New South Wales and Queensland began, and it soon became one of the most-watched sporting events in Australia. In England this model was followed through the creation of the Wars of the Roses series between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
In 1995 a revolution took place in rugby league as the News Corporation tried to buy global rights to the game in an effort to secure the rugby league product for Murdoch’s pay television services in Australia. The end result was a much-needed cash infusion of £100 million into the game in England, though at the cost of creating a controversial “Super League” there and the development of a rival “Super League” competition in Australia that ran during the 1996 season. While compromise was reached in Australia, the game suffered significant damage as spectators turned away from rugby league in disgust, with some preferring to watch rugby union or Australian football.
With professionalization of rugby union in 1995 and the now relatively free movement of players between sports, it appears that a rapprochement between union and league might be possible. Several people have devised compromise rules that seek to create uniform rules for both codes, but these have been resisted thus far.
Despite professionalization, at grassroots levels rugby retains a strong social and cultural atmosphere where play on the field is only a part of the experience. Rugby players are notorious for heavy drinking and singing sessions, particularly when on tour. Moreover, in rugby-playing countries, success on the field often translates into success in professional life, as rugby clubs and associations form the basis for strong local, national, and international social networks. To adherents rugby union is known as “the game they play in heaven,” while rugby league, with similar club-based cultures, is called “the greatest game” by its followers.
Organization and competition
Rugby union
The rapid spread of rugby union throughout many parts of the British Empire led to the establishment of the International Rugby Football Board (since 1997 the International Rugby Board; IRB) in 1886 to determine the laws of the game and settle any disputes that arose between countries. The initial members were the Rugby Football Union plus the Scottish, Irish, and Welsh national unions. In classic imperial fashion, the RFU held six seats on the board, and the other member unions held two each. In 1926 Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa joined with one seat each. In 1958 representation changed to two seats each for member countries, but when Argentina, Canada, Italy, and Japan joined in 1991, they received only one seat each on the board. The IRB became the recognized international governing body and has been active since its formation in policing and modifying the laws of the game.
Test (international) matches (a series of two or more games between national teams) have historically been the pinnacle of rugby union. In 1888 a British team toured New Zealand and Australia, and in 1891 an English team toured South Africa, thus beginning the pattern of international competition in rugby union. Colonial rugby tours of the British Isles by official national teams began with visits by New Zealand in 1905, South Africa in 1906 and 1912, and Australia in 1908. In 1905 the New Zealanders shocked the British media as they won every match leading up to their final Test against Wales, overwhelming some good English teams by 40 to 60 points. Wales narrowly defeated the All Blacks 3–0 near the end of the New Zealanders’ tour, restoring some pride in the Home nations. In 1906 the first tour by the South African team, known as the Springboks, was nearly as successful, as they defeated Wales. In 1908 the Australians also played well and won the Olympic gold medal in London.
After the successes of the first New Zealand and South African touring teams in Britain, most observers thought the two countries were the leading exponents of the game. Competition between them soon became recognized as the unofficial world championship. When the All Blacks and Springboks met in 1921 and 1928, both series ended in draws, and it was not until 1937, when South Africa triumphed in a series in New Zealand, that debates about the better team first were resolved. Competition with Australia also became important, especially for New Zealand. In 1931 Lord Bledisloe, the governor-general of New Zealand, donated a trophy for competition between New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand has largely dominated the competition, though Australia enjoyed an extended run of Bledisloe Cup victories between 1998 and 2002.
During the period between World Wars I and II, official international tours by a combined team from the Home Nations began. The first tour by the British Lions (now called the British and Irish Lions)—as that composite team of players from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland was known—took place in 1924, when they lost to South Africa. The Lions have existed only to undertake international tours of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand and were not particularly successful against the Southern Hemisphere powers until 1971, when they defeated New Zealand. That success was followed by their famous series win against South Africa during their undefeated tour in 1974.
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In the last quarter of the 20th century, touring continued to be popular for rugby union teams. South American teams became a new force, even beating the team from South Africa. Romania also rose in stature as a touring team, winning the 1999 European Nations Cup. Rugby union continued to grow as an international game, highlighted by such new tournaments as the Pacific Rim Championship and the African Top Six Tournaments.
The highest level of international competition for rugby union teams is the IRB Rugby World Cup, played for the William Webb Ellis Trophy. The World Cup has been held at regular four-year intervals since 1987. New Zealand won the inaugural cup, and the Australian team, the Wallabies, became the first team to win two World Cups (1991, 1999). The three Southern Hemisphere powers along with England and France dominated the early history of the World Cup, with each team reaching the final on multiple occasions. However, rapid improvement by countries such as Argentina and Samoa have expanded the next level of competitive national teams.
In the professional era, competitions at club, provincial, and national levels have increased. The Southern Hemisphere season centres on the Super Rugby provincial competition between teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, and the Northern Hemisphere exception Japan, followed by the Rugby Championship series between national teams from those countries other than Japan. In the Northern Hemisphere the Six Nations (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales) tournament remains the most significant, followed by the European Club Championship and national and supranational leagues, such as the Celtic League. Indeed, the professional era has led to conflicts between clubs and national unions. In the Southern Hemisphere leading players are signed to both national and Super Rugby contracts, whereas in England players are contracted to their clubs, as is the case in English professional association football. Another, more-recent and less-prestigious, annual Northern Hemisphere competition is the Americas Rugby Championship, which features national teams from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States, and Uruguay.
Rugby league
In rugby league, major competitions are held in England and Australia, and the pinnacle of the game has been international tours involving the Australian and British national teams, along with the Rugby League World Cup, which began in 1954 in France and has been held at irregular intervals since then. Australia won six consecutive World Cups between 1975 and 2000, establishing itself as the international powerhouse in rugby league. The rugby league 2000 World Cup, held in Britain, featured teams from 16 countries.
Rugby league saw tremendous growth in the Pacific area during the 1990s; Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga, and Japan all field league teams. Club play continues to thrive in the European Superleague, the National Rugby League (Australian and New Zealand), the Rugby League Championship (Britain), and the French Rugby League.
Rugby sevens
Another popular form of rugby, a variation of rugby union, is rugby sevens. It is played on a standard-sized rugby union field but with only seven players on each side. At 15 minutes, the length of a rugby sevens match is also much shorter than its 80-minute rugby union counterpart. Rugby sevens originated in Melrose, Scotland, in 1883; today it is played in dozens of countries, with its principal competitions being the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the IRB Sevens World Series. Rugby sevens became an Olympic sport in 2016.
Women and rugby
While rugby was being professionalized during the 1990s, a parallel revolution was under way in the sport. Because the relationship between masculinity and rugby has been passed between fathers and sons, and rugby participation became synonymous with learning to be a man in the public schools of England and the private schools in the settler societies of the British Empire, women historically were excluded from playing competitive rugby. There was a short-lived attempt to establish a women’s rugby league in Sydney in the early 1920s, but for the most part, as in association football, women were not allowed to play and were actively discouraged.
In the United States and Canada, women’s rugby gained popularity in the 1980s, primarily on college campuses. In 1983 the Women’s Rugby Football Union formed in England with 12 member clubs. By 2000 there were more than 120 clubs and more than 2,000 women playing organized rugby in England. The Women’s World Cup began in 1991 and then shifted in 1994 to years preceding the men’s World Cup. The competition is held every four years. While the United States was an early powerhouse, winning in 1991 and losing in the final in 1994 (to England), by the late 1990s women’s international rugby was dominated by the New Zealand national team, known as the Black Ferns, who won both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. The Black Ferns’ success can be attributed to the NZRFU’s providing the national team with leading coaches and training facilities, as well as operating the game in a professionalized manner not dissimilar to the men’s game.
In the 1990s rugby was, along with association football, the fastest-growing sport for women in Europe and the fastest in Australia and New Zealand. Women play the game by the same rules as men.
Play of the game
Watch and learn the basics of rugby
Watch and learn the basics of rugby
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While handling the ball and hacking set rugby apart from association football (soccer) in the early days of the sport, further rule changes served to cement the distinctive character of rugby. Most significant, rugby rules enforced an offside rule that required all players in open play to remain behind the ball. The game is perceived as being somewhat rough; whereas in American and Canadian gridiron football, players wear padding and protection to guard against injury from contact made with other players, in rugby the wearing of most types of padding and helmets is either looked down upon or illegal.
Field of play and equipment
Rugby playing field
Rugby playing field
Based on International Rugby Board (IRB) rules, rugby union is played on a rectangular field not more than 70 metres (229.7 feet) wide; the maximum distance between the goal lines is 100 metres (328 feet), and beyond each goal line the end zone, called “in goal,” extends not more than 22 metres (72.2 feet). At the centre of the goal lines are two goalposts 5.6 metres (18.4 feet) apart with a crossbar 3 metres (10 feet) above the ground. The field also includes two 22-metre lines (located 22 metres from each goal line), a halfway (midfield) line, and 10-metre (32.8 feet) lines at that distance on either side of the halfway line. The sideline is known as the “touch” line, and a kick that goes out of play is said to have gone “into touch.”
The inflated ball is oval and less pointed than the ball used in gridiron football. It is 28 to 30 cm (11 to 11.8 inches) long and 58 to 62 cm (22.9 to 24.4 inches) in circumference, and it weighs 410 to 460 grams (14.1 to 15.5 ounces). The outside casing of the ball is usually of leather or plastic.
The rugby league rules call for a similarly sized field, though the goal posts are slightly closer (5.5 metres [18 feet]). The field typically includes lines marking each 10-metre interval, giving the field an appearance similar to a gridiron football field. The league ball is essentially the same as the union ball.
Players wear cleated shoes, socks, shorts, and jerseys numbered 1 through 15 in rugby union and 1 through 13 in rugby league. The rules now allow the regulated use of light headgear to protect against injury, and an increasing number of players wear scrum caps (made of high-impact foam), headbands (to prevent cauliflower ear), and mouth guards.
Principles of play
Individual matches are adjudicated by a referee supported by one “touch” (or sideline) judge on either side of the field. A match consists of two 40-minute halves. In rugby union a team fields 15 players; in rugby league teams field 13 players. Play starts with a kickoff from the centre of the field, with one team kicking into the territory of its opponents. Players can run forward with the ball, pass the ball backward to teammates, or kick the ball forward. The defending team tries to prevent the attacking team from encroaching on its territory and seeks to gain possession of the ball. Only the player with the ball may be tackled and once tackled must release the ball immediately. The first player arriving usually then picks up the ball though both teams may fight for possession of it. This battle for the ball on the ground is known as a “ruck.” In this situation, teams must approach the ball from their own side of the ball only and must remain on their feet while playing the ball. When the player with the ball is stopped but not taken down to the ground, the struggle for the ball goes on from an upright position. This is known as a “maul.”
Players in position for a scrummage
Players in position for a scrummage
If the ball goes out of bounds, play restarts by forming a “line-out.” Two parallel lines of forward players line up at the point where the ball traversed the sideline. The ball is then thrown into play by a player from the team that did not last touch the ball. The player restarts play with an overhead two-handed pass that must travel five metres (16.4 feet) into the field of play and in between the two lines of players. Those in the line-out then jump to catch the ball or to knock it back to a waiting teammate. In open field, if a team loses the ball forward (called a “knock-on”), a scrum is formed. The forwards form a pack into which a back from the team that recovered the loose ball feeds the ball. The ball is retrieved from the scrum when advantageous, and it is passed to the back line.
In rugby union, possession of the ball may be held indefinitely by an attacking team as long as the ball continues to be controlled and not lost forward or taken by the opposing team. In rugby league, by contrast, each team can maintain possession for only six tackles. After the sixth tackle the ball reverts to the opposing team, so teams in possession normally kick the ball to the other team after five tackles unless in scoring range.
In both codes, the ball may be kicked into touch “on the full” (in the air) from inside the defensive 22-metre line. Outside the 22, balls must bounce in the field of play before going into touch. While balls kicked into touch in rugby union come back into play by means of the line-out, rugby league had dispensed with the line-out by 1907 to speed up play.
By 1907 a number of other rule changes had taken place in rugby league, which included the abolition of rucks and mauls and the introduction of the orderly restart of play after a tackle. In rugby league, play is restarted with the tackled player standing up and heeling the ball back to a teammate, who then runs or passes the ball back to another teammate.
Scoring
In early rugby, the only scores came from goals, and the first goal scored won the match. A goal was scored by kicking the ball through the goalposts and above the crossbar. When a player touched the ball down over the goal line, he then kicked out from the goal line to a teammate, who in turn kicked it toward the goalposts in the face of onrushing defenders. Rugby later developed a more complex scoring system that included the touch down of the ball over the goal line that resulted in an attempt at goal, called a “try,” and goals, called “conversions,” that could be kicked after a try. Scoring changed by 1890 to the pattern favoured at Cheltenham School, whereby points were scored for a try, and penalty kicks were introduced, allowing teams disadvantaged by illegal play to kick for goal and score points if successful. Thus, goals could be scored from an opposition penalty (“penalty goals”) or by dropping the ball on the field of play and kicking it through the uprights (“drop-goal”). In 1892 a try was worth three points, and drop-goals were worth four points. Penalty goals were introduced in 1894. By 1900 a try counted three points, a goal converting a try added two more points, and a penalty or drop-goal from the field was worth five points. Though the point values have changed, the methods of scoring remain the same today.
In both modern games the primary scoring method is for players to score a try. In rugby union these are now worth five points, but they are worth only four points in rugby league. In both codes conversions count two points; penalty goals in rugby union count three points, two in rugby league; drop goals are worth three points in rugby union but only one point in rugby league.
Positions
In rugby today each team is divided into forwards and backs, with forwards being the players who form the scrum and backs being the players positioned behind the scrum.
Backs
It was not until the early 1880s that specialized positions began to appear, particularly among the backs, with Allen Rotherham of Oxford and England establishing the position of halfback, named for a player who took up a position between the scrum and the rest of the backs. Fullbacks, who took the farthest position from the scrum, were also common, and by this time three additional players formed the “three-quarters” line—a centre flanked by two wingers. In 1886 Wales added a second centre against Scotland. This idea became popular in New Zealand by 1889, and Jimmy Duncan of Otago and New Zealand added not only the second centre but also a second halfback.
In modern rugby union the backs consist of seven players. The fullback is the last line of defense and is expected to make try-saving tackles. The fullback is also responsible for fielding kicks from the opposition and then quickly initiating the attack. The two wingers, positioned before the fullback and to the right and left flanks of the field, support the fullback in the last line of defense, but their primary role is to use their speed to make long runs and score tries. The right and left (or inside and outside) centres line up in the middle of the field between the halfbacks and the fullback, and they are vital to the spacing and passing within the attack, as well as active in tackling. There are two halfbacks, the fly half and the scrum half, and both play prominent roles in the attack. The fly back is the primary distributor of the ball and the chief strategist on the field. The fly is typically the best passer and kicker on the team and is responsible for generating attacks and for deciding when the ball should be kicked. The scrum half feeds the ball into scrums and delivers it out of them. The scrum half also initiates play from rucks and mauls (typically feeding the ball to the fly half) and generally serves as the link between the forwards and the backs.
Forwards
Forward players still were not specialized by the early 1900s, and when scrums were formed, the first players to arrive usually formed the front row. By 1900 it was common to form a scrum with three men in the front, two behind, and another three behind them for a 3–2–3 formation. In New Zealand and South Africa, innovation continued with the New Zealanders’ devising of a 2–3–2 formation that freed up an additional man for the backs, who became known as a wing forward, and the South Africans’ invention of the 3–4–1 formation used throughout the world today. The 2–3–2 formation created great controversy over the legality of the wing forward, and the IRB eventually banned it in 1932, requiring a minimum of three players in the front row.
In modern rugby union the forwards are made up of two props, a hooker, two locks, and two wing forwards (or flankers), and the “number eight” (so called because of his or her jersey number). The props are positioned in the front row of the scrum on each side of the hooker. Props are typically stout, powerful players who can move piles around in support of the hooker in scrums and of leapers in line-outs. The hooker is typically the shortest of the forwards and is responsible for winning the ball in scrums and throwing the ball in during line-outs. The locks, positioned in the centre of the second row of the scrum, are usually the tallest players on the team and are the primary ball winners in line-outs. The wing forwards assume the outside positions on the scrum’s second row and are responsible for disrupting the play of the opponent’s backs and winning the ball. The number eight is part forward, part back and the last line of the scrum. The number eight is expected to win balls, especially in rucks, to link with the scrum and fly halves, and to make runs as well.
Playing with two fewer players than rugby union, rugby league does not employ wing forwards, so that a league scrum has three men in the front row, two in the second, and one in the back. In league play the locks are known as second row forwards and the number eight is known as a lock forward. Also, the role of the fly half is handled by the stand-off or five-eighth in rugby league.
Who is the best rugby player of all time?
It’s probably an impossible question to answer, but one that every rugby fan is asked. And one we all have our own opinion on.
So, to give you some help in answering that question, we’ve narrowed it down… Well, not really, we’ve done quite the opposite.
We’ve taken it upon ourselves to combine the best of the best; using various ‘best rugby players of all time’ lists created by experts, ex-players and journalists, we give you an ultimate list of the greatest rugby players ever.
Below is a list of 72 of the best rugby players ever to put on a pair of boots, with videos and pictures of some of their best and most memorable moments throughout the history of the game.
It goes from the best scrum-halves ever, right the way through to the best props, and everything in between.
Tap the links to skip to a certain section or position!
Best Scrum-Halves of All Time
Best Outside-Halves Ever
Best Centres Ever
Best Wingers of All Time
Best Fullbacks Ever
Best Props Ever
Best Hookers of All Time
Best Second Rows of All Time
Best Flankers Ever
Best Number 8s Ever
The Best Scrum-Halves Ever
The number 9 jersey is one that represents many aspects of the game. It has given us some of the most skilful, determined, aggressive and downright talented rugby players of all time.
Gareth Edwards
Gareth Edwards has been called the ‘rugby player of the century’ – let alone the best scrum half – and scored this, the ‘greatest try of all time’.
He stands at the top of the pile and is considered by many as the best player ever to play rugby union. It’s only right that we start this list with him, then!
George Gregan
139 caps for the Wallabies – that’s some achievement.
He’s also known for reminding the All Blacks that they’d have to wait “Four more years” until the next World Cup after the Aussies knocked them out of the 2003 RWC.
Joost van der Westhuizen
Joost van der Westhuizen was one of the most courageous, talented and tough scrum halves you’ll ever see on a rugby pitch.
He was a RWC winner and was probably best known for his defence against the formidable Jonah Lomu when he man-marked him in 1995 (see the video above).
Not long after his final rugby game, he sadly lost his battle with Motor Neuron Disease, at the premature age of 45.
He was a feisty, verbal character on the field and as dangerous around the fringes in attack.
Justin Marshall
Dynamic and powerful, Marshall was the ultimate opportunist in his day and a brilliant leader.
81 caps for the ABs and 140 points, can’t argue with that!
Fourie du Preez
Du Preez was a complete scrum-half, with an impressive all-round game including near-perfect tactical kicking and brilliant awareness.
He was one of the most influential players in both South Africa’s successful World Cup and Lions Test Series sides.
Antoine Dupont
This list wouldn’t be complete without the French magician, Antoine Dupont. He is a current player, but it’s clear to see how good a rugby player he is. Dupont is, quite simply, a wonderful rugby player.
Top 5 scrum-halves ever:
Gareth Edwards
Joost van der Westhuizen
George Gregan
Justin Marshall
Fourie du Preez
The Best Outside-Halves (Fly-Half, Number 10) Ever
Being named the best fly half ever might just be the best accolade a rugby player could receive, because who doesn’t want to grow up to be their country’s number 10?
Amidst the best outside halves ever are the following, and there are some seriously talented players in this list.
Dan Carter
As well as slotting one of the most sensational goal-kicks you’ve ever seen (above), Dan Carter is quite possibly the best back of the professional era.
He’s everything you’d want in a fly-half, and his record speaks for itself.
He overtook Jonny Wilkinson as the leading point scorer in international rugby history with 1,598 points from his 112 caps for the All Blacks.
Frustrated by injury during the first 2007 and 2011 World Cups, he ended his career on the top of his game with a Man of the Match display against Australia in the 2015 RWC final.
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Jonny Wilkinson
The ultimate perfectionist, it’s fair to say that Jonny Wilkinson changed the game.
He slotted the winning drop-goal to take England to their 2003 World Cup triumph – a moment that has been engraved in the history of the sport.
He landed that drop-goal with his weaker right foot as well, which justified the hours of practice he was so well-known for.
A real points machine, yes, but he could tackle, orchestrate the backline and had vision as good as anyone.
Jonathan ‘Jiffy’ Davies
If you listed the attributes for a perfect fly-half, you’d include speed, agility, game-management, and good goal-kicking, amongst others. Jiffy had all of these.
He had pure pace that’s rare to come by, but had all the skillset to match it. Having been successful in both rugby union and league, he became one of the most well-known players in the sport.
It’s totally irrelevant, but he also went viral a few years back after Wales beat England 30-3 to lift the 2013 Six Nations Championship – spot the Welshman!
Jiffy Jonathan Davies smiling after Wales beat England 30-3
Stephen Larkham
A tactical and technical genius, Larkham steadied the ship of one of the most successful Australian sides ever, playing outside his long-time half-back partner George Gregan.
Larkham successful slotted a 48-metre drop goal in extra time of the Aussies’ RWC Semi-Final match against South Africa despite having an injured knee; a moment which has gone down in rugby union history.
Michael Lynagh
Lynagh played for the Wallabies from 1984 to 1995, gaining 72 caps in total.
He was a great player and a phenomenal leader, being vice-captain when Australia won the World Cup in 1991, and retired as the world’s leading points scorer with 911 points.
Phil Bennett & Barry John
It’s impossible to go through ALL the best players from the amateur and professional eras, but it would be rude to write a ‘best ever’ list and not include Phil Bennett and Barry John – two legendary names in the game.
Royalty in the rugby world, especially John – known simply as “the King”. Both were simply sensational. Masters of the game.
The Best Fly-Halves Ever Include…
Jonny Wilkinson
Dan Carter
Jonathan Davies
Michael Lynagh
Stephen Larkham
Phil Bennett
The Best Centres of All Time in World Rugby
Now, that’s a difficult one.
You’ve got inside centres and outside centres, and then you’ve got totally different player types inside both positions.
At inside centre, you’ve got ball-players like Matt Giteau and then absolute power-houses like Scott Gibbs.
Here’s THAT try from THAT game against England at Wembley 1999…
You’ve also then got options like great leaders Tana Umaga and Jean de Villiers – two absolute warriors who put their body on the line for their country each time they pulled the jersey on.
Legendary names like the magical Philipe Sella (the first rugby player to reach 100 test caps) and two-time Rugby World Cup winner Tim Horan also come to mind.
There has been an endless list of genius outside centres in the last few years, none more so than Brian O’Driscoll, Jeremy Guscott, Conrad Smith, and Will Greenwood.
Frank Bunce emerges as one of the most popular names among a list of legendary 13s, having played internationally for both Western Samoa (RWC 1991) and New Zealand.
Bunce was a tough, fearsome centre and had many memorable battles against the likes of Scott Gibbs and Will Carling.
The best centres ever include…
Jeremy Guscott
Will Greenwood
Conrad Smith
Frank Bunce
Brian O’Driscoll
Tana Umaga
Jean de Villiers
Matt Giteau
Ma’a Nonu
Tim Horan
Scott Gibbs
Phillipe Sella
Brian Lima
The Best Wingers of All Time
This is where the fun begins.
Wingers are the try-scorers, finishers, those with a killer-instinct and a hunger for the try line.
And they are the players who have an X-Factor about them, which means that they are remembered for many of the legendary moments in history.
Jonah Lomu
One of, if not THE most iconic rugby player of all time – Jonah Lomu.
He burst on to the scene in emphatic fashion and had a long-lasting impact on the way the sport was viewed from the outside.
His athleticism, power, speed, acceleration and raw strength was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, especially for a winger.
All modern wingers – from Julian Savea to George North – site him as their inspiration because he really did pave the way for modern rugby as it is seen today.
He was the ultimate highlight-reel player, and his team-mates frequently refer to how they’d simply yell “give the ball to Jonah” whenever they needed to come up with a moment of magic. And he did just that almost every time he touched the ball.
Here’s another 6 minutes of Jonah Lomu being absolutely unstoppable, because one video just isn’t enough for the big man…
David Campese
A controversial character, Campo, but another legend of the game.
There’s no denying that he’s put his foot in it a good few times in the past, but on the field, this man was truly electric and personified everything that was expected of a Wallaby in the 80s and 90s.
His most famous attribute? The distinctive ‘goose-step’.
Shane Williams
How could you not include the little man on this list?
Against all the odds in a sport that had turned massively in favour of huge, man-mountains, Williams made a name for himself as one of the greatest wingers ever thanks to his creativity, blistering speed, and agility.
He scored 60 international tries and is Wales’ leading try scorer to this day. Here’s one of his best…
Bryan Habana
Bryan Habana had a serious set of wheels in his prime.
A pivotal part of the South African side than won the 2007 World Cup, equalling the single tournament record set by the great Jonah Lomu in 1999.
With 124 test caps and 67 international tries to his name, he certainly wasn’t a one-tournament wonder either.
Doug Howlett
49 tries in 62 tests for the All Blacks – quite the record!
He had pure gas and would finish any opportunity presented to him.
He, like Campo, had his fair share of controversy, but most rugby fans remember him simply for being an absolutely exhilarating winger to watch.
He retired as Munster’s record try scorer after the 2012-13 season, around five years after his final international test in 2007.
Had he not moved to the Northern Hemisphere, his record for the All Blacks surely would’ve been unbeatable.
Best rugby union wingers of all time:
Bryan Habana
Doug Howlett
Shane Williams
Jonah Lomu
David Campese
Joe Rokocoko
Ieuan Evans
The Best Fullbacks Ever
Fullback is one of the most difficult positions in rugby union, with so many different elements to master – such as kicking, attacking, positioning, high ball catching, tackling, and so on.
Serge Blanco
The Pelé of Rugby, Serge Blanco is somewhat of a cult hero. He played fullback for Biarritz Olympique and gained 93 caps for the French national side – Les Bleus! He won two Grand Slams and is probably most famous for scoring the deciding try in the semi-final of the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987.
JPR Williams
John Peter Rhys Williams MBE FRCS – more commonly known as JPR Williams – was a stand-out feature of the Golden Era of Welsh rugby in the 1970s. From Bridgend, the doctor was a real hard-man and earned 55 caps for Wales and 8 for the British and Irish Lions.
Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson played both rugby league and rugby Union for England during the 1990s and 2000s. He got 51 caps, played scintillating rugby every time he got the ball, and was actually the first ever black man to captain the England rugby union team.
Percy Montgomery
Percy Montgomery, known for his perfect goal kicking and long blonde hair, won 102 caps for South Africa. Upon retiring in 2008, Montgomery was the all-time record cap holder AND points scorer for the Springboks.
Christian Cullen
Christian Cullen – pure perfection! He is the ultimate fullback, showing excellence in both attack and defence. Any aspiring young fullbacks, watch Christian Cullen highlights if you want to improve your game. Known as the Paekakariki Express, Cullen won 60 caps for the All Blacks and retired as one of the most impressive attacking fullbacks ever.
Here are the top 5 best fullbacks in rugby Union history:
Serge Blanco
JPR Williams
Jason Robinson
Percy Montgomery
Christian Cullen
The Best Props of All Time
Jason Leonard
Os du Randt
Steve McDowell
Gethin Jenkins
Phil Vickery
Jean-Pierre Garuet
Patricio Noriega
Adam Jones
Martin Castrogiovanni
The Best Hookers Ever
Keith Wood
Sean Fitzpatrick
John Smit
Mario Ledesma
Keven Mealamu
The Best Second Rows Ever
Martin Johnson
Alun Wyn Jones
Paul O’Connell
Victor Matfield
Colin Meads
The Best Flankers Ever
Richie McCaw
Francois Pienaar
Schalk Burger
Martyn Williams
Thierry Dusautoir
Notable mentions go out to the legend Jerry Collins, Sam Warburton, Richard Hill, David Pocock, Michael Hooper, George Smith, Neil Back and Jerome Kaino.
The Best Number 8s in Rugby Union History
Zinzan Brooke
Juan-Martin Fernandez-Lobbe
Sergio Parisse
Lawrence Dallaglio
Taulupe Faletau
Notable mentions must go out to Wayne Shelford, Kieran Read, Jamie Heaslip and young Ardie Savea.
How We Chose The Best Rugby Union Players
To compile our list of the best rugby players ever to play the game, we began by gathering a list of all players included in other best-of lists created by rugby experts. We then calculated how many times that player was included player the various lists and used that to gather a top 10 for each position. Finally, we used some subjective decision-making skills to pick our top 5, because as any best-of list is, this list is subjective.
You might like our rugby guides and reviews:
Best Shoulder Pads for Rugby
5 Best Rugby Boots
Who Is The Greatest Rugby Union Player Of All Time?
Given the nature of how rugby has changed over time (especially since the professional and amateur era) and how different each position is.
In the professional era, it’s safe to say that Dan Carter and Richie McCaw are amongst the greatest rugby players of all time. More recently, it’s really difficult not to talk about Antoine Dupont despite his young age.
Some of the greatest rugby players of the amateur era include Gareth Edwards, Os Du Randt, Sean Fitzpatrick, WJ McBride, and Barry John.
I hope I’ve helped you pick out some names to consider, anyway! Have fun debating at the pub with friends, because no one really knows who the best rugby player of all time is.
Premiership Rugby
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Premiership Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023–24 Premiership Rugby
Sport Rugby union
Founded 1987; 36 years ago
CEO Simon Massie-Taylor
Administrator RFU
No. of teams 10
Country England England
Most recent
champion(s) Saracens (6th title)
(2022–23)
Most titles Leicester Tigers (11 titles)
TV partner(s) TNT Sports
ITV
Level on pyramid Level 1
Relegation to RFU Championship
Domestic cup(s) Premiership Rugby Cup
International cup(s) European Rugby Champions Cup
European Rugby Challenge Cup
Official website premiershiprugby.com
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons,[1] is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby union system.
Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to the Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western hemispheres, along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa.
The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership system. The current champions and most recently promoted side are Saracens, who returned to the top flight in 2021 and won the league in 2023.
History
See also: History of the English rugby union system
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Beginnings: English domestic rugby union until 1972
The governing body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), long resisted leagues as it was believed that the introduction of leagues would increase 'dirty' play and put pressure on clubs to pay their players (thereby contravening the amateur ethos). Instead, clubs arranged their own fixtures and had traditional games. The only organised tournaments were the County Cups and County Championship – the former played by clubs and the latter by County representative teams. The Daily Telegraph and a few local newspapers – such as the Yorkshire Post – compiled 'pennants' based on teams' performances, but as the strength of fixture lists varied, it was at best an estimate of a team's performance throughout a season.
1972–1995: Leagues and cups
In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a national knock-out cup – the RFU Club Competition, the predecessor to the Anglo-Welsh Cup – followed first by regional merit tables and then, in the mid-1980s, by national merit tables. One of the casualties of the move to competitive leagues was the loss of some traditional games as the new fixture lists didn't allow time for all of them.
The league system has evolved since its start in 1987 when the Courage Leagues were formed – a league pyramid with roughly 1,000 clubs playing in 108 leagues, each with promotion and relegation.
In the first season, clubs were expected to arrange the fixtures on mutually convenient dates. The clubs involved were Bath, Bristol, Coventry, Gloucester, Harlequins, Leicester, Moseley, Nottingham, Orrell, Sale, Wasps and Waterloo. That first season was an unqualified success, with clubs in the upper echelons of the national leagues reporting increased crowds, interest from both local backers and national companies, and higher skill levels among players exposed to regular competition. The fears that leagues would lead to greater violence on the field proved largely unfounded.
By the next season, the RFU allocated fixed Saturdays to the league season, removing the clubs' responsibility for scheduling matches. There was no home and away structure to the leagues in those early seasons, as sides played one another only once.
Initially two teams, Bath and Leicester, proved to be head and shoulders above the rest in the Courage League, and between them dominated the top of the table.
In 1994 the league structure expanded to include a full rota of home and away matches for the first time. The 1994–95 season was the first to be shown live on Sky Sports, a relationship which continued until the 2013–14 season when BT Sport acquired the exclusive rights in a deal which is currently scheduled to end after the 2023–24 season.[2]
1996: The dawn of professional rugby union
The league turned professional for the 1996–97 season when the first winners were Wasps, joining Bath and Leicester as the only champions in the league's first decade. Clubs like Saracens, Newcastle and Northampton were able to attract wealthy benefactors, but the professional era also had its casualties, as clubs like West Hartlepool, Richmond and London Scottish were forced into administration when their backers pulled out.[3]
2000–2002: Premiership, Championship and playoffs
The start of the 2000–01 season brought with it a re-vamping of the season structure. In 2000–2001 an 8-team playoff (the Championship) was introduced. However, the team finishing top of the table at the end of the regular season was still considered English champions ("Premiership title").
Halfway through the 2001–02 season, with Leicester odds-on to win their fourth title in succession, it was controversially decided that the winners of the 8-team playoff would be crowned English champions.[4] There was an outcry from fans and this proposal was dropped.
2003–2014: The ascendancy of the playoffs
From the beginning of the 2002–03 season, a new playoff format was introduced to replace the 8-team Championship. The format required the first-placed team in the league to play the winner of a match between the second- and third-placed teams. Critically, the winner of this game (the Premiership Final) would be recognised as English champions. Although Gloucester won the league by a clear margin, they then faced a three-week wait until the final. Having lost their momentum, they were beaten by second-placed Wasps (who had defeated third-placed Northampton) in the play-offs. The playoff structure was reformatted in the 2005–06 season in which the first-placed team would play the fourth placed team in a semi-final (a Shaughnessy playoff).
Since the implementation of the playoff system, only five teams have won both the regular season and playoffs in the same year: Leicester twice in 2000–01 (the first year of the playoffs), 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2021–22 Sale Sharks in 2005–06, Harlequins in 2011–12, Saracens in 2015–16 and Exeter in 2019–20.
Of all the Premiership teams, Wasps have made a reputation for playing the competition format to perfection, peaking at the right time to be crowned English Champions in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008. Wasps did not lead the league standings at the end of the season in any of these years. Conversely, Gloucester have garnered an unfortunate reputation for leading the table at the end of the regular season, only to fall short of winning the Premiership title, losing finals in 2003, 2007, and 2008. Gloucester's single victory in the playoffs, in 2002, occurred when league leaders Leicester were still considered English champions, meaning Gloucester's Championship victory was considered secondary.
The 2011–12 season saw Harlequins add their name to the trophy on their first attempt, winning 30–23 against the nine-times champions Leicester. Leicester would have to wait until 2012–13 for their 10th championship, where they defeated Northampton in the final.
The 2013–14 Aviva Premiership season saw Northampton become the 8th different team to win the trophy. This was achieved when they defeated Leicester Tigers in the semi-final 21–20, thus denying Leicester a 10th Consecutive Final.[5] In the final, they defeated Saracens 20–24 with a try in the last minute of extra time to win the 2013–14 Aviva Premiership.[6][7]
2014–2018: US initiatives
With the future of the Heineken Cup uncertain beyond 2013–14, due to a row between England's Premiership Rugby Limited and France's LNR on one side and the sport's governing bodies on the other, Premiership Rugby Limited explored several moves toward expanding its brand into the United States. In May 2013, Premiership Rugby Limited and U.S.-based RugbyLaw entered into a plan by which the two organisations were to help back a proposed U.S. professional league that could have begun play as early as 2014.[8] The first phase of the plan was to involve two preseason exhibitions featuring an "American Barbarians" side that would combine international veterans and young American talent. The "Barbarians" were intended to play matches in August 2013 in the U.S. and London, but those plans fell through, and the matches were indefinitely delayed.[9]
In August 2013, Leicester Tigers chairman Peter Tom confirmed that Premiership Rugby Limited had discussed the possibility of bringing select Premiership matches to the US.[8][10] The first match played in the USA was on 12 March 2016 when London Irish were defeated by Saracens at the Red Bull Arena in the New York Metropolitan Area.[11] This match was intended to be the first of a three-year deal which would have seen London Irish play one home match each season in the US, but their relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 2015–16 season scuttled that plan.[12] A new deal was reached with American sports marketing company AEG in 2017 which was intended to see at least one Premiership match taken to the US for four seasons starting in 2017–18. The first match under the new deal was held on 16 September 2017, with Newcastle Falcons taking their home fixture against Saracens to the Talen Energy Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania.[12] In 2018–19, although no match was scheduled to take place in the US, the round 6 match between Saracens and Harlequins was the first broadcast on network television in the US of a Premiership Rugby game. The game was shown live on NBC. In 2019–20, and 2020–21 once again no matches were scheduled to take place in the US.
2018 also saw a revamp of the league's secondary competition with the launch of the Premiership Rugby Shield.
2018–19: CVC Capital Partners investment
In December 2018 it was announced that the Luxembourg based investment advisory firm CVC Capital Partners had bought a 27% stake in Premiership Rugby in a deal worth £200m.[13] A previous offer to purchase a 51% majority share was rejected.[14] The money from the investment was planned to be used to improve facilities at clubs and grow the game globally.[15]
2019–20: Salary Cap investigation into Saracens
In March 2019, allegations emerged that Saracens may have broken the league's salary cap. In June, Premiership Rugby announced that they would investigate the allegations.[16] In November 2019, Saracens were found to have been in breach of the salary cap regulations due to failure to disclose player payments in the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, which would have taken them over the senior player cap.[17] They were handed a 35-point deduction for the 2019–20 season and fined £5.3 million.[18][17] The judgement found that Saracens had been reckless in entering into the arrangements with players without disclosing them to Premiership Rugby.[19]
On 18 January 2020, Premiership Rugby announced that Saracens would be relegated to the RFU Championship for the 2020–21 season.[20] Premiership Rugby CEO Darren Childs said this punishment was due to Saracens lack of cooperation in a mid-season audit to prove compliance in the 2019–20 season.[21][22]
On 23 January 2020, Lord Dyson's full report into Saracens' spending was published, it revealed that Saracens had overspent the salary cap by £1.1m in 2016–17, £98,000 in 2017-18 and £906,000 in 2018–19. These included £923,947.63 of property investments between Nigel Wray and three unnamed Saracens players. It also included Saracens claim that the Salary Cap was unenforceable under competition law, this defence was rejected.[23] On 28 January 2020, Premiership Rugby applied a further 70 point deduction for the 2019–20 season to ensure Saracens would finish bottom of the league table.[24]
2020–2022: Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and expansion of the league.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all elite sports in England in spring 2020. The RFU initially suspended both the Premiership and Championship before eventually cancelling the Championship season.[25] Newcastle Falcons, who topped the Championship table at the time of the season's premature end were promoted based on their playing record and would replace Saracens in the Premiership the following season.[26]
The 2019–20 Premiership Rugby season recommenced on 14 August and the final was held 24 October 2020.[27]
The disruption of the 2019–20 season meant the 2020–21 season commenced 10 weeks late on 20 November 2020 and ran over a reduced timeframe of 32 weeks (down from 42).[28]
The financial impact of the pandemic also caused the salary cap to be temporarily reduced for a maximum of 3 seasons from the 2021–22 season.[29]
A moratorium on relegation was also approved in February 2021, meaning no teams would be relegated as a potential consequence of another team receiving more points due to games cancelled because of COVID-19. With this news it was also confirmed that the league's minimum standards criteria for promotion would be reviewed as would league structure from 2021–22.[30] The new structure extended the moratorium on relegation for a further two-years. A playoff between the top team in the Championship and the bottom team in the Premiership is also introduced in the 2023–24 season.[31]
Financial Problems, Administration and Contraction of the League (2022-2024)
On 26 September 2022, Worcester Warriors went into administration and were suspended from the league.[32] Their upcoming fixture against Gloucester on 1 October, was also cancelled. On 6 October, Worcester Warriors were suspended for the rest of the season, relegated from the premiership, and all past and future fixtures for that season expunged.[33]
On 17 October 2022, Wasps went into administration and were suspended from the league. Their upcoming fixture against Sale Sharks on 18 October, was also cancelled. On 28 October, Wasps were suspended for the rest of the season, relegated from the premiership, and all past and future fixtures for that season expunged.[34]
On 6 June 2023, London Irish were suspended from the Premiership after missing a deadline to pay players and staff.[35] Irish subsequently went into administration on 7 June.[36]
Clubs
Current clubs
The Premiership began the recent 2022–23 season with 13 clubs, but both Wasps and Worcester Warriors were removed from the league, and automatically relegated, after going into administration.[37] London Irish followed ahead of the 2023–24 season.[38]
Premiership Rugby is located in EnglandBathBathBristolBristolExeterExeterGloucesterGloucesterHarlequinsHarlequinsLeicesterLeicesterNewcastleNewcastleNorthamptonNorthamptonSaleSaleSaracensSaracens
Locations of current Gallagher Premiership Rugby Teams
Club Established City Stadium Capacity Titles (Last)
Bath 1865 Bath The Recreation Ground 14,509 6 (1996)
Bristol Bears 1888 Bristol Ashton Gate 28,000 – (N/A)
Exeter Chiefs 1871 Exeter Sandy Park 16,000 2 (2020)
Gloucester 1873 Gloucester Kingsholm Stadium 16,200 – (N/A)
Harlequins 1866 London (Twickenham) Twickenham Stoop 14,800 2 (2021)
Leicester Tigers 1880 Leicester Mattioli Woods Welford Road 26,000 11 (2022)
Newcastle Falcons 1877 Newcastle upon Tyne Kingston Park 11,000 1 (1998)
Northampton Saints 1880 Northampton cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens 16,000 1 (2014)
Sale Sharks 1861 Salford AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 1 (2006)
Saracens 1876 London (Hendon) StoneX Stadium 10,500 6 (2023)
Note: Capacity listed for rugby union games may differ from official stadium capacity
All time
A total of 28 clubs have been involved in the top-flight since the league's inception in the 1987–88 season. The most recent club to make its debut in the Premiership was London Welsh, which made their top flight debut in 2012–13.
Three clubs — Bath, Gloucester and Leicester Tigers — have appeared in every season to date. Having come bottom of the table in the 2021/22 season Bath would have been relegated to the championship had it not been for the moratorium on relegation. Harlequins have only missed the 2005–06 season. Six other clubs have appeared in at least 20 seasons — Saracens, Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks, London Irish, Bristol Bears and Newcastle Falcons. The financial insolvency, expulsion and automatic relegation of Wasps during the 2022–23 season means their record of being ever-present effectively ended at the end of the 2021–22 season.
Coventry, Liverpool St Helens, Moseley, Nottingham, Rosslyn Park, Rugby and Waterloo only appeared during the amateur era, whereas Exeter Chiefs, Leeds Tykes, London Welsh, Richmond, Rotherham Titans and Worcester Warriors have only appeared during the professional era.
Below, the 2023–24 clubs are listed in bold; ever-present clubs are listed in bold italics. Years listed are the calendar years in which the seasons ended. All current teams will remain in the league until at least 2024.
Seasons Team Dates
36 Bath 1988–2024
3 Bedford Blues 1990, 1999–2000
25 Bristol Bears 1988–1998, 2000–2003, 2006–2009, 2017, 2019–2024
1 Coventry 1988
13 Exeter Chiefs 2011–2024
36 Gloucester 1988–2024
35 Harlequins 1988–2005, 2007–2024
8 Leeds Tykes 2002–2006, 2008, 2010–2011
36 Leicester Tigers 1988–2024
2 Liverpool St Helens 1989, 1991
28 London Irish 1992–1994, 1997–2016, 2018, 2020–2023
2 London Scottish 1993, 1999
2 London Welsh 2013, 2015
4 Moseley 1988–1992
24 Newcastle Falcons 1994, 1998–2012, 2014–2019, 2021–2024
31 Northampton Saints 1991–1995, 1997–2007, 2009–2024
5 Nottingham 1988–1992
10 Orrell 1988–1997
2 Richmond 1998–1999
4 Rosslyn Park 1989–1992
2 Rotherham Titans 2001, 2004
2 Rugby Lions 1992–1993
30 Sale Sharks 1988, 1995–2024
31 Saracens 1990–1993, 1996–2020, 2022–2024
35 Wasps 1988–2022
2 Waterloo 1988–1989
5 West Hartlepool 1993, 1995–1997, 1999
16 Worcester Warriors 2005–2010, 2012–2014, 2016–2022
Sponsorship
Period Sponsor Name League Title
1987–1997 Courage Brewery Courage League National Division One National Division One
1997–2000 Allied Dunbar Allied Dunbar Premiership Premiership 1
2000–2005 Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Premiership Premiership
2005–2010 Guinness Guinness Premiership
2010–2018 Aviva Aviva Premiership
2018–current Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Gallagher Premiership
Structure
Referees
Referees in the Premiership are selected from the RFU's Professional Referee Unit. The Professional Referee Unit consists of 15 referees with match appointments decided by PRU management team of ex-international referees Ed Morrison, Brian Campsall and Tony Spreadbury.[39]
List of Premiership Referees
Source:[39]
Wayne Barnes
Matthew Carley
Sara Cox
Karl Dickson
Tom Foley
Simon Harding
Andrew Jackson
Greg MacDonald
Craig Maxwell-Keys
John Meredith
Luke Pearce
Dean Richards
Christophe Ridley
Ian Tempest
Tim Wigglesworth
They are supported by a large team of assistant referees.
League season
The Premiership Rugby league season typically runs from September to June and comprises 18 rounds of matches, with each club playing each other home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:
4 points are awarded for a win
2 points are awarded for a draw
0 points are awarded for a loss, however
1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match
Since the restart of the 2019–20 season, scheduled fixtures which are cancelled because of a COVID-19 outbreak in one of the competing teams will have their outcome and points allocation decided by a Premiership Rugby panel. As of the start of the 2021–22 season, if the fixture cannot be rescheduled, it is recorded as a 0–0 draw. In this situation, if one team would have been able to fulfill the fixture, they will be awarded 4 points, while the team unable to field a matchday squad due to a COVID-19 outbreak will be given 2 points – otherwise, if both teams are impacted by COVID-19, they will each receive 2 points for the affected fixture.
Playoffs
Following the completion of the regular season, the top 4 teams enter the playoffs, which are held in June. The top two teams receive home advantage, the league leaders hosting the 4th ranked team, and the 2nd place team hosting the 3rd place team. The winners of these semi-finals progress to the final, held at Twickenham Stadium, with the winner of the final being crowned champions.
Promotion and relegation
Admittance to the Premiership, which is Level 1 of the men's 106-league English rugby union system, is achieved through a system of promotion and relegation between the Premiership and the RFU Championship. Originally this meant a season-winning Championship club was promoted, replacing the lowest placed Premiership club which was relegated (between 2021 and 2023 promotion continued but no Level 1 club has been relegated).[40]
Promotion from the Championship is subject to the Minimum Standards Criteria. If a promotion-winning team does not meet these standards then there is no promotion. In the 2011–12 season London Welsh won promotion from the Championship but were initially denied promotion under the criteria, reprieving Newcastle Falcons from relegation. However London Welsh were found eligible on appeal and Newcastle were relegated.[41]
Relegation change and new regulations
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a moratorium was approved in February 2021 for a halt on top-flight clubs being relegated from the Premiership beginning that season. As promotion from the Championship would not be stopped, this meant the Premiership would expand to 13 teams in the following year.[42][30]
The moratorium was extended by an additional two seasons in June 2021. New regulations would also include a moratorium on promotion from the Championship in the same season had the Premiership expanded to 14 teams and introduce a play-off between the bottom placed Premiership Club and top placed Championship club in 2023–24.[31] New minimum standards criteria were announced in September 2022, confirming that promotion from the championship was still due to take place in 2023.[43]
The Premiership could have expanded again to 14 teams from 2022–23 but the league returned to 12 teams on 6 October 2022 when Worcester Warriors were expelled from the league for the season after entering administration due to financial problems.[44] Despite trying to find a buyer, the club was wound up in February 2023.[45] On 17 October 2022, Wasps became the second Premiership club to enter administration that season. The club was also automatically relegated from the Premiership, with their remaining games cancelled and all results expunged.[46] London Irish finished the season but were suspended for the following season during the off season meaning the Premiership contracted to just ten teams from the 2023–24 season.[38]
European competition qualification
The top seven teams qualify for the following season's European Rugby Champions Cup. The eighth champions cup place is awarded to either the winner of the Challenge Cup or the team placed eighth. Teams placed 8 & 9th that do not qualify for the Champions Cup play in the Challenge Cup. The final Challenge Cup place is offered to either the 10th team in the Premiership or the team promoted from the Championship.
Champions
Between 1987 and 2002, the team at the top of the league was crowned English champions. Since 2002–03, the winner of the league has been determined by a Premiership Final, which takes place at Twickenham and consists of two rounds of knock-out play amongst the top four teams. This change was originally considered controversial, particular when Wasps won four of the first six play-off finals without ever topping the regular season table, with Sale the only team to both top the table and win the Premiership final in that period. Over time, the play-off structures have bedded in, but as of 2022 only seven teams across twenty seasons have managed to both top the regular season table and proceed to win the Premiership final.
In most seasons, at least one team has been relegated at the end of the season, although in 1995–96, there was no relegation to allow division expansion, and in 2001–02, Leeds were given a reprieve because the Division One champions did not have a suitable ground to allow promotion. Relegation was also suspended between 2020–21 and 2022–23 to allow further expansion, although Worcester and Wasps were both relegated for going into administration during the 2022–23 season.
Season Champions Final Runners-up Top of Table Relegated
1987–88 Leicester N/A Wasps Leicester Sale, Coventry
1988–89 Bath Gloucester Bath Liverpool St Helens, Waterloo
1989–90 Wasps Gloucester Wasps Bedford
1990–91 Bath Wasps Bath Liverpool St Helens, Moseley
1991–92 Bath Orrell Bath Rosslyn Park, Nottingham
1992–93 Bath Gloucester Bath Rugby Lions, West Hartlepool,
Saracens, London Scottish
1993–94 Bath Leicester Bath Newcastle Gosforth, London Irish
1994–95 Leicester Bath Leicester Northampton
1995–96 Bath Leicester Bath No relegation
1996–97 Wasps Bath Wasps Orrell, West Hartlepool
1997–98 Newcastle Saracens Newcastle Bristol
1998–99 Leicester Northampton Leicester West Hartlepool
1999–00 Leicester Bath Leicester Bedford
2000–01 Leicester Wasps Leicester Rotherham
2001–02 Leicester Sale Leicester No relegation
2002–03 Wasps 39 – 3 Gloucester Gloucester Bristol
2003–04 Wasps 10 – 6 Bath Bath Rotherham
2004–05 Wasps 39 – 14 Leicester Leicester Harlequins
2005–06 Sale 45 – 20 Leicester Sale Leeds
2006–07 Leicester 44 – 16 Gloucester Gloucester Northampton
2007–08 Wasps 26 – 16 Leicester Gloucester Leeds
2008–09 Leicester 10 – 9 London Irish Leicester Bristol
2009–10 Leicester 33 – 27 Saracens Leicester Worcester
2010–11 Saracens 22 – 18 Leicester Leicester Leeds
2011–12 Harlequins 30 – 23 Leicester Harlequins Newcastle
2012–13 Leicester 37 – 17 Northampton Saracens London Welsh
2013–14 Northampton 24 – 20
(a.e.t.) Saracens Saracens Worcester
2014–15 Saracens 28 – 16 Bath Northampton London Welsh
2015–16 Saracens 28 – 20 Exeter Saracens London Irish
2016–17 Exeter 23 – 20
(a.e.t.) Wasps Wasps Bristol
2017–18 Saracens 27 – 10 Exeter Exeter London Irish
2018–19 Saracens 37 – 34 Exeter Exeter Newcastle
2019–20 Exeter 19 – 13 Wasps Exeter Saracens
2020–21 Harlequins 40 – 38 Exeter Bristol Bears No relegation
2021–22 Leicester 15 – 12 Saracens Leicester No relegation
2022–23 Saracens 35 – 25 Sale Saracens Worcester Warriors, Wasps[a]
2023–24
Summary of winners
# Team Champions Years as champions Runners-up Years as runners-up Top of league table
1 Leicester Tigers 11 1987–88, 1994–95, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2021–22 7 1993–94, 1995–96, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12 11
2 Bath 6 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96 5 1994–95, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2014–15 7
Wasps 1989–90, 1996–97, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08 1987–88, 1990–91, 2000–01, 2016–17, 2019–20 3
Saracens 2010–11, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2022–23 4 1997–98, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2021–22 4
5 Exeter Chiefs 2 2016–17, 2019–20 4 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21 3
Harlequins 2011–12, 2020–21 — N/A 1
7 Northampton Saints 1 2013–14 2 1998–99, 2012–13 1
Sale Sharks 2005–06 2001–02, 2022–23
Newcastle Falcons 1997–98 — N/A
Player records
For a list of top try and points scorers by seasons, see Premiership Rugby top scorers.
All records relate to the 1997–98 season onward when National League One was re-launched as the Premiership.
Source:[47]
As of 10 May 2023. Bold italics denote players active in the 2023–24 Premiership.
Appearances
Rank Player Club(s) Years Apps
1 England Richard Wigglesworth Sale, Saracens, Leicester 2002–2022 322
2 England Danny Care Leeds, Harlequins 2005– 270
3 England Steve Borthwick Bath, Saracens 1998–2014 265
4 England Mike Brown Harlequins, Newcastle, Leicester 2005– 263
5 England George Chuter Saracens, Leicester 1997–2014 262
England Phil Dowson Newcastle, Northampton, Worcester 2001–2017
7 England Alex Waller Northampton 2009– 256
8 England Charlie Hodgson Sale, Saracens 2000–2016 254
England Alex Goode Saracens 2008–
10 England Tom May Newcastle, Northampton, London Welsh 1999–2015 247
Points
Rank Player Club(s) Years Points
1 England Charlie Hodgson Sale, Saracens 2000–2016 2,625
2 England Andy Goode Leicester, Saracens, Worcester, Wasps, Newcastle 1998–2016 2,285
3 England Stephen Myler Northampton, London Irish 2006–2020 1,778
4 New Zealand Jimmy Gopperth Newcastle, Wasps, Leicester 2009–2023 1,737
5 England George Ford Leicester, Bath, Sale 2009– 1,712
6 New Zealand Nick Evans Harlequins 2008–2017 1,656
7 Ireland Gareth Steenson Exeter 2010–2020 1,651
8 England Owen Farrell Saracens 2009– 1,638
9 England Olly Barkley Bath, Gloucester, London Welsh 2001–2015 1,605
10 England Freddie Burns Gloucester, Leicester, Bath 2008–2023 1,527
Tries
Rank Player Club(s) Years Tries
1 England Chris Ashton Northampton, Saracens, Sale, Harlequins, Worcester, Leicester 2008– 101
2 England Tom Varndell Leicester, Wasps, Bristol 2004–2017 92
3 England Mark Cueto Sale 2001–2015 90
4 England Danny Care Leeds, Harlequins 2005– 83
5 England Christian Wade Wasps 2011–2018 82
6 England Steve Hanley Sale 1998–2007 75
England Jonny May Gloucester, Leicester 2010–
8 England Matt Banahan Bath, Gloucester 2007–2021 71
9 England Paul Sackey Bedford, London Irish, Wasps, Harlequins 1999–2014 69
10 England Tom Voyce Bath, Wasps, Gloucester, London Welsh 2000–2013 66
England Mike Brown Harlequins, Newcastle, Leicester 2005–
Awards
Premiership Player of the Year
Year Player Team
1996–97[48] England Martin Johnson Leicester Tigers
1997–98[48] England Neil Back Leicester Tigers (2)
1998–99[49] England Martin Johnson (2) Leicester Tigers (3)
1999–2000[50] England Austin Healey Leicester Tigers (4)
2000–01[51] Australia Pat Howard Leicester Tigers (5)
2001–02[52] England Jason Robinson Sale Sharks
2002–03[53] South Africa Jake Boer Gloucester
2003–04[54] England Simon Shaw Wasps
2004–05[55] England Martin Corry Leicester Tigers (6)
2005–06[55] England Mike Catt London Irish
2006–07[55] Italy Martín Castrogiovanni Leicester Tigers (7)
2007–08[55] England James Simpson-Daniel Gloucester (2)
2008–09[55] England Chris Robshaw Harlequins
2009–10[55] England Chris Ashton Northampton Saints
2010–11[55] England Tom Wood Northampton Saints (2)
2011–12[55] England Chris Robshaw (2) Harlequins (2)
2012–13[55] England Tom Youngs Leicester Tigers (8)
2013–14[55] England Mike Brown Harlequins (3)
2014–15[56] England George Ford Bath
2015–16[56] England Alex Goode Saracens
2016–17[57] New Zealand Jimmy Gopperth Wasps (2)
2017–18[58] Fiji Vereniki Goneva Newcastle Falcons
2018–19[59] England Danny Cipriani Gloucester (3)
2019–20[60] England Jack Willis Wasps (3)
2020–21[61] England Sam Simmonds Exeter Chiefs
2021–22[62] England Ben Earl Saracens (2)
2022–23[63] England Ollie Lawrence Bath (2)
Young Player of the Year
Year Player Team
1996-97 Not awarded -
1997-98 Not awarded -
1998–99[49] England Jonny Wilkinson Newcastle Falcons
1999–2000[50] England Iain Balshaw Bath
2000–01[51] England Iain Balshaw (2) Bath (2)
2001–02[52] England Lewis Moody Leicester Tigers
2002–03[64] England James Forrester Gloucester
2003–04[54] England Olly Barkley Bath (3)
2004–05[55] England Ollie Smith Leicester Tigers (2)
2005–06[55] England Tom Varndell Leicester Tigers (3)
2006–07[55] England Tom Rees Wasps
2007–08[55] England Danny Cipriani Wasps (2)
2008–09[55] England Jordan Turner-Hall Harlequins
2009–10[55] England Ben Youngs Leicester Tigers (4)
2010–11[55] England Manu Tuilagi Leicester Tigers (5)
2011–12[55] England Owen Farrell Saracens
2012–13[55] England Joe Launchbury Wasps (3)
2013–14[55] England Billy Vunipola Saracens (2)
2014–15[56] England Henry Slade Exeter Chiefs
2015–16[56] England Maro Itoje Saracens (3)
2016–17[57] England Ellis Genge Leicester Tigers (6)
2017–18[58] England Sam Simmonds Exeter Chiefs (2)
2018–19[59] England Tom Curry Sale Sharks
2019–20[60] England Jack Willis Wasps (4)
2020–21[61] Wales Ioan Lloyd Bristol Bears
2021–22[62] England Henry Arundell London Irish
2022–23[63] England Tom Pearson London Irish (2)
Attendances
Season Total Average
2002–03 1,183,972 8,518
2003–04 1,241,557 9,062
2004–05 1,481,355 10,813
2005–06 1,483,920 10,922
2006–07 1,598,734 11,842
2007–08 1,517,863 11,243
2008–09 1,671,781 12,384
2009–10 1,900,177 14,075
2010–11 1,740,751 12,894
2011–12 1,755,073 13,001
2012–13 1,684,804 12,480
2013–14 1,721,729 12,754
2014–15 1,804,914 13,370
2015–16 1,837,427 13,611
2016–17 2,033,805 15,065
2017–18 1,912,301 14,165
2018–19 1,958,402 14,507
2019-20 1,032,509[a] 13,237[a]
2020-21 16,866[b] 135[b]
2021-22 1,947,439 12,564
2022-23 1,457-485 13,250
a Attendances only include matches up to the suspension of fixtures in March 2020. After this matches were played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or as part of the trialled return of spectators with attendance limited to 3,500 or 1,000.
b Most matches were played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Salary cap
The English Premiership operates a salary cap,[65] set by the Premiership Rugby Board, specifying the money a club can spend on the player salaries of its squad per season. Until the 2024–25 season, the base cap is £5 million, with an "academy credit" of up to £600,000 (£100,000 per player for up to six players).
A club may use the academy credit on a player that: (i) joined the club before his 18th birthday; (ii) is under age 24 at the start of the season; and (iii) earns a salary of more than £50,000. Under the credit scheme, the first £100,000 of a qualifying player's salary is not counted against the cap.
Exclusions
Since the 2022–23 season, each club has been allowed to exclude one player from the cap calculations, a decrease from two in prior seasons. An exception is made for any team which had two excluded players currently under contract. Both players remain excluded until the first of their contracts expire.
The "excluded player" slot can be filled by any player on a team's current roster who meets any of the following criteria:
Played with his Premiership club for at least two full seasons before he was nominated as an excluded player.
Played with his Premiership club for the full season before being nominated as an excluded player, after having played outside the Premiership.
Played outside the Premiership in the season before he was nominated.
Media coverage
In the United Kingdom, the primary rights are currently held by TNT Sports (previously BT Sport) under a new deal signed on 18 December 2020 replacing former deals signed on 16 March 2015 and 12 September 2012.[66][67] The new deal sees TNT broadcast up to 80 live matches per season from both Premiership Rugby and the Premiership Rugby Cup until the end of the 2023–24 season along with extended highlights of all matches and midweek programming.[68] Secondary UK rights are held by ITV who simulcast 7 matches live on a free-to-air basis, including the final. Their coverage uses a different presenting and commentary team to TNT, and they also show a weekly highlights programme until the end of the 2023–24 season.[69] In Australia the Premiership is available on beIN Sports. In the United States, the Premiership is available on NBC Sports since spring 2016. It has also been broadcast in China since 2017.
Talksport and BBC Radio 5 Live, along with various BBC Local Radio stations broadcast commentary and magazine programming.
See also
Top 14, French equivalent of the Premiership, second of the three major northern hemisphere leagues.
United Rugby Championship, cross-border equivalent of the Premiership, third of the three major northern hemisphere leagues.
English rugby union system
List of English rugby union teams
Premiership Rugby Cup
Anglo-Welsh Cup (superseded by the Premiership Rugby Cup)
Premiership Rugby Shield
RFU Championship, second tier of English club rugby, from which teams are promoted from, and into which teams are relegated from, the Premiership.
European Professional Club Rugby
European Rugby Champions Cup
European Rugby Challenge Cup
Premiership Rugby Sevens Series
List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues
List of English rugby union stadiums by capacity
List of professional sports teams in the United Kingdom
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Notes
Worcester and Wasps were each relegated partway through the 2022–23 season, as a consequence of both clubs experiencing financial insolvency.[37]
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