How many rugby teams does Wales have?
Rugby union in Wales
The main domestic competition in Wales is the Pro14 (historically the Celtic League), in which Wales have four regional sides in the competition which is also contested by Irish and Scottish clubs and from 2010-11 Italian teams. Top-level Welsh regional teams (Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, Scarlets and Dragons) also compete in the Europe-wide European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup and alongside the teams of England's Premiership in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
Rugby union in New South Wales
New South Wales has two teams in the National Rugby Championship:
Rugby union in Wales
Apart from a few sporadic victories from the national team, there appeared little to cheer about in the 1920s for Welsh rugby at club or country level; but the seeds of recovery were being planted during the same decade. On June 9, 1923 the Welsh Secondary Schools Rugby Union was established in Cardiff. Founded by Dr R Chalke, head of Porth Secondary School with WRU members Horace Lyne as president and Eric Evans as secretary. Its aim was to promote rugby at school level in an attempt to regain 'the glorious days of Gwyn Nicholls, Willie Llewellyn and Dr E.T. Morgan'. In April 1923, at the Arms Park, Wales played their first secondary schools fixture led by future international Watcyn Thomas, who would progress to captain the first Welsh University XV in 1926. Over the coming years, schools such as Cardiff High School, Llanelli County School, Llandovery and Christ College, Brecon fostered a generation of players which would fill the Welsh ranks over the coming years. Wales had in effect begun to mimic the systems adopted by England and Scotland, that rugby should be nurtured from youth, through adolescence to adulthood.
Rugby in Wales
Two types of rugby are played in Wales - rugby league and rugby union.
Wales national rugby sevens team
The Welsh sevens squad was disbanded by the Welsh Rugby Union due to financial constraints. After a three-year absence, the Wales sevens team returned to international competition in the 2006–07 season. They competed at half of the eight tournaments and won the plate competition (fifth place) at each of them. They repeated this feat at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
History of rugby union in Wales
In 2003/4 the Welsh Rugby Union voted to create five regions to play in the Celtic League (now the RaboDirect Pro12) and represent Wales in European competition. This soon became four when the Celtic Warriors were liquidated after just one season. The WRU have announced their hopes of developing a fifth region in North Wales in the long run; the team at the centre of this plan is now known as RGC 1404.
Wales national rugby league team
The 1930s were to herald a new era for the team as it emerged at times as one of the dominant sides in world rugby league. In 1930 and 1933 Wales played Australia at Wembley Stadium in London. On both occasions they failed to win, losing 26–10 and being thrashed 51–19. However at the time Australia were arguably considered the world's second best nation (behind England) and so particularly in the first game, Wales had done very well against the touring Kangaroos. Wales luck against England did not change either suffering three losses to the Lions in three games, in Huddersfield, Salford and Leeds. They were very unlucky in the latter however, with England winning 14 points to 13. Exactly 27 years after Wales played their first match, they played France for the first time in a new competition called the European Nations Cup, in which Wales, France and England would play two matches each. Wales and France kicked off the tournament on New Year's Day in front of 15,000 in Bordeaux. But the Dragons lost 18–11, and their match against England was just as bad losing 24–11 in Liverpool. The France versus England match finished a 15–15 draw so England won the inaugural competition on points difference. Wales finished bottom. The next European Nations Cup brought better fortunes to the Welsh and they kicked off the competition, which was staged across Winter 1935 and 1936, with a 41–7 thrashing against France. The team were cheered on by 25,000 people at Llanelli and three months later Wales did the unexpected and squeezed past England, winning 14–17 away at Hull. This was a huge result for Wales, having not beaten England since 1923, and they had won the cup for the first time. For the next two competitions Wales successfully defended the cup. A 3–2 win against the English in Pontypridd, coupled with a 9–3 victory in Paris saw Wales clinch the cup for the second time, and then in 1938 the Dragons beat England again by one point in Bradford before beating the French 18–2. This represents perhaps the highest point in Welsh rugby league history with great players such as Jim Sullivan, Gus Risman, Alan Edwards and Alec Givvons featuring. In 1935 Welsh rugby league would produce its first black international in George Bennett (some 48 years before Welsh rugby union would do so). In the 1938/1939 tournament, the last to be held for six years because of the Second World War, Wales beat their main rivals England before dramatically losing 16–10 in Bordeaux against Les Tricolores. Because of the French's victory against England, Wales finished second and the cup was taken across the channel.
Rugby in Cardiff
Cardiff University RFC though affiliated, do not play in the WRU league structure and instead compete in the BUCS Leagues for university sides. The side compete in the annual Welsh Varsity Match against Swansea University RFC, the biggest varsity game outside of Oxford – Cambridge in the UK.The match is the highlight of the university sporting year and is played at alternating high-profile venues including, Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Cardiff Arms Park and the Millennium Stadium. The University's Medical School runs its own separate team, Cardiff Medicals RFC which competes in separate competitions and in 2015 are the current UK Medical School Rugby Champions. Former players include current Welsh international Jamie Roberts.
New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union
The New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union, or NSWSRU, is affiliated to the New South Wales Rugby Union and runs the competition affectionately known as "Subbies" rugby. There are around 7500 players and 55 clubs competing across 6 divisions, making "Subbies" the largest centrally administered rugby competition in the world. NSWSRU is truly the grassroots of rugby in Sydney.
Welsh Rugby Union
On 12 March 1881, eleven clubs met in the Castle Hotel, Neath to form what would be accepted as a Welsh rugby union. After a humiliating defeat in the first Wales international rugby game, the Neath meeting was organised by Mullock to form a union that could organise regular international matches. The founding clubs of the WFU (Welsh Football Union), as it was originally known, were Swansea C & FC, Pontypool RFC, Newport RFC, Merthyr RFC, Llanelli RFC, Bangor RFC, Brecon RFC, Cardiff RFC, Lampeter RFC, Llandovery RFC and Llandeilo RFC. Strangely the oldest rugby club in Wales, Neath RFC are not recorded as being present, even though the meeting took place in the town of Neath. It is unknown if this was an oversight by the committee to record the presence of the club, or if Neath RFC actually did not attend. The fact that two of the main committee members of the SWFU, John Llewellyn and Sam Clark were Neath men, and the creation of the WFU disbanded their union, is generally accepted as the reason for the absence of a Neath representative.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
In 2008, Regional Rugby Wales was established as the association of the four regional teams. It was renamed Pro Rugby Wales in 2014.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
A suggestion to move to a regional structure was made by Graham Henry, then coach of the national Wales side, in December 2001 as he had concerns that the current club system was causing harm to the performance of the national team. Prior to joining Wales, Henry had first-hand experience of a regional structure as coach of the Auckland Blues, a regional franchise team in his native New Zealand. Henry's proposal was for the creation of four sides based in West Wales, South East Wales, the South Wales Valleys and Gwent. All players would be under contract to the Welsh Rugby Union, who would decide which players would play for which region.
Cardiff Blues
Until the beginning of the 2003–04 season, Welsh rugby was organised in a league pyramid, at the top of which were nine professional clubs. The system was similar to the English Premiership and French Top 14 club systems. However, by the 2002–03 season it was clear for financial reasons that Wales could not support nine professional teams.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
By the end of January 2003, six of the nine clubs in the Welsh Premiership agreed on a plan that would see 4 regional franchise, with each club holding 50% of a franchise. Unless otherwise agreed, matches would be equally split between venues of both clubs. The proposed franchises were:
Wales national under-20 rugby union team
Under 20 age grade rugby came into existence, as a result of the IRB combining the Under 19 Rugby World Championship and Under 21 Rugby World Championship into a single IRB Junior World Championship tournament. They also compete in the Six Nations Under 20s Championship.
Rugby union in Wales
The South Wales Football Club was established in 1875 to try to incorporate a standard set of rules and expand the sport and this was succeeded by the Welsh Football Union which was formed in 1881. With the forming of the WFU (which would become the Welsh Rugby Union in 1934), Wales began competing in recognised international matches, with the first game, against England, also in 1881. The first Welsh team although fairly diverse in the geography of the clubs represented, did not appear to truly represent the strength available to Wales. The team was mainly made up of ex-Cambridge and Oxford university graduates and the selection was heavily criticised in the local press after the crushing defeat by England.
Rugby League Conference Welsh Championship
After two years of just one club in South Wales, the RFL saw that it was time to expand, letting in six more open-aged sides to form the new Welsh Conference and Wales gained its own division for the first time.
Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) () is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
North Wales
In September 2008 it was announced by the Welsh Rugby Union that a development team based in North Wales would be created, with a long-term goal of becoming the fifth Welsh team in the Celtic League. It was envisaged that this would both help the growth of the game in the area, and provide a larger pool of players for the Welsh national team to be selected from. The team was named RGC 1404.
List of Wales national rugby league team players
The Wales national rugby league team represents the nation of Wales in international rugby league, and is governed by Wales Rugby League (Welsh: "Rygbi Cynghrair Cymru"). The team played its first official match in 1908. Since then, more than 500 players have made at least one international appearance for the team.
Wales national rugby union team
Currently, Wales play all their home matches at the 74,500 capacity Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, which is also Wales' national stadium. The Millennium Stadium was first conceived in 1994, when a group redevelopment committee was set up. It was decided to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park after a review found it was out of date; new legislation also required stadia to be all seated. Construction began in September 1997, and was completed by June 1999, in time for the Rugby World Cup. The construction cost the WRU £126 million, which was funded by private investment, £46 million of public funds from the National Lottery, the sale of debentures to supporters (which offered guaranteed tickets in exchange for an interest-free loan), and loans. While the new ground was being built, Wales used the old Wembley Stadium for their home matchesa deal reciprocated during construction of the new Wembley, when FA Cup finals were held at the Millennium Stadium.
Rugby union in Wales
The zenith of Welsh rugby was the 1970s, when Wales had players such as Barry John, Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett and JPR Williams. Wales won four consecutive Triple Crowns. The strong Pontypool front row of Graham Price, Bobby Windsor & Charlie Faulkner were all manual workers, and Robin McBryde was formerly the holder of the title of Wales's strongest man.
Ospreys (rugby union)
The Ospreys (), formerly the Neath-Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the Pro14 and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
The regions have been reasonably successful in the Pro12 (renamed Pro14 from 2017–18 forward), with Welsh teams winning on 5 separate occasions. The Ospreys are the most successful team in the history of the league with four titles, a record they share with Leinster. However, the Welsh sides have made little impact in the European Cup, with no team getting further than the semi-finals. A desire for success in Europe had been one of the principal reasons for setting up the regions in the first place.
History of rugby union in Wales
Apart from a few sporadic victories from the national team, there appeared little to cheer about in the 1920s for Welsh rugby at club or country level; but the seeds of recovery were being planted during the same decade. On 9 June 1923 the Welsh Secondary Schools Rugby Union was established in Cardiff. Founded by Dr R Chalke, head of Porth Secondary School with WRU members Horace Lyne as president and Eric Evans as secretary. Its aim was to promote rugby at school level in an attempt to regain 'the glorious days of Gwyn Nicholls, Willie Llewellyn and Dr E.T. Morgan'. In April 1923, at the Arms Park, Wales played their first secondary schools fixture led by future international Watcyn Thomas, who would progress to captain the first Welsh University XV in 1926. Over the coming years, schools such as Cardiff High School, Llanelli County School, Llandovery and Christ College, Brecon fostered a generation of players which would fill the Welsh ranks over the coming years. Wales had in effect begun to mimic the systems adopted by England and Scotland, that rugby should be nurtured from youth, through adolescence to adulthood.
Welsh League
The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales. Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournament to take place. The Welsh League ran for just two seasons, after three of the teams, Aberdare, Barry and Mid-Rhondda left the Northern Union and ceased playing rugby in the first season; followed by the collapse of Treherbert in 1910. Both seasons were won by Ebbw Vale.
Wales national rugby league team
In the years before the outbreak of the war, Wales regularly played England. The two national teams played each other every year, including 1914. Due to Rugby League only extensively being played in the two countries in the whole of the Northern Hemisphere, touring Australia and New Zealand teams were the only chances to play someone different. Although the two matches against the English played in Wales were played in Ebbw Vale in Monmouthshire, the Welsh travelled around England for away matches, playing in Coventry, Oldham, Plymouth and St. Helens. Collectively those seven matches in Wales and England produced six defeats for the Welsh team, although there were signs of improvement, in the last match in St Helens the Dragons narrowly lost by just four points, the match ending 16–12. On the 7 October 1911 Wales played Australia for the first time. The match, held at Ebbw Vale again, drew 7,000 people to watch Wales go down 20–28. The match was significant though because throughout the next few decades Australia would play the Dragons in Wales whenever they toured Great Britain. During and after the First World War many sports suffered, and rugby league in Wales was no exception, the team didn't play a match again until 1921.
Wales women's national rugby union team
The Welsh Women's Rugby Union was created in 1994 charged with promoting and governing the development and practice of Women's Rugby in Wales; the other three home unions also took charge of their own administration effectively ending the function of the WRFU in the process. The WWRU also became affiliated to the Welsh Rugby Union at the same time.
Sport in Wales
Early attempts made to bring rugby league to Wales in the 20th century, was the formation of the short-lived Welsh League in 1908 which was followed by the second Welsh League which ran from 1949 until 1955. There are currently two professional rugby league clubs in Wales, the North Wales Crusaders (previously known as Celtic Crusaders and Crusaders RL) based in Wrexham who played in the Super League from 2009–11, and Maesteg based South Wales Scorpions. They both compete in Championship 1, the third tier of British Rugby League.
Rugby union in Wales
The 1930s began on a high for Welsh international rugby, with success in the Home Nations Championship and the emergence of a strong Welsh team. In the 1931 Championship Wales beat Ireland at Ravenhill in a bruising affair that not only gave Wales the title but denied Ireland the Triple Crown. This may have signaled a change in fortunes in Welsh rugby but underneath the same problems that dogged Wales throughout the 1920s still remained. Wales was still suffering the effects of the depression and club rugby was struggling to survive. Even the WRU had problems, as it faced the fact that it was the only home union without their own ground. The Cardiff Arms was leased and St Helens was on loan.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
Celtic Warriors was acquired and liquidated by the WRU at the end of the 2003-04 season, leaving four Welsh regional sides and redrawn catchment areas.
Rugby league in Wales
Wales Rugby League achieved governing body status in 2005 and employed its first professional chairman, Mark Rowley, in 2006.
Sport in the United Kingdom
The Welsh football league system includes the Welsh Premier League and regional leagues. These leagues have a relatively low profile as rugby union is the national sport of Wales and the top three Welsh football clubs play in the English league system; in addition, one Welsh Premiership club, The New Saints, play their home matches on the English side of the border in Oswestry. The Welsh clubs of Cardiff City, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Town, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham play in the English system, while Merthyr Tydfil also played in an English league before they were liquidated in 2010. The main Welsh Cup competitions are the Welsh Cup and the FAW Premier Cup. Cardiff's 76,250 seater Millennium Stadium is the principal sporting stadium of Wales.
The Northern Ireland football league system includes the NIFL Premiership, often known colloquially as the "Irish League". One Northern Irish club, Derry City, plays its football outside of the United Kingdom in the Republic of Ireland football league system. Windsor Park, Linfield F.C.'s 20,332-seater stadium, is also the home stadium of the national team.
Rugby union in Australia
The principal competition in Australian rugby is Super Rugby, which is a multi-regional competition across the southern hemisphere. With the competition expanding from 14 teams to 15 for 2011 and to 18 teams in 2016, Australia entered five teams—the Reds of Queensland, the Waratahs of New South Wales, the Brumbies of the Australian Capital Territory, the Force of Western Australia and the Australian conference's newest team, the Melbourne Rebels of Victoria.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
At a meeting held between the WRU and the eight Premier League clubs on 5 December 2002, Terry Cobner, the WRU director of rugby, and David Moffett outlined plans for a regional system similar to that used by the Irish Rugby Football Union. The only proposal offered to the clubs was for four regional sides, all of which would be under the control of the Welsh Rugby Union with the existing clubs acting as feeder clubs providing their best players to the regions. The locations of the four regions, and the proposed feeder clubs were as follows:
Wales national rugby league team
After a seven-year hiatus Wales once again played England and continued to do so annually throughout the 1920s, apart from in 1924. Because of the long hiatus a large proportion of players competing in the 1921 match were earning their first cap for the team. The first game at Leeds saw Wales lose 35–9 in front of 13,000. A further 13,000 saw the 1921–22 Kangaroo touring side play Wales in December 1921, this time in Pontypridd. Like the first time these nations played each other, Australia narrowly defeated the Welsh, the final score being 16–21. In 1922 Wales took part in the first international rugby league match to be played in London. England beat Wales 12–7 in Herne Hill but just 3,000 people turned up to watch, one of the lowest attendances to ever watch a Wales match. After four more matches against England in various Rugby League strongholds in Northern England, the Dragons once again played in Wales. Two matches were played in 1926 in Pontypridd, the same year that a Pontypridd domestic side joined the English leagues, although they disbanded a year later. The first match saw finished Wales 22–30 England with a record 23,000 in attendance. The second match saw Wales comfortably beat the touring New Zealand 34–8. Three more matches against England were played including one in November 1928 played in Cardiff. It was in the 1920s that Jim Sullivan, one of three Welsh players to be enrolled into the Rugby League Hall Of Fame, started rising through the ranks at Wigan. A career spanning 25 years saw him play many times for Wales picking up 26 caps, a record that was only beaten in 2010 by Ian Watson. He also represented Great Britain 25 times and Glamorgan & Monmouthshire 12 times.
Welsh Rugby Union
After the national team the next highest level of representation in Wales is the four regions based around top club sides, but representing a larger area. These regions came into being in 2003 when the WRU elected to reduce the current top tier of Welsh professional rugby union from nine clubs into five regions modelled on the successful Irish provinces and the Super Rugby franchises in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The WRU had hoped to reduce the teams to four regions but Cardiff and Llanelli successfully argued for stand-alone status. After one year the Celtic Warriors region was closed down and the four surviving regional clubs are Cardiff Blues, Scarlets, Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons. They play in the Pro14, European Professional Club Rugby (Champions Cup and Challenge Cup) and Anglo-Welsh Cup competitions. Each region may call up players from a set of club teams within their area. These top club sides play in the 14-strong Welsh Premier Division.
Welsh Rugby Union
The WRU are responsible for the running of Welsh rugby, including 320 member clubs, the Welsh national team and National Leagues and Cups. The Welsh Rugby Union has a major role in the development of coaches, referees and players throughout all ages for both men and women. They also own the home of Welsh rugby union, the 74,500 capacity Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, "an icon of the modern Wales".
Sport in Wales
The Millennium Stadium is the largest stadium in Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rugby union team with a capacity of 74,505 It was the temporary location for English football and rugby league finals during the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium.
The Cardiff City Stadium is currently the home of the Wales national football team.
History of rugby union in Wales
Rugby Union has a long history in Wales. Today it holds tier one status with the IRB. However, compared to Scotland, England, and Ireland, it was a latecomer on the international scene, and was not initially successful. Rugby union is the national sport of Wales, and is a great influence on Welsh culture.
Rugby league in Wales
During the reconstruction of Wembley stadium the Challenge Cup final was played at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and one year a reported 15,000 tickets were sold in Wales out of an overall attendance of around 70,000. The record attendance for any rugby league game in Wales was set in 2005 with 74,213 attending the Challenge Cup final in Cardiff.
Wales
Although Wales closely shares its political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, and a majority of the population in most areas speaks English as a first language, the country has retained a distinct cultural identity and is officially bilingual. Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the "eisteddfod" tradition. At many international sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, Wales has its own national teams, though at the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete as part of a Great Britain team. Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness.
Wales
Although football has traditionally been the more popular sport in north Wales, rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Wales national rugby union team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and has also competed in every Rugby World Cup, hosting the tournament in 1999. The five professional sides that replaced the traditional club sides in major competitions in 2003 were replaced in 2004 by the four regions: Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The Welsh regional teams play in the Pro14, the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Wales women's national rugby union team
Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women team, led by Liza Burgess, took on an England Women side at Pontypool Park. Prior to 1987, Welsh players were selected to represent Great Britain with the first representative side featuring players from Wales running against France at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1986. Great Britain played as a team on several occasions until 1990, beating Italy in their final match. Wales have played England every year since 1987.
History of the Wales national rugby union team (2004–present)
Despite these results, Wales was 9th in the World Rankings in December 2012. Therefore, the team was placed in Pot 3 of the pool stage draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Wales was drawn in Pool A with Australia and England, which the press described as the group of death.
Wales national rugby union team
Welsh rugby reached a nadir when Wales suffered their first Five Nations championship whitewash; they had upset England in 1989 to avoid losing all their Championship matches that season, but in 1990 Wales were defeated in all four Five Nations' matches for the first time. The 1991 World Cup saw further frustration when Wales were upset by Manu Samoa in their opening match. A second group-stage loss, by 38–3 to Australia, eliminated Wales from the tournament.
Wales national rugby union team
Rugby union took root in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St David's College, Lampeter, where he introduced the sport. Wales played their first international on 19 February 1881; organised by Newport's Richard Mullock, Wales played against England, losing by seven goals, one drop goal and six tries to nil (8–0). On 12 March 1881, the Welsh Rugby Union was formed at The Castle Hotel, Neath. Two years later, the Home Nation Championshipnow the Six Nations Championshipwas first played and Wales did not register a win. However, rugby in Wales developed and, by the 1890s, the Welsh had developed the four three-quarters formation. This formation – with seven backs and eight forwards, instead of six backs and nine forwards – revolutionised the sport and was eventually adopted almost universally at international and club level.
West Wales Raiders
The idea of a second professional side in Wales was discussed before the Celtic Crusaders had even played a game. The Crusaders' plan was to help a Rugby League Conference Welsh Premier club join the National Leagues to act as a feeder club if Crusaders reached Super League. The idea was also talked about in mid-2009 when Rugby Football League decided that Super League Reserves would be turned into an under-20 competition, a move that could have halted the development of rugby league players in the area after they turned 21 years old.
Wales national rugby sevens team
The star of the 2005–06 squad was Neath and Ospreys player James Hook. Hook has since progressed to the full Welsh national side. In 2006–07, Wales competed in the Dubai, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Scotland and England legs of the IRB's World Sevens Series, reaching the semi-finals of the cup at Twickenham and Murrayfield. Wales have been a core team that has competed in all legs of the IRB Sevens Series since the 2007–08 season.
Wales national rugby union team
Rugby union and Wales' national team hold an important place in Welsh culture and society. Sport historian John Bale has stated that "rugby is characteristically Welsh", and David Andrew said that "To the popular consciousness, rugby is as Welsh as coal mining, male voice choirs, "How Green Was My Valley", Dylan Thomas, and Tom Jones". Welsh rugby's first 'golden age' (1900–1911) coincided with the country's zenith during the 20th century, and rugby was important in building Wales' modern identity. There is a long tradition of Welsh supporters singing before and during matches. The choral tradition developed in Wales during the nineteenth-century alongside the rise of nonconformity, and has extended to singing at rugby matches. Commonly sung songs include the hymn "Bread of Heaven", Tom Jones' "Delilah", and Max Boyce's "Hymns and Arias".
Sport in Wales
The national side, nicknamed the Dragons, has often been one of the strongest sides in international rugby league and has also provided a number of players for the Great Britain team. They compete in the European Nations Cup and the World Cup. The national side competed in the 2011 Four Nations, finishing last in the table.
Wales national rugby league team
As with other Welsh national sporting teams, Wales strip has been primarily red. However, in the World Cup campaign in 2000 they wore a shirt featuring the Welsh flag, adding a touch of green and white. The team is known as "The Dragons" and so the teams logo on the shirt is a red dragon.
Wales A national rugby union team
The Wales A team were the second national rugby union team behind the Welsh national side. They have not played a game since April 2002.
Rugby union in Wales
Since 2013, the Millennium Stadium hosts the Judgement Day, a double-header fixture of the four Pro12 teams. The first two editions had over 30,000 spectators. The 2015 edition had 52,762 spectators, the highest in the history of the league.
Rugby union in Wales
Wales' four professional rugby regions play in the Pro14 league and take part in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Rugby Challenge Cup and Anglo-Welsh Cup. The first two of these competitions, set to launch in 2014–15, replace the now-defunct Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. Since 2006 they have also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup against clubs from the English Premiership.
Rugby league in Wales
The national side, nicknamed the "Dragons", have often been one of the stronger sides in international rugby league and have also provided a number of players for the Great Britain team. The two great eras of Welsh Rugby League coincide with the playing careers of Jim Sullivan and Jonathan Davies. They compete in the Rugby League European Nations Cup and the Rugby League World Cup.
Rugby league in Wales
The Wales Rugby League was formed in 1995 and recognised at that time as the governing body of rugby league in Wales by the Rugby Football League, the British Amateur Rugby League Association and the Welsh Sports Council. It employed its first professional chairman, Mark Rowley, in 2006.
List of Wales national rugby union team records
Wales have competed in the sport of rugby union since their first international in 1881. They take part in the annual Six Nations Championship and have appeared at every Rugby World Cup.
Rugby league in Wales
The South Wales Conference and North Wales Conference are the top divisions in Wales. Above this Welsh teams can play in the English Leagues, although they have to apply to the RFL if they wish to be promoted from the Welsh leagues. If an application is accepted then Welsh clubs can play in the RFL Conference League South. If a Welsh club wishes to be promoted into the semi professional and professional leagues then they must again apply to the RFL and if successful will be promoted to League 1 and can be promoted into the Championship and then into Super League. There are currently two Welsh teams playing in the English leagues along with one French team.
List of sports governing bodies in Wales
The Wales rugby union team has had considerable success. Wales were 3rd in the 1987 Rugby World Cup, have been International Championship winners 24 times outright (in 1893, 1900, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1922, 1931, 1936, 1950, 1952, 1956, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1994, 2005 and 2008) and joint winners 11 times (1906, 1920, 1932, 1939, 1947, 1954, 1955, 1964, 1970, 1973 and 1988), of which ten have been Welsh Grand Slams and 19 Triple Crowns. The Wales team has had some success against southern hemisphere opposition too: Wales have beaten Australia ten times (1908, 1947, 1958, 1969, 1973, 1976, 1981, 1987, 2005, and 2008); New Zealand three times (1905, 1935 and 1953); and South Africa once, in 1999.
List of sports governing bodies in Wales
The Welsh Rugby Union () (WRU) was founded as the Welsh Rugby Football Union at the Castle Hotel, Neath on 12 March 1881, by a group of 11 clubs: Bangor; Brecon; Cardiff; Lampeter; Llandeilo; Llandovery; Llanelli; Merthyr; Newport; Pontypool; and Swansea.
History of rugby union in Wales
From a statistical point of view, the Welsh national team appeared to be winning roughly the same number of games throughout the 1930s as the poor 1920s period, but Wales were actually improving. In the 1920s most Welsh victories were against France, then the weakest team in the Five Nations Championship; but in 1931 France were excluded from the tournament over accusations of professionalism at club level and were not readmitted until after the 1939 tournament, just before international rugby was suspended because of the Second World War. Welsh victories were now coming against the more established home nation teams. During this period, Wales won three Championships, but its greatest victory happened during the 1933 tournament when they finished last. Since its first international game in 1910, Wales had failed to beat England at Twickenham in nine attempts. Now dubbed the 'Twickenham bogey', it took the self confidenece of Cardiff's Ronnie Boon to break the losing streak as he scored a try and a drop goal to take the match 7-3. The game also saw the debut of two players who would become Welsh greats, Wilf Wooller and Vivian Jenkins.
2018–19 Principality Premiership
The 2018–19 Principality Premiership is the third season of the new format of the Principality Premiership, the top tier of club rugby in Wales run by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is contested by sixteen Welsh clubs following an expansion from twelve teams at the start of the 2016–17 season. This season sees the end of "ring-fencing" and relegation returns for this season with four, possibly five, teams being relegated to the 2019–20 WRU Championship.
Rugby union in Wales
There is also a Welsh Premier Division and WRU Challenge Cup competed for by Wales' traditional club teams. Starting in 2009–10, the four Home Unions have instituted the British and Irish Cup, an annual competition for semi-professional teams throughout Britain and Ireland; beginning with the 2013–14 edition, the WRU conducts a play-off among the 12 Premier Division clubs to determine the four that will be entered in the British and Irish Cup. A regional rugby franchise, originally known as "Rygbi Gogledd Cymru" (Welsh language for "Rugby North Wales") and later known as RGC 1404, was established in North Wales; plans called for the side to enter the Welsh Premier Division as early as 2010–11 and eventually the Celtic League/Pro12, but the venture was unsuccessful and was liquidated in 2011. The team, however, continues to play as part of Wales' national rugby academy. RGC 1404 also had a partnership with Rugby Canada by which the franchise would have a secondary role of developing players for the Canada national rugby union team, at least until enough local players were developed to fill a complete competitive squad.
Llandovery College
Llandovery College has connections with the early adoption of rugby into Wales. Although St David's College, Lampeter is accepted as the first establishment to play rugby, Llandovery was one of their first opponents, were present at the formation of the Welsh Rugby Union in Neath in 1881 and provided two players to the very first international game Wales played. The second captain of the Welsh national team, Charles Lewis, represented Llandovery College and was the first Wales captain to lead a team in the Home Nations Championship.Alumni are known as and belong to the Old Llandoverian Society.
History of rugby union in Wales
The decades following on from the Second World War were a boom time for Welsh rugby, though it took until the 1950s for the benefits to be seen on the playing fields. Although Britain was suffering from a post-war slump, attendance figures at club grounds saw an increase as rugby was again embraced as a spectator sport. Towns and villages which had seen their club disbanded during wartime saw their teams re-established. The WRU had 104 member clubs during the 1946-47 season; by the mid fifties there were 130, even though the Union had done nothing to relax its strict membership regulations.
Rugby league in Wales
Wales also play in regular international tournaments at under 19, under 15 and student level.
Rugby league in Wales
Domestically, Welsh rugby league is now largely integrated with English competitions (see British rugby league system). North Wales Crusaders and South Wales Ironmen represent Wales at the professional level within the RFL's structures.
Welsh League
The Welsh League lasted for just two seasons, and the 1909/10 tournament had just three teams competing. Simply the League failed because the clubs failed and with no new clubs emerging the first attempt at bringing rugby league to Wales came to an abrupt end. The new clubs faced hostility from the rugby union scene, class prejudice and the rise of a more popular professional game, association football. Though the biggest issues for the Welsh League were an inability to challenge the more established clubs for players, a lack of support from the Northern Union and the mismanagement of the Welsh clubs.
Wales national rugby union team
A resurgence of both economy and rugby union followed in the 1930s and, in 1931, Wales won their first championship for nine years. That year, for the first time since the First World War, Wales retained the same side for two consecutive Tests when they faced England and Scotland. Then, in 1933, captained by Watcyn Thomas, Wales defeated England at Twickenham. In 1935, Wales beat the touring All Blacks by 13–12, with Haydn Tanner making his first appearance. Although the Five Nations Championship was suspended during the Second World War Wales did play a Red Cross charity match against England at Cardiff in 1940, which Wales lost 18–9.
2018–19 WRU Championship
The 2018–19 WRU Championship will be the seventh season of the WRU Championship, the second tier of club rugby in Wales run by the Welsh Rugby Union. It will be the third season to feature 12 teams, reduced from 14 in previous seasons. For this season, "ring-fencing" will be abolished and the winner will play-off against the 12th placed team in the 2018–19 Principality Premiership at a neutral venue to determine the 12th team for the 2019–20 season.
List of Welsh rugby union clubs
Rugby union in Wales is governed by the Welsh Rugby Union. The top level of Welsh rugby is represented by the regional sides, formed in 2003, who play in the Pro14 League (formerly the Celtic League or Pro12). Originally consisting of five teams, there are currently four regional sides in the RaboDirect Pro12, after the Celtic Warriors were wound up in 2004.
2015 Rugby World Cup squads
On 31 August, Wales announced their 31-man squad.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
The introduction followed much controversy, as clubs disagreed with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), the governing body of the sport in Wales, over many issues, including the forming of partnerships, funding levels, loss of status and both the number and locations of regional teams.
Wales national rugby sevens team
Wales were the World Cup Sevens Champions after winning the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in the United Arab Emirates. But they relinquished that title after failing to defend their crown at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow.
List of sports governing bodies in Wales
WRL has 14 affiliated clubs, including four university clubs. Wales Rugby League is based at the Brewery Field, Bridgend.
Rugby union in Wales
In 2003/4 the Welsh Rugby Union voted to create five regions to play in the Celtic League (now the Pro14) and represent Wales in European competition. This soon became four when the Celtic Warriors were liquidated after just one season. The WRU have announced their hopes of developing a fifth region in North Wales in the long run; the team at the centre of this plan is now known as RGC 1404.
Cardiff Blues
In a process instigated by the then CEO of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), David Moffett, the nine clubs began the introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales.
Wales national rugby sevens team
The Wales national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens and in the Commonwealth Games.
Josh Lewsey
On 30 August 2013, Lewsey was appointed Head of Rugby at the Welsh Rugby Union. After a comprehensive review, Lewsey embarked on a new strategy for the organisation of which a key initiative was support for the grassroots game, establishing School-Club Hubs to safeguard the future of rugby in Wales. By September 2014, the WRU had 43 schools participating in the scheme. By the second year it had increased to 93, which equated to most secondary schools in Wales. He resigned in November 2015, citing personal reasons which would prevent him from dedicating himself to the position full-time.
Wales at the Rugby World Cup
In 2009 England were awarded the rights to stage the 2015 tournament. Owing to the proximity of Cardiff, the RFU made it clear that they intended to use the Millennium Stadium as part of its bid, despite initial reluctance from the IRB for multiple hosting nations. The Millennium Stadium is hosting eight games in the tournament, more than in any previous world cup. These include two quarter-finals. This made Cardiff the only venue hosting knock-out matches with the exception of England's national stadium, Twickenham, as well as the venue with the second highest number of games. As Wales and England have been drawn in the same group, Wales only have home advantage for two of their games, against Uruguay and Fiji.
Sport in Wales
The professional era has seen major and controversial changes to the traditional structure of club rugby in Wales. Wales now shares a single top-flight rugby structure with Scotland, Ireland and Italy: the Pro14 league. Wales is represented by four regional teams that also take part in the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team () competes annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 26 times outright. Wales' most recent championship win came in 2013.
Sport in the United Kingdom
Rugby union has a number of heartlands, notably South Wales, the Scottish Borders, the English West Country, London and the Midlands. Rugby union is generally regarded as the national sport of Wales. England organises its own national league in Premiership Rugby, which launched the Premiership Rugby Cup in 2018–19 to replace the former Anglo-Welsh Cup, which had begun as an England-only competition but included Welsh teams from 2005 until its demise in 2018. The other Home Nations now have a single professional league, currently known as the Guinness Pro14, that also includes teams from Italy and South Africa. Attendances at club rugby in England have risen strongly since the sport went professional; by contrast, the professional era has had a traumatic effect on the traditional structure of club rugby in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Following the regional model of Wales and Ireland, Scotland also originally established four regional teams for North, East, South and West Scotland. Due to the demographics of the country, the Northern region was too vast for a single club to serve (over twice the size of Wales but with only a quarter the population) and the 5% of the population who happened to live in the rugby-loving borders were not enough to sustain the Southern franchise, leaving just West and East. There was some talk of the regions being redrawn, with the North being divided in two and the South being absorbed into the West and East regions, but two Italian sides instead took the vacated places, and still later the competition added two South African sides.
Culture of Wales
Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Welsh national rugby union team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and has also competed in every Rugby World Cup, with Wales hosting the 1999 tournament. The five professional sides that replaced the traditional club sides in major competitions in 2003 were in turn replaced in 2004 by the four regions: Scarlets; Cardiff Blues; Newport Gwent Dragons; and the Ospreys. The Welsh regional teams play in the Pro14 league, the Anglo-Welsh Cup (LV Cup), the European Heineken Cup and the European (Amlin) Challenge Cup.
Rugby League Conference Welsh Championship
The Rugby League Conference was founded in 1997 as the "Southern Conference", a 10-team pilot league for teams in the South of England and English Midlands. It expanded into Wales for the first time in 2001 when Cardiff Demons joined the South West division.
Rugby union in Wales
The decades following on from the Second World War were a boom time for Welsh rugby, though it took until the 1950s for the benefits to be seen on the playing fields. Although Britain was suffering from a post-war slump, attendance figures at club grounds saw an increase as rugby was again embraced as a spectator sport. Towns and villages which had seen their club disbanded during wartime saw their teams re-established. The WRU had 104 member clubs during the 1946-47 season; by the mid fifties there were 130, even though the Union had done nothing to relax its strict membership regulations.
List of Wales national rugby union players
Bleddyn Williams and Jack Matthews, both centres who were inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2013, were called by World Rugby "a uniquely complementary and successful partnership at club, national team and Lions levels after the Second World War". Both captained Cardiff and Wales, made their international debuts in 1947, and were on the Lions squad that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1950. Williams, nicknamed the "Prince of Centres", earned 22 caps for Wales and five for the Lions in an eight-year Test career. Wales won all five Tests in which he served as captain; at the time of his induction, he was the only Wales captain with a 100% winning record. Williams went on to become a prominent rugby commentator. Matthews, renowned for his strong tackling, earned 17 caps for Wales and six for the Lions, calling time on his Test career in 1951. After his playing career, he became the Lions' first team doctor, serving in that role during the 1980 tour to South Africa.
Wales national rugby union team
Wales achieved only one win in 1987's Five Nations before contesting the inaugural Rugby World Cup. Wales defeated Ireland in their crucial pool fixture, before defeating England in the quarter-finals. They then faced hosts the All Blacks who won 49–6, but beat Australia in the third place play-off game to claim third. The next year Wales won the Triple Crown for the first time since 1979, but heavy defeats on tour to New Zealand later that year saw the end of a number of Welsh players' careers, as several converted to rugby league.
Rugby union in Wales
The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Wales. Their responsibilities include producing the national team and the four regional franchises Cardiff Blues, Scarlets, Newport Gwent Dragons and the Ospreys from the Neath-Swansea region.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
The introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales occurred prior to the start of the 2003/04 rugby union season. From this date, Wales was represented by a smaller number of regional teams in both the Celtic League and European Cup competitions, where previously the top club sides were entered into them.
History of rugby union in Wales
The 1930s began on a high for Welsh international rugby, with success in the Home Nations Championship and the emergence of a strong Welsh team. In the 1931 Championship Wales beat Ireland at Ravenhill in a bruising affair that not only gave Wales the title but denied Ireland the Triple Crown. This may have signaled a change in fortunes in Welsh rugby but underneath the same problems that dogged Wales throughout the 1920s still remained. Wales was still suffering the effects of the depression and club rugby was struggling to survive. Even the WRU had problems, as it faced the fact that it was the only home union without their own ground. The Cardiff Arms was leased and St Helens was on loan. In 1934 nine clubs formed the Welsh Rugby Union with the consent of the WFU.
Wales women's national rugby union team
Wales hosted the first Women's Rugby World Cup in Cardiff in 1991 and since then they have participated in a further four of the five tournaments finishing fourth in 1994, their highest ever finish. The IRB adopted the competition in 1998, which was won by the New Zealand Black Ferns who also won the tournaments in Barcelona in 2002 Edmonton, Canada in 2006.
Celtic Warriors
The Warriors were one of the five original regions of the Welsh Regional Rugby Era. The club came into being in the summer of 2003 when the Welsh Rugby Union controversially elected to reduce the current top tier of Welsh Professional Rugby from nine clubs into five regions, attempting to mirror the successful formats of rugby union in Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Officially representing the mid-Glamorgan area, including Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare, Pontypridd, Caerphilly, Maesteg and Bridgend, and south Powys, the Celtic Warriors was in practice a combination of two Welsh Premier Division clubs, Pontypridd RFC and Bridgend RFC . With Bridgend RFC having clinched the 2002–03 Welsh Premier League title and Pontypridd RFC being consistently strong in those competitions, the Warriors were considered one of the strongest line-ups of the five Welsh regions.
Welsh rugby union system
The top level of competition in the Welsh rugby union system is the Pro14 (historically the Celtic League) which is a league of professional teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy. Wales currently has four entries in Pro12: Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets.
History of the Wales national rugby union team (2004–present)
The history of the Wales national rugby union team from 2005 to 2015 covers a period where the side won three Grand Slams in the Six Nations Championship, as well as another Championship victory. The Grand Slams, in all the tournament matches, were achieved in 2005, 2008 and 2012. Their other Six Nations Championship, in 2013, was won without achieving a Grand Slam. The country has not enjoyed as much success against the major southern hemisphere opposition of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand have not been defeated by Wales since 1953, and South Africa have only been defeated five times since 2005: a 12–6 victory in 2014, a 27-13 victory in 2016, a 24-22 victory in 2017, a 24-22 victory in Washington DC in 2018 followed by a 201-11 win in Cardiff in 2018. Wales defeated Australia in November 2005, and also in November 2008. Following this, Wales suffered a thirteen-match losing streak to the Wallabies. This ended in 2018, when Wales defeated Australia 9-6.
Mid-Rhondda RLFC
In 1907 the first two rugby league teams in Wales were formed, Ebbw Vale and Merthyr Tydfil. Although South Wales was best known for its rugby union teams, events in Aberdare and the Rhondda between 1905 and 1907 had revealed several clubs were breaking amateur rules and were paying their players. This led to club and player suspensions by the Welsh Rugby Union, and this in turn led to some clubs considering switching to the professional Northern Union and rugby league. On 1 January 1908, Aberdare hosted a Wales versus New Zealand encounter in the world's first full international rugby league game. Then, on 20 April, Tonypandy was chosen as the location for the very first rugby league encounter between Wales and England, with the match played at the local Athletic Ground. Wales won 35–18, and a crowd of 12000 was recorded.
Introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales
Before regions were introduced to rugby union in Wales, there were nine clubs that played in the Welsh Premiership, the top-level of domestic club rugby in Wales. Since 2001, all of the teams also competed in the Celtic League competition, a cross-border competition involving Welsh, Scottish and Irish teams. Five Welsh clubs were also selected to take part in the Heineken Cup competition, which feature clubs from France, England and Italy in addition to the Celtic nations.
Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Blues () are one of the four professional Welsh regional rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park and are owned by Cardiff Rugby Football Club.
Rugby union in Wales
Rugby initially expanded in Wales through ex-pupils of the Welsh colleges settling, or students from English colleges and universities returning to the larger industrial hubs of South Wales. This is reflected in the first clubs to embrace the sport in the early to mid-1870s, with Neath RFC widely recognised as the first Welsh club. The strength of Welsh rugby developed over the following years, which could be attributed to the 'big four' South Wales clubs of Newport (who lost only seven games under the captaincy of Llewellyn Lloyd between the 1900/01 and 1902/03 seasons), Cardiff, Llanelli (who lost just twice in 1894 and 1895) and Swansea. With the coming of industrialisation and the railways, rugby too was spread as workers from the main cities brought the game to the new steel and coal towns of south Wales. Merthyr formed in 1876, Brecon in 1874, Penygraig in 1877; as the towns adopted the new sport they reflected the growth and expansion of a new industrial Wales.
Wales
Rugby league in Wales dates back to 1907. Currently two professional clubs, the South Wales Ironmen (based in Merthyr Tydfil) and the North Wales Crusaders (based in Wrexham) compete in the Rugby Football League's League 1 competition. The Crusaders competed in the top level Super League competition from 2009–2011. A professional Welsh League existed from 1908 to 1910.