From The Vaults

03 March 2025

Thrilling tries from a bygone era

There is nothing more thrilling for a crowd than the sight of a winger racing down the touch line, sometimes in the clear and sometimes with defenders to beat...

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03 March 2025

Thrilling tries from a bygone era

There is nothing more thrilling for a crowd than the sight of a winger racing down the touch line, sometimes in the clear and sometimes with defenders to beat...

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21 February 2025

A Trip to Murrayfield

World Rugby Museum researcher Richard Steele shares his memories of the 1990 Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield…

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31 January 2025

Ireland’s International Debut

On 15 February 1875, the first ever representative Irish football team took to the field, at the Oval in London...

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24 January 2025

Inverleith – Scotland’s rugby ground at the beginning of the 20th century

One hundred years ago on Saturday 24 January 1925 the Scotland rugby team played its 39th international on the rugby ground at Inverleith in north Edinburgh...

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18 November 2024

Japan v England XV, 1971 by Hideki Shoji

In September 1971, about one month after the British Lions clinched their first-ever Test Series victory in New Zealand, the first international match between England and Japan was about to kick off in the Far East...

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14 November 2024

Why did the 1924 New Zealand Invincibles not play Scotland? By Stephen Berg

It is one hundred years since the great All Blacks side, the 'Invincibles' of 1924-25. Heroes and household names for a generation of New Zealanders, forever to be remembered as the team that beat them all. But did they beat them all and why didn’t they play Scotland?

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13 September 2024

All Hail the Invincibles

In any discussion of the greatest men’s international rugby teams of all time, there are a number of sides that get a mention but those in the know namecheck a side whose credentials in many ways surpass all others - the Invincibles...

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18 June 2024

The Original Brave Blossoms Tour by Hideki Shoji

In 1930 the first representative Japan rugby team embarked on a tour of Canada. Setting sail from Yokohama on August 17th, the touring party came on the Canadian shore on the evening of the 29th, three days before their first match...

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05 June 2024

The Tour That Never Was

Andrés H. Reggiani of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella – Buenos Aires takes a look at the 1973 England XV tour to Argentina that never was...

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08 April 2024

The First Women's Six Nations

The first women’s 6 Nations Championship took place in 2002, having started as the Home Nations Championship in 1996. This article gives an overview of the tournament that year...

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11 March 2024

Springbok nightmare at Twickenham

On Saturday November 23rd 2002, a demoralised Springbok squad took to the field at Twickenham for their final test of their tour...

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04 March 2024

Croke Park Stands Shoulder to Shoulder

When the Lansdowne Road Stadium, a home ground of the Irish national rugby team since 1878, was demolished in 2007, a temporary ground was required to host Ireland’s home 6 Nations fixtures. The GAA were approached and agreed to make Croke Park available, setting the scene for one of the most electrically charged test matches in rugby’s long history...

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