From The Vaults

17 June 2019

Trend or Tradition? Part 2

3 years ago we posted a response to an article published on Americas Rugby News in which Richard Steele examined the history of Scottish selections and whether the trend of international teams selecting foreign born players really is as modern as is widely assumed. This time, John Jenkins takes a look at some other rugby nations...

Read More

Showing International Rugby articles

Browse by

17 June 2019

Trend or Tradition? Part 2

3 years ago we posted a response to an article published on Americas Rugby News in which Richard Steele examined the history of Scottish selections and whether the trend of international teams selecting foreign born players really is as modern as is widely assumed. This time, John Jenkins takes a look at some other rugby nations...

Read More

29 April 2019

Historic Rugby Internationals: South Africa v British Isles, 1974

Rugby history beckoned at Ellis Park, Johannesburg on Saturday July 27th 1974. The British Lions were playing the 22nd and final match of their tour and they had won all their previous matches...

Read More

25 March 2019

Historic Rugby Internationals: Wales v Ireland, 1899

The final match of the 1899 International Championship produced one of the great contests between Wales and Ireland...

Read More

28 January 2019

Beginner’s Guide to the Six Nations

With the Six Nations 2019 championship looming, it’s time to brush-up on the basics of the oldest rugby championship in the world.

Read More

14 January 2019

England Students to Japan, 1982

In 1982 an England Students side travelled to Japan to play a match against Japan at the Hanazono Stadium in Osaka...

Read More

06 August 2018

The ill-fated 1939-40 Wallabies tour

Dubbed the ‘tour of a lifetime’, it was expected to be a ten-month, 28-match tour of Great Britain for an Australian representative side...

Read More

30 July 2018

Remembering South Africa's International Debut

127 years ago, 21 British rugby players set sail to South Africa, captained by Scotland’s Bill Maclagan.

Read More

13 February 2017

On the Blind Side

One of the most remarkable matches in the history of international rugby took place between France and Scotland in Paris on 1st January 1920. This was the fifth time these two countries had met on the rugby field and the first match since their infamous encounter in Paris in 1913.

Read More

23 January 2017

Rugby's Greatest Upsets Part 2 - Wales v New Zealand, 1905

New Zealand had set down a marker of quality when defeating a tired and injury ravaged British Lions side at the tail end of their tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1904.

Read More

19 December 2016

Rugby's Greatest Upsets Part One - Scotland v England, 1871

In 1870 football enthusiast and administrator Charles W Alcock arranged an international football match between Scotland and England in London. It ended in a tie so another game was arranged which England won. Scotland was incensed.

Read More

12 December 2016

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MATCH AT KINGSHOLM - England 3 Wales 13, 6th January 1900

With a fixture list already bristling with Welsh opponents by the end of the 19th century, and flush with the success of their new ground at Kingsholm, opened in 1891, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Gloucester club aspired to stage an international, and in the autumn of 1899 an application was made to the Rugby Union.

Read More

23 June 2016

1916: the first Rugby International in the Netherlands

On 5 November, an extraordinary wartime rugby 'international' will be replayed in the Netherlands town of Leeuwarden.

Read More