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Multinational teams
Combination sides
- The British and Irish Lions, perhaps the most famous multi-national rugby team.
- Established in 1950, East Africa has conducted seven tours between 1954 and 1982 and has played against incoming international, representative and club touring sides including twice against the British Lions; perhaps the only example of representative (as opposed to invitational) multinational teams playing against each other. They have also played against the Baa Baa’s.
Kenya
Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika)
Uganda
- A similar development in 2004 has been of a Pacific Islanders XV.
- The South American Jaguars were a combination team who played
South Africaduring the early 1980s.
- The African Leopards are a development side drawn from across Africa, they have played representational rugby union against South African students.
- Arabian Gulf rugby union team combined various teams from the Arabian peninsula and competed in World Cup qualification. The Arabian Gulf Rugby Union has now been dismantled and responsibility for the game devolved to each of the member nations, but this does not mean that the team may not be revived in future.
- There is also a West Indies side. This side first toured when the Caribbean Rugby Union sent a side (managed by Gavin Clark) to tour England in 1976. Their last tour was also to England in October and November 2000
Bahamas
Barbados
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Guatemala
Guyana
Jamaica
Martinique
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela
- The Commonwealth of Independent States also played during the early 1990s.
- World XV sides have also been fielded eight times between 1977 and 2008.
Invitation sides
- The Barbarian Football Club is probably the most famous invitation side. It has spawned New Zealand Barbarians, South African Barbarians, and French Barbarians.
- Scorpions RFC are an East African equivalent (founded in 1959) existing and playing under a similar ethos to the Barbarians.
Other invitational sides past and present include:
- President’s Overseas XV, selected for the hundredth anniversary of the RFU
- Overseas Unions rugby union team
- Rest of the World XV
- Four Home Unions XV
- Rest of Europe XV
- In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami a Northern hemisphere side took on a Southern hemisphere side in the IRB Rugby Aid Match:
National teams – tier classification
The sport’s international governing body, the International Rugby Board, organises its member unions into three tiers.[1] All Tier 1 and 2 nations have competed in the Rugby World Cup (RWC). Tier 3 nations with RWC experience are shown in bold.
Tier 1
Northern Hemisphere countries | Southern Hemisphere countries |
---|---|
|
- The Northern Hemisphere countries participate in the Six Nations Championship.
- The Southern Hemisphere countries participate in the Tri Nations with Argentina entering from 2012.
Tier 2
Tier 3
The remaining unions are all classified in “Tier 3”. Tier 3 with RWC experience:
Tier 3 with no RWC experience:
Andorra (Els Isards)
- Arabian Gulf (Arugby)
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Barbados
Belgium (Black Devils)
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana (Vultures)
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
Bulgaria
Burundi
Cambodia (Koupreys)
Cameroon
Cayman Islands
Chile (Los Cóndores)
China (PRC)
Chinese Taipei (aka Republic of China or Taiwan)
Colombia (Los Tucanes)
Cook Islands
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Germany
Ghana
Guam
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Israel
Jamaica
Kazakhstan
Kenya
South Korea
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar (Les Makis)
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico (Serpientes)
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Morocco
Netherlands (Oranje)
Nigeria
Niue
Norway
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea (Puk-Puks)
Paraguay (Los Yacares)
Peru (Los Tumis)
Philippines
Poland
Rwanda
Senegal
Serbia
Singapore
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Sri Lanka
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Tahiti
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tunisia
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda (Cranes)
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela (La Vinotinto)
Zambia
National teams – band classification
Starting in 2008, in addition to the existing tier system, the IRB introduced a four-band system of classification in which unions and, by extension, teams are classified based on “their development status and record on the international stage”. The new structure is:[2]
High performance
All countries previously in Tiers 1 and 2.
Argentina (nicknamed Los Pumas)
Australia (“Wallabies”)
Canada (“The Canucks”)
England
Fiji (often called “The Flying Fijians”)
France (nicknamed Les Bleus)
Ireland
Italy (nicknamed Gli Azzurri)
Japan (nicknamed Brave Blossoms)
New Zealand (“All Blacks”)
Romania (“The Oaks”)
Samoa (also known as Manu Samoa)
Scotland
South Africa (“Springboks”)
Tonga (nicknamed ʻIkale Tahi)
USA (“The Eagles”)
Wales (” Dragons”)
Performance
These are countries earmarked for increased developmental funding and include
Targeted
Again, the IRB did not release a list of unions in this category, but named several as being in this band:
Other teams
Several of these sides are French dependencies.
Defunct national sides
Various national sides have ceased to exist for political reasons. In the case of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, there is more than one successor team. In the case of Catalonia, the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s crackdown put an end to it, and in the case of East and West Germany, reunification made them back into a single side.
CIS
Czechoslovakia
East Africa – a combination of Kenya, Tanzania/Tanganyika and Uganda. It has not played for about a decade but the Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) still exists and there have been recent talks to resurrect the team.
East Germany
Rhodesia
Soviet Union
Wallis and Futuna – has not played since 1971 and so moribund.
West Germany
Yugoslavia
The Arabian Gulf team and its governing union are scheduled to be dissolved by the end of 2010, to be replaced by separate unions and national teams in each of its current members.
Women’s rugby
Australia · Austria · Barbados · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Brazil · Canada · Catalonia · Cayman Islands · China · Czech Republic · Denmark · England · Fiji · Finland · France · Germany · Great Britain · Guyana · Hong Kong · Ireland · Italy · Jamaica · Japan · Kenya · Kazakhstan · Kyrgyzstan · Luxembourg · Netherlands · New Zealand · Norway · Portugal · Romania · Russia · Rwanda · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Samoa · Scotland · Serbia · Singapore · South Africa · Spain · Sweden · Thailand · Tonga · Trinidad and Tobago · Turkey · Uganda · USSR · United States · Uzbekistan · Wales · Zambia · Zimbabwe