48 Fun Facts About Rugby

Which rugby union players wear shirt numbers 1 to 8?

The forwards wear 1 to 8 and the backs 9 to 15. Leicester long put letters on its shirts instead, until English Premiership rules forced the club to switch to numbers in 1998.

Which kick at goal follows a try in rugby union?

A conversion is taken in line with the spot where the try was touched down. That is why players who cross near the corner often run round towards the posts before grounding the ball.

Which restart follows every tackle in rugby league?

A play-the-ball: the tackled player stands, puts the ball down and rolls it back with a boot. After six tackles the ball goes to the other side, so teams usually kick on the fifth.

By legend, how did William Webb Ellis invent rugby in an 1823 school match?

Picking up the ball and running with it: the tale rests on one man's account from 1876, four years after Webb Ellis died, and many historians call it a myth. The World Cup trophy bears his name anyway.

In which English county is Rugby School, where the game was supposedly born?

Warwickshire: the school stands in the town of Rugby, which gave the game its name, and in 1845 three of its pupils wrote down the game's first rules.

In 1860s rugby, what did 'hacking' mean?

Kicking opponents' shins: Blackheath left the Football Association in 1863 to keep hacking, its delegate warning the game would lose its courage and pluck, yet the club banned it within a few years.

Where in West Yorkshire did the 1895 split that created rugby league take place?

Huddersfield: at its George Hotel, northern clubs quit the Rugby Football Union so they could pay working men for wages lost by playing, the so-called broken-time payments.

In a rugby union scrum, which player wins the ball by striking it back with a foot?

The hooker, usually the shortest forward, hangs between the two props and rakes the ball back with a foot. The same player throws in at line-outs, where the tallest forwards jump for it.

The first Rugby World Cup in 1987 was co-hosted by which two countries?

New Zealand and Australia had each proposed a world cup separately, then joined forces. Rugby's board approved the idea in 1985, with Ireland and Scotland voting against.

Which nation stunned South Africa 34-32 at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in a match dubbed the 'Brighton Miracle'?

Japan had won just one World Cup match in its history, against Zimbabwe in 1991. Its captain turned down a kick that would have earned a draw, and Karne Hesketh scored the winning try in the final move.

Which England captain lifted the Rugby World Cup in 2003?

Martin Johnson. The Leicester lock had learned his trade in New Zealand, spending two seasons with the King Country province before coming home to lead England.

Who kicked the extra-time drop goal that won the Springboks the 1995 World Cup final 15-12?

Joel Stransky scored all 15 of the Springboks' points in the final. Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok shirt, then handed the trophy to captain François Pienaar.

Why had the Springboks never competed in a Rugby World Cup before hosting in 1995?

It had been excluded during apartheid, missing the 1987 and 1991 tournaments under the sports boycott. Readmitted to world rugby in 1992, the Springboks won the cup at their first attempt, at home.

Jonah Lomu ran straight over which England player in a 1995 World Cup semi-final?

Mike Catt was flattened in the opening minutes as the 20-year-old Lomu set up a 45-29 New Zealand win. Catt had the last laugh, winning the World Cup with England eight years later.

Jonny Wilkinson's winning drop goal in the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney came against which team?

The Wallabies, the hosts and holders, had levelled at 17-17 late in extra time. Wilkinson then struck the winning drop goal with his right foot, seconds from the end.

Richie McCaw retired in 2015 holding the world record for most what?

Most test caps: 148 in all. When McCaw was first chosen after a single provincial season, former All Black Josh Kronfeld complained that jerseys were being handed out too easily.

In which position did Richie McCaw predominantly play?

Openside flanker: McCaw played the 2011 World Cup knockout rounds on a fractured foot, choosing not to have it X-rayed again until the trophy was won.

Dan Carter played Super Rugby for which New Zealand team?

The Crusaders. Carter, who left test rugby in 2015 as its record points scorer, won titles with the Christchurch side, which reached the 2011 final after an earthquake wrecked its stadium.

Which two opponents did Siya Kolisi's Springboks beat in the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup finals?

England, then New Zealand: 32-12 in 2019 and 12-11 in 2023. The second was won by a single point after All Blacks captain Sam Cane was sent off before half-time.

What was Europe's annual championship called when it began in 1883 with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales?

The Home Nations Championship became the Five Nations when France joined in 1910. France was thrown out in the 1930s over claims its players were paid, and the old name returned until 1947.

In the Six Nations, what is a team said to have won if it beats all five opponents?

The Grand Slam. Since bonus points arrived in 2017, a side that wins all five games gets three extra points, so it can never be overtaken by a team it has beaten.

Which rugby trophy was made in 1878 from the melted-down silver coins of a club that had just folded?

The Calcutta Cup: when the Calcutta Football Club wound up, its members had the last 270 silver rupees in the bank melted into a trophy for England and Scotland, topped with an elephant.

Which Ireland great retired in 2014 as the Six Nations' record try scorer?

Brian O'Driscoll scored 26 championship tries. Three came in one afternoon in Paris in 2000, when his hat-trick gave Ireland its first win there since 1972.

Which nation joined the Six Nations in 2000?

Italy won its very first game in the championship, 34-20 in Rome against reigning champions Scotland, then lost every other match that season.

The 1905 'Original' All Blacks lost only one match on their tour of Britain, 3-0 to which nation?

Wales won 3-0 in Cardiff, and New Zealanders have argued ever since that Bob Deans scored a try the referee wrongly ruled out. Before kick-off the crowd answered the haka by singing the Welsh anthem.

Which haka, composed by Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha, have the All Blacks performed for more than a century?

Ka Mate is said to celebrate Te Rauparaha's escape from pursuing enemies while he hid in a food-storage pit. The All Blacks added a second haka, Kapa o Pango, in 2005.

In rugby union, what is the offence called when a player fumbles the ball forward off the hands?

A knock-on: the ball may never be lost forward, so the fumble stops play and hands the other side the put-in at a scrum.

Which trophy has been contested in trans-Tasman tests since the 1930s?

The Bledisloe Cup was donated by Lord Bledisloe, New Zealand's governor-general. Australia won it five years running from 1998, then lost it in 2003 and had still not won it back by 2025.

Since 1989, the Lions have toured which three countries in rotation?

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, each visited once every twelve years. The very first tour, in 1888, was a private venture run by professional cricketers with no backing from rugby's authorities.

Which Welshman, nicknamed 'The King', inspired the 1971 Lions' series win in New Zealand?

Barry John scored 30 of the Lions' 48 points in the tests, their only series win in New Zealand up to 2025. A year later he retired at 27, saying the fame had become too much.

Which stadium is nicknamed the Cabbage Patch after the market garden it was built on?

Twickenham: the RFU bought the market garden in 1907 at the urging of committee man Billy Williams, so the ground became known as 'Billy Williams's Cabbage Patch'.

In which city is Eden Park, where the All Blacks stayed unbeaten in tests from August 1994 through 2025?

Auckland. Eden Park began as a cricket ground on drained swampland and still hosts both sports; by 2025 the All Blacks' unbeaten run there had passed 50 tests.

Rugby league's State of Origin is contested annually between which two Australian states?

New South Wales and Queensland. Until 1980 players turned out for the state where their club was, so rich Sydney clubs handed New South Wales many of Queensland's best; selection by origin evened it up.

What is the name of Australia's top rugby league club competition?

The NRL began in 1998 as a peace deal: a breakaway Super League backed by a media giant had split the sport in two, and the rival competitions merged to end the fight.

In which Scottish town did rugby sevens originate in the 1880s?

Melrose: in 1883 local butcher Ned Haig suggested a seven-a-side tournament to raise money for the town's club, and the Melrose Sevens is still played every year.

Which nation won the first Olympic gold medal in men's rugby sevens when the sport debuted in 2016?

Fiji thrashed Great Britain 43-7 to win the first Olympic medal in the country's history. Its English coach, Ben Ryan, was rewarded with a gift of land and a chief's name.

Which country, known for its own football code, won the last Olympic golds in 15-a-side rugby?

The USA won in 1920 and 1924, beating the hosts 17-3 in a Paris final so heated that the furious crowd threw bottles and police escorted the Americans away. Fifteen-a-side rugby never returned to the Games.

Which country outside Britain and Australasia proposed and hosted the first Rugby League World Cup in 1954?

France's league chief Paul Barrière pushed for the tournament and donated its trophy, 33 years before rugby union held a World Cup. Great Britain beat the hosts in the Paris final.

Jonny Wilkinson started the 2003 World Cup final in which position?

Fly-half: Wilkinson had passed up a university place at Durham to turn professional with Newcastle. He later won the European Cup with Toulon.

Jonah Lomu was born to immigrant parents from which Pacific nation?

Tonga: Lomu spent part of his early childhood there with an aunt and uncle and grew up speaking Tongan. At 19 he became the youngest player to appear in a test for the All Blacks.

Which club plays in black and white hoops while each player wears their own club's socks?

Barbarians membership is by invitation, and the club has no ground and no clubhouse. By tradition each side also includes at least one uncapped player among the internationals.

Which country was added to the Tri Nations in 2012, turning it into The Rugby Championship?

Argentina earned the invitation with its results against the top nations, above all third place at the 2007 World Cup. The Pumas then drew with South Africa in only their second match.

Which two countries hosted the men's Rugby World Cups of 2019 and 2023 respectively?

Japan and France. In 2019 a typhoon forced three pool matches to be cancelled, something that had never happened at the tournament before.

Scotland hosted and won the first rugby international in 1871, at Raeburn Place in which city?

Edinburgh: the captains of five Scottish clubs had challenged England through a notice in a sporting paper, and the 20-a-side match that followed was played at the home of the Edinburgh Academicals club.

In rugby union, what forms when players from both sides bind over the ball on the ground after a tackle?

A ruck: once it forms, nobody may use hands, so the ball is won with the feet or by shoving opponents off it. If the ball carrier is held upright instead, it is a maul.

England's women's rugby union team, World Cup winners in 2025, play under which nickname?

The Red Roses went into the previous World Cup final on a world-record run of 30 straight wins and lost it 34-31 to New Zealand. They made amends on home soil in 2025.

Which French star switched to sevens and won Olympic gold at his home Games in 2024?

Antoine Dupont skipped the 2024 Six Nations to learn sevens. In the Olympic final he came off the bench at half-time, set up one try and scored two as the hosts took gold.

Which country's rugby team is nicknamed the Lelos, after a traditional folk game much like rugby?

Georgia: lelo burti pitted the men of neighbouring villages against each other to carry a heavy ball home, and Georgian rugby still calls a try a 'lelo'.