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Rugby Union Facts and Trivia

 

In this section just scroll and enjoy some interesting facts and trivia about Rugby Union.

 

  • The highest scoring international rugby union player in history is Johnny Wilkinson from England with 1152 career points.

 

  • The origin of the distinctive shape of the rugby ball is easier to establish. All the original balls were fashioned by a shoemaker named William Gilbert who lived near Rugby School. The first balls were simply inflated pigs bladders, which take on a distinctive oblong oval shape when fully inflated.

 

  • The longest game in history.It took place on October 7, 2011 and lasted for 24 hours and 30 minutes and 6 seconds. The contest was between the Mali Lions and Congleton Bears clubs. The Lions won 894-715.

 

  • Somewhat surprisingly, considering the game's indisputably English origins, the first official rugby club was actually at the University of Dublin in Ireland.

 

  • A try is so called because in the early days of the sport, getting the ball over the line did not win points, it only gave the team who made one the chance to try a kick on goal.

 

  • The International Rugby Union game with the Highest Rugby Score in history was played in October 1994, with Hong Kong beating Singapore 164-13.

 

  • New Zealand All Blacks is the only team who has won the finals at the Eden Park.

 

  • Brendon Venter was suspended from the 1999 Rugby World Cup finals for stamping.

 

  • In the 1987 RWC Semi Finals France came from behind (0-9, 12-25 and 21-24) to win the game by 30-24 against Australia with Serg Blanco scored a try in the dying moments of the match.

 

  • In the 1999 World Cup New Zealand scored a century against Italy and finished the game with 101-3.

 

  • 2007 is the only World Cup, where All Blacks failed to reach at least into a Semi Final.

 

  • South Africa is now one of the leading nations in this sport for many years. It was actually introduced to them by the British troops who were stationed in Cape Town.

 

  • The first ever Rugby game took place between Scotland and England and Scotland won. 

 

  • Rugby is the national sport of 3 countries; Wales, Madagascar and New Zealand

 

  • Basketball was actually created by a rugby coach who wanted some form of indoor sporting activity to keep his players conditioned when it was off-season!

 

  • Since 1905, the same whistle has been used to start the game at every Rugby World Cup. It is called the Gil Evans Whistle and is named after Gil Evans, who refereed the game between New Zealand and England in 1905. The same whistle was used to kick off the last rugby game played in the Olympics, in Paris in 1924.

 

  • The Calcutta Cup was presented to the RFU in 1878. The Calcutta club had been formed by former pupils of Rugby School in 1874. When the club was wound up the remaining rupees in the club's bank account were melted down to produce the cup.

 

  • There was no qualification for the 1987 Rugby World Cup and all participating teams were invited to play the game.

 

  • New Zealand has never defeated Australia in a Rugby World Cup.

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  • Ireland is the only host nation which has not reached the semi finals of World Cup.

 

  • The two Rugby World Cup wins by South Africa has come without scoring a try in either of the finals.

 

  • Grant Fox of the New Zealand has the record of scoring the most number of points in a Rugby World Cup which is 120 in the 1987 edition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • The very first time any national anthem was sung prior to any sports game, it was at a rugby game. It happened in 1905, when Wales played New Zealand. Wales sang their anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" after New Zealand danced the Haka, a war dance. Both the dance and the song were meant to try and intimidate the opposition

 

  • The Baa-Baas were formed in 1890 in a restaurant in Bradford, Yorkshire. They were the idea of W P Carpmael, and the original idea was to provide a touring side to play in the summer months. 

 

  • The biggest lead in the history of the International Rugby Union was taken by Argentina over Paraguay in May 2002. They won 152-0.

 

  • While the USA is not known as fertile ground for rugby, it was technically the reigning world champion for over 60 years. The USA team took the gold medal in Rugby at the 1924 Olympics, after which the sport was dropped from the competition. Until the first Rugby world cup in 1987, the absence of any other international competitions left the USA champions by default.

 

  • No captain or a coach has been able to win consecutive world cup wins for their team till now.

 

  • Only three players have won the Rugby World Cup twice, they are Eales and Horan for Australia and Du Randt for the South Africa Springboks.

 

  • No team has won Tri-Nations tournament and a Rugby World Cup in the same year.

  • Winners of 5 or 6 Nations tournaments have reached the semi finals at least of the Rugby World Cup happened in the same year.

 

  • Joe Rokocoko of the New Zealand is the youngest player ever to play in a Rugby World Cup. He was 20 at the time of 2003 Rugby World Cup. He was born in Fiji and brought up in NewZealand.

 

 

 

 

 

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