A Brief History of the England Rugby Union Team
With 38 wins to their name, England’s national rugby union team is one of the most successful teams in Six Nations history. The prestigious tournament takes place every year and England currently lead the way on titles won.
Although the side underachieved last tournament, they are considered one of the favourites to win it this year. If you’re feeling confident on an English win, you’re able to bet on it here: https://www.paddypower.com/rugby-union/the-six-nations
Despite their underachievement, the national team have had create success throughout their history.
Image Source: wikipedia.org
First Match
Although the first ever set of written rules were created in the middle of the 19th century, it is believed that a version of football had been played at Rugby School for centuries. The rules of the game had always been determined by the pupils, meaning the rules of the game often changed.
The introduction of written rules meant players finally had a pre-determined set of rules that they were able to follow. This eventually led to the game quickly spreading across the country and other areas of the British Empire.
The popularity of the sport led to the first ever international rugby union being played between the English team and Scotland in 1871. The England Rugby team ended up losing the game, only scoring one try to Scotland’s two tries and a goal. Despite suffering defeat, the team bounced back a year later in the return fixture.
The Home Nations
After the success of the games against Scotland, the team travel around Great Britain and Ireland to play against the other home nations. This kicked-off the idea of the ‘Home Nations Championship’ which was eventually launched in 1993. Over the next couple of decades, the team continued to compete in the competition and enjoyed great success.
The start of the 20th century as saw the team travel to different countries as the popularity sport travelled around the world. In 1905, the team played the New Zealand All Blacks for the first time in their history, but fell to a 15-0 defeat.
Golden Era
In 1910, Twickenham was unveiled as the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) new home. The move also coincided with a golden era for the side. From their move to Twickenham until the breakout of the First World War, the national team won four Five Nations championships and completed the Grand Slam twice.
Despite the breakout of war England continued with their success and continued to dominate the Five Nations in the following few years, winning four tournaments between 1920 and 1924
However, their 1924 win signalled the end of the Golden Era as the side continued to struggle for consistency in the following years.
Even though the side would go on to win multiple Five Nations titles, they wouldn’t win them as consistently as they did in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Professional Era
Following the success at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa where the team managed to reach the quarter finals, the IRB (International Rugby Board) officially recognised rugby union as a professional sport.
The start to this new era got off to the best possible to start for the side as they completed a Grand Slam in the 1996 Five Nations tournament. However, 1998 saw the team compete in the ‘Tour of Hell’ where end suffered and embarrassing 76-0 defeat by the Australian national team.
Since the start of the millennium and the formation of the Six Nations, the team have performed well and managed to win six ‘Six Nations’ titles as well as winning the 2003 World Cup.
As mentioned earlier, the last tournament was a major disappointment, but side has always had the ability to bounce back.
