England Rugby is the name of the English national rugby union team. They are the current World champions, having won the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship and have won that championship and its predecessors more times than any other nation. England has also won the most Grand Slams. England Rugby is governed by the RFU.

Strip

England plays in white shirts, white shorts, and navy socks with white tops. The emblem on the shirts is a red rose, rather than the Three Lions displayed on the shirts of the England football and England cricket teams.

As of 2005 the strip is manufactured by Nike and O₂ is the shirt sponsor.

History

Early History

An England international side first played in 1871 against Scotland under Scottish rules (the RFU had not finished their first set of laws). The Scots won the game (played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh and organised by Blackheath Rugby Club) by one goal to nil, but England beat them in a return match the next year. By 1882, games had been organised against both Ireland and Wales, and a Four Nations tournament began. England dominated until the great schism with Northern clubs that led to the founding of the Rugby League. Many of the strongest teams and players were lost and the national squad was weakened, and the Welsh became the dominant force in the Four Nations.

Meanwhile, the game had spread throughout the British Empire and tours to and from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa were organised. In 1905, a New Zealand team toured the British Isles, beating England 15 - 0. Two more tours followed in the next 20 years, by which time the All Blacks had become the best team in the world.

In these years England also struggled against other southern hemisphere opposition, drawing with South Africa in the first international between the two nations in 1906, and losing to Australia in 1909. Rugby in France had been growing steadily since the 1870s, and in 1910 they joined the Five Nations Championship but in 1932 they were forced out again due to poor organisation and accusations of professionalism.. England was the dominant team both before and after the First World War and for much of the inter-war period. Tests against southern hemisphere teams were rare, though in 1935 England memorably beat the famous All Blacks, thanks in part to Obolensky's famous try.

Post-War

France returned for the first post war Five Nations Championship in 1947 which England shared with Wales. Further England championship wins occurred in 1953, 1954 (three way tie with Wales and France) 1957 (also a Grand Slam) and 1958. England won the Five Nations again in 1963, but there then followed a long fallow period. The 1960s saw the first regular tests against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, with the southern hemisphere teams winning most of them.

In the 1970s Wales had a Golden Age of rugby and won (or shared) the Five Nations Championship seven times, Englands only “success” being a share of the five way tie in 1973. In 1971, the RFU's centenary year, England struggled to overcome Japan 6-3 in Tokyo. Nevertheless England have some good wins against southern hemisphere teams, with victories over South Africa in 1972, New Zealand in 1973 and Australia in 1976 ( albeit losing twice to the Wallabies in previous weeks).

In 1972 the Five Nations Championship was not completed when the IRA blew up the British Embassy in Dublin, and following threatening letters to players, Scotland and then Wales refused to play in Ireland. England , however, fulfilled their fixture and, after losing 18-9 at Lansdowne Road, the England captain, John Pullin famously remarked 'We might not be very good but at least we turn up,'.

The early 1980s saw Rugby Union become more of an international sport, and for the first time England played Romania, Japan and the United States.

In 1980 England won the Five Nations Championship and the Grand Slam, their first for 23 years, under the inspirational captaincy of Lancastrian Bill Beaumont. But this was something of a false dawn and the remainder of the decade was not a great period for the England team. Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against Ireland at Twickenham, they had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years and at half time against Ireland they were 0-3 down. During the second half the floodgates opened and England scored a remarkable six tries in a thumping 35-3 win. Three of the tries came in quick succession from Chris Oti, a black player making his Twickenham debut. A small section of the crowd started to sing a rugby club favourite – the gospel hymn Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – in honour of their new hero. At the next home game, against Australia, a young centre named Will Carling made his debut as England captain in another rousing victory. The England team was about to embark upon a period of great success and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot became synonymous with Twickenham and the England team.

• In 1987 the first Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand - England were knocked out by Wales in the quarter finals.

• In the 1991 Rugby World Cup (hosted by England ) England lost to the New Zealand in their pool, but defeated France in the quarter-finals and Scotland in the semi-final. After being criticised for playing boring rugby, dominated by forward play and kicking, Will Carling's team switched to played a running game in the final at Twickenham Stadium against Australia but lost 12 - 6.

• In the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in, South Africa, England reached the semi-final after pool wins against Argentina, Italy and Western Samoa and a thrilling quarter-final victory (25-22) over Australia. Hopes were high for the semi-final against the All Blacks, but were soon dashed when England were taken apart by the brilliant Jonah Lomu who stormed over with four tries. England lost 29-45.

In the Five Nations Championship England returned dramatically to form in the 1990s with championship wins in 1991 (grand Slam), 1992 (Grand Slam), 1995 (Grand Slam) and 1996.

The Woodward Era

In 1997 Clive Woodward became coach of the England team inheriting a good and successful squad which included stars such as Martin Johnson, the Underwood brothers, Jeremy Guscott and Will Carling. In that year England managed to draw with the New Zealand at Twickenham. But in 1998 there was an unsuccessful tour in Australia where a drastically under-strength England suffered a humiliating 76 - 0 defeat to the Wallabies.

Under Woodward England narrowly failed to win the Five Nations Championship in 1998 and also in 1999 when they won every game, before losing 32 - 31 to Wales at Wembley Stadium.

In the 1999 Rugby World Cup, hosted by Wales, England reached the Quarter Finals despite losing to the All Blacks in the group stages. In the quarter final they were well beaten by the Springboks.

In the first Six Nations competition in 2000 (Italy were now in the tournament) , England won the championship but missed out on the Grand Slam by losing to Scotland at Murrayfield in the final game. The same happened in 2001 when they lost to Ireland at the last game at Lansdowne Road. In 2002, England were outplayed by the French who won the Grand Slam.

In 2002 England's fortunes began to change when a very young squad (captained by Phil Vickery) defeated a full-strength Argentina team in Buenos Aires in the summer. It came to be seen as a turning point in English rugby. In November under Martin Johnson, England defeated the three giants of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa at Twickenham in successive weeks. Whilst the matches against the Wallabies and the All Blacks were close the Springboks were humiliated 53-3.

In 2003 England continued to progress and won the Grand Slam for the first time since 1995. This was followed by wins over Australia, New Zealand in a pre world cup tour in June. Going into the Rugby World Cup of 2003 they were one of the favourites for the title and after some minor stumbles along the way they reached the final on 22 November 2003 when they beat Australia 20-17.

After the World Cup win, a number of players, including captain Martin Johnson announced their retirements and in the 2004 Six Nations Championship tournament, England lost to both France and Ireland and finished third - their worst performance in ten years.

At the end of August 2004, the new captain, Lawrence Dallaglio, retired from international rugby, and the coach, Sir Clive Woodward, resigned on September 2. They were replaced by Andy Robinson as coach and Jonny Wilkinson as captain. The 2005 Six Nations Championship was even more disappointing with a 4th place position after narrow losses to France, Ireland and Wales.

Current players

The 2004/5 elite squad is:

Captains

List of principal captains (others who have captained the side when these were injured are in parenthesis).

• Wavell Wakefield
• Dr Ronald Cove-Smith, Captain in 29 Internationals
• Bill Beaumont
• Paul Dodge (Richard Hill)
• Peter Winterbottom
• Will Carling
• Phil de Glanville (Jason Leonard)
• Lawrence Dallaglio (Matt Dawson, Martin Johnson, Tony Diprose)
• Martin Johnson (Neil Back, Matt Dawson, Phil Vickery, Jonny Wilkinson)
• Lawrence Dallaglio
• Jonny Wilkinson (Jason Robinson, Martin Corry)

Coaches

• Dick Greenwood
• Geoff Cooke
• Jack Rowell
• Sir Clive Woodward
• Andy Robinson

Other famous players

See also

• British and Irish Lions
• Calcutta Cup
• Churchill Cup
• Guinness Premiership
• Powergen Cup
• Rugby Football Union
• World Cup
• Six Nations Championship

External Links

• Sporting heroes.net has biographies and details of caps
• England Rugby Football Union home page
• Unofficial England Rugby Union - Fan Site
• English rugby union news from Planet Rugby

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