History
The legendary story about the origin of Rugby football, whereby a young man named William Webb Ellis "took the ball in his arms (ie caught the ball) and ran" while playing football at Rugby School is almost certainly a complete fiction. Sports historians have dismissed the story as unlikely since an official investigation by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895. However, the trophy for the Rugby Union World Cup bears the name of "Webb Ellis" in his honour, and a plaque at the school 'commemorates' the 'achievement'.

Playing football has a long tradition in England and football games had probably taken place at Rugby School for two hundred years before three boys published the first set of written rules in 1845. Until the formation of the Football Association (FA) in October 1863 each football team would agree on a set of rules with opponents before a match. Teams which competed against each other regularly would tend to agree to play a similar style of football.

Rugby football has a claim to the world's first "football club", formed as Guy's Hospital Football Club, London in 1843, by Rugby School old boys. A number of other clubs formed to play games based on the Rugby School rules with Dublin University Football Club being the world's oldest surviving football club having been formed in 1854 and currently playing rugby in the All Ireland League Division One.

Blackheath Rugby Club was founded in 1858 and is the oldest continuously-existing rugby club in England. It was a founding member of the The Football Association. When it became clear that the FA would not agree to rules which allowed 'hacking' and 'hacking over' (fundamental parts of the rugby game), Blackheath withdrew from the FA just over a month after the initial meeting. Other rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA.

For the next few years rugby clubs continued to agree rules before the start of each game as they had always done, but on January 26, 1871, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) formed, leading to the standardisation of the rules for all clubs in England that played a variety of the Rugby School laws. Soon most countries with a sizable rugby community had formed their own national unions. In 1886, the International Rugby Board (IRB) become the world governing and law-making body for rugby. The RFU recognised it as such in 1890.

The introduction of Rugby Football Union into New Zealand was by Charles John Monro, son of Sir David Monro, who was then speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. The younger Monro had been sent to Christ's College, East Finchley in north London, England. That school had adopted rugby rules and Monro became an enthusiatic convert. He brought the game back to his native Nelson, and arranged the first rugby match between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club on May 14, 1870

In North America, rugby developed into American football and into Canadian football.

The 1890s saw a clash of cultures within the game, between working men's rugby clubs of northern England and the southern clubs of gentleman, a dispute revolving around the nature of professionalism within the game. On August 29, 1895 22 clubs split from the RFU and met at the George Hotel in Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union, commonly called the Northern Union. NRFU rules gradually diverged from those of rugby union, although the name rugby league did not become official until the Northern Rugby League formed in 1901. The name Rugby Football League dates from 1922.

A similar schism open up in Australia and other rugby playing nations. Initially rugby league in Australia operated under the same rules as rugby union. But after a tour by a professional New Zealand team in 1907 of Australia and Great Britain; and an Australian Rugby League tour of Great Britain the next year; rugby league teams in the southern hemisphere adopted rugby league rules.

For clarity and convenience it became necessary to differentiate the two codes of rugby. The code played by those teams who remained in national organisations which were members of the IRB became known as "rugby union". The code played by those teams which played "open" rugby and allowed professionals became known as "rugby league". Although the IRB claimed to be enforcing the amateur status of rugby union, many referred to the situation as "shamateurism".

On August 26, 1995 the IRB declared rugby union an "open" game and removed all restrictions on payments or benefits to those connected with the game. ". The move from amateurism to professionalism has been one of great success and has undoubtedly increased the quality of rugby being played. However, professionalism has meant a huge increase in the gap between the top nations and the second tier. Alongside the success stories there have been some famous rugby clubs which have not coped well with the new era.

he International Rugby Board has 96 Unions and 5 regional Associations. The rugby-playing world often sees a distinction between the Northern hemisphere and the Southern hemisphere teams. After decades of domination by New Zealand, South Africa, and more recently Australia, England under Clive Woodward succeeded in turning the rugby world upside down by regularly beating the three Southern Hemisphere giants culminating in 2003 when they beat Australia in the final of the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup. New Zealand and France also reached the semifinals.

Teams
International teams
The major international teams (represented on the IRB) are:
Argentina (nicknamed Los Pumas)
Australia (nicknamed The Wallabies)
England logo is the English rose
France (nicknamed Les Bleus also Les Coqs or Les Tricolores)
Ireland logo is a shamrock
Italy (nicknamed The Azzurri)
Japan - the Cherry Blossoms
New Zealand (nicknamed The All Blacks)
Scotland logo is a Scottish thistle
South Africa (nicknamed The Springboks)
Wales (nicknamed The Dragons)
See also:

Rugby Union World Cup
Main article: Rugby Union World Cup
Men's and women's versions of the Rugby World Cup take place every four years.

Previous winners of the men's tournament have been New Zealand in 1987 (the first year the competition was held), Australia in 1991 and 1999, South Africa in 1995 and England in 2003. The next world cup will be held in France in 2007, with New Zealand hosting the tournament in 2011.

International matches between two national teams are called Tests.

Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual competition involving England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Each country plays the other five once. The modern tournament traces its roots to the first ever international game, when England lost by one goal to Scotland at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh in 1871. In the 1880s, Wales and Ireland joined to create the Home International Championships. France joined the tournament in the 1900s and in 1910 the term Five Nations first appeared. However, the Home Nations (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) excluded France in 1931 amid a run of poor results, allegations of professionalism (rugby union was officially amateur until 1995) and concerns over on-field violence. France then rejoined in 1939-1940, though World War II halted proceedings for a further eight years. France has played in all the tournaments since WWII, the first one of which was played in 1947. In 2000, Italy became the sixth nation in the contest.

If a team wins all five of their games they achieve a Grand Slam.
If one of the Home Nations beats the other three, this is called the "Triple Crown".
The Calcutta Cup is contested in the annual Six Nations match between England and Scotland.
The winner of England and Ireland's match receives the Millennium Trophy
The team finishing bottom is said to have won the "Wooden Spoon".
Wales won the Grand Slam (and, therefore, the Triple Crown and the overall championship) in 2005, and Italy was left with the Wooden Spoon.

Tri Nations Series
The Tri Nations Series is an annual international rugby union series held between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The series is played on a home and away basis with the three nations playing each other twice. However, starting in 2006, there will be a new system in which each nation will play the others three times.

Since the inception of the Tri Nations in 1996, the games played between Australia and New Zealand also determine the winner of the Bledisloe Cup each year. The Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate, scheduled every two years between Australia and South Africa, may in the future also be contested annually within the Tri Nations.

Other tournaments
Super 14 — teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
National Provincial Championship (NPC) — New Zealand provincial tournament
Ranfurly Shield — New Zealand provincial challenge trophy
Currie Cup — South African provincial tournament
English Rugby Union competitions — includes Guinness Premiership and National Division 1.
Powergen Cup — English and Welsh clubs knock-out tournament
Celtic League — provincial/regional teams from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
Ligue Nationale de Rugby — French clubs
Super 10 (Italian premiership) — Italian clubs
Heineken Cup — European club, provincial and regional teams
European Challenge Cup and European Shield — European club, provincial and regional teams knock-out tournament
Top League - Japanese club teams
Colonial Cup — Fiji club competition
Churchill Cup — Canada, England, and the United States, with one invited team. From 2006, the tournament is to expand to include 3 invited teams.
In this competition, England does not send its full national side, instead sending its "senior A" team. The invited teams are likewise to be senior A-caliber teams from among the European and Southern hemisphere powers.
European Nations Cup — national teams from second tier countries
Pacific Tri-Nations — Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa
Pan-American Championship — Uruguay, Canada, United States and Argentina
Super Powers Cup — Canada, Japan, Russia and United States
Rugby World Cup Sevens — Sponsored by the IRB, and held every four years, this is the highest prize in the

Sevens version of the game.
World Sevens Series — Annual IRB-sponsored series of tournaments for national Sevens teams.
Ulster Schools Cup — Annual Schools competition
Craven Week — Annual South Africa schools competition
Rosslyn Park Sevens — Biggest Sevens competition in England
Bingham Cup — Held every two years, this is the largest international gay rugby tournament and honours 9/11 hero, Mark Bingham

International trophies
Antim Cup — Georgia and Romania
Bledisloe Cup — Australia and New Zealand
Calcutta Cup — England and Scotland
Cook Cup — Australia and England
Freedom Cup — New Zealand and South Africa
Gallaher Cup — France and New Zealand
Hopetoun Cup — Australia and Scotland
Lansdowne Cup — Australia and Ireland
Mandela Challenge Plate — Australia and South Africa
Millennium Trophy — England and Ireland
Puma Trophy — Argentina and Australia
Trophée des Bicentenaires — Australia and France