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Like other forms of rugby football the game was developed from the rules used to play football at Rugby school in England. The crucial differences from football (soccer) are that in rugby the ball is a prolate spheroid instead of a sphere and that the players are allowed to pick the ball up and run with it. The players are also allowed to throw the ball from player to player, but unlike American football they are not allowed to throw it forward; ie the ball must only be passed sideways or backward.
Rugby union was invented in the town of Rugby, England in 1823. It has established itself as a major global sport, especially popular in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Rugby is also gaining popularity in Italy, which was accepted into the Six Nations in 2000, and Japan, despite their unsuccessful bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup, which went to New Zealand.
- 19 January, 2010: Death of Bill McLaren, internationally renowned Scottish rugby commentator.
- 21 December, 2009: Gareth Thomas's public confirmation of his sexuality makes him the first openly gay professional rugby player still playing the game.
- 22 November, 2009: Scotland's second match under new coach Andy Robinson results in a 9-8 victory over Australia, the first Scottish defeat of Australia in 27 years.
- 1 August 2009: South African captain John Smit becomes the most capped captain in history, playing in his 60th Test as captain. This was during the second match between the Springboks and the All Blacks of the 2009 Tri Nations Series.
- 18 July 2009: The 2009 Tri Nations Series gets under way with Australia playing New Zealand at Eden Park
- 10 July 2009: One of the oldest rugby competitions in the world, South Africa's Currie Cup, kicks off.
- 4 July 2009: The 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa ends with the visitors losing 2-1 to the Springboks
- 6 July: New Zealand Māori defeat Australia A 21–18 in each team's last match of the tournament to win the 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup.
- 5 July: The 2008 Tri-Nations starts with the All Blacks defeating South Africa 19–8.
- ... that Heather Moyse of the Canada women's national rugby union team (pictured) won a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in two-woman bobsleigh?
- ... that Sydney Deane, who played for New South Wales, was the first Australian to appear in a Hollywood film?
- ... that Norrie Rowan discovered the Edinburgh Vaults, and used them to help Romanian rugby player Christian Raducanu escape his country's secret police?
- ... that American sports writer Lisa Olson was the first-ever female sports columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, where she covered rugby union, Aussie Rules, cricket and rugby league?
- ... that Frank Stoker is the only rugby international to have won Wimbledon, and that his Irish colleague, James Cecil Parke also won the Davis Cup (as well as being an Olympic medallist?
- ... that Willem Ferdinand van Rheede van Oudtschoorn Bergh may hold the record for the longest name in international rugby?
- ... that Richard Burton's rugby skills were praised by Bleddyn Williams and he said that "I would rather have played for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than Hamlet at Old Vic"?
- ... that Haitian rugby player Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera was the first athlete of African origins to win an Olympic Gold?
The United States team that defeated France to win the gold medal in rugby union at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Playing rugby at school I once fell on a loose ball and, through ignorance and fear, held on despite a fierce pummelling. After that it took me months to convince my team-mates I was a coward.
Brian O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish professional rugby union player. He is the current captain of the Ireland national rugby union team, and was captain of the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 tour of New Zealand. After leading Ireland to the 2006 RBS Six Nations Triple Crown success, he was voted player of the tournament. Registered at Blackrock College RFC, he plays at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster. He is also known as BOD God or Drico.
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