Australian Rugby Union

Rugby union is one of Australia’s most popular sports. The game was first played in Australia in 1864 at Sydney University, and it only took 35 years until the men’s Australian rugby union team was formed.

The men’s Australian rugby team is known as the Wallabies. The team plays in the traditional Australian colours of green and gold and it is widely considered to be one of the most successful rugby teams of all time. The Wallabies have won the Rugby World Cup twice and they’ve won the Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri Nations) on four occasions. As a result of the success of the Australian rugby team, more than a dozen former Australian rugby team players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

The Australian rugby union team has a fierce rivalry with the New Zealand national rugby team. The two teams compete for the Bledisloe Cup on an annual basis and the rivalry has certainly caught the attention of the public. In 2000, 109,874 spectators turned out in Sydney to see the Australian rugby team fall to a narrow defeat to their adversaries. To this day, the attendance remains a Guinness World Record.

The women’s Australian rugby union team has represented the country officially since 1994. The team is known as the Wallaroos and they’ve taken part in the Women’s Rugby World Cup on six occasions. Unlike the men’s team, they’ve never won the tournament, although they did finish third in 2010.

At the domestic level, top Australian rugby teams represent the country in Super Rugby, which is a multi-regional competition across the southern hemisphere. Australia enters five teams: the Brumbies of the Australian Capital Territory, the Melbourne Rebels, the Queensland Reds, the New South Wales Waratahs and the Western Force from Perth. A top level women’s competition called the Super W also launched in 2018.

Read on to discover the latest Australian rugby news, including all the latest fixtures and news about your favourite Australian rugby team players.