The English Rugby Union National Team is the representative of the English rugby union in tests and championships such as Six Nations and the Rugby Union World Cup, of which it was champion in 2003.
The team’s history began in 1871 when the English rugby union had its first official match, in which it lost to Scotland.
Story: The First Game
Students from private schools in the town of Rugby spread the game in the first half of the 19th century. They took him to the universities (forming a club in Cambridge in 1839 ), to London (where the Blackheath club was founded in the 1860s ) and to the English provinces of Manchester and Liverpool. The first game in English history was against Scotland on March 27, 1871. The game was not only the first of the English but the first international rugby union game in history. The match was played at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh, Scotland. Scotland won with a score of 4-1 with an audience of 4 000 people.
Championships: Six Nations
With the advent of the creation of the Five Nations championship ( Five Nations ) in 1883, Britain has to maintain the hegemony of rugby union winning the first championship (won the first two, and shared the title with Scotland in the third). Similar success was achieved in the early twentieth century, with the English victory in 10 editions of the championship (two of them shared) from 1910 to 1930 (the 1915 to 1919 championships did not occur due to World War I ). Eight of the ten titles were Grand Slams, demonstrating how unbeatable the English were in the field. From 1931 to1939, the English won four more titles. The Six Nations Cup is played every year, and England is their biggest winner, completing most of the Grand Slams.
World Cup Performance
The best result England have ever achieved was their recent title when they beat the Australians at home in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup final . Jonny Wilkinson’s performance was decisive for the English victory.