According to legend, the game of rugby football was "invented" by the young Englishman William Webb Ellis in 1823 when he picked up a ball during a soccer match at the Rugby School and ran with it toward the opposing goal as his surprised opponents tried to tackle him. Though this origin story is much in doubt, rugby was well-developed as a sport in Great Britain by the late 19th century. The first rugby clubs were formed in the 1830's, 40's, and 50's, with both sides agreeing to rules before each match. The first written set of rules was set down in 1845 by a group of students at Rugby, though the game initially formed from these bylaws bore little resemblance to the modern game of rugby. Rugby was, in fact, not really organized until the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded in 1871 to standardize play for all English teams. The International Rugby Board (IRB) was founded in 1886 as the world-wide governing body for rugby, and it continues in that role to this day. Rugby soon spread throughout the British Empire, reaching North America, New Zealand, and Australia as early as the 1870's. American and Canadian football are direct offshoots from rugby. Rugby Union (the original version of rugby, as distinct from a related, primarily professional game called Rugby League) originated as strictly an amateur sport and continued in this vein until 1995, when professionalization was introduced for both rugby leagues and international matches. International matches, called "tests," pitting national teams (or "sides") against one another began in 1871, when England narrowly lost to Scotland. In 1987, the Rugby World Cup (RWC) was created to determine a world champion among the various national sides. By the 1990's, a 7-man variant, or "Sevens," also became popular world-wide.

Historically, eight national sides have been considered the best in the world--New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa, France, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. These "Great Eight" are automatically included in every World Cup, and are often ranked 1-8 by the IRB. Though the Southern Hemisphere teams have generally performed better over the last twenty years, France and England have both reached the RWC finals, and England won the title in 2003. Recent challengers to this elite group have included Argentina, Italy, Canada, and Samoa. Argentina has particularly performed well of late, recently upsetting England on its home field. Immediately after these four is a third tier of teams comprising the United States, Tonga, Japan, Fiji, Romania, and Uruguay. All-in-all, 95 countries have national sides that are recognized by the IRB.

There are a variety of test series that pit national sides against one another. Often, one or more teams will go on tour and play several other national sides in test matches. For example, the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australia Wallabies might travel to Europe and play Wales, England and France. These are essentially exhibitions, as they are not regularly scheduled and do not count toward any championship. Other series of tests are regularly scheduled and are played for a cup or trophy. In addition to the RWC (held every four years), the Six Nations tournament is played yearly between Northern Hemisphere teams England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, and Italy to determine a European national champion. The Tri Nations tournament similarly annually pits South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia against each other for bragging rights in the Southern Hemisphere. An all-star team from Ireland and Great Britain, called the "British Lions," has also periodically toured the Southern Hemisphere. Over the years, several attempts at a pan-pacific championship have been instituted with varying degrees of success, as have pan-American test series.

The Rugby World Cup is held every four years in various locations. The sixth edition of the RWC will begin this year in September, with matches being played primarily in France, though select matches will also be played in Scotland and Wales. The current version of the RWC pits 20 teams in 4 pools, with each team playing a round-robin format within its pool. The top two finishers in each pool advance to the quarterfinals. The United States qualified for the 2007 RWC, and has been placed in Pool A with England, South Africa, Samoa, and Tonga. The first RWC was held in 1987, when the host New Zealand All Blacks defeated France for the title. Subsequent RWC winners (and hosts) were: 1991-Australia (England), 1995-South Africa (South Africa), 1999-Australia (Wales), 2003-England (Australia). For more information on the RWC, go to www.rugbyworldcup.com

There are a great number and variety of rugby union leagues (or tournaments, as they are often called) throughout the world. Some of the more prestigious are the Guinness Premiership, the Heineken Cup, the EDF Energy Cup, the Euro Challenge Cup, the Currie Cup, and the Air New Zealand Cup. Perhaps the most famous current tournament is the Super 14, where 14 of the top teams from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand compete for the top prize. The United States has its own "premiere" league, the Super League, though its quality of rugby remains lower than the European and Southern Hemisphere tournaments.

Rugby has a long history in the United States, having been played here since the 19th century. In fact, many universities banned American football during the early part of the 20th century and replaced it with rugby, which was considered a safer game. The United States won two Olympic golds in the sport during the 1920's (and the US is actually still the defending Olympic champion, since rugby was dropped soon after), though this "national" side was in reality primarily a combined Cal-Stanford squad. Rugby is now widely played throughout the United States (particularly in California where weather is never really a deterrent) at both the university and club level. The USA Eagles (our national side) is currently considered a second-tier squad, often qualifying for the World Cup, but not usually performing well against the top national sides. Even so, the Eagles have put up some strong showings on occasion, beating Canada numerous times and narrowly losing to Australia and Wales in the 1990's and South Africa in 2001. The Eagles have also done well against teams such as Argentina and the Pacific Island nations. Several problems prevent the Eagles from developing into a dominant side: the lack of money to adequately pay players and, hence, a lack of professional players; the travel costs and other difficulties associated with such a large country; the lack of media exposure; a relatively undeveloped tradition of youth programs; often contentious internal politics; and the relative inexperience of our national players, who usually grow up playing other sports. Still, the United States is widely considered by the rugby world to be a "sleeping giant" due to our massive population base, and rugby continues to grow here, at least on an amateur level.