Scotland national rugby league team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scotland
Shirt badge/Association crest
Association Scotland Rugby League
Region Europe
Captain Flag of Scotland Richard Fletcher
RLIF ranking 11th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
National Uniform
First international
Flag of Ireland Ireland 6 - 26 Scotland Flag of Scotland
(Dublin, Ireland; 6 August 1996)
Biggest win
Flag of France France 20 - 42 Scotland Flag of Scotland
(Perpignan, France; 3 July 2001
Biggest defeat
Flag of Ireland Ireland 43 - 10 Scotland Flag of Scotland
(Dublin, Ireland; 29 October 2004)
World Cup
Appearances 1 (First in 2000)
Best result Round 1, 2000

There are two Scottish rugby league teams selected: Scotland and Scotland A. Both run under the joint auspices of the Rugby Football League and Scotland Rugby League. The Scotland team is predominantly second-generation professional players, born and bred in England, whereas the Scotland A team (nicknamed "the Bravehearts") is selected from the Scottish domestic competition which comprises six teams.

Contents

[edit] History

The history of rugby league in Scotland goes back to 1909 when the touring Australian team played a match against England at Celtic Park, Glasgow. As football and, to lesser extent, rugby union were already well established in Scotland, rugby league did not make much of an impact, and until recently all Scottish rugby league players were converts from union. Only fourteen Scottish players made this switch prior to the introduction of professionalism in rugby union. The most famous of whom was Dave Valentine, who captained Great Britain to World Cup victory in 1954. In 1995, the full Scottish national team made its debut, losing narrowly to Ireland and later playing in the Emerging Nations section of the 1995 World Cup. Captained by Alan Tait they beat Russia and USA, before going down to eventual winners, the Cook Islands.

The Scottish team was given full international status in 1996, which meant they were allowed to select as many professionals as they wished using the grandparent ruling, and subsequently took part in two very closely contested European Nations’ tournaments with France and Ireland. Since 2002, Scotland A has participated in the Amateur Four Nations competition and toured Italy, the Netherlands and Serbia. Scotland has participated in the 2000 World Cup and the European Nations Cup (since 2003) competitions.

[edit] World Cup 2008

Scotland successfully qualified for the World Cup following a play-off defeat to Wales, 16–18. Having won the first leg, Scotland progressed on aggregate, and will play in Group B, with games against Fiji and France.

[edit] Results

[edit] Scotland

Scotland Jersey
Scotland Jersey

[edit] Scotland A

[edit] Super League World Nines Results

  • Scotland def. USA 12-6 (2006)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links