World Rugby

For the computer game of the same name, see World Rugby (video game).

World Rugby
Formation 1886
(as the International Rugby Football Board)
Type International sport federation
Headquarters Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates 53°20′13″N 6°15′08″W / 53.33694°N 6.25222°W
Region served
 Worldwide
Membership
 100 Member Unions
17 Associate Member Unions
Official language
 English, French, Spanish
Chairman
 Bernard Lapasset (2nd term)
Vice-Chairman
 Bill Beaumont
CEO
 Brett Gosper
Affiliations International Olympic Committee
Website www.worldrugby.org

World Rugby, known as the International Rugby Board or IRB between 1998 and November 2014,[1] and the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) before that, is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union football.[2] Its headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland.[3][4]

As of January 2015, World Rugby has 100 member unions and 17 associate member unions.[5]

World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition.[6] It also organises a number of other international rugby competitions, such as the Sevens World Series, World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.

World Rugby was founded as the International Rugby Football Board in 1886 by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with England joining in 1890.[7] The Southern Hemisphere unions of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa gained representation in 1948,[8] and became full members the following year.[7] France became a member in 1978 and a further 80 members joined from 1987 to 1999.[7]

In 2009 the IOC voted to include rugby sevens in the 2016 Summer Olympics.[9] The IRB, later to become World Rugby, gained membership of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations in 2010.[10]

History

The minutes of the first formal meeting of the IRFB, from a meeting attended by Lyle and McAlistair of Ireland, Carrick and Gardner of Scotland, Mullock and Lyne of Wales

Until 1885 the laws of rugby football were made by England as the founder nation. However, following a disputed try in an international between Scotland and England in 1884, letters were exchanged in which England claimed that they made the laws, and the try should stand.[8] Scotland refused to play England in the 1885 Home Nations Championship. Following the dispute, the home unions of Scotland, Ireland and Wales decided to form an international union whose membership would agree on the standard rules of rugby football. The three nations met in Dublin in 1886, though no formal regulations were agreed upon. On 5 December 1887, committee members of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Scottish Rugby Union (named the Scottish Football Union at the time) and Welsh Rugby Union met in Manchester and wrote up the first four principles of the International Rugby Football Board. England refused to take part in the founding of the IRFB, stating that they should have greater representation, as they had more clubs.[11] The England Union also refused to accept the IRFB as the recognised law maker of the game.[11] This led to the IRFB taking the stance of member countries not playing England until they joined, and no games were played against England in 1888 and 1889.[12] In 1890 England joined the IRFB, gaining six seats while the other unions had two each.[12] The same year, the IRFB wrote the first international laws of rugby union.[13]

In 1893, the IRFB was faced with the divide between amateurism and professionalism, which was nicknamed the "Great Schism". Following the introduction of working class men to the game in Northern England, clubs began paying "broken time" payments to players, due to the loss of earnings from playing on a Saturday.[14] Cumberland County Union also complained of another club using monetary incentives to lure players, leading to the IRFB conducting an enquiry. The IRFB was warned by all the chief clubs in Lancashire and Yorkshire that any punishment would lead to the clubs seceding from the union.[14] The debate of broken time payments ultimately led to the 22 leading clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire to form the Northern Rugby Football Union, a sport today known as rugby league football.[14]

England's seats on the IRFB were reduced from six to four in 1911. The Australian Rugby Union, New Zealand Rugby Football Union and South African Rugby Board joined the board with one seat each in 1948, with England's seats being reduced to two, the same as the other home nations. The three Southern Hemisphere unions were given a second seat each in 1958.[15] The French Rugby Federation was admitted in 1978 and the Argentine Rugby Union, Canadian Rugby Union, Italian Rugby Federation and Japan Rugby Football Union were admitted in 1991.[12]

It is thought that in the late 1950s the IRFB was presented with the ideas of a world championship.[16] In 1983 the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Australian Rugby Union each proposed hosting such a tournament. The following year the board committed to conduct a feasibility study. A year later there was another meeting in Paris, and the Union subsequently voted on the idea. It was the South African Rugby Board's vote that proved to be crucial in setting up a tied vote, as they voted in favour, even though they knew they would be excluded. English and Welsh votes were then changed, and the vote was won 10 to 6.[16]

Member unions

Member and Associated Unions
  Member Union
  Associated Union

As of January 2015, World Rugby has 100 full members and 17 associate members, each of which are also affiliated to one of six regional unions.[5]

Membership of World Rugby is a four-step process:[17]

  1. A Union must apply to become an associate member of its Regional Union
  2. After all membership criteria are met, including one year as an associate member, the Union is admitted to the Regional Union as a full member
  3. After completion of stages 1 and 2, and two years as a full member of a Regional Union, the Union may then apply to become an Associate member of World Rugby. As an associate member, the union can participate in World Rugby funded tournaments but not the Rugby World Cup
  4. Following two years of associate membership of World Rugby, the union may then apply to become a Full Member

Regional Unions

Six regional associations, which represent each continent, are affiliated with World Rugby and help to develop the fifteen-a-side game as well as Rugby 7's across the world. Not all members of the regional associations are members of World Rugby. Below is a list of member and associate unions and their regional associations with the year that they joined World Rugby. Associate unions are in italics.

Africa

There are 15 World Rugby members, 6 World Rugby associates, and 2 unions under World Rugby suspension:

Notes:

  1. ↑ Cameroon suspended from IRB in November 2013 due to inactivity.[18]
  2. ↑ Mauritania suspended from IRB in November 2013 due to inactivity.[18]

 * Denotes associate membership date.

Asia

Further information: Asian Rugby Football Union

There are 17 World Rugby members, and 6 World Rugby associates:[Asia 1]

Notes:

  1. ↑ The Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union was disbanded in 2010.
  2. ↑ UAE became the 100th full member of the IRB in November 2012.[19]

 * Denotes associate membership date.

Europe

Further information: Rugby Europe

There are 37 World Rugby members, 2 World Rugby associates, and 1 union under World Rugby suspension:[Euro 1]

Other unions not affiliated with World Rugby:

Notes:

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Cyprus became an associate member of World Rugby in November 2014.[20]s and
  3. ↑ Armenia was suspended from Rugby Europe in November 2014 due to inactivity.[20]

 * Denotes associate membership date.

North America

There are 11 World Rugby members, and 2 World Rugby associates:

  • The Bahamas Bahamas (1994)
  • Barbados Barbados (1995)
  • Bermuda Bermuda (1992)
  • British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands (2001*)
  • Canada Canada (1987)
  • Cayman Islands Cayman Islands (1997)
  • Guyana Guyana (1995)
  • Jamaica Jamaica (1996)
  • Mexico Mexico (2006)
  • Saint Lucia St. Lucia (1996*)
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines St. Vincent & the Grenadines (2001)
  • Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (1992)
  • United States United States (1987)

Notes:

 * Denotes associate membership date.

South America

There are 8 World Rugby members, and 1 World Rugby associate:

Notes:

 * Denotes associate membership date.

Oceania

There are 12 World Rugby members:

Participation figures

World Rugby's largest members, ranked by number of participants in 2011, are:[21]

  1. England England (1.99 million)
  2. South Africa South Africa (651,000)
  3. United States United States (458,000)
  4. France France (361,000)
  5. Australia Australia (297,000)
  6. Scotland Scotland (217,000)
  7. Ireland Ireland (154,000)
  8. New Zealand New Zealand (147,000)
  9. Argentina Argentina (126,000)
  10. Japan Japan (122,000)

Governance

Council
The Council manages and controls the affairs of World Rugby.[22] The Council formulates and oversees the implementation of World Rugby's strategic plan and application of policy decisions, and selects the host nation(s) for the Rugby World Cup. The Council considers recommendations of the General Assembly. The Council may admit or expel member nations. The Council is also the supreme legislative authority of World Rugby. Most Council decisions require approval of simple majority, but to amend the World Rugby's bye-laws, regulations, or the Laws of the Game requires approval of three quarters of the Council. The Council meets twice a year.

The Council is composed of 28 members, representing eight unions (countries) with two votes each, four unions with one vote each, and six regional associations with one vote each. Council representation and voting is composed as follows:[23]

(In total, European countries have 12 votes, Oceania countries have 5 votes, African countries have 3 votes, Asian, South American, and North American countries have 2 votes.)

Executive Committee
The Executive Committee, in accordance with bye-laws 9.14 - 9.16, ensures the effective management and operation of the World Rugby.[25] The Committee formulates and monitors the implementation of the World Rugby's strategic plan, business plan, operational plan and budget. The Executive Committee consists of 10 members elected by the Council. It is composed of the Chairman (Bernard Lapasset, France), Vice Chairman (Oregan Hoskins, South Africa), the CEO, and seven other members.[26]

General Assembly
A General Assembly of the full membership is convened every two years.[4] The General Assembly may make recommendations to the Council, and may consider business that the Council has referred to it,[27] but the General Assembly has no legislative powers.[24]

Leadership
The Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the World Rugby are elected by the Council. The current chairman is Bernard Lapasset, previously president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR). He was elected chairman effective on 1 January 2008 following the Executive Council vote on 19 October 2007. Lapasset was re-elected in December 2011 for a second term until 2016. Previous chairmen include Syd Millar (2002 to 2007) and Vernon Pugh, QC (1994 to 2002).

In July 2012, Brett Gosper was appointed as the new Chief Executive of what was then the IRB.[28]

Funding

World Rugby have recently released £18.6 million of funding over three years for developing rugby nations Canada, the USA, Japan, Romania, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Argentina will also receive additional support to enable it to retain its tier one status. The money, built up from successful World Cups, was released following a report commissioned by World Rugby highlighting the growing disparity between tier one and tier two nations. (see IRB statement). This is in addition to the £10–12 million it normally gives out grants and tournament costs. The emphasis is on three areas infrastructure, high performance units and cross border competitions.

It was announced in April 2006 that tier-3 rugby nations Georgia, Portugal, Tunisia and Russia were identified as the key investment nations over the next three years. The program is designed to increase the competitiveness of international rugby union.

Tournaments

Japan playing Tonga in the Pacific Five Nations, 2006.

Rugby World Cups

World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup, which has been held every four years since 1987, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition.[6] Despite the profitability of the Rugby World Cup, the majority of its revenues and viewers come from a small number of countries. For the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, 87% of viewers came from the Five Nations (England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland), 15% came from the Tri-Nations (South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand), with just 2% of viewers coming from all other countries.[24]

The most recent Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand in 2011. The host nation defeated France 8-7 in the final, winning their second title.

The next Rugby World Cup will be held in 2015 and hosted by England, while Japan will host the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

World Rugby also organises the Women's Rugby World Cup, also held every four years. It was first held by the IRB in 1998, though tournaments in 1991 and 1994 were retrospectively recognised in 2009. The Women's Rugby World Cup is contested by fewer teams than the men's Cup, with only the 1998 and 2002 edition featuring more than 12 teams (these competitions both had 16 teams, compared to the 20 teams in the men's Rugby World Cup).

The most recent Women's Rugby World Cup was held in France in 2014. The tournament was won by England, who beat Canada in the final 21-9.

The next event is scheduled for 2017, the four year cycle having been bought forward one year, from 2018, to ease congestion in the International Calendar. The tender process for hosting the tournament was opened on 28 November 2014.[29]

Sevens

World Rugby also organizes three international sevens tournaments - two annual Sevens Series (one for men and one for women), and a quadrennial World Cup.

Arguably the most high profile sevens competition organised by World Rugby is the HSBC Sevens World Series. Held every year, the season long series takes place over 9 legs, each held in a different country. The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, a 6-leg series similar to its male counterpart, is held for Women's sevens teams.

Both tournaments follow the same principle, points are awarded based on a teams position in each round of the series, and the team with the most points at the end of the Series is crowned champions. Following rugby sevens inclusion into the Olympics, beginning with the 2014–15 series, the series prior to an Olympic event (i.e. the series which ends in the year before the Olympics takes place) will form the first phase of Olympic qualification. When Olympic Qualification if included, the top four teams from both the men's and women's series will qualify for the Olympic Games, remaining teams will compete in regional competitions for on of the remaining places.

World Rugby also organises the quadrennial Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament, which includes both the men's and women's world cup tournaments, was originally due to be discontinued after the inclusion of rugby sevens into the Olympic Programme. However, it was later decided to retain the tournament, as it involved a significantly larger number of teams than the Olympics would, and to move the tournament so as to create a more even sevens calendar (with the major sevens events alternating every two years).

As a result, the most recent tournament was the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow, Russia. The next tournament will be held in 2018, a host is yet to be announced.

Developmental competitions

World Rugby organizes annual international competitions involving Tier 2 nations.

Junior competitions

World Rugby organizes two competitions for under-20 national teams, the World Rugby Under 20 Championship and the World Rugby Under 20 Trophy. These competitions were created following the merger of under-19 and under-21 representative teams, into an under-20 age group

Olympics

The sport of rugby union has been played at the Summer Olympics on four occasions, with the last being in 1924. The winners, and thus the reigning champions, were the U.S. team. Rugby union made one more appearance as a demonstration event but was then removed from the Games. World Rugby has most recently been very keen to see it return to the Games and is adamant that the sport (specifically referring to rugby sevens) satisfies every respect of the criteria set out in the Olympic Charter.

The main problem for reintroducing the 15-man game to the Olympics is the 7-day turnaround required by World Rugby regulations for players to rest between games. Since the Olympics only officially run for 16 days, with only slight expansions allowed to accommodate sports such as football, this effectively makes it impossible to conduct a 15s tournament within the current Olympic schedule. This limitation does not apply to sevens, as games last only 14 minutes (20 in championship finals) instead of the 80 minutes in the 15s game. All of the events in the current HSBC Sevens World Series for men and World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, which feature a minimum of 16 national teams for men and 12 for women, are conducted within a single weekend.

But in furthering the World Rugby cause, the organisation became an International Olympic Committee Recognised International Federation in 1995, marked by a ceremonial signing by President Juan Antonio Samaranch prior to a match between Wales and South Africa in Cardiff.[30]

World Rugby cites rugby union's global participation, with men playing the game in well over 100 countries and women playing in over 50 as well; the organisation's compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code; and that a rugby sevens tournament could be (and generally is) accommodated in one stadium and is relatively inexpensive to play.[30] Not only is the sevens game successful in the context of the Sevens World Series and World Cup Sevens, it is also very successfully played in the Commonwealth Games; the sevens tournament at the 2006 Games in Melbourne set all-time attendance records for a sevens tournament.

As a result of this, World Rugby applied to the International Olympic Committee for a Sevens tournament to form part of the Olympics. Subsequently, Sevens has been accepted into the Summer Olympic Games and will first be played in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Laws and regulations

The laws of rugby union are controlled by a standing Laws Committee, which is established by the World Rugby Council. The current chairman of the committee is Bill Beaumont. The Laws of the Game are formulated by World Rugby, and are then circulated by the national Unions. The official laws of the game are written in English, French, Russian and Spanish. There are variations for under-19 and Sevens rugby. There are 21 regulations in total, these regulations range from definitions, eligibility, advertising, disciplinary, anti-doping and a number of other areas. World Rugby also approves equipment, which are tested at an Approved Testing House.

Experimental law variations

In 2006, the IRB initiated proposals for variations to the laws, which were formulated and trialled initially at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Further trials were set down for 2007 and 2008. The law variations aimed to push the balance between defensive and attacking play more in favour of attacking play, and to reduce stoppages for penalties and infringements.

Anti-doping

World Rugby is compliant with the WADA code. The World Rugby anti doping programme includes testing at the under 19 and under 21 level, sevens and senior 15 a side. Testing is a mix of in-competition at World Rugby organised events, as well as out-of-competition testing, which can occur during a specified one hour time slot designated by a player. In 2003, World Cup year, the World Rugby member unions undertook approximately 3,000 tests.[31] "Keep Rugby Clean" is a campaign message run by the World Rugby Anti-Doping Manager Tim Ricketts. The programme is supported by stars such as Brian O'Driscoll.[32]

World rankings

For more details on this topic, see World Rugby Rankings.
Top 25 Rankings as 4 May 2015[33]
RankChange*TeamPoints
1 Steady  New Zealand 93.70
2 Steady  South Africa88.23
3 Steady  Ireland 85.76
4 Steady  England 85.40
5 Steady  Wales 84.07
6 Steady  Australia 82.95
7 Steady  France 79.74
8 Steady  Argentina 78.23
9 Steady  Samoa 75.39
10 Steady  Scotland 74.79
11 Steady  Japan 74.70
12 Steady  Fiji 74.57
13 Steady  Tonga 74.12
14 Steady  Georgia 72.16
15 Steady  Italy 71.85
16 Steady  United States 67.61
17 Steady  Canada 66.83
18 Steady  Romania 66.23
19 Steady  Russia 64.65
20 Steady  Uruguay 63.58
21 Steady  Spain 62.59
22 Increase1  South Korea 58.38
23 Decrease1  Namibia 58.27
24 Decrease1  Portugal 57.40
25 Steady  Belgium 56.47
*Change from the previous week

World Rugby publishes and maintains the World Rugby Rankings of the men's national rugby union teams. The concept was launched in October 2003, at the start of that year's world cup in Australia. The rankings are calculated using a Points Exchange system, whereby nations take points off each other based on a match result. Several years of research went into developing the rankings system, using an extensive database of international matches that date back to 1871.

The system's reliability is assessed in a number of objective ways, which includes predictions of current strength and responds to changes in form. The system takes into account home advantage, in that the home nation is treated as though it has an extra three rating points, effectively handicapping them, as they will gain less ranking points for a win, and lose more should they lose. In the case of a freak result, there is a maximum number of movements on the ranking that any nation can gain from one match.

If a nation does not play for a number of years they are considered dormant, and excluded from the rankings, upon returning, picking up from where they were excluded. If a nation is to merge or split, the highest rating of any of the rankings is inherited.

Currently all capped international matches are equally weighted, whether or not they take place within a competition or are played as tests; the sole exception to this is the World Cup final tournament.

Recognitions and awards

The World Rugby Awards were introduced in 2001, to honour outstanding achievements in rugby union. Prior to 2009, all of the awards were announced at an annual ceremony; the most recent such ceremony was held in London on 23 November 2008.

However, as a response to the Great Recession, the annual ceremony only saw the International Player, Team, and Coach of the Year Awards presented in 2009 and 2010; all other awards were presented at different times throughout the year. The IRB reinstated a single year-end ceremony in 2011 after the 2011 Rugby World Cup.[34] Since then, it has chosen to present some awards at times relevant to those specific prizes—such as Sevens awards after the London Sevens, the final event of the Sevens World Series, and the Junior Player award after the final of the Junior World Championship. The bulk of awards will be presented at the year-end Awards ceremony.

The current awards are:

At the year-end ceremony, the International Rugby Players' Association also hands out the following awards:

In the past, the following awards have also awarded:

The awards that recognise achievements in the preceding 12 months tend to be won by that season's most successful nation(s): France in 2002, England in 2003, South Africa in 2004, New Zealand in 2005, South Africa again in 2007. For those award categories that have nominees, a shortlist is drawn up by an independent panel of judges, who are all former internationals. The panel then reconvenes to choose a winner. The current judges are Jonathan Davies, Will Greenwood, Gavin Hastings, Michael Jones, Dan Lyle, Federico Méndez, Francois Pienaar and past Player of the Year winners Fabien Galthié and Keith Wood, with John Eales as convenor. The judges have a total of over 500 caps between them.

In 2006 an Hall of Fame was established to chronicle the achievements and special contribution of the sport's players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other individuals. The Hall of Fame was inaugurated at the 2006 IRB Awards, when William Webb Ellis and Rugby School were named as the first two inductees. Hall of Fame inductees in 2007 were Pierre de Coubertin, Danie Craven, John Eales, Gareth Edwards and Wilson Whineray. The 2008 inductees were the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team and its organiser Joe Warbrick, Jack Kyle, Melrose RFC and Ned Haig (for their roles in the invention of rugby sevens), Hugo Porta, and Philippe Sella. Since then, induction ceremonies have been held annually, except in 2010.

The last year for a single induction ceremony was 2009. Starting in 2011, ceremonies have been held at multiple locations around the world. Also, some or all of the inductions have had an overriding theme since 2009:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "IRB to change name to World Rugby" (Press release). IRB. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Souster, Mark (25 February 1998). "All in a name". The Times (London).
  3. ↑ Fagan, Jack (29 October 2014). "IRB to move to new Dublin 2 headquarters". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "IRB Organisation". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 9 July 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2006.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Handbook" (PDF). World Rugby. 2014. pp. 16–10. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Rugby World Cup History". Rugby Football History. Retrieved 14 July 2006.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 IRB 2013, pp. 15-20.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Short history of rugby". Museum of Rugby. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2006.
  9. ↑ "Putting Rugby Back in the Olympics". Rugby Football History.
  10. ↑ "Members". ASOIF.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "1880s". Rugby Football History. Retrieved 15 July 2006.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "History of the laws of rugby football". Rugby Football History. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  13. ↑ "History of the Game". rugby.com.au. Retrieved 15 July 2006.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "1890s". rugbyfootballhistory.com. Retrieved 15 July 2006.
  15. ↑ "Major team and individual sports". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "The History of RWC". worldcupweb.com. Retrieved 28 July 2006.
  17. ↑ "International Rugby Board – Year in Review 2010" (PDF). irb.com. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Indonesia becomes full member and Brunei associate member of IRB as two African unions suspended". ASOIF. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  19. ↑ "UAE become 100th full member of the IRB". RTE. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 "World Rugby gives Cyprus warm welcome but Armenia and Greece the cold shoulder". ASOIF. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  21. ↑ IRB 2011, p. 22.
  22. ↑ IRB bye-law 9, http://www.irb.com/mm/Document/AboutIRB/IRBConstitution/02/03/02/20/2030220_PDF.pdf
  23. ↑ IRB bye-law 9.1, http://www.irb.com/mm/Document/AboutIRB/IRBConstitution/02/03/02/20/2030220_PDF.pdf
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Addleshaw Goddard, Putting Rugby First, July 2008, http://www.puttingrugbyfirst.com/downloads/Putting_Rugby_First.pdf
  25. ↑ IRB bye-laws, http://www.irb.com/mm/Document/AboutIRB/IRBConstitution/02/03/02/20/2030220_PDF.pdf
  26. ↑ http://www.irb.com/aboutirb/organisation/structure/executivecommittee.html
  27. ↑ IRB bye-law 8, http://www.irb.com/mm/Document/AboutIRB/IRBConstitution/02/03/02/20/2030220_PDF.pdf
  28. ↑ http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2063233.html#gosper+appointed+irb+chief+executive
  29. ↑ Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 tender process opens
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Rugby & The Olympic Games". irb.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2006.
  31. ↑ "IRB adopts WADA code". irb.com. Archived from the original on 4 September 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2006.
  32. ↑ "Keep Rugby Clean". irb.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2006.
  33. ↑ "World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  34. ↑ "New IRB Awards presentation format" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
  35. ↑ "Nine inductees to join IRB Hall of Fame" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  36. ↑ "Stars set for glittering finale at IRB Awards" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
  37. ↑ "Chilean Rugby greats added to IRB Hall of Fame" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2012-05-26. Retrieved 2012-06-12.

Sources

External links