Rugby Union in Wales

Rugby Union In Wales

Rugby union is the national sport of Wales and is considered a large part of national culture. Rugby is thought to have reached Wales in the 1850s, with the national body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) being formed in 1881. The national team play at the WRU-owned Millennium Stadium, and compete annually in the Six Nations Championship, as well as having competed at every Rugby World Cup. Wales are ranked as a tier-1 nation by the International Rugby Board (IRB). The main domestic competition in Wales is the RaboDirect Pro12 (historically the Celtic League), in which Wales have four sides in the competition which is also contested by Irish and Scottish clubs and from 2010-11 Italian teams. Top-level Welsh teams also compete in the Europe-wide Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup and alongside the teams of England's Aviva Premiership in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Wales also competes as one of the 12 "core teams" in the annual IRB Sevens World Series, and won the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Beneath the Pro12, club rugby is represented by over 200 WRU affiliated clubs who play in the Welsh Premier Division and the lower Welsh Divisional leagues. Historically the four major Welsh club teams that have shaped the Welsh national team have been Cardiff, Newport, Swansea and Llanelli, though other clubs which have fought for prominence and provided national sporting heroes during the last 120 years include Bridgend, Neath, Pontypool, Pontypridd, and England exiles London Welsh. Six of the 12 Premier Division clubs compete in the British and Irish Cup, a competition for semi-professional and developmental sides from Great Britain and Ireland.