Rugby was established in the UK. It is difficult to establish the exact year. However, we know it was in the early 1800s. Most of us accept the year assigned by The Football Association which is 1862 as the first organized and actual football game. But, there are records of townspeople playing a game that seems to be rugby as early as the 1500s.
Rugby
Rugby got its start at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England in 1823. They were playing the UK version of Football when William Webb Ellis decided to pick up the ball and run with it. Some folks take issue with this historical account, but since the Rugby World Cup Trophy is now named “The Webb Ellis Cup” that seems to be enough for most people to agree.
The Rugby game is a cross between the UK football game and the Canadian Football Game. The ball is the oblong football rather than the round UK football and the match is 80 minutes, 2 halves of 40-minutes each with a 10-minute half-time break. You can click here to compare the two sports.
Rugby Wins That Nobody Expected!
We just cannot talk about unexpected rugby events without mentioning the recent Leicester City Premier League Championship. Leicester City, with odds of 5,000/1 was crowned Premier League champions after Tottenham failed to beat Chelsea. Leicester’s win has caught the country off-guard and has been described as the “most unlikely triumph in the history of team sports”. No one was more surprised than the bookies! With odds like that they were not expecting the people who were willing to lay down their money on their favorite team. This ended up costing the bookies millions!
Who doesn’t want to see the “little guy” take their place in the spotlight sometimes? We all get excited when we hear of an “underdog” who beat the odds and came out a winner.
The experts and our friends at Lottoland know a thing or two about odds. They are the UK’s largest offshore and online betting company. They have more than 6,000 clients who come to them to bet on lotteries, sports, races, and play casino-type games. This story caught their attention. For more odds, here is an article by Lottoland that you are sure to enjoy.
2015 Rugby World Cup
Japan vs South Africa
This was not expected to be a close match. Japan was competing with the mighty, South Africa. This match went down in history as one of the greatest rugby upsets of all time. Japan was expected to do well. They were expected to maybe win a trophy and perhaps to win third place if they were lucky. However, South Africa was the clear favorite.
Experienced South Africa seemed to overlook the “fight back” that was rising during the second half. Karne Hesketh took action and he was luckier than a lottery winner. He executed the winning play and that sent fans of Japan into orbit! The team that had won only a single World Cup game before this game, left Springboks licking their wounds. Japan won the game over South Africa, 34-32, and won the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
1991
Samoa takes on Wales
Millennium Stadium
Everyone expected a good game, and everyone expected Wales to be victorious. Wales had been through some minor setbacks recently, but nothing that would be of concern for this match. Nothing had prepared the fans or the team for what was coming.
October 6, 1991, the proud nation of Wales was taken totally off guard by the “underdog”, the Western Samoan team. It was a World Cup pool match at Cardiff Arms Park, which Wales had fully expected to win. The result meant that they failed to make it out of their group.
In 1999, Wales once again went down to the South Sea Islands, which were then competing solely as Samoa. It was the World Cup again, and Wales were the hosts, so after the last two failures, they were determined to do better. Graham Henry was the coach and Rob Howley captain. Sadly, they were defeated with a score of 31-38.
2007
Argentina Defeats France
Paris, France
France was happy to entertain the thought of winning over Argentina on the home turf in 2007, but that was not how things were going to turn out. Argentina took the lead early. Ignacio Corleto scored the only try in the 27th minute. However, Contepomi missed the conversion and hit the post. At half-time, the score was Argentina – 17, France – 9 with all of France’s points coming from penalties scored by David Skrela.
France did better in the second half, but Argentina held a strong defense. They were not able to close the lead enough when Skrela scored his fourth penalty of the match in the 60th minute. Skrela and Frederick Michalak (his replacement) both missed penalties and that destroyed the chances for France to create a comeback. It is the first time that the French has lost in the pool stages of the World Cup.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup Pools
Fans have been waiting to find out when the 2023 Rugby World Cup Pools will begin, Well, wait no more, we have that information right here.
Below you will find the full 2023 Rugby World Cup Pools. The 2023 RC will take place from 8, September to 21, October. They will take place at nine venues.
Pool A: New Zealand, France, Italy, Americas 1, and Africa 1.
Pool B: South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Asia / Pacific 1, and Europe 2.
Pool C: Wales, Australia, Fiji, Europe 1, and Final Qualifier Winner.
Pool D: England, Japan, Argentina, Oceania 1 and America 2.
The All Blacks have won the Rugby World Cup three times: the inaugural competition in 1987 and both titles in 2011 and 2015.
Rugby is an exciting sport and millions of fans all over the world follow their favorite teams. One of the reasons fans are so drawn to rugby is because it takes everything a player has. You can never predict what will happen in a match because you never know when a player will pull out a new skill or a burst of energy that will change everything. This promises to be an exciting year for the sport, so whatever you do, don’t look away. In a moment’s time, you can miss everything.
