| ||||||
| Team information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Dragons | |||||
| Governing body | Wales Rugby League | |||||
| Region | Europe | |||||
| Head coach | John Kear[1] | |||||
| Captain | Elliot Kear[2] | |||||
| Most caps | Rhys Williams (33)[3] | |||||
| Top try-scorer | Rhys Williams (22)[3] | |||||
| Top point-scorer | Iestyn Harris (165)[3] | |||||
| IRL ranking | 17th | |||||
| Uniforms | ||||||
| ||||||
| Team results | ||||||
| First international | ||||||
 Wales 9–8 New Zealand  (Aberdare, Wales; 1 January 1908) | ||||||
| Biggest win | ||||||
 United States 4–92 Wales (Philadelphia, United States; 11 June 1995) | ||||||
| Biggest defeat | ||||||
 England 74–0 Wales (Doncaster, England; 10 October 2008) | ||||||
| World Cup | ||||||
| Appearances | 5 (first time in 1975) | |||||
| Best result | Semi-finals (1995, 2000) | |||||
The Wales national rugby league team represents Wales in representative rugby league football matches. Currently the team is ranked 17th in the IRL World Rankings. The team was run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League, but an independent body, Wales Rugby League, now runs the team from Cardiff. Six Welsh players have been entered into the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame.
As with other Welsh national sporting teams, Wales strip has been primarily red. However, in the World Cup campaign in 2000 they wore a shirt featuring the Welsh flag, adding a touch of green and white. The team is known as "The Dragons" and so the team's logo on the shirt is a red dragon.
The team date back to 1907, making them the third oldest national side after England and New Zealand, and it was a touring New Zealand side that Wales first played against in 1908, winning 9–8 at Aberdare. Since then, Wales have regularly played England, since 1935 France, as well as welcomed the touring Australia and New Zealand teams, although they rarely toured themselves, not playing a match in the Southern Hemisphere until 1975. For 26 years Wales competed against their two biggest rivals, England and France, in the European Nations Cup, winning the trophy four times.
Wales has also competed in the World Cup on five occasions, the first time being in 1975. In 1995 and 2000 they had their most successful tournaments to date, making the Semi-Finals on both occasions before being beaten by England and Australia respectively. Wales failed to qualify for the 2008 World Cup, being the second highest ranked side not to do so, having lost to Scotland on points difference over two matches. They then qualified for the 2013 World Cup but failed to win a game, including losing 32–16 to low ranked Italy in their opening game at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
In recent seasons, Wales has taken massive strides under former player Iestyn Harris who had coached Wales to back to back European Cup successes, which culminated in a Four Nations appearance in 2011. In 2014 former England and France coach John Kear became the new head coach after Iestyn Harris left the post to concentrate on his new job as head coach at Salford Red Devils.
- ^ "John Kear to remain as head coach of Wales". Wales Rugby League. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "Elliot Kear named Wales captain". Wales Rugby League. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ a b c "Wales - Players". Rugby League Project.