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| Rugby union in Ireland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Governing body | Irish Rugby Football Union |
| National team(s) | Ireland |
| First played | 1869, Dublin |
| Registered players | 153,823[1] |
| Clubs | 56 clubs affiliated to the Ulster Branch 71 clubs affiliated to the Leinster Branch 59 clubs affiliated to the Munster Branch 23 clubs affiliated to the Connacht Branch. |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
Rugby union (Irish: Aontas Rugbaí) is a popular team sport on the island of Ireland, organised on an all-Ireland basis, including players and teams from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), was founded in 1879, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland).
The Ireland national team is currently third in the World Rugby Rankings, and has won the Six Nations Championship (and its predecessor competitions) fifteen times, most recently in 2024, including four Grand Slams, the most recent being in 2023. Ireland has appeared at every men's Rugby World Cup but never advanced beyond the quarter-final.
Ireland has four professional teams, organised by the four provincial unions that make up the IRFU, Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht, who compete in the United Rugby Championship (URC), the European Rugby Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup. Munster are the most recent Irish team to win the URC in 2022–23, while Leinster are the most successful side historically. Irish provinces have had considerable success in European competition, with seven European Rugby Champions Cups and one Challenge Cup win.
At the local level, fifty club sides compete in the five divisions of the All-Ireland League, of which Cork Constitution are the current champions.
The Ireland women's rugby union team compete in the Women's Six Nations, WXV and the women's Rugby World Cup, while women's teams from Ireland compete in the IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series and the cross-border Celtic Challenge competition with sides from Scotland and Wales.[2]
- ^ "International Rugby Board - IRELAND". 3 October 2011. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ Barnes, David (21 December 2022). "Celtic Challenge to provide high-performance opportunities ahead of TikTok Six Nations". The Offside Line. Retrieved 20 November 2023.