The Wales national rugby union team () represent Wales in international rugby union. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 26 times outright, joint-first with England. Wales’ most recent championship win came in 2013. They also compete in the Rugby World Cup every four years. The International Rugby Board (IRB) regards Wales as a Tier One rugby nation. The governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. Wales’ performances in the Home Nations Championship (now the Six Nations) continued to improve, experiencing their first ‘golden age’ between 1900 and 1911. They first played New Zealand, known as the All Blacks, in 1905, when they defeated them 3–0 in a famous match at Cardiff Arms Park. Welsh rugby struggled between the first and second World Wars, but experienced a second ‘golden age’ between 1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships. They played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where they achieved their best ever result of third. Following the professionalisation of rugby in 1995, Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup and, in 2005, won their first-ever Six Nations Grand Slam. That was the first Grand Slam won by a team playing most of the matches away from home. Wales won two two more Grand Slams in 2008 and in 2012, and in 2011 came fourth in the Rugby World Cup. Their home ground is the Millennium Stadium, completed in 1999 to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park. Eight former former Welsh players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, and ten into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.
