🏉Competitions

Rugby union's pinnacle, contested every four years by 20 nations across a six-week tournament. First held in 1987 and won by New Zealand, it has produced the sport's defining moments — Mandela and the Springboks in 1995, Wilkinson's drop goal in 2003, South Africa's one-point run to a record fourth title in 2023. Winning it defines a generation of players and can transform a nation's relationship with the game. France 2023 drew around 2.4 million spectators, and the tournament is the financial engine that funds World Rugby and the global development of the sport.

The northern hemisphere's flagship, and the oldest international tournament in the sport, tracing to the 1883 Home Nations Championship. England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy — the last added in 2000 to make it the Six Nations — play a round-robin each spring, with a side that beats all five rivals winning the coveted Grand Slam. Steeped in rivalry, tradition and packed stadiums from Twickenham to the Stade de France, it is the best-supported annual event in the game and, for the European nations, a prize second only to the World Cup itself.

The southern hemisphere's premier international tournament, contested by New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina. It began in 1996 as the Tri Nations between the first three and expanded in 2012 to include the Pumas, reflecting Argentina's rise. Shorter and more intense than the Six Nations, it pits three of the most successful nations in World Cup history against one another home and away, and features the Bledisloe Cup between the All Blacks and Wallabies. The standard of play is ferocious, and the tournament has long been a proving ground for the sides that dominate World Cups.

Rugby's most romantic institution: a composite team drawn from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales that tours New Zealand, South Africa or Australia once every four years. Dating to 1888, the Lions unite four rival nations behind one jersey for a gruelling series of midweek and Test matches, and selection is among the greatest honours in the sport. Series wins are rare and revered — the 1971 triumph in New Zealand and the 1997 win in South Africa are legendary — and a Lions tour, with its travelling 'Sea of Red' support, is a commercial and cultural event unlike anything else in world rugby.

The premier club competition in Europe, launched as the Heineken Cup in the 1995-96 season at the dawn of professionalism. It gathers the leading clubs from England's Premiership, France's Top 14 and the United Rugby Championship into a knockout-based contest for the title of European champion. Toulouse, Leinster and the great English and French clubs have made it a showcase of the club game's highest quality, and a Champions Cup final is one of the biggest occasions on the club calendar. Winning it is the ultimate ambition for any European professional side.

The richest and arguably strongest domestic league in world rugby, France's top division dates back to the first French club championship in 1892 and took its current 14-team format in 2005. Backed by wealthy owners and passionate regional support in cities like Toulouse, Clermont and La Rochelle, the Top 14 attracts many of the world's best players with its salary power, and its climax is a season-ending playoff and a final that fills the Stade de France. Its financial muscle makes it a magnet for southern hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere stars alike and a barometer of the club game's economics.

The leading club and franchise competition of the southern hemisphere, launched in 1996 as Super 12 alongside professionalism and expanded over the years before reshaping into Super Rugby Pacific. It brings together provincial and franchise teams from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific islands, including Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika, in a fast, attacking style that has long developed the players who fill All Black and Wallaby ranks. New Zealand's Crusaders are the competition's dominant dynasty, and the tournament remains the professional heartbeat of southern hemisphere club rugby.