Major honours
England is the country that first codified the sport's laws, and the only northern-hemisphere nation to have won the World Cup. The Rugby Football Union was formed in London in January 1871, and two months later the sport's first-ever international was played against Scotland in Edinburgh. The peak came in 2003. Clive Woodward's side won the Grand Slam that spring, beat both New Zealand and Australia on a southern-hemisphere tour, and then held off Australia 20-17 in the Sydney final with a Jonny Wilkinson drop goal moments before full time in extra time. England has reached four World Cup finals, in 1991, 2003, 2007 and 2019 — second only to New Zealand. Scrum-half Ben Youngs holds the team's cap record with 127, and the 82,000-seat Twickenham, the largest dedicated rugby stadium in the world, has carried a sponsor's name since 2024. The Premiership has the deepest playing pool in Europe, but the 2022-23 bankruptcies of Wasps and Worcester exposed how fragile its finances can be.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
The Calcutta Cup against Scotland, contested since 1879, is the oldest fixture in the sport, while Le Crunch against France and the match against Wales are the emotional peaks of the Six Nations season.