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The Irish rugby union team, as the highest level of Rugby Union in Ireland , representing both political entities on the island of Ireland in the sport of rugby union, a popular sport throughout Ireland although the dominant one only in limited geographical areas. Ireland compete annually in the Six Nations Championship (which they have won 10 times outright and of which they have shared the championship eight times) and in the Rugby World Cup every four years where they have been eliminated at the quarter-final stage in all but one competition. They also form a quarter of the British And Irish Lions . Historically, Ireland have been the weakest of the rugby union Home Nations , with just a single Grand Slam to their name in 1948 and a regular recipient of the Wooden Spoon in the predecessor tournaments to the Six Nations. However, Irish rugby union is widely acknowledged to have made the transition to professionalism more successfully than other middle-ranking rugby powers and Ireland have churned out solid, if not spectacular, results in the 2000s with outside centre Brian O'Driscoll regarded as one of the finest three-quarters currently playing. As of March 2006 , Ireland are ranked fifth in the world, ahead of England , and behind only New Zealand , South Africa , France and Australia . International Rugby Board World Rankings , retrieved March 28, 2006 THE MEN IN GREEN The Ireland national rugby union team is and the Republic Of Ireland . Today the team plays home games at Lansdowne Road in Dublin but in the past they have played home games in Belfast in Northern Ireland. For approximately five years there was a second union, the Northern Football Union of Ireland, but in 1879 the two unions resolved their differences and merged. Ireland play in the Six Nations Championship . They have only won one Grand Slam but have won the Triple Crown eight times, most recently in 2006 . However, they have received the Wooden Spoon for finishing bottom of the Championship table on thirty occasions. There are around 15,000 seniors and around 45,000 juniors playing rugby in Ireland. Outstanding players have included Jackie Kyle , architect of Ireland's only Grand Slam to date; Mike Gibson , Willie John McBride , Fergus Slattery and Malcolm O'Kelly , who have all won over sixty International caps; Keith Wood , who won the inaugural IRB World Player of the Year Award in 2001 ; and Brian O'Driscoll , who is regarded as one of the top centres in the world today. The side wears the traditional Irish green shirt and white shorts at all its home games. The change strip is a reversal of those colors: white top with darker forest green shorts. As of 2005 the strip is made by Canterbury Of New Zealand and bears the sponsorship of Permanent TSB . HISTORY Early years Caid is an ancient sport played in Ireland with strong similarities to rugby, it was played within a defined space and between a predetermined number of players. However rugby does not seem to have evolved out of caid. Trinity College, Dublin claims to be one of the oldest rugby clubs in Ireland, having been formed in 1854 . The influence of students returning from public schools in England, specifically Cheltenham and Rugby seems to have been critical. By 1867, Trinity second XV were playing matches against St. Columba’s College and Hume High Street, two Leinster schools and, importantly for the game in the north of the country, Royal School, Dungannon. Following the adoption of a set of official rules in 1868, rugby football began to spread quickly throughout Ireland. In 1874, the Irish Football Union (reconstituted as the Irish Rugby Football Union after unification with the North of Ireland Union) was formed. Ireland lost their first test match against England 7-0 at the Oval on the 15th February 1875 , but it was not until 1881 that they first won a test, against Scotland at Ormeau in Belfast. Ireland turned up two men short for their game in Cardiff in 1884 and had to borrow a couple of Welsh players. In 1894 for the first time, Ireland followed the Welsh model of using seven backs instead of six. They went on to win the Home International Championship three times before the old century was out (1894, 1896 and 1899), so that by 1900 all four of the Home Unions had tasted success at a game that was growing in popularity with players and spectators. In the 1890s Rugby was primarily a game for the Protestant middle class, the only Catholic in Edmund Forrest’s 1894 team was Tom Crean. Of the eighteen players used in the three games, thirteen were from three Dublin clubs –Wanderers, Dublin University and Bective Rangers – and the remaining five were from Ulster. In 1926 Ireland went into their final Five Nations match unbeaten and with the Grand Slam at stake lost to Wales in Swansea. Post war Ireland's finest hour arguably came in 1948 when, inspired by tactician and fly-half Jack Kyle , they clinched their only Grand Slam in the Five Nations with a win against Wales at Ravenhill, Belfast. Ireland were champions and Triple Crown winners again in 1949. In 1951 were unbeaten going into their final game but failed to win the Grand Slam following a draw with Wales in Cardiff, they were, however, outright winners. In 1969 they were again unbeaten going into their final game in Cardiff but Wales denied them a Grand Slam for the third time. The 1972 Five Nations Championship was not completed when Scotland and then Wales refused to play in Ireland following threatening letters to players, purportedly from the IRA . The championship remained unresolved with Wales and Ireland unbeaten. In 1973, despite similar threats, England fulfilled their fixture and, after losing 18-9 at Lansdowne Road , the England captain, John Pullin famously remarked "We might not be very good but at least we turn up". In 1982 they came close to winning a Grand Slam but were beaten by France in Paris. At the inaugural World Cup in 1987 Ireland went out to Australia at the quarter final stage. The team has never reached the semi-finals. During the ten tournaments played in the 90s Ireland never finished outside the bottom two. Three years running they finished bottom (1996, 1997 and 1998). In the 1991 World Cup Ireland had appeared to be on the verge of a shock victory over Australia in the quarter final, when Michael Lynagh scored the winning try to clinch a 19-18 win for Australia. At the next world cup in 1995 Ireland again went out at the quarter final stage losing to France. Professional era Warren Gatland took over as coach in 1998. 1999 was the first time Ireland had failed to reach the last eight at a Rugby World Cup. From this nadir, however, Irish rugby improved rapidly. With the advent of professionalism, the Irish Rugby Football Union decided to convert the four representative provincial sides into ''de facto'' club sides, with the financial capacity to retain top talent in Ireland, yet retaining strong links with amateur clubs and schools to enable young talent to be brought up through the ranks. The close geographical proximity of most of the Irish international squad helped cement relationships between the players in a way that would not have been possible had they left for English, French and Southern Hemisphere clubs. The later formation of the Celtic League cemented this strategy by ensuring that provincial sides had a regular diet of competitive rugby. The advent of the new Six Nations format coincided with this Irish resurgence, and they became the strongest of the Celtic nations. In 2001 the rugby union season was disrupted due to the foot and mouth crisis in Britain. Ireland were good enough to beat France but were unable to play Scotland until the Autumn and were caught cold losing 32-10. They were still good enough to beat England, spoiling their hopes of a Grand Slam, and finishing second on points difference. Eddie O'Sullivan took over as coach from Warren Gatland in November 2001 following the New Zealander's sacking. The advent of the new Six Nations format coincided with this Irish resurgence, and they became the strongest of the Celtic nations. The 2003 Six Nations came down to the wire with Ireland and England playing a Grand Slam decider at Lansdowne Rd. England, however, won 42-6. That defeat ended an unbeaten run that stretched back 10 Tests to their Rugby World Cup qualifiers warm up against Romania in September 2002 and included defeats of Pool A rivals Australia and Argentina at Lansdowne Road. In 2004 they lost their opening game against France but became the first team to beat England following their World Cup win. They finished second in the table behind France and won the Triple Crown . In 2005 Ireland were considered slight favourites entering the competition, and won their first three matches, including a 19-13 defeat of England in Dublin. However, Ireland's dreams of their first Grand Slam since 1948 were ended with a 26-19 home loss to France . In the final round, Wales defeated Ireland 32-20 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to win the Grand Slam. Ireland finished in 3rd place. In 2006, Ireland showed the capacity to play top class rugby, but only inconsistently a rout of Wales was balanced by uncertain victories against England, Scotland and Italy and a comprehensive defeat by winners France. Ireland finished second and won the Triple Crown for the second time in three years, incidentally the first ever time a trophy had been awarded for the feat. CONTROVERSY OVER FLAGS AND ANTHEMS ]]With Ireland uniquely representing players from different sovereign territories, recent years have seen some controversy over the issue of flags and anthems. When Irish internationals were played alternatively in Belfast and Dublin, the British national anthem God Save The Queen in Belfast and The National Anthem of the Republic of Ireland Amhrán Na BhFiann in Dublin. More recently Amhrán na bhFiann has been replaced in away games by Ireland's Call but this has prompted some players from the Republic to complain. At games played in Dublin Ireland's Call is always used alongside Amhrán na bhFiann. Similarly, the Irish Tricolour , the official flag of the Republic is only used when playing in the Republic. The below flag with symbols representing the four provinces of Ireland is flown alongside in Dublin, and is used exclusively when playing elsewhere. At some matches, the standard of the island's rugby union governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union , is displayed on the field during pre-match ceremonies. 2006 FIXTURES/RESULTS Six Nations
June tours
November tours
2007 FIXTURES Rugby World Cup
FAMOUS PLAYERS
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