List of international rugby union teams

The following is a list of international rugby union teams:

National teams – band classification

Starting in 2008, in addition to the existing tier system, the IRB introduced a four-band system of classification in which unions are classified based on "their development status and record on the international stage". The details of tiers and bands are in the next sections of this article.^[1]

High performance

All countries previously in Tiers 1 and 2. Now under "High Performance" status are still divided in "Tier 1" and "Tier 2".

Tier 1

•  Argentina
•  Australia
•  England
•  Fiji
•  France
•  Ireland
•  Italy
•  Japan
•  New Zealand
•  Scotland
•  South Africa
•  Wales

Tier 2

•  Canada
•  Chile
•  Georgia
•  Namibia
•  Portugal
•  Romania
•  Samoa
•  Spain
•  Tonga
•  United States
•  Uruguay

Developmental

Development One

•  Belgium
•  Brazil
•  Germany
•  Hong Kong
•  Ivory Coast
•  Kenya
•  Netherlands
•  Paraguay
•  Russia
•  Zimbabwe

Developmental

European countries

•  Andorra
•  Austria
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina
•  Bulgaria
•  Croatia
•  Cyprus
•  Czech Republic
•  Denmark
•  Finland
•  Greece
•  Hungary
•  Latvia
•  Lithuania
•  Luxembourg
•  Malta
•  Moldova
•  Monaco
•  Montenegro
•  Norway
•  Poland
•  Serbia
•  Slovakia
•  Slovenia
•  Sweden
•   Switzerland
•  Ukraine

North & South American countries

•  Bahamas^[2]
•  Barbados^[2]
•  Bermuda^[2]
•  British Virgin Islands^[2]
•  Cayman Islands^[2]
•  Colombia^[3]
•  Costa Rica^[3]
•  Guatemala^[3]
•  Guyana^[2]
•  Jamaica^[2]
•  Mexico
•  Panama^[3]
•  Peru^[3]
•  Saint Lucia^[2]
•  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines^[2]
•  Trinidad and Tobago^[2]
•  Venezuela^[3]

African countries

•  Algeria
•  Botswana
•  Burundi
•  Burkina Faso
•  Cameroon
•  DR Congo
•  Egypt
•  Eswatini
•  Ghana
•  Lesotho
•  Madagascar
•  Mali
•  Mauritius
•  Morocco
•  Nigeria
•  Rwanda
•  Senegal
•  Tanzania
•  Togo
•  Tunisia
•  Uganda
•  Zambia

Asian countries

•  Azerbaijan
•  China
•  Chinese Taipei
•  India
•  Iran
•  Israel
•  Jordan
•  Kazakhstan
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  South Korea
•  Laos
•  Lebanon
•  Mongolia
•    Nepal
•  Pakistan
•  Qatar
•  Sri Lanka
•  Syria
•  Thailand
•  Turkey
•  United Arab Emirates
•  Uzbekistan

Oceanian countries

•  American Samoa
•  Brunei
•  Cook Islands
•  Guam
•  Indonesia
•  Malaysia
•  Niue
•  Papua New Guinea
•  Philippines
•  Singapore
•  Solomon Islands
•  Vanuatu

• Note: World Rugby associates in italics.

Other teams

Rugby Africa teams not affiliated to World Rugby  Benin  Central African Republic  Chad  Congo  Gabon  Guinea  Malawi  Mozambique  Niger  Seychelles  Sierra Leone Asia Rugby teams not affiliated to World Rugby  Afghanistan  Bangladesh  Iraq  Macau  Oman  Palestine  Saudi Arabia

Rugby Europe teams not affiliated to World Rugby  Belarus  Estonia  Iceland  Kosovo  Liechtenstein  San Marino Rugby Americas North teams not affiliated to World Rugby  Belize  Curaçao  Dominican Republic  French Guiana  Guadeloupe  Martinique  Turks and Caicos Islands Oceania Rugby teams not affiliated to World Rugby  Nauru  New Caledonia  Tahiti ‡  Tuvalu  Wallis and Futuna ‡ ‡ Associate member of Oceania Rugby

Sudamerica Rugby teams not affiliated to World Rugby  Bolivia  Ecuador  El Salvador  Honduras  Nicaragua Teams with affiliation suspended or without affiliation  Armenia  Cambodia  Comoros  Gibraltar  Mauritania  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Sudan  Tokelau

Multinational teams

• The British and Irish Lions.
  •  England
  •  Ireland
  •  Scotland
  •  Wales
• Established in 1950, East Africa conducted seven tours between 1954 and 1982 and played against incoming international, representative and club touring sides including twice against the British Lions; perhaps the only example of representative (as opposed to invitational) multinational teams playing against each other. They also played against the Barbarians.
  •  Kenya
  •  Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika)
  •  Uganda
• A similar development in 2004 has been the Pacific Islanders team.
  •  Fiji
  •  Samoa
  •  Tonga
• The South American Jaguars were a combination team who played South Africa during the early 1980s.
  •  Argentina
  •  Chile
  •  Uruguay
• The African Leopards are a development side drawn from across Africa, they have played representative rugby union against South African students.
• The Arabian Gulf rugby union team combined various teams from Arab countries in the Persian Gulf and competed in World Cup qualification. The Arabian Gulf Rugby Union has now been dismantled and responsibility for the game devolved to each of the member nations, although the team may be revived in the future.

•  Bahrain
•  Egypt
•  Jordan
•  Kuwait
•  Lebanon
•  Oman
•  Qatar
•  Saudi Arabia
•  United Arab Emirates

• There was also a West Indies side, which first toured when the Caribbean Rugby Union sent a team (managed by Gavin Clark) to tour England in 1976. Their last tour was also to England in October and November 2000.
• The Commonwealth of Independent States played during the early 1990s.

•  Armenia
•  Azerbaijan
•  Belarus
•  Kazakhstan
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  Moldova
•  Russia
•  Tajikistan
•  Turkmenistan
•  Uzbekistan
•  Ukraine

• The Black Sea Thunder is a combined team newly established by the countries having coast on the Black Sea
  •  Bulgaria
  •  Georgia
  •  Romania
  •  Turkey

Defunct national sides

Various national sides have ceased to exist for political reasons. In the case of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, there is more than one successor team. In the case of Catalonia, the Spanish Civil War and Franco's crackdown put an end to it, and in the case of East and West Germany, reunification led to their amalgamation into a single German side.

• Arabian Gulf* – dissolved by the end of 2010 and replaced by separate unions and national teams
•  Catalonia
• CIS*
•  Czechoslovakia
•  East Africa* – a combination of Kenya, Tanzania/Tanganyika and Uganda. It has not played since 1982 but the Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) still exists and there have been recent talks to resurrect the team
•  East Germany
•  Soviet Union
•  Yugoslavia

* For more information on these teams see above.

Women's rugby

Main article: Women's international rugby union

•  Australia
•  Austria
•  Bahamas
•  Barbados
•  Belgium
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina
•  Botswana
•  Brazil
•  Burkina Faso
•  Cameroon
•  Canada
•  Cayman Islands
•  China
•  Colombia
•  Czech Republic
•  Denmark
•  England
•  Fiji
•  Finland
•  France
•  Germany
•  Guyana
•  Hong Kong
•  India
•  Ireland
•  Italy
•  Ivory Coast
•  Jamaica
•  Japan
•  Kenya
•  Kazakhstan
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  Luxembourg
•  Madagascar
•  Malaysia
•  Namibia
•  Netherlands
•  New Zealand
•  Norway
•  Papua New Guinea
•  Philippines
•  Portugal
•  Romania
•  Russia
•  Rwanda
•  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
•  Samoa
•  Scotland
•  Senegal
•  Serbia
•  Singapore
•  South Africa
•  Spain
•  Sweden
•   Switzerland
•  Thailand
•  Tonga
•  Trinidad and Tobago
•  Tunisia
•  Turkey
•  Uganda
•  United States
•  Uzbekistan
•  Wales
•  Zambia
•  Zimbabwe

Defunct women's national sides

•  Catalonia
•  Great Britain
•  Soviet Union

Invitation sides

• Nomads