| Rugby union in Australia | |
|---|---|
 Crowd in Sydney for Australia's opening match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup | |
| Country | Australia |
| Governing body | Rugby Australia |
| National team(s) | Australia |
| Nickname(s) | Wallabies |
| First played | 25 July 1839,[1] Sydney, New South Wales |
| Registered players | 85,059 (Club XV)[2] 32,119 (Club 7s)[3] 12,067 (Touch 7s)[4] ~60,000 (School XV & 7s)[5] 56,150 (Sporting Schools Program/Get Into Rugby)[6] |
| Clubs | 770 |
Club competitions | |
International competitions | |
Audience records | |
| Single match | 109,874 Australia v New Zealand, (Telstra Stadium) 15 July 2000 |
Rugby union in Australia has a history of organised competition dating back to the late 1860s. Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.
The principal competition in Australian rugby is Super Rugby, which is a multi-national competition across the South Pacific. Australia enters four teams: the Reds of Queensland, the Waratahs of New South Wales, the Brumbies of the Australian Capital Territory and the Western Force of Western Australia.
Currently there is no nationwide domestic competition for rugby union in Australia following the disbandment of the National Rugby Championship in 2020. Competitions below the level of Super Rugby are traditional capital city competitions, such as the Shute Shield of Sydney, Queensland Premier Rugby of Brisbane, the ACTRU Premier Division in Canberra, and Perth's Fortescue Premier Grade. These city-based competitions have traditionally formed the highest level of domestic competition for the sport in Australia.
The national governing body of Rugby Australia launched a new top-level women's 15s competition known as Super W in 2018 featuring five clubs branded as state/territorial teams—the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.
The men's national team are the Wallabies, who have won the Rugby World Cup twice, in 1991 and in 1999. The women's national team are the Wallaroos achieving a best result of third place in 2010 during the Women's Rugby World Cup.
Rugby union holds the match attendance record of any football code in New South Wales (109,874), Western Australia (61,241) and the Australian Capital Territory (28,753).
Australia has also achieved success in numerous Rugby Sevens tournaments with the women's sevens team winning the Rugby World Cup Sevens once in 2009, winning gold at the 2016 Olympics, and winning the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series three times. While the men's sevens team has been runners-up twice in the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
aruhistorywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "2019 Rugby AU Annual Report by rugbyau - Issuu". 24 June 2020.
- ^ "2019 Rugby AU Annual Report by rugbyau - Issuu". 24 June 2020.
- ^ "2019 Rugby AU Annual Report by rugbyau - Issuu". 24 June 2020.
- ^ "2019 Rugby AU Annual Report by rugbyau - Issuu". 24 June 2020.
- ^ "2019 Rugby AU Annual Report by rugbyau - Issuu". 24 June 2020.