Portal:Ireland/Selected article archive/2

The Ireland rugby union team, represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in 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 ten 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 best of the rugby union home nations, although they have just a single Grand Slam to their name in 1948 and a regular recipient of the wooden spoon in the Six Nations' predecessor tournaments. 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 good results, especially for a nation with a population of only four million with strong competition for players with Gaelic Games and soccer. They have won three Triple Crowns in the last four years. Read more...