The Wales national rugby league team has been representing Wales in the sport of rugby league since the start of the twentieth century. Many hundreds of Welsh players have "headed north" to play for the leading English clubs and consequentially the national side, nicknamed the Dragons, have often been a very strong force in the game.

Wales will kick off their 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying campaign with a home match against Scotland at the Brewery Field in Bridgend on Sunday 29th October 2006.

Wales first competed in the Rugby League World Cup in 1975 and have also been in the 1995 and 2000 tournaments. They also enter the European Nations Cup. They are not however a full test nation, and do not compete in the Tri-Nations.

The team used to be run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League, but are now independent. For the early years of the sport Wales versus England was the only international available to players of the Northern Union, though this changed with the arrival of the New Zealand All Golds in 1907. Wales hold the honour of facing them in the first ever true international, winning 9-8 in Aberdare.

Celtic Crusaders are Wales' only professional club and compete in National League Two playing their home matches at the Brewery Field. Other South Wales clubs currently compete in the Welsh Conference Premier that is affiliated to the Rugby League Conference as well as North Wales Coasters who play in the North West division.

The Wales A team is selected from domestic Welsh players in the Rugby League Conference, and is the current Amateur Four Nations champion.

World Cup 2008

Wales will face Scotland and Georgia in Europe Pool One with the winner of the pool qualifying for the World Cup and the Runner Up entering the Repecharge round.

History

• 1907 Wales play their first international match – won against New Zealand in Aberdare (17,000). Win the first Anglo-Welsh match 35-18.
• 1909 The Welsh League XIII defeat the touring Australians.
• 1926 Wales defeat New Zealand 34-8 – the New Zealanders award full caps for the match.
• 1936 Wales win the second European Championship with a 17-14 Victory over England in Hull.
• 1938 Wales win the European championship for the third consecutive season.
• 1945 30,000 people attend a match against England in Swansea.
• 1947 Wales defeat England 10-8 in Wigan.
• 1975 Wales finish third in the World Cup, which included a 12-7 victory over England.
• 1991 Wales defeat Papua New Guinea 68-0 in at the Vetch Field, Swansea (its biggest win for sixty years). In that match Jonathan Davies scored 24 points.
• In December 1992 Wales defeated France in Perpignan, their first win on French soil for thirty years.
• 1995 Wales win the European Championship, with an upset win over England (its first since 1968 and the biggest on Welsh soil). Wales make the semi-finals of the World Cup, only to lose to England. The 1995 World Cup between Wales and Western Samoa in front of a capacity crowd of over 15,000 at Swansea was a pinnacle for Welsh Rugby League in the modern era. Following rugby union’s decision to go professional, the flow of talent going north from the valleys dried up and Jonathan Davies returned to rugby union.
• In 1996, Wales beat France in Carcassone to bring home the European Championship for the first time in 57 years.
• 1997 Anger as the RFL announce that at the proposed 1998 World Cup (never played), Wales would not be included at the expense of the NZ Maoris. Wales were once again to form part of Britain.
• 1998 Emerging England defeat a full Welsh side in Widnes.
• In November 2000 Wales again made the World Cup semi finals, losing to Australia in a hard-fought battle at Huddersfield.
• In November 2005 Wales took second in the European Nations Cup, losing to France in the final at Carcassonne.

Famous players

• Billy Boston
• Jonathan Davies
• Colin Dixon
• Trevor Foster
• Tommy Harris
• Lewis Jones
• Gus Risman
• Clive Sullivan
• Jim Sullivan
• Joe Thompson
• David Watkins
• Dickie Williams
• Lee Briers (Current Captain)

Results

Wales

Wales A

• Wales A def. Engliand "Lionhearts" 36-22 (11 September 2005)
• Wales A def. Emerging Lebanon 52-22 (26 August 2005)
• Wales A def. Ireland A 18-10 (16 July 2005)
• Wales A def. Scotland A 70-8 (13 June 2005)
• Wales A def. Scotland A 34-26 (3 July 2004)
• Wales A def. Scotland A 42-22 (27 July 2003)
• Ireland A def. Wales A 32-28 (21 June 2003)
• Wales A def. England "Lionhearts" 28-18 (14 September 2002)
• Wales A def. Scotland A 40-22 (15 June 2002)
• Wales A def. Scotland A 36-6 (16 September 2001)
• Wales A drew with Scotland A 20-20 (19 September 1999)
• Scotland A def. Wales A 28-18 (3 October 1998)

See also

• Rugby league in Wales
• Celtic Crusaders
• Cardiff Demons
• European Nations Cup
• Emerging Nations Tournament
• World Cup
• Rugby League Conference

External links

• The Welsh Rugby League official website
• Google-Video

International rugby league teams | National sports teams of Wales | Rugby league in Wales