The 2014 end-of-year rugby tests, also known as the 2014 autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were international
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
matches predominantly played between visiting Southern Hemisphere countries and European nations.
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Uruguay A all played at least one
test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
during the three-week international window.
Within the window, the three Pacific Island teams faced Tier 1 opposition, when Wales and France hosted Fiji, and England and Italy hosted Samoa. At the time, Italy entered the Samoa test on the back of nine consecutive losses and a 15–0 loss to Samoa in
Apia
Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...
in June 2014. Scotland became the first Tier 1 nation to play a Test match on a fully artificial pitch when they hosted Tonga at
Rugby Park
Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. It was first used in 1899 and is the home of Kilmarnock F.C. Rugby Park has also been used for con ...
,
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
, winning 37–12.
Georgia had a rare opportunity to play a Tier 1 nation in Ireland, who played The Lelos for the first time since their Pool D fixture in the
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...
. Ireland became the first Tier 1 nation to play Georgia since Argentina in
June 2013, and the first
Six Nations team to host a
European Nations Cup European Nations Cup may refer to:
*UEFA European Championship, formerly known as European Nations' Cup
* Europcar Cup, a European Tour golf tournament
* European Nations Cup (golf), a European Ladies Tour golf tournament
* European Nations Cup (fi ...
team since Scotland's 48–6 win over Romania during the
2006 Autumn Internationals.
The United States played host to New Zealand for the first time since 1980, though that was not an official test match. Therefore, this was the first official test match between the two in America since 1913, when the All Blacks were 51–3 victors, and the last meeting between the two nations took place during the
1991 Rugby World Cup
The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...
. The All Blacks won the game 74–6 in front of a sell-out crowd at
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since 1 ...
.
History was made in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, when a first-ever meeting between Hong Kong and Russia took place, and in
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
with a first-ever meeting between Germany and Namibia on Namibian soil.
Argentina visited Scotland, Italy and France, as they tried to build upon their first
Rugby Championship win. Australia traveled to Wales, Ireland, England and France, who they had beaten 3–0 in their
2014 June Test series. New Zealand played Scotland, Wales and England, who had lost 3–0 to the All Blacks in their June Test series, while South Africa competed against Ireland, England, Wales and Italy.
Following a reduced
2014 IRB Pacific Nations Cup, the IRB organized matches between the Pacific island countries and North American teams at neutral venues in Europe; Tonga and Fiji played the United States, while Samoa played Canada. In addition to those, Romania hosted both Canada and the United States, while Romania and Georgia hosted Japan. Georgia also hosted Tonga for just their third meeting, the first since 1999.
Following the qualification of Namibia for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, an IRB–funded tour allowed Namibia to test themselves against higher ranked opposition; they played Canada in
Colwyn Bay
Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...
and Portugal in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. In preparation for a big year in Brazilian sport ahead of the introduction of
Rugby sevens into the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, Brazil hosted Uruguay and Paraguay to broaden their depth in the sport before their automatic participation in the
2016 competition.
Like in recent seasons, New Zealand and Australia played the third and final
Bledisloe Cup
The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...
Test match for the year, with New Zealand winning 29–28 with a last-minute try.
Matches
October
Notes:
*
Adam Ashley-Cooper became the sixth Australian player to earn 100 test caps, and the first to score a try in his 100th test.
* Adam Ashley-Cooper equaled
David Campese
David Ian Campese, AM (born 21 October 1962), also known as Campo, is a former Australian rugby union player (1982-1996), who was capped by the Wallabies 101 times, and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback. He retired in 1996 and was aw ...
's record of 8 tries scored against the All Blacks.
*
Benn Robinson
Benn Robinson (born 19 July 1984) is a former Australian professional rugby union footballer. He played as a loosehead prop for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super Rugby and for Australia in international matches.
He retired from rugb ...
and
Ben Alexander both equaled
Al Baxter's 69 test caps and became the Wallabies' most-capped props.
* During the post-match press conference, Wallabies head coach
Ewen McKenzie
Ewen James Andrew McKenzie (born 21 June 1965) is an Australian professional rugby union coach and a former international rugby player. He played for Australia's World Cup winning team in 1991 and earned 51 caps for the Wallabies during his tes ...
announced his resignation.
----
Notes:
*
JC Greyling,
Torsten van Jaarsveld and
Tjiuee Uanivi made their international debuts for Namibia.
*
Chris Kleebauer
Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common.
People with the given name
* Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...
and
Benedikt Scherrer made their international debuts for Germany.
1 November
----
Notes:
* Australia won the
Killik Cup, after the Barbarians won it in 2013 against Fiji and England failed to reclaim it in June 2014.
----
Notes:
* The attendance for this match more than tripled the previous record crowd for an international rugby match in the U.S. of 20,181, set in
June 2013 when the USA hosted Ireland at
BBVA Compass Stadium
Shell Energy Stadium (formerly BBVA Compass Stadium, BBVA Stadium, then PNC Stadium) is an American multi-purpose stadium located in Houston, Texas that is home to Houston Dynamo FC, a Major League Soccer club, the Houston Dash of the Nation ...
in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. Soldier Field, with a 61,500 capacity, was sold out a week before the match.
* The score was a record for the All Blacks against the US, surpassing their 51–3 victory in 1913.
*
Augustine Pulu made his international debut for New Zealand.
*
Tim Stanfill made his international debut for the United States.
7/8 November
Notes:
*
Jordan Wilson-Ross made his international debut for Canada.
*
Franklin Bertolini made his international debut for Namibia.
----
----
Notes:
*
John Aikmen,
Reece Hamon,
Jack Parfitt,
Duncan Pollock and
James Richards made their international debut for Hong Kong.
*
Sergey Chernysev,
Vasily Dorofeyev,
Ilya Dyomushkin,
Nikolay Serkov and
Vitaly Zhivatov made their international debuts for Russia.
*
Vasily Artemyev
Vasily Grigorievich Artemyev (russian: Василий Григорьевич Артемьев) (born 24 July 1987) is a Russian rugby union player for CSKA Moscow. He plays as wing or fullback.
Career
Returning to his native Moscow (Zelenogra ...
earned his 50th test cap for Russia.
----
Notes:
*
Paea Fa'anunu and
Siua Halanukonuka
Siosiua Halanukonuka (born 9 August 1986) is a Tongan rugby union player. He plays in the prop position for the France side Perpignan. Halanukonuka also represents Tonga at international level.
Club career
After appearing three times for in ...
made their international debuts for Tonga.
----
Notes:
* Italy ends a 9 consecutive losing streak with their first win since their 37–31 against Fiji in
November 2013.
*
Kelly Haimona
Kelly Haimona (born 30 July 1986) is an Italian international rugby union player, who can play Fly Half, Centre and Fullback. He currently plays for Italian side Zebre in the Pro14 competition.
Career
New Zealand
Haimona's rugby career began i ...
made his international debut for Italy.
*
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
and
Winston Stanley,
Pete Cowley and
Patrick-Albert Toetu made their international debuts for Samoa.
*
Quintin Geldenhuys earned his 50th test cap for Italy.
----
Notes:
* New Zealand retain the
Hillary Shield
The Hillary Shield is contested between England and New Zealand at rugby union. The first match was played on 29 November 2008 at Twickenham Stadium, London.
The trophy is named in memory of the New Zealand mountaineer and explorer, Sir Edmund Hi ...
.
*
George Kruis
George Edward John Kruis (born 22 February 1990) is an English former professional rugby union player. He played Rugby union positions#Locks, lock for Saracens F.C., Saracens and represented England national rugby union team, England and the Br ...
, Anthony Watson and
Semesa Rokoduguni made their international debuts for England.
----
Notes:
* Australia retain the
James Bevan Trophy
The James Bevan Trophy is a rugby union trophy which was created in 2007, and named after James Bevan, the Welsh Australian who was the first ever captain of the Wales rugby union team in 1881. The trophy was established after a decision on 10 May ...
.
*
Sean McMahon and
Tetera Faulkner
Tetera Faulkner (born 26 July 1988) is an Australian professional rugby union player. He currently represents the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super Rugby competition. His regular playing position is prop.
Early life
Faulkner was born in ...
made their international debuts for Australia.
* Australia win their 10th consecutive match over Wales, surpassing their record of 9 consecutive wins over Wales.
----
Notes:
*
Robert Neagu made his international debut for Romania.
*
John Cullen
Barry John Cullen (born August 2, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Hartford Whalers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning. He was a stan ...
,
Greg Peterson,
Benjamin Tarr and
Matt Trouville
Matthew "Matt" Trouville (born 6 September 1986 in Darlinghurst, New South Wales) is an Australian-American former rugby union player who played flanker for the Houston SaberCats in Major League Rugby (MLR) and also for the United States Eagles ...
made their international debuts for the United States.
*
----
Notes:
*
Uini Atonio
Uini Atonio (; born 26 March 1990) is a New Zealand-born professional rugby union footballer of Samoan heritage who represents France internationally. His usual position is tighthead prop. He currently plays for French club La Rochelle. BBC name ...
,
Xavier Chiocci,
Alexandre Dumoulin,
Rory Kockott,
Charles Ollivon
Charles Ollivon (born 11 May 1993) is a French professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker for Top 14 club Toulon and the France national team.
Club career
Ollivon started his rugby career in the Academy Bayonne side at the age of ...
,
Scott Spedding
Scott Spedding (born 4 May 1986 in Krugersdorp, South Africa) is a retired French rugby union player. His position is fullback and he last played for Castres Olympique in the Top 14. He retired in 2019.
Spedding attended St. John's College, Jo ...
and
Teddy Thomas made their international debuts for France.
*
Alipate Ratini and
Nemia Soqeta made their international debuts for Fiji.
----
Notes:
*
Jared Payne
Jared Benjamin Payne (born 13 October 1985) is a retired rugby union centre who played for Ulster and the Ireland national team. He was a member of the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but did not play a test match. Since his ...
made his international debut for Ireland.
* This was Ireland's first win over South Africa since 2009.
* Ireland became the first Six Nations team to beat South Africa since Scotland's 21–17 win in
November 2010.
----
Notes:
*
Mark Bennett made his international debut for Scotland.
* Brothers
Jonny
Jonny is a masculine given name, and pet name, in the English language. A pet form of Jon, the natural diminutive of given name Jonathan, in some cases it can also mean a condom. A variant form of ''Jonny'' is ''Jonnie''.
People with the name
* ...
and
Richie Gray became the 21st set of brothers to play for Scotland together.
*
Juan Cruz Guillemaín
Juan Cruz Guillemaín (born 21 August 1992) is an Argentine rugby union footballer who plays as a lock for the Argentine Super Rugby side and the Argentina national rugby union team.
Career
Cruz started his career playing for his local club ...
and
Facundo Isa made their international debuts for Argentina.
*
Juan Martín Hernández
Juan Martín Hernández (born August 7, 1982, in Buenos Aires) is a retired Argentine rugby union player. A mainstay of the Argentina national team ''The Pumas''. He played for the club Toulon in the French Top 14 competition. His 2010 move to ...
earned his 50th test cap for Argentina.
* This was Scotland's first win over Argentina at Murrayfield since their first ever meeting in 1990.
14/15/16 November
Notes:
*
Lucas Ponce and
Guido Petti
Guido Petti Pagadizábal (born 17 November 1994) is an Argentine rugby union footballer who plays as a lock or Flank for Bordeaux Begles and the Argentina national rugby union team.
Career
Guido played with San Isidro Club in the Torneo de ...
(both Argentina) made their international debuts.
* This fixture was originally scheduled for 15 November 15:00
CET
CET or cet may refer to:
Places
* Cet, Albania
* Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus
* Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Comcast En ...
kick off. But the match was brought forward by the
FIR because of the bad weather expected to hit the region.
----
----
Notes:
*
Alofa Alofa,
TJ Ioane,
Rey Lee-Lo
Reynold 'Rey' Lee-Lo (born 28 February 1986) is a rugby union player who usually plays as a midfield back for Counties Manukau in the ITM Cup. In 2011 he was part of the Development squad and he joined the Hurricanes for the 2013 Super Rugby ...
and
Ahsee Tuala
Ahsee Tuala (born 23 August 1989) is a Samoan rugby union player who plays as a fullback for Aviva Premiership side Northampton Saints.
Early career
Tuala was born in Samoa, but moved to New Zealand with his family aged 2 years old and grew up ...
made their international debuts for Samoa.
*
Richard Thorpe
Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Biography
Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, Richard Thorpe began his en ...
made his international debut for Canada.
----
Notes:
* Russia wins the Ustinov Cup series 2–0.
----
Notes:
*
Daniel Carpo
Daniel Carpo (born 26 November 1984 in Tulcea) is a Romanian rugby union footballer. He plays as number eight.
Club career
Carpo played for RCJ Farul Constanța, from 2002/03 to 2010/11. Currently he is playing for Dinamo București, in the Rom ...
earned his 50th test cap for Romania.
*
Karne Hesketh
Karne L. Hesketh (born 1 August 1985) is a player for the Japan rugby union team.
Early life
Hesketh was born in Napier, New Zealand, where he attended Napier Boys High School.
Professional career
Hesketh is a professional rugby union play ...
,
Keita Inagaki
is a Japanese rugby union player who plays as a prop. He was signed by the Sunwolves for the 2016 season of the international Super Rugby competition. He has also played for Australian team Melbourne Rebels and Top League side the Panasonic ...
and
Amanaki Lelei Mafi made their international debuts for Japan.
----
Notes:
*
Danny Care
Daniel Stuart Care (born 2 January 1987) is an English rugby union player who plays for Harlequins in the Premiership as a scrum-half.
He has played for England national team since 2008 and has won 87 caps. He previously played for England ...
earned his 50th test cap for England.
* With this loss, England lose their fifth consecutive match, their worst run of defeats since their 7 consecutive losses in 2006 - although four of the five were against world champions New Zealand.
----
Notes:
*
Nicky Smith made his international debut for Wales.
----
Notes:
*
Sione Lea
Sione Ma'a Lea (born 12 January 1987) was a Tongan rugby union player. He played in the prop and occasionally hooker position for the New Zealand based Mitre 10 Cup side, Taranaki. Lea also represented Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially th ...
made his international debut for Tonga.
----
Notes:
*
James Parsons made his international debut for New Zealand.
----
Notes:
*
Sekope Kepu
Sekope Kepu (born 5 February 1986) is an Australian professional rugby union player. He is a prop and currently plays for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. He has previously played for Australian club New South Wales Waratahs, the French club Borde ...
earned his 50th test cap for Australia.
* France reclaim the
Trophée des Bicentenaires
To celebrate the bi-centenaries of the First Fleet and of the French Revolution, in 1988 and 1989 respectively, the French Rugby Union donated the Trophée des Bicentenaires (, "Trophy of the Bicentenaries") to be played in perpetuity between th ...
after losing it in June 2014.
----
Notes:
*
Robin Copeland,
Dominic Ryan
Dominic Ryan (born 28 March 1990) is an Irish former professional rugby union player who last played for Leicester Tigers. He was a back row player, playing at predominantly openside or blindside flanker.
During his first year in the Leinster a ...
and
Dave Foley
David Scott Foley (born January 4, 1963) is a Canadian actor, stand-up comedian, director, producer and writer. He is known as a co-founder of the comedy group The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of television, stage and ...
made their international debuts for Ireland.
*
Lasha Malaghuradze
Lasha Malaghuradze (born 2 June 1986 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian rugby union player. His usual position is fly-half.
He played for Qochebi Tbilisi, where he won 2007 Georgia Championship, before moving to AS Béziers Hérault (2008/09-2010/11). ...
earned his 50th test cap for Georgia.
21/22/23 November
Notes:
*
Taniela Koroi made his international debut for Fiji.
*
Ronnie McLean made his international debut for the United States.
----
Notes:
*
Samuela Vunisa made his international debut for Italy.
*
Nizaam Carr
Nizaam Carr (born 4 April 1991) is a South African rugby union footballer who plays either as a flanker, loose forward or number 8 and back rower. He is renowned for his athleticism and linking play.
Personal life
Carr grew up in Mitchell's ...
and
Julian Redelinghuys made their international debuts for South Africa.
----
----
----
Notes:
* Ireland reclaim the
Lansdowne Cup
The Lansdowne Cup is a rugby union trophy competed for by Australia and Ireland. Established in 1999, the cup was donated to the Australian Rugby Union by the Lansdowne Club of Sydney. The cup was launched in advance of the two Test matches playe ...
for the first time since 2006.
*
Henry Speight
Ratu Henry Vao'ofu Speight (born 24 March 1988) is a Fiji-born Australian professional rugby union player. He currently plays for the French club Biarritz. Speight was previously with the Brumbies and Queensland Reds in Super Rugby, and has re ...
made his international debut for Australia.
* With this win, Ireland earn their first Autumn series clean-sweep, since their
2006 Autumn series campaign.
----
----
----
Notes:
*
Luke Charteris earned his 50th test cap for Wales.
* New Zealand Captain
Richie McCaw
Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby ...
, captained his side for the 100th time. Coincidentally his first match as captain, was against Wales at the Millennium Stadium during the
2004 end-of-year tests.
* Following this match,
Brodie Retallick
Brodie Allan Retallick (born 31 May 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, who plays as a lock for the Chiefs in Super Rugby and is part of the squad for New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition.
Retallick ...
was named
World Rugby Player of the Year
The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...
, the sixth and third consecutive All Black to achieve the award, the All Blacks were named
World Rugby Team of the Year
The World Rugby Team of the Year is awarded by the World Rugby in the spring each year. From 2004 to 2007, the award was called the IRB International Team of the Year. In 2017 the New Zealand Black Ferns became the first women's team to win the awa ...
for the eighth and fifth consecutive time, and
Steve Hansen
Sir Stephen William Hansen and High Chief Of Vaiala, (born 7 May 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is also the father of Black Ferns assistant coach, Whitney Hansen.
He was the head coach of the New Zealand nati ...
was named
World Rugby Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year.
----
----
Notes:
*
Tomás Lezana
Tomás Lezana (born 16 February 1994) is an Argentine rugby union player who plays as a loose forward for US Montauban, and the Argentina national rugby union team.
Career
Lezana began his career, playing with the Santiago Lawn Tennis Club ...
made his international debut for Argentina.
* Argentina beat France for the first time on French Soil, since their 34–10 win during the
2007 Rugby World Cup third-place match.
----
Notes:
*
Giorgi Aptsiauri made his international debut for Georgia.
* This was Georgia's first win over Japan, bar in their second game.
29 November
----
Notes:
*
Rob Simmons
Robert Ruhl "Rob" Simmons (born February 11, 1943) is an American politician and retired U.S. Army colonel who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007, representing Connecticut's second congressional d ...
earned his 50th test cap for Australia.
* England retained the
Cook Cup
The Ella-Mobbs Trophy (formerly the Cook Cup from 1997–2021) is a rugby union trophy contested between Australia and England.
The Cook Cup was established in 1997 when the Wallabies and England contracted to play each other bi-annually for a ...
.
----
Notes:
* Wales win the
Prince William Cup
The Prince William Cup was created in 2007 by the Welsh Rugby Union and celebrates 100 years of rugby union history between Wales national rugby union team, Wales and South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa. It is named after the Vi ...
for the first ever time since its creation in 2007.
* Wales beat South Africa for the first time since 1999, and for just the second time.
* Wales beat a Southern hemisphere great (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) for the first time since 2008, ending a 22 match losing streak.
See also
*
End of year rugby union tests
*
Mid-year rugby union tests
*
2014 mid-year rugby union tests The 2014 mid-year rugby union internationals (also known as the summer internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) were international rugby union matches mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the June international window.
These matches ...
*
2014 Māori All Blacks tour of Japan
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:End-of-year
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
2014–15 in European rugby union
2014 in Oceanian rugby union
2014 in North American rugby union
2014 in South American rugby union
2014 in African rugby union
2014 in Asian rugby union