The Nations Cup is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário 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 ...

with Argentina A, Italy A,

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 the ...

and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

's US $50 million Strategic Investment programme, which also includes the Pacific Nations Cup, the Pacific Rugby Cup and the

Americas Rugby Championship The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. O ...

(as well as the ARC's predecessor, the North America 4).

History

The Nations Cup is aimed at providing more competition for tier one A sides, as well as offering opportunities for second and third tier nations such as

, Russia,

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 ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

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 th ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. The Nations Cup is an important tournament for both Italy and Argentina; at the time of the inaugural competition in

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, the two sides combined had only nine players that did not play in their respective domestic competitions. The inaugural tournament was won by Argentina A. The Nations Cup was expanded in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhut ...

, with six teams instead of four. Argentina A and Italy A returned, along with

and the Emerging Springboks. This was in part to allow Namibia, Georgia and Romania to warm up for 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 ...

. Originally scheduled to take place in the Tineretului Stadium,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, in the event the matches took place at the city's

Stadionul Arcul de Triumf Stadionul Naţional de Rugby Arcul de Triumf (''Triumphal Arch National Rugby Stadium'') is a multi-purpose stadium in Bucharest, Romania. Being constructed on the site of the former stadium, it will host major rugby matches including home match ...

. The Emerging Springboks were crowned champions and the Tournament has remained at Arcul de Triumf since then. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Argentina A, soon to be rechristened as Argentina Jaguars, left the tournament to play in the Churchill Cup,

also withdrew.

and Russia took their places. The Emerging Springboks were crowned champions for the second time with a 100% record.

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Prote ...

saw the addition of Scotland A and France A to the tournament at the expense of the Emerging Springboks and Georgia, which both had other commitments that year. The Emerging Springboks played the British & Irish Lions during the Lions' tour of South Africa, while Georgia accepted an invitation to the Churchill Cup. Scotland A won that year's edition. For the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony o ...

edition, Romania and defending champions Scotland A returned from 2009, as did Italy A. France A, Russia, and Uruguay instead played in the 2010 Churchill Cup. Their places were taken by Georgia, returning after a one-year absence, and Namibia and Argentina Jaguars, returning for the first time since 2007. Namibia emerged as winners. The

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who Assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, was killed tha ...

edition effectively served as a 2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up for host Romania, defending Nations Cup champion Namibia, and Georgia. The Argentina Jaguars also returned from the 2010 edition. Portugal returned for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2006. South Africa made their first appearance since 2008 a successful one, with a team billed as the "South African Kings" — in reality, the Southern Kings, the country's planned future

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

franchise — winning the event. Southern Kings did not return to defend their title in

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, nor did Namibia or Georgia return to take part. Instead, Italy A (missing for a year) and Russia and Uruguay (missing for two years) reappeared. For the first time in the competition's history, host nation Romania won. They went on to retain the title in

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, this time in a four-team round robin. Emerging Ireland made their first appearance in the competition in

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, along with Uruguay, Russia, and host Romania. This edition is seen as important preparation for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

. In 2015, Namibia made their first appearance since 2011 as they began to prepare for the

. They were joined by Spain who made their debut in the tournament, and the Argentina Jaguars, coached by Argentina's most capped and top point scorer

Felipe Contepomi Felipe Contepomi (born 20 August 1977) is an Argentine rugby coach who is currently the backs coach at Leinster Rugby. He was a rugby union footballer who played fly-half or centre; his last club was Club Newman, in the first division of the ...

Teams

The teams that participated in the IRB Nations Cup and their finishing positions are as follows:

History

Teams

Statistics

Point scorers

Try scorers

Results

See also

References

External links