The Nations Cup 1965–66 was the sixth edition of a European

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 it ...

championship for national teams and was the first with this name. After the 1954 European Cup, the

FIRA Firá ( el, Φηρά, pronounced ) is the modern capital of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). A traditional settlement,http://www.visitgreece.gr Greek National Tourism Organisation "Firá" derives its name from an alternative pron ...

did not organize any championship. During the 1964 general assembly in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, it was decided to organize a tournament as a league championship. The teams would be divided in two divisions, with a process of promotion and relegation. The first edition was played between 1965 and 1966.Volpe-Vecchiarelli, pg 114 Italy, France, and Romania already played against each other regularly in test matches, so it was easy to arrange this kind of tournament.

First division

Table

Results

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Second division

Semifinals

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Final

References

Bibliography

* Francesco Volpe, Valerio Vecchiarelli (2000), ''2000 Italia in Meta, Storia della nazionale italiana di rugby dagli albori al Sei Nazioni'', GS Editore (2000) * Francesco Volpe, Paolo Pacitti (Author), ''Rugby 2000'', GTE Gruppo Editorale (1999).

External links

FIRA-AER official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:FIRA 1965–66 in European rugby union 1965-66 1965 rugby union tournaments for national teams 1966 rugby union tournaments for national teams