List of oldest rugby union competitions

The following article lists the oldest known rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

competitions.

Rank	Competition	Location	Date	First winner	First Runner-up	Source(s)
1	United Hospitals Challenge Cup United Hospitals Cup The United Hospitals Challenge Cup is contested by the six medical schools in London and is most notable for being the oldest rugby cup competition in the world.-History:...	The Oval The Oval The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...	1874	Guy's Hospital Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club is the name given to the modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having all been founded in the nineteenth century. The teams from Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital were the first to merge...	St George’s Hospital St. George’s Hospital Medical School RFC St. George’s Hospital Medical School RFC is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world having been founded in 1863. The side is notable for its long history, its participation in the oldest competition in rugby, the United Hospitals Cup, as well as having produced a large number of international...
2	Ulster Schools' Cup Ulster Schools Cup The Ulster Schools' Challenge Cup is an annual competition involving schools affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The Schools' Cup has the distinction of being the world's second-oldest rugby competition, having been competed for every year since 1876...	Ulster	1876	The Royal School, Armagh The Royal School, Armagh The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in the city of Armagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It was one of a number of free schools created by King James I of England in 1608 to provide an education to the sons of local merchants and farmers during the plantation...	Royal Belfast Academical Institution Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution, is a Grammar School in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Locally referred to as Inst, the school educates boys from ages 11–18...
3	Calcutta Cup Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. It is currently England's since the 2009 Six Nations Championship....	Raeburn Place Raeburn Place Raeburn Place is the main street of Stockbridge, Edinburgh, and the name of the playing fields there.-Rugby:The first international rugby football game was played on the playing fields at Raeburn Place on 27 March 1871 between England and Scotland. It was won by Scotland, though England got revenge...	1879

Other long established rugby union competitions include:

Competition	Location	Date	First winner	First Runner-up	Source(s)
Home Nations Championship Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....		1883
Currie Cup Currie Cup The Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring , featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces...		1889	Western Province Western Province (rugby team) DHL Western Province is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. The team has won the Currie Cup on 32 occasions and has the most supporters of any Currie Cup team...
French Championship	Bagatelle Château de Bagatelle The Château de Bagatelle is a small neoclassical château with a French landscape garden in the Bois de Boulogne in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris... , Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...	1892	Racing Club de France	Stade Français
Ranfurly Shield Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, rather than a league or knockout competition as with most football trophies...		1904	Wellington Wellington Rugby Football Union The Wellington Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union in the city of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand...	Auckland Auckland Rugby Football Union The Auckland Rugby Football Union is the governing body of rugby union in the Auckland Region, in the North Island of New Zealand. Its colours are navy blue and white in a hoop design. Auckland's top representative team have won New Zealand's top provincial rugby competition 16 times, more than...

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