2015 - Rugby World Cup

International rugby has come a long way since that first game at Raeburn Place in 1871. Rugby Union is now a truly global sport with an international governing body, World Rugby, and its own top prize, the Rugby World Cup (RWC).

The RWC is organised by World Rugby and is contested every four years. The first RWC was held in Australia and New Zealand in 1987 and has now become the third most watched sporting competition in the world, behind the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. The RWC in New Zealand in 2011 attracted a global television audience of over 4 billion, resulted in 133,200 additional visitors to New Zealand and created 29,000 jobs.

The 2015 RWC in England and Wales saw twenty nations from both northern and southern hemispheres, from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia, competing for the iconic Webb Ellis Cup, with New Zealand the eventual winners. Overall attendance across the 48 games was 2,477,805.

As part of the build-up to the 2015 RWC, the trophy went on tour, both internationally and across the UK. As part of that tour, the Cup was brought to Raeburn Place, in recognition of the significance of the ground as the site of the first international match and as the birthplace of international rugby.