List of oldest rugby union competitions

The following article lists the oldest known rugby union competitions.

Rank	Competition	Location	Date	First winner	First Runner-up	Source(s)
1	United Hospitals Challenge Cup	The Oval	1874	Guy's Hospital	St George’s Hospital	[1]
2	Ulster Schools' Cup	Ulster	1876	The Royal School, Armagh	Royal Belfast Academical Institution	[2]
3	Yorkshire Cup	Recreation Ground, Holbeack	1877	Halifax	York	Yorkshire Cup final programmes, including the 1978 Centenary Programme.
4	Calcutta Cup	Raeburn Place	1879	Scotland	England	[3]

Other long established rugby union competitions include:

Competition	Location	Date	First winner	First Runner-up	Source(s)
Home Nations Championship	United Kingdom	1883	England	Scotland	[4]
Leinster Towns Cup	Ireland	1888	Blackrock College RFC		[5]
Currie Cup	South Africa	1889	Western Province		[6]
French Championship	Bagatelle, Paris	1892	Racing Club de France	Stade Français	[7]
River Plate Rugby Championship	Argentina	1899	Lomas Athletic Club	Buenos Aires Football Club	[8]
Ranfurly Shield	New Zealand	1904	Wellington	Auckland	[9]
Clifford Cup	Sri Lanka	1911	United Services	All Ceylon
Siam Cup	Channel Islands	1920	Jersey	Guernsey

References

1. "United Hospitals RFC Club History". United Hospitals RFC. Retrieved 2009-12-08. (WaybackMachine archived copy 1 March 2010)
2. "Past Winners of Ulster Schools' Cup". BBC. 2003-03-14. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
3. "The Origin of the Calcutta Cup". RFU. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
4. "Official RBS 6 Nations Rugby: History". Retrieved 2009-12-18.
5. http://www.leinsterrugby.ie/domestic/clubs/provincial_towns_cup/index.php. Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. "ABSA Currie Cup Records" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-12-18.
7. "Bagatelle, Bois de Boulogne, Paris, 20 mars 1892". TOP 14 Orange : Histoire (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. 2004-01-22. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
8. "National Competitions". Union Argentina de Rugby. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
9. "National Competitions". New Zealand Rugby Union. Retrieved 2009-12-18.