Newrey national rugby union team
 | |||
| Association | Newreyan Rugby Football Union | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | ARF (Asura) | ||
| Head coach | Bill Lansbury | ||
| Captain | Taft Clifton | ||
| Most caps | Eli Huckabee (150) | ||
| Top scorer | Alfred Burton (1,301) | ||
| Home stadium | The Two Acres | ||
| NSWC code | NFU | ||
| |||
| NSWC ranking | |||
| Current | 1 | ||
| Highest | 1 (TBA) | ||
| Lowest | 5 (TBA) | ||
| First international | |||
First game:  Newrey' 3–1 St Edred's Seminary (Whitbrydge, Newrey; 3 October 1872) International Newrey 32–3  Navack (Whitbrydge, Newrey; 5 September 1905) | |||
| Heartlands Cup | |||
| Appearances | 115 (first in 1905) | ||
| Best result | Champions, 32 times | ||
The Newrey national rugby union team is a rugby union team that represents Newrey at the international level, most frequently it competes in the annual Heartlands Cup with Navack, Cuirpthe, tir Lhaeraidd, Midrasia, Veleaz, and Vvarden. They have won this championship on a total of 32 times occasions (sharing one victory wirth Navack), making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are ranked number one in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 22 June 2019.
The history of the team extends back to 1871 when rugby was confined largely within the borders of Newrey, with the international team often being made out of a selection of the best players and would play annually against the most successful university team. It wasn't until 1905 that the team played its international rugby match against Navack. Newrey dominated the early iterations of the Cross-Channel Cup (now the Heartlands Cup) which started in 1905. Following the induction of Cuirpthe into the tournament in 1920, Newrey did not win the Iron Triangle (as it was renamed, until 1926, representing what's considered the lowest point of Newreyan rugby history. Newrey first played against Midrasia in 1955, tir Lhaeraidd in 1956, and Veleaz in 1960. These teams are often considered the core of Rugby in the world, and are played against annually.
Newrey players traditionally wear a a black and white striped shirt with a an oak leaf embroidered on the chest, black shorts, and black sock.
Their home ground is The Two Acres Stadium where they first played in 1915, after moving from the historic Whitbrydge ground. The team is administered by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).
History
The growth and expansion in both size in popularity of rugby union during the later half of the 19th century by both private school boys, who took the sport to both higher education and abroad, as well as its support by local church groups who used it as a means to encourage inter-community dialogue, was what laid the path to the establishment of the national rugby team, however the concept of playing other nations hadn't quite come to mind yet. Many of the national team's first match consisted of games against either universities or religious schools, or against a combination of the two. The team's first game was the 3rd October 1872 against St Edred's Seminary, which they won 3-1, utilising the old scoring system. The match proved popular, and soon the team played against teams in a fashion that it appeared to be a regular team in a national league. However, when university teams began touring abroad as a means to encourage a game, the idea of the national team playing other nations began to first gain traction, with the first game being scheduled against Cuirpthe on the 15th September 1895. However, the outbreak of the Great War put an end to these notions, with the team returning to play local teams, and occasionally military teams when Newrey entered the war, most notably against the crew of the HMS Undefeated, which saw the first match using the revised scoring system.
Following the end of the war, much of the NRFU leadership was comprised of local Church leaders, who hoped to use the team as a means to foster relations with its former enemy nations. Taking inspiration from the Olds Boys of Buryham team that held a successful tour of Navack, the board managed to get Navish officials to agree to a match, after significant attempts at persuasion. The first match was held in the traditional home of rugby, Whitbrydge, an attracted a sizeable crowd and made major headlines. The popularity of the game, as well as its reception, allowed the fixture to become an annual occurrence , with much of the early tournament, and sport itself, was characterised by Newreyan dominance due to the many years it had to practice and refine its skills and tactics.
Up until the late 1920s, Newrey remained the domineering team in the sport international, frequently crushing both other teams in the famous Iron Triangle tournament, but also in test matches against other national rugby teams. This belief led to a decline in Newreyan quality, allowing other teams to develop at a rate greater than Newrey and, with the assistance of coaches trained in Newrey, eventually surpass it.
The Slump
The first signs of the commonly called 'Slump Era' began in