RugbyFootballHistory.com

1930 - IRB took responsibility for all law changes.

1931 - The Bledisloe Cup was donated by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Lord Bledisloe. The Bledisloe Cup was first played for in 1931, when New Zealand beat Australia 20-13 in Auckland.

October 31st - South of Scotland held Bennie Osler's Third Springboks to a pointless draw at Melrose in the ninth match of the tour - the first side to hold the visitors.

1932 - New West Stand completed at Twickenham, with offices for RFU staff and room for 12,000 spectators. Cost £75,025. South terrace extended to accommodate 20,000.

1933 - The Rugby Football Union prohibited floodlit rugby for gate money as "not in the best interests of the game".

1934 - The FIRA (Federation of Amateur rugby) is founded by Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Catalonia (Spain), and Sweden. Belgium join in March.

In Germany's last game before WWII, the Germans beat Italy 12:3 in Milan, confirming their status in the top six in Europe.

1935-6 - The Third All-Blacks.

V. R. Meredith (Manager)

29 Players:
N. A. Mitchell, C. Pepper, G. Gilbert, F. Vorrath, A. Lambourn, W. E. Hadley, D. Dalton.
W. Collins, J. Best, R. R. King, A. Mahoney, G. Wynyard, H. F. McLean, T. Reid, G. T. Adkins.
T. H. C. Caughey, M. M. Y. Corner, G. F. Hart, J. E. Manchester,
C. J. Oliver, J. Hore, D. Solomon, R. M. McKenzie.
J. R. Page, N. J. Ball, B. S. Sadler, J. L. Griffiths, E. W. Tindill, H. F. Brown.

Gilbert played in 26 of the 29 games
King played in 24
Mitchell played in 22
Caughey & Manchester played in 20

14th September, 1935	Devon & Cornwall	W	36 - 6
19th September, 1935	Midland Counties	W	9-3
21st September, 1935	Yorkshire & Cumberland	W	14-3
25th September, 1935	Abertillery & Cross Keys	W	31-6
28th September, 1935	Swansea	L	3-11
3rd October, 1935	Gloucester & Somerset	W	23-3
5th October, 1935	Lancashire & Cheshire	W	21-8
7th October, 1935	Northumberland & Durham	W	10-6
10th October, 1935	South of Scotland	W	11-8
16th October, 1935	Glasgow & Edinburgh	W	9-8
19th October, 1935	Combined services	W	6-5
22nd October, 1935	Llanelly	W	16-8
26th October, 1935	Cardiff	W	20-5
31st October, 1935	Newport	W	17-5
2 November, 1935	London Counties	W	11-0
7th November, 1935	Oxford University	W	10-9
9th November, 1935	Hampshire & Sussex	W	14-8
15th November, 1935	Cambridge University	W	20-5
16th November, 1935	Leicestershire & East Midlands	W	16-3
23 November, 1935	Scotland	W	18-8
27th November, 1935	North of Scotland	W	12-6
30th November, 1935	Ulster	D	3-3
7th December, 1935	Ireland	W	17-9
12th December, 1935	Mid-Districts of Wales	W	31-10
14th December, 1935	Neath & Abervon	W	13-3
21st December, 1935	Wales	L	12-13
26th December, 1935	London Counties	W	24-5
4th January, 1936	England	L	0-13

Geoffrey Rees-Jones, just like his England counterpart Prince Alexander Obolensky, became known as the man whose two tries defeated the 1935 New Zealand tourists. On 21 December that year, Rees-Jones collected his brace in a 13-12 Wales win and 14 days later Obolensky collected two as England won 13-0. Neither man ever scored another international try.

1936 - The Rugby Union of the Soviet Union was founded in 1936 and the Soviet Union began to play international rugby union games. They were not a major world force, unlike in other sports, mainly because of its 'Western Capitalist' morals. They even supposedly refused an invitation to the 1987 Rugby World Cup for political reasons, including the continued IRB membership of South Africa.

1938 - March 19th at Twickenham. The Calcutta cup match between England and Scotland was the first international rugby game to be shown live on TV. An exciting match played in perfect conditions resulting in a 21-16 Triple Crown win for Scotland.

England	Scotland
Tries Unwin	Tries Dick, Renwick 2, Shaw 2
Pens Parker 3	Pens Crawford 2
Drops Reynolds	Drops none
Team FB GW Parker W EJ Unwin C P Cranmer C PL Candler W HS Sever FH FJ Reynolds SH JL Giles P RJ Longland H H Toft (c) P HF Wheatley L RM Marshall L A Wheatley F WH Weston N8 DLK Milman F AA Brown	Team FB G Roberts W WN Renwick C RCS Dick C DJ Macrae W JGS Forrest FH RW Shaw (c) SH TF Dorward P WF Blackadder H JDH Hastie P WM Inglis L GB Horsburgh L A Roy F WB Young N8 PL Duff F WH Crawford

1939-1945 - WW2 see more about Rugby at war.

1945 Cambridge University XV

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