Historedia
EuropeEvent

First rugby union international: Scotland beat England

When
1871
Where
Raeburn Place
Episodes
1

The first international rugby union match occurred on 27 March 1871 at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. Scotland defeated England, with the result recorded as a 1–0 win under the scoring conventions of the era. The match resulted from a challenge issued in December 1870, inviting an English team to play under rugby rules.

Episodes

  1. 27 March 1871 · Raeburn PlaceFirst International Rugby Match

    Scotland defeated England in the first international rugby union match at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, on 27 March 1871.

Background and detail

Background. The match resulted from a challenge issued in Bell's Weekly on 8 December 1870, signed by captains of five Scottish clubs. This invitation called for a team selected from the whole of England to play a 20-a-side game under rugby rules. The challenge led to the first-ever rugby international match being played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh.

Match Details. The game was played on 27 March 1871 at Raeburn Place, the home ground of Edinburgh Academicals, in front of 4,000 spectators. Scotland won the match, scoring two tries and a goal to England's single try. The result is recorded as a 1–0 win for Scotland, reflecting the scoring conventions of the era.

Contemporary Reporting. A report on the match was carried on page 5 of The Glasgow Herald on 28 March 1871. The article, titled 'FOOTBALL MATCH - England v Scotland', described the event as a great football match played on the Academy Cricket Ground, Edinburgh, with a result most gratifying for Scotland.

People involved

Sources

  1. 1871 Scotland versus England rugby union match Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-15
  2. Scotland national rugby union team Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-09

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.