International Rugby Board - Definition and Overview

The International Rugby Board (IRB), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is the world governing and law-making body for the game of Rugby Union (as opposed to Rugby League—see the respective entries for differences between the two).

The Executive Council meets twice a year. It consists of the eight Unions each with two seats: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Four unions have one seat each: Argentina, Canada, Italy and Japan as does FIRA–AER. The full membership meets at a General Meeting which is convened every two years. Regional meetings are held at regular intervals.

The IRB controls several tournaments: the Rugby Union World Cup, the Women's Rugby World Cup, Rugby World Cup Sevens, IRB World Sevens Series, Under 21 World Cup, Under 19 World Championship and the Super Powers Cup.

History

The board was founded in 1886 (see The history of the International Rugby Board).

• This IRB should not be confused with the same initials that appear under the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on coins in countries of the British Commonwealth minted in 1998 (1999 in some countries) or later. The IRB mentioned in this paragraph stands for Ian Rank-Broadley, the artist who designed said effigy.

External links

• International Rugby Board - official website (http://www.irb.com/)
• IRB The Laws of Laws of Rugby (Union) (http://www.irb.com/Laws/Laws/home.htm)
• IRB World Rankings (http://www.irb.com/WR/)