Wales News
Since then, the country, known in the Rugby League world as the Dragons, have had successful periods, periods of struggle and lots of up and down periods but one that has remained constant is their ability to provide the sport with incredible players.
If you are Welsh, have Welsh heritage, your country is playing against the Welsh Dragons or you simply interested in the country, we here at 13v13.com make it easier than ever to read all of the latest news headlines regarding the Welsh national Rugby League side.
Wales Breaking News
If you are looking for the latest Wales RL breaking news, you are in the right place as we bring you all of the breaking news regarding the Welsh national Rugby League test team right here on this page.
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Wales Latest News Today
If you have missed out on a big breaking news story, are looking to see if a rumour you have heard is true or not or if you are simply wanting to see if anything has happened regarding the Welsh Dragons, you can get all the Wales Rugby League latest news today here at 13v13.
Confederation
Wales are part of the European Rugby League Federation (ERL) and although they have spent much of their existence under the rule of the RFL, and even all their professional Rugby League club sides paly in RFL competitions, the sport in the country is run by the Wales Rugby League governing body.
About
Wales is one of the oldest test playing countries after starting up in 1907 and only having England and New Zealand as nations with a longer history.
History
As mentioned above, the history of international Rugby League for Wales goes back to 1907 but it could be argued that their history goes back even further as in 1904 an ‘Other Nationalities’ side featuring 10 Welshmen and 2 Scots (it was a 12 a side match) took on England in Wigan.
The ‘Other Nationalities’ won the match 3-9 and those occasions would become a regular occurrence for the next couple of years.
In 1907, the New Zealand All Golds and Australian superstar Dally Messenger headed across to the British Isles for a test series against England, but their first match would take place in Aberdare, where around 20,000 fans would see Wales defeat the Kiwis 9-8 in their first ever outing.
In 1909, a team selected of Welsh based players took on and defeated a touring Kangaroos side for the first time.
Up until the outbreak of war, Wales and England would play against each other multiple times a season and a full Welsh test team would play Australia for the first time in 1911, but they would lose 20-28 in front of around 7,000 fans.
After the World War 1, Wales would have to regroup as they lost many of their big-name players but new stars, including Wigan’s Jim Sullivan, would soon help Wales to pick up big wins.
The 1930 would see the establishment of the European Nations Cup and that would help Wales establish themselves as one of the leading northern hemispheres nations.
Wales played the first ever match of that coemption when they took on France in Bordeaux, but they would go on to lose that match and against England.
In the next edition, Wales would win the coemption and defeat England in Wales for the first time in over a decade.
They would go on to defend their title in the next 2 editions and with a strong squad including the likes of the aforementioned Sullivan as well as Gus Risman, Alan Edwards and Alec Givvons, this period is often thought of as Wales golden era.
In 947, over 30,000 fans would watch Wales take on England which would remain the largest home attendance for the Dragons until 2017.
In 1947, superstar Clive Sullivan effectively won the world cup for Australia as that saw Wales defeat England in Brisbane, but they would finish third in the competition.
In 1991, Wales took on Papua New Guinea in Swansea where they would run out 68-0 to break their record for biggest win with Jonathan Davies scoring 24 points.
The next year, the Dragons would pick up their first win across the channel in France for 30 years and in 1995, they would win the European Championship for the first time since 1968.
Wales would also make it through to the semi-finals of that years RLWC and their successful period would continue in 1996 as they would once again win the European Championship by defeating France in Carcassonne.
RLWC 2000 would prove to be successful again for Wales as they made it through to the last 4 once again but they would then start to struggle on the international stage with a loss to Lebanon seeing them not reach the next world cup.
Wales would lose 12-80 in Wrexham to England but and then they would lose all of their matches at the 2013 RLWC, despite seeing a record-breaking crowd for their tournament opener in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff, where they lost to Italy.
The Dragons would lose all their European Cup matches in 2014 before finally ending a losing run of 12 straight test matches in 2015 when they defeated Scotland.
At the 2017 RLWC, they would lose all the matches once again.
Wales Rugby League News Headlines
If you are looking for the latest Wales news headlines for their national Rugby League test side, you are in the right place as we bring you all of the latest news headlines right here at 13v13.
Wales RL News Update
As is the case with all news stories in this day and age, when a story breaks regarding Rugby League in Wales, you can be sure that it will likely be updated often.
That can often lead to a frustrating experience for fans who need to keep checking news outlets for the latest news but now you can simply check this very page as we constantly keep all of the breaking stories updated.
