England was one of the teams invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and progressed to the final in the second tournament in 1991, losing 12–6 to Australia.

[24] England played France for the first time in March 1906 in Paris, winning 35–8, and later that year they first faced South Africa (known as the "Springboks"), again at Crystal Palace.

[43] They successfully defended their title the following year, but missed out on the Grand Slam by losing 20–14 to Ireland in a postponed match at Lansdowne Road.

[45] In 2002, England beat Argentina 26–18 in Buenos Aires,[46] and in the Autumn internationals they defeated New Zealand 31–28,[47] Australia 32–31,[48] and South Africa 53–3 at Twickenham.

[49] At the 2003 Six Nations Championship, England won the Grand Slam for the first time since 1995,[citation needed] followed by wins over Australia and the All Blacks on their June summer tour.

On 8 December, the England team were greeted by 750,000 supporters on a victory parade through London before meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

[53] Robinson's first Six Nations campaign in 2005 resulted in fourth place for England,[54] and although they defeated Australia 26–16 at Twickenham in the Autumn internationals,[55] this was followed by a 23–19 loss to the All Blacks.

England then faced hosts France in the semi-finals and triumphed 14–9 to qualify for the final, where they were subjected to a second defeat by the Springboks at this World Cup, losing the match 15–6.

Former England team captain Martin Johnson took up the job of head coach in July 2008 but, unable to replicate his on-field success in the management role, he resigned in November 2011 following a miserable Rugby World Cup which featured a series of on- and off-field controversies and ended in quarter-final defeat by France.

[61] He had previously been employed in the position on a short-term basis, assisted by existing forwards coach Graham Rowntree, and Andy Farrell.

[64] Despite this setback, and following the appointment of new head coach Eddie Jones, England won the Grand Slam in the 2016 Six Nations Championship, and remained unbeaten for the whole of 2016, including a series whitewash of Australia in Sydney.

[citation needed] 2018 began well for England, seeing off a spirited challenge from Italy 46–15, and winning a tight contest against Wales 12–6 in the first two rounds of the Six Nations.

However, it wasn't until June before England recorded another win, as the team lost their remaining games against Scotland (25–13), France (22–16) and eventual Grand Slam winners Ireland (24–15) at home at Twickenham.

[65] On their summer tour of South Africa, England lost the first two matches 42–39 and 23–12, after leading both early in the first half, before winning the third test 25–10 against a mostly second-string Springbok side.

[citation needed] England finished second in the 2019 Six Nations Championship having lost to Wales in Cardiff and drawn 38-38 with Scotland at Twickenham after leading 31-0.

England won the quarter-final 40-16, recording a seventh successive victory over Australia in the Wallabies' largest-ever Rugby World Cup defeat.

In the 2020 Six Nations Championship, England were defeated 24-17 in their opening game against France in Paris before recording victories against Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland and Wales at Twickenham.

England defeated Georgia, Wales and Ireland before facing France in the final match, winning 22-19 after extra time at Twickenham to secure the tournament.

In the early years, the English rugby team used a number of venues in several different locations around England before settling at Twickenham Stadium in 1910.

a The first of a two-test series, this match was originally scheduled to be held in Argentina but moved by the Argentine Rugby Union for financial reasons.

[87] In 1991, the RFU marketing director Mike Coley for the team to launch a song leading up to that year's Rugby World Cup.

He had wanted to use "Jerusalem", but it was used in the Rugby League Challenge Cup final that year, so the song was changed at short notice to "Swing Low".

[88] England rugby union players typically wear all-white jerseys and white shorts, with predominantly navy blue socks.

[93] Alfred Wright, an employee of the Rugby Football Union, is credited with the standardisation and new design of the rose, which up until 1920 had undergone many variations in its depiction.

They again finished pool runners-up in 1991 but recovered to beat France in the quarter-finals, and then Scotland in the semi-finals, en route to a 12–6 final defeat to Australia at Twickenham on 2 November 1991.

England made a poor start to their defence of the World Cup in 2007, with a below par victory over the United States and a heavy 36–0 defeat to South Africa, leaving the title holders on the brink of elimination at the pool stage.

[106] (1) On 21 January 2025, Arthur Clark, Curtis Langdon, Henry Pollock, Raffi Quirke and Ben Spencer were added to the training squad as injury cover.

[109] Props Hookers Locks Back row Scrum-halves Fly-halves Centres Wings Full-backs Five former England representatives have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame: Bill Beaumont, Martin Johnson, Jason Leonard, Wavell Wakefield and Jonny Wilkinson.

Note 1: Richard Cockerill served briefly as interim head coach in December 2022, between the dismissal of Eddie Jones and appointment of Steve Borthwick.

[163] Note 2: Between September 2015 and March 2017, England won 18 test matches in a row – equalling the record for a top tier nation – 17 of which occurred under Eddie Jones.