Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England.

Wales has also participated in every Rugby World Cup since the competition was established in 1987; they finished third in the inaugural tournament and have since made two semi-finals, in 2011 and 2019.

Wales were the host nation for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, although matches were also played in England, Scotland, Ireland and France.

Rugby union took root in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St David's College, Lampeter, and introduced the sport there.

That year, for the first time since the First World War, Wales retained the same side for two consecutive matches when they faced England and Scotland.

Although the Five Nations Championship was suspended during the Second World War,[d] Wales did play a Red Cross charity match against England at Cardiff in 1940, losing 18–9.

[36] At the WRU annual general meeting that year, the outgoing WRU President D. Ewart Davies declared that "it was evident from the experience of the South African Tour that a much more positive attitude to the game was required in Wales ... Players must be prepared to learn, and indeed re-learn, to the absolute point of mastery, the basic principles of Rugby Union football".

[51] In the 1972 Five Nations Championship, Wales and Scotland refused to travel to Ireland at the height of the Troubles after receiving threats, purportedly from the Irish Republican Army.

[57][58] Referee Roger Quittenton was criticised by the press for failing to notice the dive, but he later stated that the penalty had been given against Welsh lock Geoff Wheel for jumping off the shoulder of Oliver.

[70][72] At the 1995 World Cup, after comprehensively beating Japan, Wales lost to New Zealand; this meant that they needed to defeat Ireland to qualify for the quarter-finals.

[74] Record defeats of 51–0 to France and 96–13 to South Africa, prompted the WRU to appoint New Zealander Graham Henry as coach in 1998.

[78] A lack of success in the Five and Six Nations (Italy joined the tournament in 2000), and especially a number of heavy losses to Ireland, led to Henry's resignation in February 2002; his assistant Steve Hansen took over.

[e][79][80] At the 2003 World Cup, Wales scored four tries in their 53–37 pool stage loss to New Zealand,[81] before losing in the quarter-finals to the eventual tournament winners, England, despite outscoring them by three tries to one.

[85] Ruddock resigned as head coach midway through the 2006 Six Nations,[86] where Wales finished fifth, and Gareth Jenkins was eventually appointed as his replacement.

[87] Jenkins led Wales through the 2007 World Cup, where they failed to advance beyond the pool stage after losing their final game 38–34 to Fiji, thanks to a Graham Dewes try.

[94] The two teams met again in March 2012, with Wales needing a win to claim their third Six Nations Grand Slam in eight years, which they did with a 16–9 victory.

[99] Wales reached the top spot in the men's World Rugby Rankings in August 2019, holding the position for two weeks.

Wales won their fourth Six Nations title of the last decade, though they fell short of winning the Grand Slam at the death of their final match against France in Paris.

On 5 December 2022, Warren Gatland was reappointed as head coach, following a review of Wayne Pivac and his performance in the 2022 Autumn Nations Series.

[1] He was replaced on an interim basis by Cardiff Rugby head coach Matt Sherratt, who would take charge of the side for the remainder for the 2025 Six Nations.

The original motto beneath the feathers was a German phrase, Ich dien, meaning I serve, but this has been replaced with large letters reading WRU.

Former change strips worn by Wales have used black, navy, white, yellow, grey & green as their predominant colours.

[137] In October 2015, the WRU agreed a nine-year, £33 million extension to its contract with Under Armour,[138] only for both parties to mutually terminate the deal four years early in 2020.

It was decided to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park after a review found it was out of date; new legislation also required stadia to be all-seated.

They fought back to lead by three points with six minutes remaining, but Fiji then scored a try to win 38–34 and eliminated Wales from the tournament.

A second Six Nations' Grand Slam in 2008 propelled them to 6th in the rankings, but following losses to South Africa in the mid-year and end-of-year internationals Wales slipped to 7th.

[182] Head coach: Matt Sherratt (interim) Eighteen Welsh internationals have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

[192][193] Prydie is also Wales' youngest try-scorer, scored against South Africa in June 2010, overtaking the record that Tom Pearson set on his debut in 1891.

[194] Winger George North, aged 18 years 214 days, overtook Pearson's record as the youngest Wales player to score a try on debut in November 2010.

Following pressure from the Welsh clubs at the WRU's annual general meeting, the decision was reversed and Clive Rowlands was appointed as coach for the tour.