Girls Playing Rugby

1975 - Wales and England field separate teams in the Rugby League World Cup, played over several months in both hemispheres. Australia takes the trophy by finishing one point ahead of England in the final league table.
1976 - New Zealand Rugby Union tour of South Africa. Twenty-eight nations boycott the 1976 Summer Olympics in protest against the International Olympic Committee's refusal to ban New Zealand from the games for defying the IOC's ban on sporting contact with South Africa.
1978 - New Zealand Rugby Union tour of Britain and Ireland - New Zealand completes Grand Slam of victories over England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales for the first time.
1980 - Australia establishes Rugby League’s State of Origin format, where Queensland and New South Wales born players face each other. From 1982 onwards, it is played as a three match series and is recognised as the fiercest, toughest rugby in the world.