Churchill Cup
 |
|
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Ceased | 2011 |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Countries |
 Canada England Saxons United States+ other invited nations |
| Last champion(s) |
England Saxons
|
The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide array of countries.
It began in 2003 as an initiative of the governing bodies of the three regular participants—Rugby Canada, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and USA Rugby—in cooperation with the sport's worldwide governing body World Rugby (at the time called the "International Rugby Board" (IRB)).The main intent was to provide the USA and Canada with regular international competition. The final edition in 2011 featured invited teams from Italy, Russia, and Tonga, and was won by England Saxons (that country's "A", or developmental, national team). All three governing bodies of the permanent participants agreed to end the tournament after its 2011 edition, as World Rugby will include the USA and Canada in its international Test calendar from 2012. Canada and the USA will, however, continue to be supported by the RFU.
The tournament was named after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The tournament was first held in 2003 with only Canada, England and the USA taking part. The tournament was set up to improve the calibre and profile of rugby in North America, and also to help develop English players not yet part of the full national team. Because of the gap in skill levels, the England A side (second level, despite the 'A' moniker), rebranded in 2006 as England Saxons, took part instead of the full England men's side; however, the full England women's side participated.
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