| Men's rugby union at the Games of the II Olympiad | ||||||||||
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1A_Square.jpg) Vélodrome de Vincennes hosted the matches | ||||||||||
| Venue | Vélodrome de Vincennes | |||||||||
| Dates | 14 October 1900 28 October 1900 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 47 from 3 nations | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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1908 → | ||||||||||
Rugby union at the 1900 Summer Olympics was played in Paris.[2]Rugby union matches at the1900 Summer Olympics were held on 14 October and 28 October. Forty-seven athletes competed, most from three nations and including a Haitian and a French-born American.
France, represented byUnion des Sociétés Françaises,Germany, represented mainly by theFC 1880 Frankfurt,[3] andGreat Britain, represented by theMoseley Wanderers,[4] all participated in the inaugural rugby event at the Olympics. Only two games were contested, France played both Germany and Great Britain, the French winning both matches.
This saw the gold go to France, and both Germany and Great Britain are credited with silver, with no bronze awarded. For medal purposes, the IOC regarded the side from France until 2024 as a "Mixed Team", asConstantin Henriquez was from Haiti. Further,André Roosevelt, an American born in France, was also on the French team. However, in 2024 the IOC reassigned the medal toFrance, as well as 12 other medals to particular countries, that were previously considered to bemixed teams at the 1900 Summer Olympics.[5]
| 14 Oct |
France  | 27–17 |  Germany |
| Report | Try: E Ludwig, Reitz, Schmierer Con: Schmierer (2) Drop: Schmierer |
| Vélodrome de Vincennes,Paris Attendance: 3,500 Referee:FC Potter-Irwin (England) |
| Team details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Wikimedia Commons has media related toFrance v Germany, 14 October 1900. |
In the first half, France scored a try byÉmile Sarrade and a conversion. Germany scored tries byHeinrich Reitz andAugust Schmierer, with two conversions as well as a drop goal. Under the custom scoring rules of the Olympic tournament (3 points for tries or penalties, 2 points for conversions, 4 points for drop goals), this gave Germany a lead of 14–5.
The second half was vastly different, as Serrade scored two more tries whileAndré Roosevelt also scored two andFrantz Reichel andAbel Albert added one each. Two more conversions were made, bringing France's score to a total of 27. Germany, on the other hand, scored only one try, by one of the Ludwigs.[6] France thus won the match 27–17.[7]
| 28 Oct |
| France | 27–8 |  Great Britain |
| Report |
| Vélodrome de Vincennes,Paris Attendance: 6,000 Referee:M.T.B. Potter |
The British team failed to score in the first half, while France continued the scoring barrage they had experienced in the second half of the Germany match.Sarrade scored two tries, bringing his tournament total to five.Joseph Olivier,Jean Collas, andJean-Guy Gauthier each added a try. No conversions were scored, thoughAndré Rischmann's two penalties brought France's first-half total to 21.
Britain actually outscored France in the second half, 8–6, but had little chance of catching up.Joseph Wallis scored a try whileJ. Henry Birtles made a conversion and a penalty for Britain. Reichel scored his second try of the tournament, andLéon Binoche added a try to bring France's victory to a 27–8 margin.[8]
AReuters report of the match noted that the British squad's loss may have been in part to fatigue, as the players arrived in Paris only on the morning of the match. A crowd of 10,000 fans witnessed the match.[9]
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Avg points | Tries | Avg tries |
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 | France[5] | 2 | 54 | 27.00 | ? | ? |
 | Germany | 1 | 17 | 17 | ? | ? |
| Great Britain | 1 | 8 | 8 | ? | ? | |
 | (none awarded) | |||||
Rugby at the Summer Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||
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