Silverware with a story

The trophies

The Southern Hemisphere

Bledisloe Cup: New Zealand v Australia

The Bledisloe Cup is the grand old trophy of southern rugby, donated by Lord Bledisloe, then Governor-General of New Zealand, in the early 1930s. Even its birthday is disputed: Australia count a one-off 1931 Test at Eden Park as the first contest, while New Zealand say it started with the All Blacks’ 1932 tour of Australia.

The cup itself went missing for a stretch of the mid-century and was reportedly found gathering dust in a Melbourne store room. It has since been played for in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Yokohama as the unions tried to grow the game in Asia.

It has also been brutally one-sided. New Zealand have won it 52 times to Australia’s 12, and held it for more than two decades from 2003. The Wallabies’ last win came in 2002.

Freedom Cup: South Africa v New Zealand

The Springboks and All Blacks have been at each other since 1921, but the Freedom Cup (Vryheidsbeker in Afrikaans) is much younger. It was introduced in 2004 to mark ten years of South African democracy, and the Boks won the first one 40–26 at Ellis Park.

Its most famous moment was a blunder. In 2006 New Zealand had already won the series, but after the Boks won the third Test in Rustenburg, SuperSport presenter Joost van der Westhuizen handed the trophy to John Smit live on TV. The mistake was quietly fixed off-air.

New Zealand then held it from 2010 until 2024, when the Boks won it back in Cape Town for the first time since 2009. They kept it in 2025 with a 43–10 hiding in Wellington, the All Blacks’ heaviest Test defeat. In 2026 the rivalry got its first proper tour in 30 years, and South Africa won the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series 3–1, sealing it 43–28 in Baltimore.

Mandela Challenge Plate: South Africa v Australia

Often called the “Nelson Mandela shield”, the trophy’s official name is the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate. It honours South Africa’s first democratically elected president and was first contested in 2000, when Australia won 44–23 in Melbourne.

The plate is leather-clad silver with a 24-carat gold rim and a central disc showing a Wallaby and a Springbok. It was made by Flynn Silver, a family firm in Kyneton, Victoria. It’s a true challenge trophy: the challenger has to win both Tests to take it off the holder.

Australia have the most titles (14). South Africa had held it since 2023, but in 2026 the Rugby Championship was paused for the All Blacks’ tour of South Africa, so the plate was decided in a single Test. The Wallabies won 42–38 in Perth, down to 11 men in the closing minutes, and took it back for the first time since 2022.

Puma Trophy: Argentina v Australia

The Puma Trophy is a bronze statue of a puma, Argentina’s emblem. It arrived in 2000, two decades after the sides first met in 1979, and Australia won it every time it was contested until 2023.

Then the Pumas flipped it. A 78th-minute try in Sydney won them the trophy for the first time in 2023, and in 2024 they kept it with a 67–27 rout in Santa Fe, their biggest win over Australia. They held on again in 2025.

In 2026 the Wallabies toured Argentina for the first time since 2000, winning in Jujuy and drawing 28–28 in Mendoza to take the trophy back.

The Six Nations

Calcutta Cup: England v Scotland

This is the oldest of them all. The Calcutta Cup traces back to Christmas Day 1872, when a twenty-a-side game of rugby was played in Calcutta, British India. The Calcutta Rugby Football Club was formed soon after, but by 1878 its members were dwindling, so they withdrew the club’s remaining funds, 270 silver rupees, and had them melted down into a trophy.

The cup was handmade by Indian craftsmen, with an elephant perched on its lid. The club hoped it would become rugby’s FA Cup, but the amateur-minded RFU refused a knockout competition and made it an annual England v Scotland prize instead. The first match, at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh in 1879, was a draw.

It has survived worse than a draw. In 1988, England’s Dean Richards and Scotland’s John Jeffrey took it out drinking and played football with it along Princes Street. Jeffrey got a six-month ban. Scotland won the 2026 edition 31–20 at Murrayfield, their fifth win in six years, though England still lead the all-time count 72–45.

Millennium Trophy: England v Ireland

The Millennium Trophy was created in 1988 for Dublin’s 1,000th birthday, and it’s shaped like a horned Viking helmet in a nod to the city’s founders. It was made by American silversmith Charles Zanoni in his studio in Bray, County Wicklow.

England dominated the early years, but Ireland have won it in five of the last six seasons. Their 42–21 win at Twickenham in February 2026 was their biggest-ever score and away margin in the fixture. England still lead the count 21–18.

Centenary Quaich: Scotland v Ireland

A quaich is a shallow Gaelic drinking cup, and the Centenary Quaich was introduced in 1989 to mark the centenary of the International Rugby Football Board, today’s World Rugby.

Few trophies swing as hard. Scotland held it for its first eleven years. Since 2000, Ireland have won 23 of 27 meetings, and a 43–21 win in Dublin in March 2026 made it nine in a row. It’s only on the line in the Six Nations, so World Cup meetings don’t count.

Auld Alliance Trophy: Scotland v France

The Auld Alliance Trophy takes its name from the 13th-century alliance between France and Scotland, but its purpose is remembrance. It was introduced in 2018, a century after the end of World War I, to honour the 30 Scottish and 22 French internationals killed in the war.

It names two men in particular: Eric Milroy and Marcel Burgun, who captained their countries in the last match before the war. The solid-silver trophy by Thomas Lyte is decorated with poppies and cornflowers, and descendants of both families carried it onto the field at its debut. France have won five, Scotland four, including a wild 50–40 at Murrayfield in 2026.

Doddie Weir Cup: Scotland v Wales

The Doddie Weir Cup honours the giant Scotland lock who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2016 and died in 2022, aged 52. It was launched in 2018 to raise awareness, and Weir joked that its big handles were there to match his massive ears.

It didn’t start smoothly: neither union planned to give the inaugural match’s gate money to Weir’s charity, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, until fans and media pushed them into a six-figure donation. Wales won the first one, but Scotland have taken the last four, most recently 26–23 in Cardiff in 2026.

Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy: France v Italy

The Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy marks the 200th birthday of the Italian unification hero, who was born in Nice and also fought for France in the Franco-Prussian War. It was sculpted by French rugby great Jean-Pierre Rives and first awarded in 2007.

France have won 17 of the 20 contests. Italy’s two wins, in 2011 and 2013, both came in Rome, and they drew 13–13 in Lille in 2024. France won the 2026 match 33–8.

One notable gap: England v France, “Le Crunch”, is one of the fiercest games in the Championship but has no trophy of its own.

North v South

Dave Gallaher Trophy: New Zealand v France

France played their first-ever Test against New Zealand’s “Originals” in 1906. The All Blacks’ captain that day was Dave Gallaher, who was killed at the Battle of Broodseinde in Belgium in 1917. The Dave Gallaher Trophy was created in his name in 2000, a year after France’s famous 1999 World Cup semi-final upset.

It has a great bit of trivia. In 2009 France won the trophy 37–36 on aggregate after the sides split two Tests. The All Blacks thought a 1–1 series meant they’d keep it; their coaches had deliberately not told them aggregate points counted.

New Zealand have won 23 of the 28 Tests, but France held it from 2021 to 2025. The All Blacks won it back with a 3–0 series in 2025 and kept it with a 34–32 thriller in Christchurch in July 2026, the opening match of the new Nations Championship.

Hillary Shield: New Zealand v England

The Hillary Shield is named after New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, who died in January 2008. It was announced later that year and first played for at Twickenham that November. Like the Auld Alliance Trophy, it was made by Thomas Lyte.

New Zealand won 12 of the first 14 Tests, but England have taken it twice. The second came with a 33–19 win at Twickenham in November 2025, so England are the current holders.

Ella–Mobbs Cup (formerly Cook Cup): Australia v England

From 1997 to 2021 this was the Cook Cup, a Royal Doulton crystal trophy named after Captain James Cook. In 2022 it was retired for a trophy that better represented both countries: the Ella–Mobbs Cup.

It honours Mark Ella, the Indigenous Wallabies great, and Edgar Mobbs, an England player killed on the Western Front in 1917. Aboriginal artist Natalie Bateman’s design mixes song lines and Indigenous symbols for Ella with an English rose, a fox and the Northampton castle Mobbs wore on his lapel. Its base is made of Australian wood and English oak. England have the edge in Tests since 1997, 18 wins to 14.

Prince William Cup: South Africa v Wales

The Prince William Cup was created by the Welsh Rugby Union in 2007 to mark a century of Tests between the two nations. Prince William picked the design himself, a 55 cm gold-plated silver cone inspired by Welsh and South African landscapes.

The name caused a stir in Wales. Welsh legend Ray Gravell had died weeks before the first match, and there were calls, even in the National Assembly, to name it after him instead. At the inaugural game the announcer asked the crowd to remember Gravell as a “true prince of Wales”.

Wales had a golden run from 2014 to 2018, but the Boks have won the last six, including a 73–0 rout in Cardiff in November 2025.

A few smaller trophies also sit on North–South Tests, including Ireland v Australia’s Lansdowne Cup, Wales v Australia’s James Bevan Trophy and France v Australia’s Trophée des Bicentenaires.

Every one of these fixtures, live scores and line-ups included, is in the Blitz Rugby app.