compared to goals (conversions, penalties, dropped-goals, and goals from mark) in order to promote positive, attacking play. Field goals were considered valid methods of scoring until the RFU and IRFB banned them in 1905 with the value at abolition being 4 points. Timeline of the foundation of national rugby unions The first national rugby union was the Rugby Football Union, founded in England in 1871. This was followed over the next decade by the home nations of Scottish Football Union (1873, later SRU), Irish Rugby Football Union (1879) and Welsh Rugby Union (1881). The French Federation (1919) and most recent addition to the 6 Nations Italy (1928). In the southern hemisphere the traditional rugby powers of South Africa and New Zealand formed their Unions before the end of the 19th century. The white South African Rugby Board merged with the non-racial South African Rugby Union in 1992 following the fall of apartheid. In Australia the third traditional southern rugby power, the Southern Rugby Union (later the New South Wales Rugby Union) and the Northern Rugby Union (later the Queensland Rugby Union) were formed in 1874 and 1883 respectively, before eventually helping form the Australian Rugby Union, now known as Rugby Australia, in 1949. Recent addition to The Rugby Championship Argentina founded its union in 1899. Other foundations of note include nations that have featured in several or indeed all of the Rugby World Cups today including Fiji (1913), Tonga (1923), Samoa (1923), Japan (1926), Canada (1965) and USA (1975). Some of the pre-1925 foundations such as Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (1895), Germany (1900), Ceylon/Sri Lanka (1908), Morocco (1916), Malaya/Malaysia (1921), Catalonia (1922, later disbanded by Francisco Franco), Spain (1923) and Kenya (1923) are second and third tier nations. Many other governing bodies have been set up in recent years, with the most recent being Jordan (2007), Ecuador (2008), Turkey (2009) and the United Arab Emirates (2010). Important international competitions 1883: First Home Nations Championship between England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. 1900: Rugby union features at the 1900 Olympics – and finishes in the 1924 Olympics. 1910: The Home Nations Championship becomes the Five Nations Championship when joins. 1930: European Cup, outside the Five Nations, but interrupted by WWII. 1951: South American Rugby Championship commences. 1952: European Cup restarts. 1981: Rugby union at the Maccabiah Games commences. 1982: Pacific Tri-Nations between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa 1987: First Rugby World Cup. 1991: First Women's Rugby