Wales have played 800 Test matches. How many have they won?

Nobody seemed to notice, but Wales’s dramatic victory over Japan on the weekend marked the nation’s 800th official Test match since their first international against England back in 1881.

So how have Wales performed in those 800 matches? How many tries have they scored? What about total number of yellow cards, penalty kicks or goals from mark? The East Terrace takes a deep dive to answer all the questions you’ve never asked.

OVERALL

After 800 matches and 143 years, Wales, essentially, have won half the time they take the field. Younger fans may, in light of recent seasons, struggle to believe that.

To further break that down, Wales played 439 matches in the amateur era, with the dreadful loss to Ireland in the 1995 World Cup being the final game in that period. Wales were fractionally more successful in the amateur era than they have been so far in the professional era.

RESULTS BREAKDOWN BY TEST TYPE

Notes: 

• The World Cup figures include the 1994 qualifiers against Portugal, Spain, Romania and Italy.
• Due to the experiential nature of World Cup warm up games, we’ve listed them in their own category.

CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD (Four/Five/Six Nations)

• Outright titles: 28
• Shared titles: 12
• Grand slams: 12
• Triple Crowns: 22
• Wooden spoons (outright): 12
• Wooden spoons (shared): 13

SCORING TOTALS

Notes: 

• No points were awarded in the first 19 Wales matches between 1881 and 1889, after which rugby adopted a points scoring system.
• The points scoring system has changed multiple times throughout the history of the sport.
• Goals from mark ceased to be a valid way of scoring since the 1977-78 season.*

The total half-time score for all matches is Wales 6571 Opponents 6392.

*If you never seen one, here’s an example of a goal from mark. 

DISCIPLINE

In 800 matches Wales have had nine players sent off while their opponents have suffered 22 dismissals, which is quite a remarkable difference.  

For more information on sendings off for and against Wales see these articles (now slightly out of date) : 

• (UPDATED) Shades of Red: A brief history of Wales playing only fourteen men | The East Terrace 

• Shades of Red (Part II): A brief history of Wales playing with only fourteen men | The East Terrace   

Both articles show the relative rarity of sendings off in Test rugby until modern times. The first time a player was dismissed in a Welsh Test was in 1977, when both Wales and Ireland had a man dismissed.

The yellow card count is 127 for Wales to 155 against. 

100 TEST LANDMARKS 

One of the biggest ways international rugby has changed since 1881 is in the frequency of fixtures. 

For most of the early decades of Test rugby for Wales, three matches a year was about the average number of fixtures and they all came in what was then the Home Nations Championship (now the Six Nations) which originally featured only England, Ireland and Scotland as opponents. 

A fourth match would only take place when a southern hemisphere team made a rare tour to European shores.

In 2019 alone Wales played 16 Test matches. Before the First World War, a player with 16 caps would have been regarded as a seasoned international (and someone who was lucky with injuries).

It took Wales 32 years, 11 months and 20 days to play its first 100 matches. Yet the previous 100 matches have taken just eight years, five months and two days.

• 1st match – 1881: England (Blackheath). England won by seven goals*, 1 drop goal and 6 tries to nil (there were no points awarded at this point in rugby’s history). Captain: James Bevan.
• 100th match – 1914: Wales 24 Scotland 5 (Cardiff Arms Park). Captain: Rev Alban Davies
• 200th match – 1951: France 8 Wales 3 (Stade Colombes). Captain: Jack Matthews
• 300th match – 1973: France 12 Wales 3 (Parc des Princes). Captain: Gareth Edwards
• 400th match – 1991: France 36 Wales 3 (Parc des Princes). Captain: Paul Thorburn
• 500th match – 2001: Japan 10 Wales 64 (Hanazono Rugby Stadium). Captain: Andy Moore
• 600th match – 2009: USA 15 Wales 48 (Toyota Park). Captain: Ryan Jones
• 700th match – 2017: Tonga 6 Wales 24 (Eden Park). Captain: Jamie Roberts
• 800th match – 2025: Wales 24 Japan 23 (Principality Stadium). Captain: Dewi Lake

*Converted tries

KEY OPPONENT STATS

• England are Wales’s most regular opponents with 143 matches (with Wales winning 61, drawing 12 and losing 70).
• The only team Wales have awarded caps against and never beaten is the New Zealand Army Team. Wales lost 6-3 in Swansea in a post-war Test in 1919.
• The teams Wales have defeated most often are: Scotland (75), Ireland (70) and England (61).
• The teams Wales have lost most often to are: England (70), Ireland (59) and Scotland (53).
• Wales have drawn most often with England (12) and Ireland (7).
• Wales have awarded full caps against Argentina, Australia (the 1927 match with NSW Waratahs is now classed as an Australian team), Barbarians (sigh), Canada, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, New Zealand Army, New Zealand Maoris, Pacific Islanders, Portugal, Romania, Samoa (Western Samoa), Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Tonga, Uruguay, USA, Zimbabwe
• Other than the New Zealand Army, Wales’s worst win percentage is against New Zealand at just 8.11%. When Wales last beat the All Blacks in 1953, Wales’s winning percentage stood at 75%.

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