| Event: | Men's rugby union |
| Games: | 1920 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympic Stadium |
| Date: | September 5 |
| Competitors: | 33 |
| Nations: | 2 |
| Longnames: | yes |
| Silver: |  France |
| Prev: | 1908 |
| Next: | 1924 |
Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics was played in Antwerp, Belgium. Two nations entered the rugby union event at the 1920 Summer Olympics — France and the United States. The French team were thought to be assured of the gold medal and came in as raging favourites in the event. However, the United States team surprised everyone when defeating France by eight points to nil.[1]
The rugby football Olympic tournament consisted of only one match. It was played between the United States and France. The US squad was made up of American football players from California universities, notably Stanford, California, and Santa Clara. Due to American football becoming an increasingly violent sport, these and other west coast universities chose to instead play rugby union from 1906–1914.[2] [3] [4]
On the other side, the French team was composed of rugby players from four clubs near Paris: Racing Club, Olympique, Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux, and Sporting Club Universitaire.
United States player Rudy Scholz wrote about the match:
After the Olympic competition, the US team toured England and France in 1924, playing three games in England as preparation for the 1924 Olympic competition.[5] [6]
On 19 September, in Lyon, United States defeated a team representing the southeast of France 26–0. The American team also achieved victories against a southern French team (in Toulouse) and a southwest side at Bordeaux. United States was later defeated by France 14–5 in Paris.[7] |referee=}}
| data-sort-type="number" | Rank ! | Team | Matches | Points | Avg. | Tries | Avg tries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Rugby union | valign=top | Charles Doe George Fish James Fitzpatrick Joseph Hunter Morris Kirksey Charles Mehan John Muldoon John O'Neil John Patrick Erwin Righter Rudolph Scholz Dink Templeton Charles Lee Tilden (capt) Heaton Wrenn Harold Von Schmidt ----(did not play the game): Matthew E. Hazeltine, Sr. Colby Slater James Winston | valign=top | Édouard Bader François Borde Adolphe Bousquet Jean Bruneval Alphonse Castex André Chilo René Crabos Curtet Alfred Eluère Jacques Forestier Grenet Maurice Labeyrie Robert Levasseur Pierre Petiteau Raoul Thiercelin----(did not play the game): Raymond Berrurier | none awarded |
Rugby Commissioner and President of the California Rugby Union, Harry Maloney, was Coach and Trainer of the team.