What are the Raeburn and Utrecht shields?

The Raeburn Shield is a fan-created trophy that traces match-winners in men's rugby union back to the first international rugby union match in March 1871.

England played Scotland at Edinburgh's Raeburn Place in the inaugural international.

With Scotland winning the match, they became the first Raeburn Shield defenders - and from then on the trophy has been awarded to the team that beats the holder in a Test match - working in a similar way to linear boxing world titles.

An equivalent trophy for women's rugby union, the Utrecht Shield, traces back to the first international women's game in June 1982 between France and Netherlands in Utrecht - from which France emerged shield-holders.

England are the current holders of both the Raeburn and Utrecht Shields, with the men's victory over Fiji in the Autumn Internationals and the Women's Rugby World Cup triumph bringing them the titles.

England's men will next defend their shield against New Zealand on Saturday's Autumn International.

Why were the Shields created?

Rugby fan Dave Algie is the creator of the Raeburn and Utrecht Shields and had the idea for the trophies in 2008.

"We were talking online, running through results and thinking, what if Test rugby worked like boxing? What if there was a title that passed from team to team?" he said.

He then devised the winner-stays-on Shields, which he describes as "two unofficial, fan-driven rugby titles that quietly stitch together every Test match ever played".

Dave says the trophies provide an opportunity for underdog nations to obtain them and provide an extra competitive layer to matches when title holders are playing.

"The history already existed in the results. We did not invent anything. We just finally paid attention to it," he says.

There is a physical version of the Utrecht Shield for the holders to retain, with a Raeburn Shield currently under construction.

Who has the most success with the Raeburn Shield?

New Zealand men have the longest average tenure of the Raeburn Shield at an average retention rate of 4.63 matches.

The record for longest tenure belongs to South Africa, who held the Shield for 5845 days between 1937 and 1953.

Italy, Canada, USA, Tonga, Fiji, Portugal, Georgia, Namibia, Uruguay and South Korea are the only rugby-playing nations to have not held the Shield at any point.

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