Rugby in Pakistan to most of our surprises has almost eighty years of history to it. It began as far back as 1926 when the Karachi Rugby Football Club was formed. The game remained exclusively an expatriate sport, with the Karachi club active in the All-India circuit up till the late fifties. The sixties saw a decrease in the expatriate population and travel to India becoming more regulated, therefore the club became more reliant on playing fixtures with visiting British Navy Ships, at a time when Karachi had become a regular port of call for R&R and picking up supplies. By 1968/1969 fortunately a handful of local players were introduced into the club: this would prove to be the saving grace for the game in the country. By the mid seventies the British Navy reduced its presence in the Indian Ocean and port visits became infrequent, and by the early eighties Rugby had become almost non-existent. The Karachi Rugby Football Club continued to play, yet due to limited funds it was unable to travel abroad for matches and suffered from lack of opposing teams to play within the country.

The interest in Rugby was rejuvenated in the nineties by a combination of the passion and commitment of the locals who had been introduced to the game in the seventies and resurgence in the expatriate presence. Whilst some experienced local players established clubs in Lahore and Karachi, staff from foreign embassies, commissions and banks, consisting of Frenchmen, British, and some Americans, established a club in Islamabad. 1992 onwards has seen regular fixtures between teams from these cities. By the mid-nineties an Islamabad club consisting mainly of local players had also been established in addition to the side made up of expatriates; the latter passes through phases of dormancy subject to postings and availability of players

There are three major clubs in Pakistan. Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi have been hosting, on a rotating basis, the Pakistan 7’s Championship. Thirteen such tournaments have been held so far.

The Pakistan Rugby Union was formally established in 2000 and gained membership with the Asian Rugby Football Union in 200. In 2003, Pakistan fielded a national team for the first time, participating in the Provincial Tournament in Sri Lanka and there played the Indian National side as well. In Nov of 2004, it participated in the 19th Asian championship in Hong Kong.  Pakistan rugby union then became an associate member of the IRB (International Rugby Board).

Rugby is now being introduced at the Provincial and District level by the Pakistan Rugby Union. Schools have also been targeted for rugby to be introduced at the grass root level.

PRU has worked with schools in the last year and half and that in turn has helped in forming The Pakistan under-19 team which shall be playing for the first time in this tournament. The team has representatives of the following schools:
Beacon House, Corvet , Crescent Model , FG College , FAST , Forbils , Garrison Academy , Garrison Degree , Head-Start, LUMS , PAF and the City School

The union has plans to involve even more schools such as the Atchison college, the government schools. The garrison school system  has announced that rugby will be introduced to all of the schools throughout Punjab,

The sport is at its infancy stage in Pakistan but we expect and hope to see big things in the coming years. We further believe that the physical litmus and the talent required for this lovely sport is present in this part of the sub-continent.