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 favourites in the event. However, the United States team surprised everyone when defeating France by eight points to nil.
Summary
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 three California universities, 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.
On the other side, the French team was composed of rugby players from four clubs near Paris: Racing Club, Olympique, , and . This team is put together at the last minute with only 4 real international players, following the unexpected arrival of the American team and the withdrawal of other expected competitors Czechoslovakia and Romania. The British nations has announced long before the tournament that they wouldn't take part, the September schedule being too early for their teams to be competitive.
United States player Rudy Scholz wrote about the match: