Welcome to the assessment department of the RU WikiProject! This department focuses on assessing the quality of Wikipedia's rugby union articles. While much of the work is done in conjunction with the WP:1.0 program, the article ratings are also used within the project itself to aid in recognising excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work.
Simply copy and paste the following code into the talk page of the article, there's no need to do anything else. One of the assessment team will do the rest.
Any member of the Rugby union WikiProject is free to add—or change—the rating of an article. Please add your name to the list of participants if you wish to assess articles on a regular basis.
Why didn't the reviewer leave any comments?
Unfortunately, due to the volume of articles that need to be assessed, we are unable to leave detailed comments in most cases. If you have particular questions, you might ask the person who assessed the article; they will usually be happy to provide you with their reasoning.
Where can I get more comments about my article?
The peer review department can conduct more thorough examination of articles; please submit it for review there.
What if I don't agree with a rating?
You can list it in the section for assessment requests below, and someone will take a look at it. Alternately, you can ask any member of the project to rate the article again.
Aren't the ratings subjective?
Yes, they are (see, in particular, the disclaimers on the importance scale), but it's the best system we've been able to devise; if you have a better idea, please don't hesitate to let us know!
How can I keep track of changes in article ratings?
A full log of changes over the past thirty days is available here. If you are just looking for an overview, however, the statistics may be more accessible.
If you have any other questions not listed here, please feel free to ask them on the discussion page for this department.
An article's assessment is generated from the class and importance parameters in the {{WikiProject Rugby union}} project banner on its talk page (see the documentation for more details on the exact syntax):
The parameter is not used if an article's class is set to NA, and may be omitted in those cases. The importance should be assigned according to the importance scale below.
Provides a well-written, reasonably clear and complete description of the topic, as described in How to write a great article. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, with a well-written introduction and an appropriate series of headings to break up the content. It should have sufficient external literature references, preferably from the "hard" (peer-reviewed where appropriate) literature rather than websites. Should be well illustrated, with no copyright problems. At the stage where it could at least be considered for featured article status, corresponds to the "Wikipedia 1.0" standard.
Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject matter would typically find nothing wanting. May miss a few relevant points.
Minor edits and adjustments would improve the article, particularly if brought to bear by a subject-matter expert. In particular, issues of breadth, completeness, and balance may need work. Peer-review would be helpful at this stage.
The article has passed through the Good article nomination process and been granted GA status, meeting the good article standards. This should be used for articles that still need some work to reach featured article standards, but that are otherwise good. Good articles that may succeed in FAC should be considered A-Class articles, but being a Good article is not a requirement for A-Class.
Useful to nearly all readers. A good treatment of the subject. No obvious problems, gaps, excessive information. Adequate for most purposes, but other encyclopedias could do a better job.
Some editing will clearly be helpful, but not necessary for a good reader experience. If the article is not already fully wikified, now is the time.
Has several of the elements described in "start", usually a majority of the material needed for a completed article. Nonetheless, it has significant gaps or missing elements or references, needs substantial editing for English language usage and/or clarity, balance of content, or contains other policy problems such as copyright, NPOV or NOR. With NPOV a well written B-class may correspond to the "Wikipedia 0.5" or "usable" standard. Articles that are close to GA status but don't meet the Good article criteria should be B- or Start-class articles.
Useful to many, but not all, readers. A casual reader flipping through articles would feel that they generally understood the topic, but a serious student or researcher trying to use the material would have trouble doing so, or would risk error in derivative work.
Considerable editing is still needed, including filling in some important gaps or correcting significant policy errors. Articles for which cleanup is needed will typically have this designation to start with.
The article is substantial, but is still missing important content or contains a lot of irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant issues or require substantial cleanup.
More detailed criteria
The article is better developed in style, structure and quality than Start-Class, but fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements; need editing for clarity, balance or flow; or contain policy violations such as bias or trivia. Articles on fictional topics are likely to be marked as C-Class if they are written from an in-universe perspective.
Useful to a casual reader, but would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study.
Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and address cleanup issues.
The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas, and may lack a table. For example an article on Africa might cover the geography well, but be weak on history and culture. Has at least one serious element of gathered materials, including any one of the following:
a particularly useful picture or graphic
multiple links that help explain or illustrate the topic
a subheading that fully treats an element of the topic
multiple subheadings that indicate material that could be added to complete the article
Not useless. Some readers will find what they are looking for, but most will not. Most articles in this category have the look of an article "under construction" and a reader genuinely interested in the topic is likely to seek additional information elsewhere.
Substantial/major editing is needed, most material for a complete article needs to be added. This article usually isn't even good enough for a cleanup tag: it still needs to be built.
The article is either a very short article or a rough collection of information that will need much work to bring it to A-Class level. It is usually very short, but can be of any length if the material is irrelevant or incomprehensible.
May be useless to a reader only passingly familiar with the term. Possibly useful to someone who has no idea what the term meant. At best a brief, informed dictionary definition.
Any editing or additional material can be helpful.
The criteria used for rating article importance are not meant to be an absolute or canonical view of how significant the topic is. Rather, they attempt to gauge the probability of the average reader of Wikipedia needing to look up the topic (and thus the immediate need to have a suitably well-written article on it). Thus, subjects with greater popular notability may be rated higher than topics which are arguably more "important" but which are of interest primarily to followers of rugby union.
General notability need not be from the perspective of editor demographics; generally notable topics should be rated similarly regardless of the country or region in which they hold said notability. Thus, topics which may seem obscure to a Western audience—but which are of high notability in other places—should still be highly rated.
Importance standards indicate to WikiProject Rugby Union members what editing priority should be given to certain articles. The top priority articles are those crucial to the understanding of the subject of rugby. Importance standards are not an absolute determination of the importance an article, but are a rough estimate of how frequently they are likely to be viewed.
This assessment guide has been updated as of July 8, 2010. Some articles may undergo reassessment as a result of this update.
Base criteria: Article is extremely important and crucial to understanding rugby union. Reserved only for articles that have achieved international notability.
Rugby union-related criteria
Examples
Organization and administration: Power wielding organizations that set the rules for the game, and organizing the major international tournaments among Tier 1 countries. Regional unions among several nations. Anchor article/s introducing Rugby administration. No biographical articles.
Rules and terminology: Anchoring articles that outline the basic gameplay, or outline fundamental elements of the game structure. Field positions, field dimensions. Should not include articles that are subsidiary to these basic elements detailing nuances.
Base criteria : Article is extremely notable and has achieved international notability, or is only notable within a particular continent/ international region.
Rugby union-related criteria
Examples
Organization and administration: General overview of top level domestic unions of Tier 1 nations. National unions of Tier 1 and Tier 2 countries. CEO's of national unions of major international unions/boards confederations, or of Tier 1 country unions. World Rugby Development Award recipient.
Competitions and Tournaments: General overviews of major international club competitions. General overviews of top provincial competition in Tier 1 nation.
National Teams: General overviews of Tier 1 and Tier 2 national teams. National sevens teams of Olympics finalists, and top three in the World Rugby Sevens Series
Players: Player elected to International Rugby Hall of Fame and World Rugby Hall of Fame. Player holding a major record for a Tier 1 country at any point in history. Player named World Rugby player of the year. Rugby World Cup player of the tournament. Players of Tier 1 teams who have played as a consistent starter at international level for over ten years.
Coaches: World Rugby International Coach of the Year. Coach of team winning a Rugby World Cup. Coach of Tier 1 national team/s for a period of over eight years.
Match Officials: Referee of a Rugby World Cup semi-final or final. World Rugby Referee Award for Distinguished Service. Referee of matches in RWC, Tri-Nations or Six Nations for a period of over five years.
Culture and History: Overview articles of culture or history of rugby in Tier 1 countries. Main subsidiary articles that support culture or history articles of Top importance.
Rules and terminology: Articles that outline specific rugby gameplay strategies, techniques or playing styles. Articles that detail particular rugby skills.
Competitions, Matches and Tournaments: Individual tournaments of the major international test competitions. First tour of a Tier 1 nation. Individual tournaments of the major international club competitions: Super Rugby and European Rugby Champions Cup. Individual tournaments of top provincial competition in Tier 1 nation. General overviews of international tournaments between Tier 2 nations. Overview of minor international level club competitions. Match articles of RWC finals. General overview of mid-level provincial competition in Tier 1 nation. Top provincial competition in Tier 2 nation.
National Teams: General overview of national sevens teams of World Series core teams not included above. General overview of Tier 3 rugby teams that have competed in the Rugby World Cup.
Club and provincial teams: Club or province that has competed in the top professional domestic competition of a Tier 1 rugby nation within the last 5 years and is not included above. All other club teams of the Super Rugby and European Rugby Champions Cup.
Players: Player from Tier 1 national team who has played more than 5 years as a consistent starter at international level. Player holding a major record for a Tier 2 country at any point in history.
Coaches: Coach of Tier 1 or Tier 2 national team for four years. Coach of a national sevens team that wins an Olympic Gold medal. Coach of a European Rugby Champions Cup or Super Rugby champion side.
Match Officials: Referee of regular round Rugby World Cup matches. Match official of RWC finals match. Referee of Super Rugby, European Rugby Champions Cup and Pro12 Finals.
Culture and History: Overview articles of culture or history of rugby in Tier 2 countries. Events that took place that had a shaping influence on the game. Controversies surrounding the game, involving international level rugby
Stadiums: Stadium that has hosted the Rugby World Cup knockout rounds. Stadium that has hosted the final of the European Rugby Champions Cup or Super Rugby. Stadium that has hosted a leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series for at least ten years.
Base criteria: Subject is not particularly notable or significant even within its field of study. It may only be included to cover a specific part of a notable article.
Rugby union-related criteria
Examples
Organization and administration: Overviews of rugby union in Tier 3 nations. Any Administrator who meets notability guidelines and is not covered by above
Rules and terminology:
Competitions and Tournaments: Team A v Team B history. Season results and seasonal competitions. Provincial competitions not covered above. All Tier 1 nation tours not covered above
National Teams: General overview of 'A' teams of Tier 1 nations. Rugby World Cup squad listings. Tier 3 rugby teams that have not competed in the Rugby World Cup.
Club and provincial teams:
Players: Any player who meets notability guidelines and is not covered by above.
Coaches: Any coach who meets notability guidelines and is not covered by above
Match Officials: Any match official who meets notability guidelines and is not covered by above
Culture and History: Overview articles of culture or history of rugby in Tier 3 countries. Culture or history articles related to lesser domestic competitions, teams, or unions. Any other notable culture or history article not covered by above criteria.
Stadiums: Any rugby stadium that meets notability guidelines and is not covered by above.
Equipment and kit: Any rugby equipment that meets notability guidelines and is not covered by above.
Statistics and Lists: Any other statistic or list article not covered by above criteria.
What is NOT in the scope of this project
Base criteria: Articles pertaining to notable subjects, which include merely side-notes related to rugby do not fall into the scope of this project.
Operating principle: If all other notability of the subject were subtracted, the subject should still be notable under the above guidelines, and falls into the scope of this project. For example Alan Jones (radio broadcaster) is most notable for his role as a radio talk show host, however his role as a head coach of the Wallaby team still makes him notable enough in the scope of this project, the radio presentation career aside. However, the article Bill Clinton who happened to play rugby casually while studying at Oxford University does not fall into the scope of this project. George W. Bush on the other hand was a keen rugby player while at Yale making the 1st XV and was quite successful, and while his main article would not fall under the scope of this project, IF his achievements in rugby are notable enough, a subsidiary article such as Rugby achievements of George W. Bush which detailed his rugby achievements would fall under the scope of this project.
If you have made significant changes to an article and would like an outside opinion on a new rating for it, please feel free to list it below. If you are interested in more extensive comments on an article, please use the peer review department instead.
Jan Ellis - please assess as this page has moved way beyond Stub class. Lots of work has been added, including images, extensive rewriting, table, 40 additional sources, infobox. DocDee (talk) 04:12, 22 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Can someone please have a look at Joe Barakat, it is yet to be assessed. Feedback greatly appreciated 21/10/14
2009 Air New Zealand Cup - a lot of work gone into it, will be much appreciated if it is rated and see if improvements should be made.
Could somebody please reassess the Shute Shield article, I believe that it should be at least mid level importance rather than low level. There are French competitions of a lower standard that are higher rated as is Queensland Premier Rugby which is the equivalent competition (but arguably of a lower standard). Most ppl with a knowledge of Australian rugby would acknowledge that the Shute Shield competition is (ARC aside) the highest level of rugby in the country after Super 14. Soundabuser03:02, 29 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I have just created a page for Mark Donaldson (rugby player) the former All Black player, I have made an initial classification based on the criteria here, but I am not a member of the project and have no expertise in rugby. I would appreciate someone taking a quick look and confirming my assessment. As a 35 time player for New Zealand, including captaincy for one match, he certainly meets the notability criteria and I believe rates high importance based on the project's criteria. Its probably bordeline between stub class and start class - I've erred on the side of stub class, but project members will be able to make a better judgement of this. I created the page to avoid bots linking the French Wikipedia article (about the NZ rugby union player) to the English Wikipedia page on Trooper Mark Donaldson, VC which, despite appearing on a list not to be linked, still gets linked with annoying regularity. I've done the initial hackwork, but I will leave the rest to the enthusiasts and experts. Cheers, AusTerrapin (talk) 15:40, 25 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
GHA Rugby Club - I have updated this page in line with comments made following a previous assessment and would appreciate if it could be reassessed. Many Thanks. 15:44, 11 October 2010 (UTC)
Melbourne Rebels - The Rebels are about to play 4 practices matches (2 v Tonga, 1 v Fiji and 1 v the Crusaders) next month. Would appreciate a quick assessment (and some guidance for lifting it out of start class) before the Super season starts. Thanks! Comes.amanuensis (talk) 10:10, 7 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Saracens F.C. - significant additions by various editors over last year - in comparison with the example "B" and "C" entries given, I believe Saracens should be reassessed as a B from its current C ranking - please could it be reviewed
There's no way I can endorse an increase from C-class. The article has far too much of a recentist bias, focusing too much on recent history and not enough on the past. Furthermore, the article could be more well-rounded in terms of its content. I know it's a football article, but see Manchester United F.C. for how circumspect an article about a sports team can be. – PeeJay09:10, 12 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
