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World Rugby has confirmed the class of the 2026 Hall of Fame. The governing body of rugby will induct seven former rugby players – four men and three women. Among them are Jen Crawford and Diego Domínguez – two rugby greats from the Americas.
South African inaugural Rugby World Cup winner Joel Stransky and beaten 1995 Rugby World Cup Finalist Zinzan Brooke (New Zealand) were the first confirmations of the class of 2026. The five others were added.
Jen Crawford becomes Inductee No. 179. She is one of the greatest USA players of all-time. Her versatility saw her playing at fly half, center and fullback over a 12-year period from 1988-2000. She played in 23 test matches and scored 24 tries for the USA Women’s Eagles.
From Pennsylvania, Crawford attended Stanford University. She featured for the USA Women’s Eagles in the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991 in which the USA defeated England 19-6 to win the title in Cardiff, Wales.
Crawford also featured in the 1994 and 1998 Women’s Rugby World Cup Finals in which the USA lost to England and New Zealand.
Domestically, she helped the Berkeley All-Blues to nine consecutive USA Rugby National Women’s Club Championships. She co-founded the Piedmont High School Girls’ Rugby Club. It has been highly productive in producing six collegiate players, two college club founders and, a USA national team player.
Diego Domínguez becomes the second Italian member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. He joins Sergio Parisse making both Italian inductees Argentine born and raised. Parisse is the greatest ever Italian forward but was born and raised in La Plata, Argentina. He chose to represent Italy (his parents’ homeland) and became one of the greatest NO. 8’s in rugby history, earning 142 caps and captaining the side for over a decade.
Domínguez is a product of the La Tablada club in Córdoba. He debuted for Los Pumas in 1989, earning two caps before defecting to Italy. He debuted for Italy in 1991 and went on to earn 74 caps. During his time in Azzurri colors he helped Italy to key victories and featured at Rugby World Cups 1991, 1995 and 1999.
Unlike Parisse, Domínguez played test match rugby for two countries. Domínguez’ defection from Argentina to Italy was history making. He retired in 2003 with 1010 points to his name. 983 were for Italy and 27 for Argentina.
His contribution to Italy was extraordinary. It included three consecutive wins over Ireland from 1995-1997. This contributed to changing the perception of Italy’s place in European rugby with admission to the Six Nations coming in 2000.
Domínguez scored 27 points in the 37-22 win over Ireland in Bologna in 1997. He scored 22 points earlier that year in Italy’s win over Ireland in Dublin. Before both wins, Domínguez had inspired Italy to their historic first-ever win over Ireland in 1995.
Italy defeated Argentina 31-24 at Rugby World Cup 1995. Diego Domínguez scored 21 points against Los Pumas, including against a number of former teammates. He also scored 13 points in Italy’s 23-19 win over Argentina in Piacenza in 1998.
Italy’s first win over France was in 1997. Played in Grenoble, the Azzurri were 40-32 winners with Diego Domínguez scoring 20 points. To this day it remains the only away victory by Italy over France.
Domínguez also wrote history for Italy in 1998. was at the forefront when Italy wrote history in 1998. The former Puma scored 25 points against Scotland in Treviso to record Italy’s first ever win over the Scots.
Further history came against Scotland in 2000 when Italy made their Six Nations debut in Rome in 2000. Domínguez kicked 29 points for Italy in a 34-20 victory.
Italy’s first win over Wales also featured a noteworthy contribution from the Argentine fly half. Diego Domínguez scored 15 points in the 30-22 victory over the Welsh in 2003.
