Rugby Union World Cup

This article is about the World Cup in Rugby Union. For the World Cup in Rugby League see Rugby League World Cup .

The Rugby Union World Cup ( English Rugby World Cup ) is the most important international competition in rugby union and has been held every four years since 1987 among the currently twenty male national teams. The tournament is organized by World Rugby (WR), the world rugby union. The trophy awarded, the Webb Ellis Cup , is named after William Webb Ellis , who is credited with inventing the game.

The Rugby Union World Cup is one of the largest international sports tournaments in the world , after the World Cup and the Summer Olympics . The reigning world champion is the South African national team , who are record world champions with a total of three wins (1995, 2007, 2019) together with New Zealand (1987, 2011, 2015).

format

qualification

A qualification was introduced with a view to the second World Cup in 1991, when 24 nations played for eight of the 16 places. At the first World Cup in 1987 there was no qualification. Seven teams were automatically qualified as members of the world association IRFB ( International Rugby Football Board , today IRB), the remaining nine teams were invited.

The previous format stipulated that the eight quarter-finalists of the previous tournament would take part without qualification, the remaining twelve places were played according to continent. Three teams came from Africa , three from America , one from Asia , three from Europe and two from Oceania . The remaining two qualification places were played between the teams that missed the qualification in a barrage (English repechage ). The best teams from Africa and Europe that were not directly qualified played against each other, and the winner was up against an American team. A team from Oceania and one from Asia played for the last remaining position.

For the first time ever, the three best teams in each of the 2007 tournament groups were automatically qualified for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, so that there are already twelve participants. This is to increase the willingness in the groups of five to fight for third place. This mode has been retained since then.

Finals

Telstra Stadium during the 2003 World Cup

In the current mode, the tournament will be played among twenty teams over a month in one or more host countries. In the initial group stage there are four groups of five teams each. The four semi-finalists of the previous competition will be divided between the four groups, as will the other four quarter-finalists. The teams that have come to participate through the qualification fill the remaining places.

In the group stage, each team plays once against each of its group opponents, with four points awarded for a win and two points for a draw. Bonus points can be earned if a team makes four or more attempts during a game or loses by seven or fewer points. The two best teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals, with the winner of one group playing against the second in another. The quarter-final winners play the semi-finals among themselves, in which the final opponents are determined. The semi-final losers play for third place.

history

Before the introduction of the World Cup, there were several competitions in rugby union where national teams competed for titles. The oldest existing rugby tournament is the Six Nations and its predecessor, which is played between England , Ireland , Wales , Scotland , later France and since 2000 Italy . This tournament was purely a European affair, but it was one of the few regular competitions. Four times, in 1900 , 1908 , 1920 and 1924 , rugby was part of the Summer Olympics . France won the first gold medal, Australia followed, and the United States won the last two times . Thereafter, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) removed rugby from the canon of sports.

The idea of ​​a world championship goes back to the 1950s, but the world association IRFB (today IRB) made it clear to its members that they strictly reject such a competition. At the beginning of the 1980s the idea reappeared and was rejected again at an IRFB meeting in 1983. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) and the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), the associations of Australia and New Zealand , then independently wrote a letter calling on the IRFB to hold a World Cup. In 1985 this idea was accepted despite opposition, especially from the Irish and British delegation members, and two years later the organization of the first World Cup was awarded to Australia and New Zealand. The decisive vote came from the delegates from South Africa , who supported the project even though they knew that a boycott of apartheid would make it impossible for them to take part in the competition.

Among the 16 participating nations, the All Blacks from New Zealand emerged victorious in 1987 after defeating France 29: 9 in the final. England hosted the next World Cup; however, individual games were also played in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France. Australia won the final 12: 6 over hosts England. In 1995 the Springboks from South Africa returned to the international stage after the end of apartheid. As hosts, they also won the tournament after beating New Zealand in the final. Nelson Mandela , wearing a Springboks jersey and a matching baseball cap, presented the trophy to Captain Francois Pienaar . The course of the tournament and said scene are also central to the film Invictus - Unconquered by Clint Eastwood .

The English world champions celebrate their victory in London (2003)

Wales hosted the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup , with other games taking place in the rest of the UK and France. This year the number of participants was increased from 16 to 20. Australia won the world title for the second time by defeating France. The following tournament was originally supposed to be played jointly by Australia and New Zealand; Differences between the IRB and the NZRFU over sponsorship , advertising and ticket sales led to Australia being designated the sole host of the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup . England won the title with a victory over Australia, and that was the first time a world champion came from the northern hemisphere. 750,000 people gathered in London to celebrate the team returning home.

The 2007 Rugby Union World Cup was held in France, with some games also being played in Wales and Scotland. With the final victory over defending champions England, South Africa won the world title for the second time since 1995.

In November 2005, New Zealand was chosen to host the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup . As in 1987, the final was New Zealand - France; With a narrow 8: 7 victory, the All Blacks were able to win the world championship for the second time.

On July 28, 2009, the IRB announced that the 2015 and 2019 World Championships would be hosted by England and Japan respectively. For the first time, the association appointed the hosts of the two upcoming title games at the same time. In addition to England and Japan, Italy and South Africa had also applied.

Determination of the host

The host country is selected by the IRB members. The tournament is organized by Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL) . The election process is controlled by several independent notaries, the election remains secret. So far, all championships have been held in countries where rugby is very popular. This trend continues with the election of New Zealand as the host in 2011: Japan, a traditionally weaker rugby nation, could not prevail. The host is now determined five or six years before the start of the event.

The choice of hosts is a controversial issue. It is believed that the applicants to become hosts are making secret deals with the voting IRB members. In 2006, for example, there were suspicions that the Argentine Rugby Association voted for New Zealand in return for participation in a regular tournament outside of the World Cup.

popularity

After the World Cup and the Olympic Games , the tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The first edition in 1987 had a cumulative television viewership of 300 million worldwide. The global cumulative reach increased to 495 million in 2003, and the final was broadcast in 205 countries. There were 1,837,547 spectators in the stadiums for the 48 games, which corresponds to an average of 38,282. The 2015 World Cup was considered the biggest and best tournament to date. The 48 games attracted 2.47 million viewers.

Results

Tournament winner

year	host		final				Small finale
			World Champion	Result	2nd place		3rd place	Result	4th Place
1987	Australia New Zealand		New Zealand	29: 9	France		Wales	22:21	Australia
1991	England		Australia	12: 6	England		New Zealand	13: 6	Scotland
1995	South Africa		South Africa	15:12 a.m.	New Zealand		France	19:15	England
1999	Wales		Australia	35:12	France		South Africa	22:18	New Zealand
2003	Australia		England	8:17 p.m.	Australia		New Zealand	40: 13	France
2007	France		South Africa	15: 6	England		Argentina	34:10	France
2011	New Zealand		New Zealand	8: 7	France		Australia	21:18	Wales
2015	England		New Zealand	34: 17	Australia		South Africa	24: 13	Argentina
2019	Japan		South Africa	32:12	England		New Zealand	40: 17	Wales
2023	France

Country-specific success

A total of 25 national teams have so far participated in the finals of the Rugby Union World Cup.

Of all nine tournaments so far, only one was won in 2003 by a team from the northern hemisphere. However, the North has always provided a final participant apart from 1995 and 2015. Of the teams that played for third place in the small final, almost half also came from Europe.

nation	World Champion	Vice world champion	3rd place	4th Place
New Zealand	3	1	3	1
South Africa	3	0	2	0
Australia	2	2	1	1
England	1	3	0	1
France	0	3	1	2
Wales	0	0	1	2
Argentina	0	0	1	1
Scotland	0	0	0	1

Numbers and records

The difference in performance between the top teams in the world and the weaker teams became apparent in 1987: The All Blacks from New Zealand scored 74 points in the game against Fiji and France scored 13 attempts against Zimbabwe . The All Blacks also scored the most points in a World Cup game in a 145-17 win against Japan . The biggest difference in points, however, is 142, achieved in Australia's 142-0 win against Namibia at the 2003 World Cup.

With his international breakthrough in 1995, New Zealander Jonah Lomu set several individual records. He still holds the record for most attempts in World Cup finals - 15 in the two tournaments in 1995 and 1999 - and most attempts in a final - eight in 1999. This record was only achieved again in 2007 by Bryan Habana (South Africa) . Other New Zealand players hold World Cup world records - among others, Grant Fox scored the most points in a tournament with 126 in 1987, Simon Culhane scored the most points in a game with 45 in the record match against Japan. In the same game, he also broke the record for most raises in a game by scoring twenty times, while Marc Ellis had the most tries in a single game with six. Sean Fitzpatrick , the longtime All-Blacks captain, played most of the World Cup games between 1987 and 1995 at 17. In the period 1999 to 2007, England's Jonny Wilkinson scored a record 249 points.

See also

• List of major rugby union competitions
• Women's Rugby Union World Cup

Web links

• Website for the current World Championship (English / French / Spanish)
• Tournament information, news and statistics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.Worldcupweb.com: The History of RWC ( Memento of January 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
2. ↑ BBC Sport Rugby Union: England honors World Cup stars , December 9, 2003 (English).
3. ↑ 2015 & 2019: It's England then Japan! (No longer available online.) Planet Rugby, July 28, 2009, archived from the original on May 2, 2014 ; accessed on July 28, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ IRB: IRB to allocate two RWC tournaments in 2009 ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 8, 2008 
5. ↑ IRB: RWC Tender Unions Present to the IRB Council ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 13, 2009 
6. ↑ ^{a b} RWC 2003: "The Best Ever" ( Memento from May 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), November 24, 2003 (English).