The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches while Australia hosted 11 matches. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who were the strong favourites and won all their matches comfortably. New Zealand defeated France 29–9 in the final at Eden Park in Auckland. The New Zealand team was captained by David Kirk and included such rugby greats as Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan, Grant Fox and Michael Jones. Wales finished third, and Australia fourth, after conceding crucial tries in the dying seconds of both their semi-final against France and the third-place play-off against Wales.
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States of America Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, and is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until rugby returned to Olympic competition, with sevens at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having defeated the one other competitor in 1920 and the two other competitors at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
The Pacific Tri-Nations was the traditional rugby union series between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. It was established in 1982 with the Samoan team, then known as Western Samoa, winning the tournament. In 2006 it was replaced by the IRB Pacific 5 Nations which was then renamed the Pacific Nations Cup.
The Canada men's national rugby union team represents the Canada in men's international rugby union competitions. They are overseen by Rugby Canada the governing body of rugby union in Canada.
Rugby World Cup records have been accumulating since the first Rugby World Cup tournament was held in 1987.
The 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying was held in several continental zones. Four countries qualified automatically—Wales as tournament hosts, South Africa as reigning champions, New Zealand as runners-up in the previous tournament, and France as winners of the third-place playoff in the previous tournament. Repechage was first introduced for the 1999 competition qualifying.
In qualification for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a number of positions were available to Oceania nations. Fiji and Samoa qualified, joining automatic qualifiers Australia and New Zealand, while Tonga progressed to the repechage, where they faced South Korea.
2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying began at the 2007 tournament in France, where twelve teams earned a place in the finals of the tournament, this automatically qualified them for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
The Oceania Rugby Men's Championship is an international rugby union competition for countries and territories from Oceania with national teams in the developmental band. It is administered by Oceania Rugby.
The Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) section of the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualification involved five teams competing for one spot in the final tournament in England.
For the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, the Oceania teams from Australia, New Zealand and Western Samoa were granted automatic entry due to reaching the quarter-final stages of the 1991 tournament.
The Confederation of African Rugby was allotted one place in the 1999 Rugby World Cup by direct qualification and one place in the repechage tournament. This was in addition to the automatic qualifying place granted to South Africa as champions of the 1995 tournament.
The Asian Rugby Football Union was allotted one place in the 1999 Rugby World Cup by direct qualification and one place in the repechage tournament. Eight teams participated in the qualification tournament for Asia which was held in three stages. The first two stages were played in 1997 and the last stage was played in 1998.
For the 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifiers, the Americas were allocated three places in the final tournament and one place in the repechage.
In the 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifiers, there were two repechage positions available to qualify for the final tournament. Seven teams qualified for the repechage, three representing Europe and one each from Africa, Asia, Americas, and Oceania.
The qualification process for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan began during the pool stages of the 2015 tournament in England, during which the top three teams from each of the four pools were awarded automatic qualification for the 2019 event. A further eight teams qualified through regional, cross-regional tournaments and the repechage process.
Qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup for Oceania Rugby began in June 2016, where across 2 years, 3 teams competed for two direct qualification spots from Oceania. Two places were available to Oceania in a cross-regional play-off series' to qualify for the World Cup and or advance through the Repechage.
The Papua New Guinea women's national rugby union team played their first international against Fiji in 2016. They compete annually in the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship, and have not qualified for the Rugby World Cup as yet.
The 2017 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the twelfth edition of the Pacific Nations Cup annual international rugby union tournament. The 2017 title was contested solely by the Pacific nations of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
The 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship that was held in Fiji, was the 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifier for the Oceania region. The tournament was played at Churchill Park in Lautoka from 18–30 November 2019, with six teams entered. Australia and New Zealand sent development teams, having already qualified for the 2021 World Cup.
Cook Islands 
Papua New Guinea 
Tahiti 
