The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest upsets in the sports history.
The Georgia national rugby union team, nicknamed The Lelos, represents Georgia in men's international rugby union. The team is administered by the Georgian Rugby Union and takes part in the annual Rugby Europe Championship and the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.
The Ireland men's national rugby league team, known as the Wolfhounds, is organised by Rugby League Ireland and represents the entire isle of Ireland in international rugby league. The representative team is composed largely of players of Irish descent who compete in the Super League as well as the Australasian National Rugby League. Ireland is also represented by an Ireland A side, which is made up of players from the Irish domestic competition.
2007 Rugby World Cup – European qualification was a European Nations Cup competition that decided which European teams participated in the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. The group stages counted towards both qualification and the European Nations Cup. Hosts France and other 2003 World Cup quarter finalists England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales qualified automatically.
The Italy national rugby league team represents Italy in rugby league football. With origins dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, the team has competed regularly in international competitions since 2008, when their current governing body, the Federazione Italiana Rugby League, was formed. They are currently ranked 13th in the IRL World Rankings.
The Lebanon national rugby league team represents Lebanon in rugby league football. Nicknamed "the Cedars" after the Lebanese cedar tree, the team was formed by Lebanese Australians in 1997 and have been administered by the Lebanese Rugby League Federation since 2002.
The Serbia national rugby league team represents Serbia in the sport of rugby league football. They have competed in international competition since 2003 under the administration of the Serbian Rugby League.
The seeds of rugby league in Lebanon lie in Australia. A group of Australian-born rugby league players with Lebanese heritage, mostly from inner-city Sydney formed a team with a view to entering the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. They were accepted into the qualifying tournament on the agreement that they would aim to develop rugby league within the country they represent. They subsequently went on to win the qualifying competition, earning their place by defeating Italy and Morocco of the Mediterranean group before travelling to Florida to defeat the USA, winners of the Pacific group.
The Portugal national rugby union team, nicknamed Os Lobos, represents Portugal in men's international rugby union competitions. The team, as well as all rugby union in Portugal, is administered by the Federação Portuguesa de Rugby.
Rugby union in Portugal is a very prevalent sport, though still a long distance from association football. The sport is essentially amateur in Portugal, with some professionalisation in its top flight league and the national rugby union team. The rugby union teams in Portugal are mostly university sides, from Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra, with multi-sport clubs like Benfica and Belenenses having rugby union collectivities.
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.
Ryan Tandy was an international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played as a prop in the National Rugby League (NRL) for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers, Melbourne Storm, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, and in the Super League for Hull Kingston Rovers. He was banned from playing professional rugby league in Australia after being found guilty of spot-fixing during a match in 2010, and in 2014 died of a suspected drug overdose.
The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams of 14 Rugby League International Federation member countries who qualified through either standing in the previous tournament or a series of qualification play-off matches. In the final, defending champions Australia, playing in their 14th consecutive final, defeated England at Brisbane's Lang Park.
Of the fourteen teams that would participate in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, only two were not automatic inclusions, so must win qualifying matches to enter the tournament, which was held in Wales and England. Originally around twenty teams were to be involved in qualification for the tournament, but this was eventually fixed at nineteen.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game and final took place at the Stade de France, north of Paris. The tournament was held in the bicentenary year of the purported invention of the sport by William Webb Ellis.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying process began on 9 May 2015 with the 2015 European Championship C. In August 2014, it was announced that seven of the eight quarter-finalists at the 2013 tournament would receive automatic qualification. Fourteen teams took part in the qualifying process to fill the remaining seven spots.
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.
The qualification process for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup began on 14 February 2015. Twelve teams qualified for the tournament, which was held in Ireland in 2017.
The 2021 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification was the qualifying process which will decide the 8 teams that would join the 8 quarter-finalists from the 2017 World Cup including the hosts England, who received an automatic spot, at the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. The process commenced in June 2018, with the commencement of the 2018–19 Rugby League European Championship C tournament, which acted as the first round for European qualification.
Australia 
New Zealand 
Papua New Guinea 
England 
France 
Scotland 
Ireland 
Tonga 
Fiji 
Samoa 
