The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World champions of the sport.
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 1995 Rugby World Cup, was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
The England men's national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions, winning the Grand Slam 14 times and the Triple Crown 26 times, making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are currently the only team from the Northern Hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament in 2003, and have been runners-up on three further occasions.
Rugby World Cup records have been accumulating since the first Rugby World Cup tournament was held in 1987.
The first Rugby Union World Cup was held in 1987, hosted by Australia and New Zealand who pushed for the tournament to be approved. Since the first tournament, 9 others have been held at four-year intervals.
The World Rugby Rankings is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nations are ranked based on their game results, with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded on the basis of the results of World Rugby-recognized international matches. Rankings are based on the team's performance, with more recent results and more significant matches being more heavily weighted to help reflect the current competitive state of a team. The men's ranking system was introduced the month before the 2003 Rugby World Cup, with the first new rankings issued on 8 September 2003, when they were called the "IRB Rankings".
The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match was played at Ajinomoto Stadium in Chōfu, Tokyo, with the final match being held at International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama. This was the first time that the tournament had taken place in Asia and outside the traditional Tier 1 rugby nations.
Pool C of the 2015 Rugby World Cup began on 19 September and was completed on 11 October 2015. The pool was composed of New Zealand, Argentina and Tonga – who all qualified automatically for the tournament due to finishing in the top three positions in their pools in 2011 – along with the top European qualifier, Georgia, and the top African qualifier, Namibia.
The knockout stage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup began on 17 October with two quarter-finals and concluded on 31 October with the final at Twickenham Stadium in London with all matches played over the course of three consecutive weekends.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup final was a rugby union match to determine the winner of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, played between reigning champions New Zealand and their rivals Australia on 31 October 2015 at Twickenham Stadium in London. New Zealand beat Australia 34–17, winning the World Cup for a record third time, and becoming the first team to retain the Webb Ellis Cup. The 51 points scored in this final is the highest of all Rugby World Cup finals.
The 2019 Rugby World Cup final was a rugby union match played on 2 November 2019 at the International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. It marked the culmination of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and was played between England and South Africa, a rematch of the 2007 Rugby World Cup final.
Pool B of the 2019 Rugby World Cup began on 21 September 2019. The pool included title holders New Zealand and third-placed team from 2015 South Africa, while Italy also joined the pool after finishing third in their pool in 2015. They were joined by the African qualifier, Namibia, and the repechage winner, Canada.
Pool C of the 2019 Rugby World Cup began on 21 September 2019. The pool included previous World Cup hosts England and France, as well as the fourth-placed team from 2015, Argentina. They were joined by regional qualifiers from the Americas, United States (Americas 1), and Oceania, Tonga (Oceania 2), to become the first completed table ahead of the World Cup.
In 2019, some rugby union national teams played matches in preparation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The matches saw New Zealand lose first place in the World Rugby Rankings, initially to Wales, and eventually to Ireland.
The 2019 Hong Kong Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament that took place at the Hong Kong Stadium between the 5–7 April 2019. It was the 44th edition of the Hong Kong Sevens, and the seventh tournament of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series. Sixteen teams competed in the main tournament, while a further twelve competed in a qualifier tournament with the winner getting core team status for the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series.
Pool A of the 2023 Rugby World Cup began on 8 September 2023 and concluded on 6 October 2023. The pool included hosts France and previous three-time champions New Zealand, along with Italy, Uruguay and Namibia. Hosts France and New Zealand, whom France had defeated in the opening match, qualified from the pool.
Pool C of the 2021 Rugby World Cup began on 8 October 2022 with France taking on South Africa at Eden Park. The pool includes two-time champions England and France, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in 2017. They are joined by South Africa, who qualified as champions of the 2021 Rugby Africa Women's Cup, and by debutants Fiji, who qualified for the tournament with their win over Samoa.
The knockout stage of the 2023 Rugby World Cup is the second and final stage of the competition, following the pool stage. Played from 14 to 28 October, the knockout stage will end with the final, held at Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination tournament. There will be 8 matches in the knockout stage, including a third-place play-off played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals.
Japan 
Ireland 
New Zealand 
South Africa 
England 
France 
Wales 
Australia 
