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.
Rugby World Cup qualification is a process that determines which nations will compete at the Rugby World Cup, a men's rugby union competition.
Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) – was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 205 teams entered the qualification competition, with South Africa, as the host, qualifying for the World Cup automatically. The first qualification matches were played on 25 August 2007 and qualification concluded on 18 November 2009. Overall, 2,338 goals were scored over 852 matches, scoring on average 2.74 per match.
The Madagascar national rugby union team represents Madagascar in the sport of rugby union. Although rugby is popular in Madagascar, the country has not yet qualified for a Rugby World Cup. It does compete annually in the Africa Cup, and was runner-up to Uganda in 2007. The national team's nickname is the Malagasy name for the ring-tailed lemur.
In the American Region for Rugby World Cup Qualifying, two teams, Canada and USA, qualified directly to the world cup and the third place, Uruguay, entered a playoff against the third place European team and the second place African and Asian teams.
This page details the process of qualifying for the 1974 African Cup of Nations which was held in Egypt in March 1974. Eight teams qualified for the finals, including Egypt as hosts and Congo as the holders of the title, having won the 1972 tournament in Cameroon.
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.
For the 2019 Rugby World Cup, there were several play-off matches during the qualification process in order to determine which nations would compete in the Repechage. Canada, who failed to be one of the three teams to advance from the Americas qualification process, despite being the third highest ranked team in the Americas, emerged from the repechage process in November 2018 to become the final team to qualify for the World Cup.
This is the qualifications of the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens aimed at selecting men's rugby sevens national teams that appeared in the finals in San Francisco. A total of 55 nations took part in the qualifying process.
The qualification process for the inaugural women's tournament of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. There are no automatic qualifiers, so all national teams qualified by way of regional tournaments. Unlike the men's tournament, the Arabian Gulf did not prequalify as hosts. The qualification process allocated two slots for Africa, two for North America/West Indies, one for South America, three for Asia, six for Europe and two for Oceania.
The qualification process of women's teams for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Automatic qualification was extended to the host and the four semifinalists of the previous cup's tournament. The remaining spots were contested in each of the six regions' respective tournaments.
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.
Twelve teams qualified for men's rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Japan automatically qualified as host, with the top four teams of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series securing their spots. Afterwards, qualification was determined with each of the six continental confederations determining a representative, and the remaining qualification spot determined through an international sevens tournament.
The qualification process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France began during the pool stages of the 2019 tournament in Japan, at which the top three teams from each of the four pools qualified automatically for the 2023 event. A further eight teams qualified through regional, cross-regional play-offs and the repechage process.
The 2021–22 Rugby Africa Cup, which doubled as Qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup for Africa began in June 2021, where teams competed for one direct qualification spot into the final World Cup tournament and for one place in the final Qualification Tournament.
The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup will be the tenth edition of the women's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams, organised by World Rugby. It is scheduled to take place in England between 22 August and 27 September 2025. The opening game will take place at the Stadium of Light with the final scheduled to be held at Twickenham Stadium.
This was the qualifying process for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens with the aim of selecting the men's national rugby sevens teams that would compete in the tournament in Cape Town, South Africa. A total of 59 nations took part in the qualifying process.
The qualification process for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup in Australia began during the pool stages of the 2023 tournament in France, at which the top three teams from each of the four pools qualified automatically for the 2027 event. With an expansion to twenty four teams from 2027, a further twelve teams will qualify through regional, cross-regional play-offs and the Final Qualification Tournament.
Qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup for South America will begin in August 2024, with eight teams competing for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament. The runner up will play the bottom side ranked in the 2025 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup for a second direct place in the final tournament and the loser progressing to the Final Qualification Tournament. The third ranked side will also qualify for a place in the Final Qualification Tournament.
Qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup for Asia commenced in April 2024, with eight teams competing for one qualification spot and one spot in a play-off match.
Algeria 
Botswana 
Burkina Faso 
Cameroon 
Ghana 
Ivory Coast 
Kenya 
Morocco 
Madagascar 
Namibia 
Nigeria 
Senegal 
South Africa 
Tunisia 
Uganda 
Zambia 
Zimbabwe