The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days; 42 matches were played in 10 cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff, Wales, and two in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The 1968 Rugby League World Cup was the fourth World Cup for men’s national teams and was held between 25 May and 10 June and for the first time co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Australia were the Champions after they defeated France in the final.
The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby League World Cup. Unlike previous World Cups that were held over a couple of months, this World Cup was held over the course of three years with teams playing each other on a home and away basis.
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 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the northern hemisphere, with England the hosts of the final. Also for the first time, qualifying competitions were introduced as the number of entrants had increased from 16 nations four years before to a total of 33 countries. The eight quarter-finalists from 1987 qualified automatically with the remaining eight spots contested through qualifiers by 25 countries. This resulted in only one new side qualifying for the tournament, Western Samoa replacing Tonga. The same 16-team pool/knock-out format was used with just minor changes to the points system. South Africa was again not included because of sanctions imposed on the country by the IRB, due to the government's apartheid policies.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event.
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 IRB2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change: Uruguay replaced Russia. This was the first World Cup with no new teams to the tournament.
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, have played 56 matches so far in the nine Rugby World Cup tournaments from 1987 to 2019, with an additional match cancelled and unplayed. They won the 1987, 2011, and 2015 tournaments. Until 2023, they qualified in first place from every group until they lost their first pool match in 2023 RWC against France. Their worst performance was in 2007 when they lost a quarter-final to France. They have made it to at least the semi-finals at all the other tournaments.
The Australia national rugby union team, known as the Wallabies, has played in all ten Rugby World Cup tournaments. They have won the World Cup on two occasions; only New Zealand and South Africa have won more. Australia has hosted or co-hosted the tournament twice – in 1987 and 2003, and is scheduled to host it in 2027.
Scotland have played in every Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987.
Argentina have competed in all the Rugby World Cup tournaments, starting with the inaugural 1987 tournament.
Namibia has competed in seven Rugby World Cup tournaments, having qualified as the African representative. The Namibian rugby union team, nicknamed the Welwitschias after the Namibian national symbol, made their first appearance at the Rugby World Cup in 1999 and appeared at the following six tournaments. Namibia has so far played 26 games at that cup without ever winning one.
Uruguay has competed in five Rugby World Cup tournaments: 1999, 2003, 2015, 2019, and 2023.
The Ireland national rugby union team have played in all ten Rugby World Cup tournaments. They have reached the quarter-finals at all but two tournaments, but have yet to progress to the semi-finals. They have finished top of their pool on three occasions.
Italy have competed in all the Rugby World Cup tournaments, having made their first appearance in the inaugural 1987 tournament. They have finished third in their pool at every tournament, except in 1999, the only tournament where they lost more than two games. Having never finished in the top two in their pool, they have never qualified to progress to the quarter-finals. They have won the most matches of those that have never made it to the quarter-finals.
The Japan national team have competed in every Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987. They are so far the only team to reach the Rugby World Cup through Asian regional qualifying. In 2019, they progressed to the quarterfinals for the first time in their participation, making them the first Asian team to do so in the tournament.
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup Limited. The pre-event favourites were England, regarded by many at the time as the best team in the world. New Zealand, France, South Africa and defending champions Australia were also expected to make strong showings, with New Zealand being second favourites after victory in the southern-hemisphere Tri-Nations championship.
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.
The Rugby League World Cup qualification is the process a national team goes through to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup Finals.
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