The 1968 Rugby League World Cup tournament was the fourth staging of the Rugby League World Cup, and was held in Australia and New Zealand during May and June in 1968. Contested by the men's national rugby league football teams of the two host countries plus Great Britain and France, for the first time a final to determine the World Cup was specifically pre-arranged. Financially it was a profitable venture for the competing nations.
The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup was the ninth Rugby League World Cup tournament held and saw yet another change of format with competition stretched to cover almost three years. The national rugby league teams of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea played each other on a home and away basis. These matches were fitted into the normal international programme of three-match test series between the nations, with a pre-designated match from each series counting as the world cup fixture. The tournament culminated in the 1988 Rugby League World Cup final.
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 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 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 Georgia national rugby union team has competed in five consecutive Rugby World Cup tournaments. Starting in 2003, they were placed in Pool C with eventual winners England, South Africa, Uruguay and Samoa, where they lost all four matches. Georgia qualified for the 2007 World Cup and were placed in Pool D with Argentina, France, Ireland and Namibia, where they beat Namibia. In 2011 Rugby World Cup, Georgia qualified for their third straight tournament. They were placed in Pool B with Scotland, England, Argentina and Romania and won the game against rivals Romania. Their best performance was in 2015 tournament, when they were drawn against eventual world champions New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Namibia. Georgia won games against Tonga and Namibia, finished third in the group and automatically qualified for 2019 Rugby World Cup.
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.
Sport in Oceania varies from country to country. The most popular playing sport for men in Australia is Australian rules football, while for women is netball. Australian rules football is the most popular sport in terms of spectatorship and television ratings. Rugby union is the most popular sport among New Zealanders, while in Papua New Guinea rugby league is the most popular. While, Cricket is the most popular overall sport in Oceania.
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.
The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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