National team appearances in the Rugby World Cup

Last updated September 16, 2025

This article presents the national team appearances in the Rugby World Cup. The article tracks the appearances, results, and debuts for all national teams that have participated in at least one Rugby World Cup.

Number of appearances

Tournament appearances by team, up to and including 2027:

Team	Apps	Record streak	Active streak	Debut	Most recent	Best result
South Africa	9	9	9	1995	2027	Champions (1995, 2007, 2019, 2023)
New Zealand	11	11	11	1987	2027	Champions (1987, 2011, 2015)
Australia	11	11	11	1987	2027	Champions (1991, 1999)
England	11	11	11	1987	2027	Champions (2003)
France	11	11	11	1987	2027	Runners-up (1987, 1999, 2011)
Wales	11	11	11	1987	2027	Third place (1987)
Argentina	11	11	11	1987	2027	Third place (2007)
Scotland	11	11	11	1987	2027	Fourth place (1991)
Ireland	11	11	11	1987	2027	Quarter-finals(eight times)
Fiji	10	8	8	1987	2027	Quarter-finals (1987, 2007, 2023)
Samoa	9	9	9	1991	2023	Quarter-finals (1991, 1995)
Japan	11	11	11	1987	2027	Quarter-finals (2019)
Canada	10	9	1	1987	2027	Quarter-finals (1991)
Italy	11	11	11	1987	2027	2 wins (six times)
Tonga	10	9	9	1987	2027	2 wins (2007, 2011)
Georgia	7	7	7	2003	2027	2 wins (2015)
Portugal	3	2	2	2007	2027	1 win and 1 draw (2023)
Romania	10	8	2	1987	2027	1 win (six times)
Uruguay	6	4	4	1999	2027	1 win (1999, 2003, 2019, 2023)
United States	9	6	1	1987	2027	1 win (1987, 2003, 2011)
Namibia	7	7	7	1999	2023	1 draw (2019)
Zimbabwe	3	2	1	1987	2027	0 wins
Ivory Coast	1	1	0	1995	1995	0 wins
Spain	2	1	1	1999	2027	0 wins
Russia	2	1	0	2011	2019	0 wins
Chile	1	1	1	2023	2023	0 wins
Hong Kong	1	1	1	2027	2027	0 wins

Results by tournament

Legend

QF — Quarterfinalist
R2 — Round 2 (1999: quarterfinal playoffs)
R1 — Round 1 (pool stage)
Q — Qualified
•• — Invited but declined or qualified but withdrew
• — Did not qualify
× — Expelled after qualification/Disqualified
— Not invited (1987) / Did not enter or withdrew from qualifying
— Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team	1987 (16)	1991 (16)	1995 (16)	1999 (20)	2003 (20)	2007 (20)	2011 (20)	2015 (20)	2019 (20)	2023 (20)	2027 (24)	2031 (24)
Africa
Ivory Coast		•	15th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Namibia			•	17th	20th	20th	20th	18th	16th	19th
South Africa ⁽³⁾			1st	3rd	5th	1st	5th	3rd	1st	1st	Q
Zimbabwe	15th	14th	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	Q
Asia
Japan	14th	9th	14th	18th	18th	16th	17th	9th	5th	12th	Q
Hong Kong		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	Q
Europe
England	6th	2nd	4th	6th	1st	2nd	6th	10th	2nd	3rd	Q
France	2nd	5th	3rd	2nd	4th	4th	2nd	8th	8th	6th	Q
Georgia	••⁽¹⁾		•	•	19th	13th	15th	12th	14th	17th	Q
Ireland	7th	6th	8th	10th	6th	11th	7th	5th	6th	5th	Q
Italy	12th	10th	10th	19th	12th	12th	11th	11th	9th	11th	Q
Portugal		•	•	•	•	19th	•	•	•	14th	Q
Romania	10th	12th	16th	13th	15th	15th	19th	16th	•⁽⁴⁾	20th	Q
Russia	••⁽¹⁾		•	•	•	•	18th	•	20th	•	•
Scotland	5th	4th	5th	7th	8th	7th	9th	6th	10th	10th	Q
Spain		•	•	20th	•	•	•	•	•⁽⁴⁾	×⁽⁵⁾	Q
Wales	3rd	11th	9th	5th	7th	9th	4th	7th	4th	7th	Q
North America
Canada	9th	8th	11th	12th	14th	17th	13th	17th	18th	•	Q
United States	11th	16th	•	16th	13th	18th	16th	19th	19th	•	Q	Q
Oceania
Australia	4th	1st	7th	1st	2nd	6th	3rd	2nd	7th	9th	Q
Fiji	8th	15th	•	9th	11th	8th	14th	15th	12th	8th	Q
New Zealand	1st	3rd	2nd	4th	3rd	5th	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	Q
Samoa ⁽²⁾		7th	6th	11th	10th	14th	10th	13th	15th	13th
Tonga	16th	•	12th	14th	17th	10th	12th	14th	13th	15th	Q
South America
Argentina	13th	13th	13th	8th	9th	3rd	8th	4th	11th	4th	Q
Chile			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	18th
Uruguay			•	15th	16th	•	•	20th	17th	16th	Q
Team	1987 (16)	1991 (16)	1995 (16)	1999 (20)	2003 (20)	2007 (20)	2011 (20)	2015 (20)	2019 (20)	2023 (20)	2027 (24)	2031 (24)

¹ Georgia and Russia were part of the Soviet Union in 1987, whose national team declined an invitation to the inaugural World Cup on political grounds.
² Samoa was known as Western Samoa until 1997.
³ South Africa did not compete in 1987 and 1991 while subject to an international sporting boycott in opposition to the country's apartheid regime.
⁴ Romania and Spain fielded ineligible players during the Rugby Europe Championship, incurring points deductions resulting in their non-qualification in 2019.^[1]
⁵ Spain had initially qualified, but were deducted 10 points for fielding an ineligible player in two qualifying games, resulting in Spain losing their place.^[2]

Debut of national teams

26 nations have thus far qualified for the Rugby World Cup. From 1987 until 2011, each edition featured at least one new debuting country. The 2015 tournament was the first edition with no country making its debut. It simply featured the return of Uruguay after not qualifying for the 2007 and 2011 editions. The 2019 was the same, with Romania disqualified and replaced by Russia.

Year	Nation(s)	Total
1987	Argentina Australia Canada England Fiji France Ireland Italy Japan New Zealand Romania Scotland Tonga United States Wales Zimbabwe	16
1991	Samoa	1
1995	Ivory Coast South Africa	2
1999	Namibia Spain Uruguay	3
2003	Georgia	1
2007	Portugal	1
2011	Russia	1
2015	(none)	0
2019	(none)	0
2023	Chile	1
2027	Hong Kong	1

Result of host nations

The best result by hosts is champions, achieved by New Zealand in 1987 and 2011, and by South Africa in 1995. The worst result was by Wales in 1991 with only one win in pool play, although they did not host the final. The worst result by a country who hosted the final is held by England, being eliminated in the group stage in 2015.

Year	Host nation	Finish
1987	New Zealand	Champions
1987	Australia	Fourth place
1991	England	Runners-up
	Scotland	Fourth place
	France	Quarter-finals
	Ireland	Quarter-finals
	Wales	Group stage
1995	South Africa	Champions
1999	Wales	Quarter-finals
2003	Australia	Runners-up
2007	France	Fourth place
2011	New Zealand	Champions
2015	England	Group stage
2019	Japan	Quarter-finals
2023	France	Quarter-finals
2027	Australia	To be determined
2031	United States	To be determined

Results of defending champions

New Zealand and South Africa are the only nations to successfully defend the World Cup as defending champions in 2015 and 2023 respectively. Australia and England achieved runner up in 2003 and 2007, respectively. The worst results were by Australia in 1995 and South Africa in 2011, both exiting in the quarter-finals.

Year	Defending champions	Finish
1991	New Zealand	Third place
1995	Australia	Quarter-finals
1999	South Africa	Third place
2003	Australia	Runners-up
2007	England	Runners-up
2011	South Africa	Quarter-finals
2015	New Zealand	Champions
2019	New Zealand	Third place
2023	South Africa	Champions
2027	South Africa	To be determined

Performance by confederation

This is a summary of the best performances of each confederation in each tournament.

Confederation	1987 (16)	1991 (16)	1995 (16)	1999 (20)	2003 (20)	2007 (20)	2011 (20)	2015 (20)	2019 (20)	2023 (20)	2027 (24)	2031 (24)
Africa	R1	R1	1st	3rd	QF	1st	QF	3rd	1st	1st	TBD	TBD
Asia	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	QF	R1	TBD	TBD
Europe	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd	QF	2nd	3rd	TBD	TBD
North America	R1	QF	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	R1	—	TBD	TBD
Oceania	1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	QF	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	TBD	TBD
South America	R1	R1	R1	QF	R1	3rd	QF	4th	R1	4th	TBD	TBD

Number of teams by confederation

This is a summary of the total number of participating teams by confederation in each tournament.

Confederation	1987 (16)	1991 (16)	1995 (16)	1999 (20)	2003 (20)	2007 (20)	2011 (20)	2015 (20)	2019 (20)	2023 (20)	2027 (24)	2031 (24)
Africa	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	TBD	TBD
Asia	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	TBD
Europe	7	7	7	8	8	9	9	8	8	9	TBD	TBD
North America	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	2	TBD
Oceania	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	TBD	TBD
South America	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	2	2	3	TBD	TBD

Appearance droughts

This section is a list of droughts associated with the participation of national rugby union teams in the Rugby World Cups.

Longest Active Droughts

Does not include teams that have not yet made their first appearance or teams that no longer exist.

Team	Last Appearance	WC Missed
Ivory Coast	1995	8
Russia	2019	2

Longest Overall Droughts

Only includes droughts begun after a team's first appearance and until the team ceased to exist updated to include qualification for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Team	Previous Appearance	Next Appearance	WC Missed
Ivory Coast	1995	Active	8
Zimbabwe	1991	2027	8
Spain	1999	2027	6
Portugal	2007	2023	3
Russia	2019	Active	2
Uruguay	2003	2015	2

References

↑ "Russia handed World Cup place as Romania penalised for ineligible player". The Guardian. 16 May 2018.
↑ "Independent Appeal Committee decision regarding Spain player eligibility". World Rugby . 27 June 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2023.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Russia handed World Cup place as Romania penalised for ineligible player". The Guardian. 16 May 2018.

[2] "Independent Appeal Committee decision regarding Spain player eligibility". World Rugby . 27 June 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2023.

[1]

[2]

v t e Rugby World Cup
Tournaments	Australia / New Zealand 1987 England / France / Ireland / Scotland / Wales 1991 South Africa 1995 Wales 1999 Australia 2003 France 2007 New Zealand 2011 England 2015 Japan 2019 France 2023 Australia 2027 United States 2031
Warm-up matches	2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031
Qualifying	1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031
Knockout stages	1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031
Finals	1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031
Squads	1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031
Statistics	1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031
Overview	History Hosts Qualification Theme song Trophy
Overall records	All-time table Hat-tricks Multiple winners Records and statistics Red cards Team appearances Try scorers
Notes: There was no qualification for the 1987 World Cup as places were given by invitation only.