Rugby World Cup

The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament held every four years. The top international teams compete, and the winners are recognized as the world champions of the sport.

The tournament is run by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners receive the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis. According to a popular legend, he invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game and running with it.

The first tournament was held in 1987 and was hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Four countries have won the trophy: South Africa four times, New Zealand three times, Australia twice, and England once. South Africa is the current champion, having beaten New Zealand in the final of the 2023 tournament.

Sixteen teams took part from 1987 until 1995. In 1999, the tournament grew to twenty teams. Japan hosted the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and France hosted the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The tournament will grow again to twenty-four teams when it is held in Australia in 2027. Starting in (/wiki/2021_Rugby_World_Cup), the women's equivalent tournament was officially renamed the Rugby World Cup to promote equality with the men's tournament. However, the 2021 event was the only one to use this name. After the 2023 World Cup, World Rugby announced that all future tournaments would include "Men's" or "Women's" in their titles. The first event to use this rule was the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup, and the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup will be the first men's event to include "Men's" in its title.

Format

Under the current format, 24 teams qualify for each Rugby World Cup. Twelve teams qualified automatically for the 2027 edition by finishing in the top three of their 2023 pool. The other 12 places were shared out by region, and the last place is decided by an intercontinental play-off.

The tournament lasts six weeks in October and November, with 24 nations taking part. Teams are seeded using the World Rankings and split into pools of four. In the pool stage, each team plays the others in its pool once, and a bonus points system is used. The top two teams from each pool, plus the four best third-placed teams, move on to the knockout stage. Knockout matches go to extra time if they are tied, and then to sudden death if still level. The knockout stage ends with the Rugby World Cup Final and a bronze medal match.

History

Main article: History of the Rugby World Cup

Before the Rugby World Cup, there was no truly global rugby union competition, but there were other tournaments. One of the oldest is the yearly Six Nations Championship. It started in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship, between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. France joined in 1910, and Italy joined in 2000, when the competition became the Six Nations. Rugby union was also played at the Summer Olympic Games, including the 1900 Paris games, London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris again in 1924, but it stopped being part of the Olympics after 1924. The idea of a world cup was suggested many times from the 1950s, but most unions in the International Rugby Football Board opposed it. In the early 1980s, the Australian Rugby Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union each proposed a world cup, and in 1985 a proposal passed. The inaugural World Cup was held in 1987 in Australia and New Zealand, and New Zealand won the final against France. The 1991 tournament was hosted by England, and Australia won the second tournament, beating England in the final. In 1992, South Africa hosted New Zealand in a test match, after the end of apartheid. South Africa then hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup and won the final against New Zealand after extra time, with then President Nelson Mandela wearing a Springbok jersey as he presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar.

The 1999 tournament was hosted by Wales, and Australia won its second title. The tournament used a repechage system, and the number of teams grew from sixteen to twenty. The 2003 event was hosted by Australia, and England won the final in extra time, ending the southern hemisphere's dominance of the tournament. An estimated 750,000 people gathered in central London to celebrate. Teams also qualified through continental tournaments.

The 2007 competition was hosted by France, and South Africa defeated England to win its second title. Argentina surprised many by beating France, Ireland and Scotland to finish first in the Pool of death and third overall. New Zealand was awarded the 2011 tournament in 2005, ahead of bids from Japan and South Africa, and it won the 2011 final against France by 8–7.

The 2015 tournament was hosted by England, and Japan beat heavily favoured South Africa in the opening weekend, the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history. New Zealand won the final against Australia. Japan later hosted the 2019 World Cup, the first tournament held outside the traditional rugby strongholds, and South Africa won its third trophy by beating England. Starting in 2021, the men's and women's tournaments both use the "Rugby World Cup" name. The 2022 women's tournament in New Zealand was delayed by COVID-19 issues. France hosted the 2023 World Cup, which South Africa won by beating New Zealand 12–11, becoming the first nation to win the tournament four times.

Trophy

Main article: Webb Ellis Cup

Winners of the Rugby World Cup receive the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis. The trophy is also called simply the Rugby World Cup. It was chosen in 1987 for the competition and was created in 1906 by Garrard's Crown Jewellers. Between tournaments, Thomas Lyte restores and repairs the trophy and engraves the winner's name on its plinth.

The cup stands thirty-eight centimetres high and is silver, covered in gold. Two cast scroll handles support it, one with the head of a satyr and the other with the head of a nymph. In Australia, the trophy is informally known as "Bill", a reference to William Webb Ellis.

Selection of hosts

Tournaments are organised by Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL), which is owned by World Rugby. The host country is chosen by a secret vote of World Rugby Council members. Independent auditors manage the voting. The host nation is usually picked five or six years before the competition. The tournament has been hosted by more than one nation at a time. For example, the 1987 tournament was hosted by Australia and New Zealand together. World Rugby requires hosts to have a venue that holds at least 60,000 spectators for the final. Some host nations build or improve stadiums for the World Cup, such as Millennium Stadium, which was built for the 1999 tournament, and Eden Park, which was upgraded for 2011.

The first country outside the traditional rugby nations of SANZAAR or the Six Nations to be given the hosting rights was 2019 Rugby World Cup host Japan. France hosted the 2023 tournament. The next tournament to be hosted by a nation outside the traditional nations will be the 2031 tournament in the United States.

Tournament growth

Organizers of the Rugby World Cup and the Global Sports Impact say the tournament is the third largest sporting event in the world, behind only the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. Other sources question whether this is accurate. Reports from World Rugby and its business partners often point to growing television audiences, from 300 million for the first tournament in 1987 to 4 billion in 2007. The 4 billion figure was widely dismissed because the global television audience is estimated to be about 4.2 billion. Independent reviews have questioned how these growth estimates were made. Most of the 2007 final's average audience of 33 million came from Australasia, South Africa, the British Isles and France. Interest in traditional rugby nations is clear, though. The 2003 final between Australia and England became the most watched rugby union match in Australian television history, and the 2023 tournament became the most viewed rugby event of all time.

The host union keeps the money from ticket sales. World Rugby, through RWCL, receives money from broadcasting rights, sponsorship and tournament fees.

See also: List of sports attendance figures

Results

See also: National team appearances in the Rugby World Cup

Twenty-six nations have taken part in the Rugby World Cup, not counting qualifying tournaments. Only New Zealand (in 1987 and 2011) and South Africa (in 1995) have both hosted and won the tournament. England, which hosted in 1991, and Australia, which hosted in 2003, both finished as runners-up. France finished fourth when it hosted in 2007, while Wales (1999) and Japan (2019) reached the quarter-finals. Wales was the first host nation to be knocked out in the pool stages, in 1991. England was the first host nation to hold the tournament alone and be knocked out in the pool stages, in 2015. Of the twenty-five nations that have played in at least one tournament, ten have never missed one.

As of the 2027 World Cup, 27 nations have qualified to compete across 11 tournaments.

Records and statistics

Main articles: Records and statistics of the Rugby World Cup, List of Rugby World Cup try scorers, and List of Rugby World Cup hat-tricks

The record for most points overall is held by English player Jonny Wilkinson, who scored 277 during his World Cup career. New Zealand All Black Grant Fox holds the record for most points in one competition, with 126 in 1987. Sam Whitelock of New Zealand holds the record for most World Cup matches, with 26 between 2011 and 2023. All Black Simon Culhane holds the records for most points by one player in a match (45) and most conversions in a match (20). All Black Marc Ellis holds the record for most tries in a match, six, which he scored against Japan in 1995.

New Zealand's Jonah Lomu is the youngest player to appear in a final, aged 20 years and 43 days in the 1995 final. Lomu and South African Bryan Habana share the record for most total World Cup tries, with 15 each. Lomu (in 1999) and Habana (in 2007) also share the record for most tries in a tournament, with 8, along with All Black Julian Savea (in 2015) and Will Jordan (in 2023). South Africa's Jannie de Beer kicked five drop-goals against England in 1999, an individual record for one World Cup match. The record for most penalties in a match is 8, held by Australian Matt Burke, Argentinian Gonzalo Quesada, Scotland's Gavin Hastings and France's Thierry Lacroix. Quesada also holds the record for most penalties in a tournament, with 31.

The most points scored in a game is 145, by the All Blacks against Japan in 1995. The widest winning margin is 142, held by Australia in a match against Namibia in 2003. A total of 25 players have been sent off (red carded) in the tournament. Welsh lock Huw Richards was the first, while playing against New Zealand in 1987. No player has been red carded more than once.