What’s the History of the Rugby World Cup?

Rugby union (as opposed to rugby league) is recognized as one of the world’s most physically challenging sports. For eighty minutes every match, two teams of fifteen players enter into a grueling contest that leaves them battered and bruised as they jostle for control of the ball. It is certainly not a sport for the faint of heart.

Every four years the world’s top rugby-playing countries send their teams to battle it out in the Rugby World Cup, the premier competition of rugby union. The winner is recognized as the world champion.

This is the history of how the Rugby World Cup started and how it grew to be one of the biggest sporting events in history.

Throughout the decades of the 20th century, it became clear that major sporting events could turn massive profits. The Football World Cup, first held in 1930, became an event similar to the Olympic Games in that it was held every four years. The success of this sport prompted many sporting bodies to start their own world cup competitions.

The four-year format proved popular, and many sports followed suit with their world cups. Basketball started its World Cup tournament in 1950, field hockey in 1971, and cricket in 1975. The addition of the Rugby World Cup to this list arrived fairly late.

As early as 1947, suggestions from prestigious individuals in the rugby world were being made for a World Cup. The president of the French Rugby Federation, Alfred Eluère, is claimed to have been the first to make this suggestion, but his idea was turned down by the sport’s governing body. Subsequent attempts throughout the decades did not gain much support until the 1980s.

At the meeting of national unions in Paris in 1985, the effort, led by France, Australia, and New Zealand, was successful. The unions of England and Wales bowed to the pressure and voted to create a Rugby World Cup. Despite not being allowed to compete in international sport because of its policy of apartheid, South Africa, too, lent its voice in support of a world cup.

The International Rugby Football Board (IRFB)* inaugurated the first tournament in 1987.

*The International Rugby Football Board became the International Rugby Board in 1998 and then World Rugby from 2014 onwards.

The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987. New Zealand and Australia were the host nations. Like all the world cups since, the structure of the tournament was similar to that of other sporting events of this nature.

Sixteen teams would participate in pool stages, with the top teams in each pool going through to a quarter-final stage. A semi-final and final stage would determine the world champion. The initial tournament did not have qualifiers to be accepted into the tournament. Instead, the seven members of the IRFB (New Zealand, Australia, France, Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales) automatically qualified, while the other nine teams were invited by the IRFB to take part. South Africa was excluded because of the international sports boycott.

Throughout the 1987 Rugby World Cup, New Zealand (also referred to as “The All Blacks”) looked on track to lift the trophy. They started their road to victory with a 70-6 drubbing of Italy and ended it with a comfortable 29-9 win over France.

Four years later, it would be their antipodean neighbor’s turn to claim World Cup glory. The 1991 tournament was held in the countries of the Five Nations teams: England, Wales, Scotland, France, and Ireland. This was the first tournament to include qualifiers from regional qualifying tournaments.

The tournament consisted of 16 finalists, and Australia (also referred to as “The Wallabies”) won all their matches to progress to the final, beating England 12-6.

1995: An Important Year for South Africa in Rugby & Politics

The 1995 Rugby World Cup ushered in a new era of rugby, as it was the first tournament in which South Africa was allowed to compete. A few years earlier, the country was accepted back into world sports by agreeing to dismantle apartheid and hold democratic elections in which non-whites were allowed to vote. These elections were held in 1994, just over a year before the next World Cup.

Nelson Mandela won the elections, and South Africa was chosen to host the tournament. Mandela knew the fragile situation in South Africa was on a knife’s edge, and he was determined to use the sport to unify all South Africans, regardless of race.

He made good friends with Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team (commonly referred to as the Springboks), and got himself heavily involved with the tournament.

In fairy tale fashion, South Africa triumphed, winning all their matches to reach the finals, where they faced the All Blacks. In a thrilling final that went into overtime, the Springboks won 15-12.

The success of the previous three tournaments saw the 1999 Rugby World Cup expand from 16 to 20 teams. To make the tournament work, the teams were split into five pools of four teams each, and an additional play-off stage was added before the knock-out stages.

Wales hosted all 41 matches, and the tournament was won by Australia, which beat France 35-12. As such, Australia became the first country to win the tournament twice.

Australia hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup, which lasted 44 days and involved 48 matches. The controversial setup of the previous tournament was fixed by dividing the 20 qualifying teams into four pools of five teams each. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the knock-out stages, eliminating the need for play-offs.

The entire tournament was abound with high-scoring games and mismatched scorelines. Australia opened their bid for the title by thrashing Romania 90-8 and following it up with a 142-0 victory over Namibia. England also had a stunning start, beating Georgia 85-0, then comfortably beating South Africa 25-6, and then going on to score a huge win over Uruguay with 111 points to 13.

The final was a nail-biter as England faced Australia in an epic clash that went into extra time. Jonny Wilkinson sealed England’s victory with a brilliant drop goal, giving England a three-point victory over their rivals. After beating Australia 20-17, England lifted the trophy and became the first team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup.

In 2007, France hosted the Rugby World Cup again. The tournament followed the exact same format as the previous one: 48 matches played over 44 days. By the end of the first stage, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina had all started well and finished at the top of their respective pools.

A spirited France would end the hopes of New Zealand by narrowly defeating them in the quarter-finals 20-18. The final was a match-up between England and South Africa. England had hoped to get revenge for losing to South Africa in the pool stage 36-0 in the hopes that such a lopsided scoreline was just an anomaly.

England played a lot better, but they could not overcome the Springboks this time either. Winning 15-6, the South Africans lifted the trophy, while Argentina (“Los Pumas”) beat France for third place.

2011 and 2015: New Zealand Returns to Form

New Zealand had always been favorites to win the tournament and held a long-standing lead in the world rugby rankings. After their emphatic win in 1987, it had seemed unlikely that by 2011, they would only have one cup under their belts, while South Africa and Australia had two each. With the tournament being held in New Zealand, the All Blacks enjoyed a home-ground advantage.

The entire 2011 tournament was plain sailing for New Zealand, and they won all their matches comfortably. In the final, however, they met France again, and this match would prove to be a lot tougher. Nevertheless, the All Blacks scraped through, winning 9 points to 8.

In 2015, despite a shock defeat to Japan, South Africa bounced back to finish at the top of their pool, as did Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. This year, the Southern Hemisphere teams showed their worth again in a tournament that proved the dominance of teams below the equator.

The last of the teams from the Northern Hemisphere were eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, New Zealand squeaked past South Africa 20-18 to secure a spot in the final, while Australia beat Argentina 29-15. New Zealand would go on to win the tournament for the third time by defeating Australia 34-17.

New Zealand was the first team to win back-to-back World Cups and the first to reach a total of three final victories.

The IRB decided that Japan would host the 2019 Rugby World Cup. With a growing interest in the sport, the infrastructure, and the will to produce an incredible tournament, all eyes turned to the East.

South Africa started its run poorly, losing to New Zealand 23-13. Meanwhile, Japan won all its pool stage games to finish at the top of its group, defeating Ireland, Russia, Samoa, and Scotland in the process. England and Wales also finished at the top of their pools.

Japan’s run ended in the quarter-finals, however. South avenged their 2015 loss by beating the host nation 25-6. Wales, England, and New Zealand advanced to the Semi-Finals.

South Africa eventually won the tournament by beating England in the final with a comfortable 32-12 win. New Zealand took third place by beating Wales 40 points to 17.

In 2023, the World Cup was held in France again. The tenth iteration of the tournament was a massive success, with an average of over 50,000 fans attending each match.

In the opening match, France stunned New Zealand by beating them 27-13. In Pool B, South Africa and Ireland battled it out for top spot, and Ireland beat South Africa 13-8. In their respective pools, Wales and England performed well, and Australia, for the first time, lost two of its matches and failed to qualify for the next round.

In the quarter-finals, Ireland’s curse of never progressing to the semi-finals continued when they lost to New Zealand 28-24. New Zealand secured their spot in the final by thumping Argentina 44-6. Meanwhile, South Africa’s road to the final was anything but convincing.

In the quarter-finals, they narrowly beat France 29-28; in the semi-finals, they beat England 16-15. The one-point victories wouldn’t stop there, however. The Springboks managed to win the world cup by defeating New Zealand in the final, 12 points to 11.

South Africa won back-to-back tournaments and became the first team to reach four World Cup titles.

With the success of ten world cups, the tournament has grown in size and prestige. In 2027, it will return to Australia and expand from 20 teams to 24. This format will continue for the foreseeable future, and a tentative date has already been set for the 2031 Rugby World Cup, which will be held in the United States.

As support and interest in rugby continues to grow around the world, it is attracting international interest. The future of the Rugby World Cup is looking bright.

To date, South Africa has won four titles, New Zealand has won three, Australia has won two, and England has won one. Of particular note are the teams of Ireland and France, both powerhouses that have yet to lift the trophy, while Argentina has improved in leaps and bounds and is now considered a top-tier team.

As the Rugby World Cup continues to gain widespread attention, there is sure to be more excitement and upsets in the future.