RUGBY WORLD CUP HISTORY

•  The first RWC was held in New Zealand and Australia in 1987. The six

    tournaments to date, winners and finalists are:

          - 1987 (NZ & Australia) New Zealand beat France

          - 1991 (UK, Ireland & France) Australia beat England

          - 1995 (South Africa) South Africa beat New Zealand

          - 1999 (UK, Ireland & France) Australia beat France

          - 2003 (Australia) England beat Australia

          - 2007 (France & UK) South Africa beat England

•  In 1987, 16 teams were invited to participate in the inaugural

    tournament. In 1991, the Tournament was expanded to 20 teams. A

    total of 94 countries took part in RWC 2007: the eight automatic qualifiers

    from RWC 2003 (quarter-finalists England, Australia, New Zealand,

    France, South Africa, Wales, Scotland and Ireland), and 86 countries

    who participated in qualifying to determine the final 12 places for France.

•  RWC 2011 in New Zealand will comprise 20 teams allocated into four
    pools: 12 teams that automatically qualified from RWC 2007 in France;
    and eight teams that will come through the RWC 2011 qualifier programme
    which began in April 2008. The 12 automatic qualifiers are the Rugby
    World Cup Champions South Africa, runners-up England, losing semi-
    finalists France and Argentina, losing quarter-finalists Australia, New
    Zealand, Fiji and Scotland, and Italy, Tonga, Wales and Ireland who
    finished in third place in their respective pools.

•  All 20 teams (12 automatic qualifiers and the places for the eight teams to
    come out of the qualifying process) were allocated into Pools at a RWC
    2011 Pool Allocation Draw held inside the giant New Zealand Rugby Ball
    venue in London on December 1, 2008.