Rugby World Cup qualification is a process which determines what nations will competiting at the Rugby World Cup. The Rugby World Cup can refer to: Rugby League World Cup Rugby Union World Cup This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

History

The first rugby world cup, the tournament of 1987 held no qualifying tournament. Instead, all the then members of the International Rugby Board (then, IFRB) were automatically included in the competition. These members accounted for seven of the 16 available positions. The remaining positions were filled by invitation. The first Rugby World Cup took place in New Zealand and Australia in 1987, and was won by New Zealand. ... The International Rugby Board (IRB), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is the world governing and law-making body for the game of Rugby Union (as opposed to Rugby League—see the respective entries for differences between the two). ...

The next tournament, the 1991 Rugby World Cup implemented a qualifying process. Eight of the 16 available positions were filled by nations automatically, however, the remaining positions would be determined by a 32 nation qualifying tournament. The following tournament, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, increased the qualifying tournament to 45 nations. Results of The 1991 Rugby World Cup. ... The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby Union World Cup. ...

The approach changed again for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, as only the defending champions, the runners-up, the third place play-off winners from the 1995 cup were to gain automatic entry, as opposed to the elite eight nations. The 1999 world cup also saw the introduction of a repechage, a second chance for teams that had finished runners-up in each qualifying zone. Again, the number of nations participating in the qualifying events increased, from 45 to 65. Results of the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup, which had Wales as the main host. ...

Format

Automatic qualification

All eight quarter-finalists from the previous tournament automatically qualify for the subsequent world cup.

Qualifying tournaments

The remaining 12 positions are determined by a qualification process that involves a series of regional eliminators as well as a repecharge.

The places are outlined as:

• Africa 1
• Americas 1
• Americas 2
• Americas 3
• Asia 1
• Europe 1
• Europe 2
• Europe 3
• Repechage 1
• Repechage 2

External links

• France2007.fr
• Rugbyworldcup.com