Rugby World Cup qualification is a process that determines which nations will compete at theRugby World Cup, a men'srugby union competition.
Unlike previous tournaments (where eight teams, the quarter-finalists from the preceding World Cup, qualified automatically and twelve places were available through qualification) the2011 World Cup would be the first to be contested by twelve automatic qualifiers /seeds (the teams who finished in the top three of the groups at the 2007 World Cup) and eightqualifiers; this format has been retained for future tournaments.[1][2]
The qualification system for the remaining eight places will be region-based with Europe and the Americas allocated two qualifying places, Africa, Asia and Oceania one place each, with the last place determined by a play-off.[3]
The first Rugby World Cup, thetournament of 1987 held no qualifying tournament. Instead, all the then members of theInternational 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 next tournament, the1991 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 25 nation qualifying tournament. The following tournament, the1995 Rugby World Cup, increased the qualifying tournament to 43 nations. In addition to the eight previous quarterfinalists, hosts South Africa were granted automatic entry.
The approach changed again for the1999 Rugby World Cup, as only the hosts and 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 43 to 63.[citation needed]
81 teams entered qualifying for the2003 Rugby World Cup. The eight quarter-finalists from the previous world cup gained automatic qualification with another twelve berths open to qualifiers. Teams from five continents, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and the Americas gained entry to the competition. Qualification came through a mixture of round robin tournaments, knockout and repechage.[citation needed]
A similar mixture of round robin tournaments, knockout and repechage was used for the qualification for the2007 Rugby World Cup involving 86 teams, which together with the 8 teams which have qualified automatically brought to 94 the total number of teams participating in the 2007 tournament.[citation needed]
In addition to the eight quarterfinalists at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the four teams finishing in third place in their respective pools qualified automatically for the2011 Rugby World Cup. Various existing regional tournaments were incorporated into the qualification process for the remaining eight berths. Including teams that failed to qualify for official qualifying tournaments, 88 teams participated in the qualification process, bringing the total number of teams participating in the 2011 tournament to 100.[citation needed]
A total of nine teams to go through qualifying have done so with a 100% records. Of these four (Scotland, England, Australia and Wales) only faced qualifying once, and one (Ireland) had to qualify twice. Three of the others (Japan, Argentina and Italy) all held regional dominance. The ninth of the teams with 100% records, Samoa, has had more challenging routes to maintain their 100% qualifying record.[4]
| Continental zone | 1987  | 1991   | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 | 2023 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total berths in the World Cup | 16 | 16 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 24 |
| Africa | 1 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 14 | |
| Americas | 3 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 7 | |
| Asia | 1 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 17 | 12 | 4 | |
| Oceania | 4 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 10 | ||
| Europe | 7 | 19 | 24 | 32 | 36 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 38 | 12 | |
| Total entrants | 161 | 33 | 56 | 71 | 89 | 94 | 91 | 96 | 93 | 47 |
| Continental zone | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total berths in the World Cup | 16 | 16 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Africa | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Americas | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3+R3 | 2+R | 3 | 2 | 2+R | 2+R | 2 |
| Asia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Oceania | 0 | 1 | 3+R | 2+R | 2+R | 1 | 1 | 2+P4 | 1+P4 | |
| Europe | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3+R | 2+R | 2 | 1 | 2+R |
| Total excluding automatic qualifiers | 02 | 8 | 7 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Teams marked in italics had appeared in a previous world cup (by invitation in 1987 and automatically thereafter). France, New Zealand, and South Africa have never needed to take part in the qualifying tournaments, having been invited to their first tournament and always qualifying automatically thereafter.
| Tournament | Automatically qualified | Qualified via competition | Eliminated in repechage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 |  Zimbabwe | – | – |
| 1991 | – | Zimbabwe | – |
| 1995 | South Africa |  Ivory Coast | – |
| 1999 | South Africa |  Namibia |  Morocco |
| 2003 | South Africa | Namibia |  Tunisia |
| 2007 | South Africa | Namibia | Morocco |
| 2011 | South Africa | Namibia | Tunisia |
| 2015 | South Africa | Namibia | Zimbabwe |
| 2019 | South Africa | Namibia |  Kenya |
| 2023 | South Africa | Namibia | Kenya |
| 2027 | South Africa | Zimbabwe |
| Tournament | Automatically qualified | Qualified via competition | Eliminated in repechage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 |  Argentina Canada United States | – | – |
| 1991 | – | Argentina Canada United States | – |
| 1995 | Canada | Argentina | – |
| 1999 | – | Argentina Canada United States Uruguay | – |
| 2003 | Argentina | Canada United States Uruguay | – |
| 2007 | – | Argentina Canada United States | Uruguay |
| 2011 | Argentina | Canada United States | Uruguay |
| 2015 | Argentina | Canada United States Uruguay | – |
| 2019 | Argentina | Canada United States Uruguay | – |
| 2023 | Argentina |  Chile Uruguay | United States |
| 2027 | Argentina | Chile Uruguay |
| Tournament | Automatically qualified | Qualified via competition | Eliminated in repechage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Japan | – | – |
| 1991 | – | Japan | – |
| 1995 | – | Japan | – |
| 1999 | – | Japan |  South Korea |
| 2003 | – | Japan | South Korea |
| 2007 | – | Japan | South Korea |
| 2011 | – | Japan |  Kazakhstan |
| 2015 | – | Japan |  Hong Kong |
| 2019 | Japan | – | Hong Kong |
| 2023 | Japan | – | Hong Kong |
| 2027 | Japan | Hong Kong |  United Arab Emirates |
| Tournament | Automatically qualified | Qualified via competition | Eliminated in repechage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | England France Ireland Italy Romania Scotland Wales | – | – |
| 1991 | England France Ireland Scotland Wales | Italy Romania | – |
| 1995 | England France Ireland Scotland | Italy Romania Wales | – |
| 1999 | France Wales | England Ireland Italy Romania Scotland Spain |  Georgia Netherlands Portugal |
| 2003 | England France Scotland Wales | Georgia Ireland Italy Romania | Spain |
| 2007 | England France Ireland Scotland Wales |  Georgia Italy Portugal Romania | – |
| 2011 | England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales | Georgia Romania Russia | – |
| 2015 | England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales | Georgia Romania | Russia |
| 2019 | England France Georgia Ireland Italy Scotland Wales | Russia |  Germany |
| 2023 | England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales | Georgia Portugal Romania | – |
| 2027 | England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales | Georgia Portugal Romania Spain |
| Tournament | Automatically qualified | Qualified via competition | Eliminated in repechage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Australia Fiji New Zealand Tonga | – | – |
| 1991 | Australia Fiji New Zealand |  Western Samoa | – |
| 1995 | Australia New Zealand Western Samoaoa | Tonga | – |
| 1999 | New Zealand | Australia Fiji Samoa Tonga | – |
| 2003 | Australia New Zealand | Fiji Samoa Tonga | – |
| 2007 | Australia New Zealand | Fiji Samoa Tonga | – |
| 2011 | Australia Fiji New Zealand Tonga | Samoa | – |
| 2015 | Australia New Zealand Samoa Tonga | Fiji | – |
| 2019 | Australia New Zealand | Fiji Samoa Tonga |  Cook Islands |
| 2023 | Australia Fiji New Zealand | Samoa Tonga | – |
| 2027 | Australia Fiji New Zealand | Canada Tonga United States |
The repechage, a second chance for teams that had finished runners-up in each qualifying zone, has been a feature of qualifying since it was introduced during qualifying for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. The following table shows which teams have participated in the repechage – both the teams that have qualified via the repechage, and the teams that have failed to qualify via the repechage.
| RWC Qualifying | Qualified through repechage | Score | Eliminated at final stage of repechage | Eliminated at preliminary stage of repechage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Tonga | 140–41* | South Korea | Georgia Portugal Netherlands |
| Uruguay | 36–24* | Morocco | ||
| 2003 | United States | 120–26* | Spain | Tunisia |
| Tonga | 194–0* | South Korea | ||
| 2007 | Portugal | 24–23* | Uruguay | Morocco |
| Tonga | 85–3 | South Korea | ||
| 2011 | Romania | 60–33* | Uruguay | Kazakhstan Tunisia |
| 2015 | Uruguay | 57–49* | Russia | Hong Kong Zimbabwe |
| 2019 | Canada | round robin | Germany | Cook Islands |
| Hong Kong | ||||
| Kenya | ||||
| 2023 | Portugal | round robin | United States | – |
| Hong Kong | ||||
| Kenya | ||||
| 2027 | round robin | United Arab Emirates |
Note: All scores marked with an asterisk (*) are aggregate scores over two legs.
| RWC Qualifying | Oceania | Americas | Europe | Asia | Africa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 2003 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 2007 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 2011 | – | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 2015 | – | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 2019 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 2023 | – | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Total: 1999–2023 | 3–1 (75%) | 4–3 (57%) | 3–6 (33%) | 0–7 (0%) | 0–7 (0%) |
