 New Zealand national rugby union team celebrate their victory in the2011 Rugby World Cup final | |
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 1987 |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Country | International(World Rugby) |
| Holders |  South Africa (2023) |
| Most titles | South Africa(4 titles) |
TheRugby World Cup is an internationalrugby union competition established in 1987. It is contested by themen's national teams of the member unions of the sport's governing body,World Rugby, and takes place every four years. The winners of thefirst final wereNew Zealand, who beatFrance. South Africa never competed in the first two world cups due toApartheid sanctions.South Africa are the latest winners, having won the2023 Rugby World Cup inFrance.
The Rugby World Cup final is the last match of the competition. The winning team is declared world champion and receives theWebb Ellis Cup.[1] If the score is adraw after 80 minutes of regular play, an additional 20-minute period of play, calledextra time, is added. If the score remains tied, an additional 10 minutes ofsudden-death extra time are played, with the first team to score points immediately declared the winner. If no team is able to break the tie during extra time, the winner is ultimately decided by apenalty shootout.[2] Two finals have gone to extra time: South Africa's victory against New Zealand in the1995 final, andEngland's triumph againstAustralia in the2003 final.[3]
Only five nations have ever made it into a Rugby World Cup final. South Africa is the most successful team in the history of the tournament, with four wins, followed by New Zealand with three wins. New Zealand and South Africa are the only teams to have won consecutive tournaments, with New Zealand winning in2011 and2015, and South Africa winning in2019 and2023, Springboks currently being the only team to have won every World cup final they were in. Australia have won the competition twice, while England have one win; they are the only nation from the Northern Hemisphere to have won the competition.[4] France are the only team to appear in a final without ever winning one, losing all three finals they have contested.[5]
The first final of the Rugby World Cup was contested in June 1987, in Auckland, between New Zealand and France. The host team opened the scoring in the 14th minute, following adrop goal byfly-halfGrant Fox. They extended their lead later in the first half whenMichael Jones scored atry, which wasconverted by Fox. Losing 9–0 at half-time,[A] the French opened their scoring in the second half, through apenalty byDidier Camberabero. Following this, New Zealand controlled the match and tries fromDavid Kirk,John Kirwan and the goal kicking of Fox extended their lead to 29–3. A try byPierre Berbizier in the final minutes, which was converted by Camberabero, reduced the deficit to 29–9, as New Zealand won the tournament's inaugural final.[6]
As the hosts, England reached thefinal of the 1991 tournament atTwickenham, where they faced Australia. Fly-halfMichael Lynagh opened the scoring for Australia with a penalty in the 27th minute. They extended their lead before half-time whenpropTony Daly scored a try, which was converted by Lynagh. England scored two penalties in the second half, courtesy of full-backJonathan Webb, but a further penalty by Lynagh sealed Australia's victory at 12–6.[7] The tournament hosts reached the final again in 1995, as South Africa faced New Zealand in Johannesburg. Fly-halfAndrew Mehrtens opened the scoring for New Zealand in the 6th minute after scoring a penalty. His opposite number,Joel Stransky, levelled the score five minutes later. The pair swapped successful penalty attempts before Stransky gave South Africa a 9–6 lead with a 32nd-minute drop goal just before half-time. New Zealand equalized in the 55th minute with a drop goal by Mehrtens, and as no further points were scored, the final went intoextra time for the first time. Mehrtens converted a penalty to put New Zealand back the lead, but Stransky replied minutes later. With seven minutes to the end of extra time, Stransky scored a drop goal to secure a 15–12 victory for South Africa.[8]Nelson Mandela, the South African President, wearing a Springboks jersey, presented theWebb Ellis Cup to South Africa captainFrancois Pienaar.[9]
The1999 final saw Australia face France at theMillennium Stadium in Cardiff. Two tries byOwen Finegan andBen Tune, and seven penalties byMatt Burke contributed to Australia's 35–12 win, as they became the first nation to win the Rugby World Cup twice.[10] Australia also became the first side to contest successive finals when they faced England in the2003 final at theTelstra Stadium in Sydney. The hosts opened the scoring in the sixth minute through aLote Tuqiri try. England responded and scored three penalties by fly-halfJonny Wilkinson and a try bywingerJason Robinson to achieve a 14–5 lead at half-time. Three penalties fromElton Flatley in the second half allowed Australia to level the score and send the final into extra time. Wilkinson and Flatley scored a penalty apiece before the former scored a drop goal in the last minute of the match to give England a 20–17 victory. They became the first side from the Northern hemisphere to win the tournament.[11]
England reachedthe final again in 2007, where they faced South Africa, who had won 36–0 when the two teams met during thepool stage.[12] South African full-backPercy Montgomery scored three penalties to Wilkinson's one to give South Africa a 9–3 lead at half-time. England had a try disallowed in the first minutes of the second half, whenMark Cueto was adjudged to be in touch before scoring. A penalty from Wilkinson and a further two penalties, one from Montgomery, and one from Steyn reduced the gap but did not prevent South Africa from winning 15–6 and secure their second World Cup victory.[13] The2011 final pitted hosts New Zealand against France for the second time in the tournament, after their first encounter in thepool stage resulted in a 37–17 win for New Zealand.[14] The host team scored the first points of the match, with a try in the 15th minute through propTony Woodcock. Nine minutes later, New Zealand's third-choice fly-halfAaron Cruden went off injured and was replaced byStephen Donald, who had only been called into the squad following injuries to first-choice fly-halvesDan Carter andColin Slade.[15] Donald extended New Zealand's lead in the second half with a penalty; a minute later, French captainThierry Dusautoir scored a try, which was converted byFrançois Trinh-Duc to leave France one point behind New Zealand. Despite constant pressure from the French for the remainder of the final, they were unable to score more points and New Zealand won the match 8–7 to lift their second World Cup trophy.[16]
New Zealand reached the final again in2015, where they faced Australia atTwickenham. Tries fromNehe Milner-Skudder,Ma'a Nonu andBeauden Barrett, along with four penalties, two conversions and one drop goal from fly-half Dan Carter produced a 34–17 win for New Zealand. With this victory, they became the first team to win the World Cup three times and the first holders to retain the trophy. It was also the first time that New Zealand won the competition outside of their country.[17] South Africa beat England 32–12 in thefinal of the2019 Rugby World Cup withHandré Pollard kicking 22 points to dominate the English. This was the first time the winning team had lost a match during and gone to win the competition; South Africa lost 23–13 against New Zealand in the pool stage.[18] They then repeated the same feat four years later in 2023, losing to Ireland in the group stages before winning each of their three knockout games by a single point, beating France, England and New Zealand in succession to join New Zealand as the only nations to win back-to-back Rugby World Cups.
| † | Match was won duringextra time |
| Year | Winners | Final score | Runners-up | Venue | Location | Attendance | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 |  New Zealand | 29–9 |  France | Eden Park | Auckland, New Zealand | 48,035 | [6] |
| 1991 |  Australia | 12–6 |  England | Twickenham Stadium | London, England | 56,208 | [7][19] |
| 1995 | South Africa | 15–12†[B] | New Zealand | Ellis Park Stadium | Johannesburg, South Africa | 62,000 | [20][21] |
| 1999 | Australia | 35–12 | France | Millennium Stadium | Cardiff, Wales | 72,500 | [10][22] |
| 2003 | England | 20–17†[C] | Australia | Telstra Stadium | Sydney, Australia | 82,957 | [23] |
| 2007 | South Africa | 15–6 | England | Stade de France | Saint-Denis, France | 80,430 | [24] |
| 2011 | New Zealand | 8–7 | France | Eden Park | Auckland, New Zealand | 61,079 | [5] |
| 2015 | New Zealand | 34–17 | Australia | Twickenham Stadium | London, England | 80,125 | [25][26] |
| 2019 | South Africa | 32–12 | England | Nissan Stadium | Yokohama, Japan | 70,103 | [27] |
| 2023 | South Africa | 12–11 | New Zealand | Stade de France | Saint-Denis, France | 80,065 | [28] |
| 2027 | Accor Stadium | Sydney, Australia |
| National team | Wins | Runners-up | Total finals | Years won | Years runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1995,2007,2019,2023 | — |
| New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1987,2011,2015 | 1995,2023 |
| Australia | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1991,1999 | 2003,2015 |
| England | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2003 | 1991,2007,2019 |
 France | 0 | 3 | 3 | — | 1987,1999,2011 |