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This World Cup will have 20 nations contesting 48 matches over 44 days. Forty-two matches will be spread between ten French cities, with four matches to be held in [[Cardiff]], [[Wales]] and two matches in [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]].
This World Cup will have 20 nations contesting 48 matches over 44 days. Forty-two matches will be spread between ten French cities, with four matches to be held in [[Cardiff]], [[Wales]] and two matches in [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]].

Due to the World Cup, the [[2007 Churchill Cup|Churchill Cup]] will be played in England this year.


==Bids==
==Bids==

Revision as of 11:40, 24 March 2007

Template:Future sport

The 2007 Rugby World Cup will be the sixth Rugby World Cup, for the quadrennial world championship. It will be hosted by France from September 7 to October 20 of 2007. France won the right to host the event in 2003, beating a bid from England.

Over 90 nations participated in the regional qualifying competitions that started in 2004. The eight quarter-finalists from the 2003 event automatically qualified, eleven further nations have qualified, with one outstanding repechage between Uruguay and Portugal to be played in March 2007.

This World Cup will have 20 nations contesting 48 matches over 44 days. Forty-two matches will be spread between ten French cities, with four matches to be held in Cardiff, Wales and two matches in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Due to the World Cup, the Churchill Cup will be played in England this year.

Bids

England announced in September of 2001 that they would be launching a solo bid to host the tournament, without the help of the other home unions. Both the 1991 and 1999 World Cups were hosted throughout the home nations, with England and Wales being the main host respectively. A spokesman for the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said "We are quite happy to stage it on our own. We have all the resources to do a very good job."[1] England, with France, both applied to be solo hosts of the tournament.[2] Tender document for the 2007 bidding process was due out on October 31, 2001.

There was some confusion surrounding the bids for the tournament when both England and France were invited to re-submit their plans.[3] The International Rugby Board (IRB) stated that both countries must comply with tender document terms in one bid, but in their second option, could propose alternative ideas. The IRB stated that "England`s original proposal contained three plans for hosting the tournament with a traditional, new and hybrid format all on offer...The French bid, while complying with the tender document in all other respects, fell outside one of the `windows` in which the IRB wanted to stage an event".[3] As a result the IRB advised both countries to resubmit the bids, one which must comply with tender document terms, and the other which can propose alternative schemes. The IRB wished the tournament to run from October to November, or June to July, whereas France's proposal was scheduled from September to October.[3] One of Englands bids reduced the tournament from 20 nations (which would run alongside a 32-team 'World Nations Cup') to 16, and another altered the structure of the qualifying competition, while one option complied with all tender proposals. With the announcement in November, England and France were given until January 15 to re-submit their bids.[3]

It was announced in April of 2003 that France beat England to hosting the tournament.[4] The IRB council voted 18-3 in favour of France.[4] In total there were 21 votes at the meeting; England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand all having two; and the International Amateur Rugby Federation, Canada, Argentina, Japan and Italy all having one. The tournament structure was moved to the proposed September-October format with the council's view was that the structure should remain as it was.[4] It was also announced that 10 French cities would be hosting games, with the final at the Stade de France.[4] French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said that "This decision illustrates the qualities of our country and its capacity to host major sporting events...This World Cup will be the opportunity to showcase the regions of France where the wonderful sport of rugby is deeply rooted.".[4]

Qualifying

Main article: 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying
Nations particpating in qualifying competition or automatically qualified. Asia (purple), Africa (orange), Americas (green), Europe (blue) and Oceania (yellow). In total, over 90 nations took part.

The eight quarter-finalists from the 2003 Rugby World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other teams selected from a qualifying series around the world. Ten of the 20 positions available in the tournament will be filled by regional qualifiers, with an additional two being filled by repechage qualification. The regional qualifying tournaments were broken up into five distinct groups; Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.[5] Including the automatic qualifiers, over 90 nations are (or were) in qualifying contention for the tournament finals.

In July of 2005 both Samoa and Fiji were confirmed as the qualifiers from Oceania, as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively.[6] In July of the following year Argentina qualified as Americas 1 by defeating Uruguay 26-0 in Buenos Aires.[7] Americas 2 was filled in August when Canada defeated the United States 56-7 in Newfoundland.[8] The United States went on to qualify as Americas 3 after beating Uruguay comfortably over two legs in early October.[9] That month also saw Italy qualify as Europe 1 after defeating Russia 67-7 in Moscow, reaching the first place in its qualifying group; Romania defeated Spain 43-20 in Madrid, and also qualified for the World Cup as Europe 2.[10]

Namibia qualified for their third-straight world cup after they earned their spot in France by defeating Morocco over two legs in November.[11] In late 2006 it was announced that the IRB had withdrawn Colombo as the venue of the final Asian qualify tournament due to security problems.[12] Japan won the only Asian allocation after the tournament was moved to Hong Kong.[13] Georgia was 14 points the better of Portugal over two legs to claim the last European place.[13] Tonga qualified through repechage after defeating Korea.[14] There is at present only one position left for the finals tournament - a repechage allocation for Pool C. The final position will be contested by Portugal and Uruguay. If Uruguay qualify over Portugal there will be no debuts at the finals tournament. Portugal currently lead after winning the first leg seven to nil.

Teams

Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D

Template:ENGru[15]
Template:RSAru[15]
Template:SAMru
Template:USAru
Template:TONru

Template:AUSru[15]
Template:CANru
Template:FIJru
Template:JAPru
Template:WALru[15]

Template:ITAru
Template:NZru[15]
Template:ROMru
Template:SCOru[15]
Repechage 1

Template:ARGru
Template:FRAru[15][16]
Template:GEOru
Template:IRLru[15]
Template:NAMru

Hosting

The 2007 World Cup will be hosted by France, with additional venues at Edinburgh and Cardiff.

France won the right to host the 2007 World Cup in 2003, and it was known that some of the Home Nations would also be hosting matches. Four matches are being held in Wales, at Cardiff's 74,500 Millennium Stadium, namely two Pool B games that involve the Welsh team, the match between Fiji and Canada, and a quarter-final. Ireland were set to host matches in Dublin at Lansdowne Road, but due to scheduling conflicts with the reconstruction of the stadium, Ireland decided not to host any matches.[17]

Two Pool C matches are being held in Scotland, at Edinburgh's Murrayfield. Controversy arose in late 2004 when some media outlets speculated that the Scotland Rugby Union (SRU) were going to sell off their matches. The idea surfaced again almost a year later, with the SRU speaking about the issue.[17] Wales expressed interest in acquiring Scotland's allocation of matches if they were to withdraw.[18] It was confirmed in April 2006 that Scotland will be hosting the games after all. There is a substantial increase in the overall capacity of stadiums compared to the 2003 Rugby World Cup, as the smallest venue at the 2007 tournament will be 33,900. The French venues are the same as those used for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. There are around 6,000 volunteers who will help organise the competition.[19] Organisers and volunteers gathered at Disneyland Resort Paris on March 18 to mark the start of the rugby celebrations.[19] Also present on the day were members of the victorious French 2007 Six Nations champions team.[19]

Although the 2007 Rugby World Cup is the first total tournament hosted by France, a number of matches during the 1991 and 1999 tournaments, which were primarily hosted by England and Wales respectively, were played in France. Pool D (which included France) matches were played throughout France including Béziers, Bayonne, Grenoble, Toulouse, Brive and Agen. Parc des Princes and Stadium Lille-Metropole also hosted a quarter final each. Similarly, Pool C fixtures in 1999 were played throughout France in Béziers, Bordeaux and Toulouse.[20] A second round match was held at Stade Félix Bollaert, and one quarter final was held at the Stade de France, both 2007 venues.[20]

City Country Stadium Capacity Further reading
Saint-Denis (Paris) France Stade de France 80,000 Overview
Cardiff Wales Millennium Stadium 74,500 Overview
Edinburgh Scotland Murrayfield 67,500 Overview
Marseille France Stade Vélodrome 60,000 Overview
Paris France Parc des Princes 49,000 Overview
Lens France Stade Félix Bollaert 41,800 Overview
Lyon France Stade Gerland 41,200 Overview
Nantes France Stade de la Beaujoire 38,500 Overview
Toulouse France Stadium de Toulouse 37,000 Overview
Saint-Étienne France Stade Geoffroy-Guichard 36,000 Overview
Bordeaux France Stade Chaban-Delmas 34,500 Overview
Montpellier France Stade de la Mosson 33,900 Overview

Tickets and sponsorship

Tickets for the Rugby World Cup were broken up into three phases. The first phase were released in November 2005, when members of the European rugby community, such as officials, players and so on were given the opportunity for various packages. Upon the release of the second phase ticketing scheme, more than 100,000 tickets were sold in the first ten hours of release.[21] In early 2006, it was reported that 800,000 of the 1.6 million tickets had already been sold, on 6 September 2006 the one millionth ticket was sold.[22] The remaining tickets were released in phase three in November 2006, being individual tickets and tickets to the semi-finals to an 'unprecedented demand'.[23]

The Worldwide partners for the tournament are Société Générale, GMF, Électricité de France, Peugeot, Visa and SNCF,[24] and official sponsors include Heineken, Vediorbis, Capgemini, Orange, Toshiba and Emirates.[25] Gilbert will be providing the tournament balls, the Gilbert Synergie match ball will be used throughout the tournament. This continues Gilbert's involvement with the World Cup; providing the Barbarian (1995), Revolution (1999) and Xact (2003) balls in the past.[26] Along with Gilbert, the official suppliers are Adidas, Coca-Cola and Clifford Chance.[27]

Format

The competition will be contested over 44 days between 20 different nations, over 48 fixtures. The tournament commences on September 7, at Stade de France between hosts France and Argentina. The tournament culminates at the same venue on October 20 for the final to decide who wins the Webb Ellis Cup. The 20 nations are split up into four pools of five teams, known as A through to D. Classification within each pool is based on the following scoring schedule; four points for a win, two for a draw and none for a loss.[28] A bonus point can be awarded in each of the following instances; a team scores four or more tries (regardless of the match result) and/or a team loses by seven points (a converted try) or less.[28]

After the pool phase, teams will be ranked one through to five based on cumulative match points - with one and two proceeding to the quarter-finals. If two or more teams are level on points a system of criteria (i through to v) is used to determine the higher rank.[28] If there is no resolution through the steps of (i) through to (v) then (vi) decides the higher rank in accordance with the Official IRB World Rankings.[28] If a match results in a tie during the pool phase, it will be a draw (two points each). However, if a tie results during an event in the knock-out stages, the winner is determined through extra time. Should that fail, sudden death begins, and as a last resort, a kicking competition.[28]

Each pool has two quarter-finalists (automatic qualifiers) from the 2003 tournament, with the other three places filled through qualification. Each nation play their pool oppostion once, in total, each nation will have four fixtures in the pool stages. The winners and runners-up of each of the four pools advance to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finalists will also gain entry to the 2011 tournament in New Zealand. Pool winners are drawn against opposite pool runners-up in the quarter-finals, for example the winner of Pool A faces the runner up of Pool B, and the winner of Pool B face the runner-up of Pool A. The whole finals stage adopts a knock-out format, and the winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finalists advance to the final, and the runners-up will contest a third/fourth place play-off the day before the final.

Pool stages

All time local (UTC+2) except where stated.

Pool A

Place Nation Games Points Bonus
points 		Table
points
played won drawn lost for against
Template:ENGru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:SAMru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:RSAru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:TONru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:USAru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007-09-08
18:00
ENGru–USAru
Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
2007-09-09
16:00
RSAru–SAMru
Parc des Princes, Paris
2007-09-12
14:00
USAru–TONru
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
2007-09-14
21:00
ENGru–RSAru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
2007-09-16
16:00
SAMru–TONru
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
2007-09-22
14:00
RSAru–TONru
Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
2007-09-22
16:00
ENGru–SAMru
Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
2007-09-26
20:00
SAMru–USAru
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
2007-09-28
21:00
ENGru–TONru
Parc des Princes, Paris
2007-09-30
20:00
RSAru–USAru
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier

Pool B

Place Nation Games Points Bonus
points 		Table
points
played won drawn lost for against
Template:AUSru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:CANru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:FIJru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:JAPru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:WALru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007-09-08
15:45
AUSru–JAPru
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2007-09-09
14:00
WALru–CANru
Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
2007-09-12
18:00
JAPru–FIJru
Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
2007-09-15
14:00 BST
WALru–AUSru
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2007-09-16
13:00 BST
FIJru–CANru
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2007-09-20
20:00 BST
WALru–JAPru
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2007-09-23
14:30
AUSru–FIJru
Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
2007-09-25
18:00
CANru–JAPru
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
2007-09-29
15:00
AUSru–CANru
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
2007-09-29
17:00
WALru–FIJru
Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes

Pool C

Place Nation Games Points Bonus
points 		Table
points
played won drawn lost for against
Template:ITAru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:NZru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:ROMru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:SCOru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Repechage 1
Template:PORru or
Template:URUru		 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007-09-08
13:45
NZru–ITAru
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
2007-09-09
18:00
SCOru–REP1
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
2007-09-12
20:00
ITAru–ROMru
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
2007-09-15
13:00
NZru–REP1
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2007-09-18
20:00 BST
SCOru–ROMru
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
2007-09-19
20:00
ITAru–REP1
Parc des Princes, Paris
2007-09-23
17:00 BST
SCOru–NZru
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
2007-09-25
20:00
ROMru–REP1
Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
2007-09-29
13:00
NZru–ROMru
Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
2007-09-29
21:00
SCOru–ITAru
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne

Pool D

Place Nation Games Points Bonus
points 		Table
points
played won drawn lost for against
Template:FRAru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:IRLru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:GEOru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:ARGru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Template:NAMru 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007-09-07
21:00
FRAru–ARGru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
2007-09-09
20:00
IRLru–NAMru
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
2007-09-11
20:00
ARGru–GEOru
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2007-09-15
21:00
IRLru–GEOru
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
2007-09-16
21:00
FRAru–NAMru
Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
2007-09-21
20:00
FRAru–IRLru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
2007-09-22
21:00
ARGru–NAMru
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
2007-09-26
18:00
GEOru–NAMru
Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
2007-09-30
15:00
FRAru–GEOru
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
2007-09-30
17:00
IRLru–ARGru
Parc des Princes, Paris

Knock-out stages

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
October 6 - Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
 
 
Winner Pool B
 
October 13 - Stade de France, Saint-Denis
 
Runners-up Pool A
 
 
 
October 6 - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
 
 
 
Winner pool C
 
October 20 - Stade de France, Saint-Denis
 
Runners-up Pool D
 
 
 
October 7 - Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
 
 
 
Winner pool A
 
October 14 - Stade de France, Saint-Denis
 
Runners-up Pool B
 
 
 
October 7 - Stade de France, Saint-Denis
 
 Third place
 
Winner pool D
 
October 19 - Parc des Princes, Paris
 
Runners-up Pool C
 
 
 
 
 
 

Quarter-finals

2007-10-06
15:00
WPBru–RUPAru
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
2007-10-06
20:00 BST
WPCru–RUPDru
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2007-10-07
15:00
WPAru–RUPBru
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
2007-10-07
21:00
WPDru–RUPCru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Semi-finals

2007-10-13
21:00
WQF1ru–WQF2Aru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
2007-10-14
21:00
WQF3ru–WGF4ru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Third/fourth place playoff

2007-10-19
21:00
LSF1ru–LSF2ru
Parc des Princes, Paris

Final

2007-10-20
21:00
WSF1ru–WSF2ru
Stade de France, Saint-Denis

References

  1. ^ "England to launch bid for 2007". rugby.com.au. September 12, 2001. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  2. ^ "World Cup bidding process underway". rugby.com.au. September 28, 2002. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  3. ^ a b c d "IRB clarifies World Cup bid situation". rugby.com.au. November 17, 2002. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  4. ^ a b c d e "France wins right to host 2007 Rugby World Cup". rugby.com.au. April 11, 2003. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  5. ^ "RWC 2007 Qualifying process". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  6. ^ "Samoa and Fiji through to RWC 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  7. ^ "Argentina qualify for Rugby World Cup 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  8. ^ "Canada qualifies for RWC 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  9. ^ "USA Eagles qualify for 2007 World Cup". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  10. ^ "Italy and Romania qualify for RWC 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  11. ^ "Namibia qualify for Rugby World Cup". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  12. ^ "IRB scraps Asian World Cup qualifiers in Sri Lanka". lankabusinessonline.com. October 27, 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-27.
  13. ^ a b "Japan and Georgia qualify". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  14. ^ "Tonga through to RWC 2007 finals". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Automatic qualifier (quarter finalists in 2003).
  16. ^ As well as being an automatic qualifer due to making the quarter finals in 2003, France are the hosts.
  17. ^ a b "Scotland looks to give up World cup matches at Murrayfield". worldcupweb.com. December 2, 2005. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
  18. ^ "Scots could disrupt World cup hosting plans". worldcupweb.com. February 20, 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-21.
  19. ^ a b c "Rugby World Cup volunteers gather at Disneyland Paris". rugbyworldcup.com. March 18, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
  20. ^ a b "1999 Rugby World Cup venues". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  21. ^ "Rush For Rugby World Cup Tickets". xtramsn.co.nz. Retrieved 2006-04-22.
  22. ^ "One millionth RWC ticket sold". therugbyworldcup.co.uk. Retrieved 2006-09-07.
  23. ^ "Unprecedented demand for RWC 2007 tickets". rugbyworldcup.com. November 9, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-22.
  24. ^ "RWC 2007 Worldwide Partners". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  25. ^ "RWC 2007 Sponsors". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-02-16.
  26. ^ "Rugby World Cup 2007". gilbertrugby.com. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
  27. ^ "RWC 2007 Suppliers". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  28. ^ a b c d e "Tournament Rules". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
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