2019 Rugby World Cup
Ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2019 Rugby World Cup (Japanese: ラグビーワールドカップ2019) was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match was played at Ajinomoto Stadium in Chōfu, Tokyo, with the final match being held at International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama. This was the first time that the tournament had taken place in Asia and outside the traditional Tier 1 rugby nations.
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host nation | 2019 Rugby World Cup |
Dates | 20 September – 2 November |
No. of nations | 20 (97 qualifying) |
Final positions | |
Champions | South Africa (3rd title) |
Runner-up | England |
Third place | New Zealand |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 45 |
Attendance | 1,698,528 (37,745 per match) |
Tries scored | 285 (average 6.33 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Handré Pollard (69) |
Most tries | Josh Adams (7) |
Points scored | 2,196 (average 48.8 per match) |
← 2015 2023 → |
The tournament saw the first cancellation of matches at the Rugby World Cup with Typhoon Hagibis affecting three matches due to the expected impact on safety that the typhoon would have.
South Africa beat England 32−12 in the final to claim their third title, equalling New Zealand's record. In doing so, South Africa became the first team to win the title after losing a match in the pool stage. The defending champions, New Zealand, finished third after defeating Wales in the bronze final.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) requested that any members wishing to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup and/or the 2019 event should indicate their interest by 15 August 2008, though no details had to be provided at that stage. A record 10 unions responded, with the 2019 tournament of interest to nine nations.[1] Russia initially announced plans to bid for both events, but withdrew both in February 2009 in favour of what proved to be a successful bid for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens.[2][3] Australia withdrew from the bidding process on 6 May 2009.[4]
The three potential hosts – Italy, Japan and South Africa – were announced on 8 May 2009.[5] At a special meeting held in Dublin on 28 July 2009, the IRB confirmed that England would be hosts in 2015 and Japan in 2019, with the approval of the tournament organisers Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWC Ltd), going in favour 16–10.[6]
The IRB (which was renamed World Rugby in November 2014), RWC Ltd, the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) and host organisers Japan 2019 went through a process of asking for expressions of interest and meeting with and explaining game hosting requirements to interested parties from late 2013. In May 2014, it was announced that 22 municipal and prefectural organisations across Japan had expressed interest. Those organisations were asked to enter formal bids by 31 October 2014. On 5 November, organisers announced that 14 bids had been received. Hong Kong and Singapore had expressed interest in hosting some of the matches and were included in Japan's bid,[7] but were not among the 14 stadiums announced in 2014. Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, venue for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final and Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium, also a World Cup venue, decided not to bid.
Several changes to the venues submitted in the JRFU's original 2009 bid were made. The JRFU's own Chichibunomiya Stadium in Tokyo, suitable for smaller interest games in the capital, was not included in the plan. The JRFU selected the larger and more modern 50,000-seat Nagai multi-purpose stadium as its preferred venue for games in Osaka, though East Osaka City, which had taken over the Hanazono Rugby Stadium from long-time corporate owners Kintetsu in April 2015, submitted a joint bid with Osaka Municipality, intending to refurbish the stadium. Kamaishi, Hamamatsu, Kyoto, Ōita, Nagasaki and Kumamoto were also not part of the JRFU's bid. While the bids included venues from a broad area of Japan, two areas were not involved in hosting: Hokushin'etsu (Hokuriku and Kōshin'etsu regions), which includes the city of Niigata; and the Chūgoku region, which includes Hiroshima and the nearby island of Shikoku. No city in Chūgoku hosted games at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but Hiroshima did host games in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.[citation needed]
The new National Stadium in Tokyo being constructed for the 2020 Summer Olympics was expected to be the primary venue of the tournament. However, the original plans were scrapped and rebid in 2015 due to criticism over its design and increasing costs. As a consequence, it would no longer be completed in time.[8] The fixtures assigned to the stadium were re-located, with the opening match moved to Ajinomoto Stadium and the final moved to Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.[9]
Yokohama | Hamamatsu (Fukuroi) |
Tokyo (Chōfu) |
Nagoya (Toyota City) |
Sapporo |
---|---|---|---|---|
International Stadium Yokohama | Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa | Tokyo Stadium | City of Toyota Stadium | Sapporo Dome |
Capacity: 72,327 | Capacity: 50,889 | Capacity: 49,970 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 41,410 |
Ōita | Kobe | |||
Oita Stadium | Kobe Misaki Stadium | |||
Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 30,132 | |||
Osaka (Higashiosaka) |
Kumamoto | Kumagaya | Fukuoka | Kamaishi |
Hanazono Rugby Stadium | Kumamoto Stadium | Kumagaya Rugby Stadium | Fukuoka Hakatanom ori Stadium | Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium |
Capacity: 24,100 | Capacity: 32,000 | Capacity: 24,000 | Capacity: 20,049 | Capacity: 16,020 |
The top three teams from the pools at the 2015 World Cup received an automatic spot, with the remaining eight teams coming from the qualifying series around the world. Six of the remaining eight spots available were filled by regional qualifiers with the additional two spots being filled in play-off. Qualifying was split into five regional groups; Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.[10]
On 1 July 2017, the United States became the first team to qualify after defeating Canada in the two-leg match to qualify as America 1.[11] The following two weeks saw Fiji and Tonga booking their spots as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively.[12] Samoa later confirmed their spot as the third Oceanic team with a win over Germany in a two-legged tie the following year.[13] In January 2018, Uruguay became the fourth team to qualify with a 10-point victory over Canada across the two legs to book a spot as Americas 2.[14]
In March, Romania initially qualified to take the spot as Europe 1.[15] But after complaints from the Spanish into an investigation of ineligible players, it was deemed that Romania, Spain and Belgium all broke the eligibility rules and were deducted points which meant Russia qualified for the World Cup while Germany headed to the play-off against Samoa.[16] In August, Namibia became the final team to qualify from the continental tournaments after defeating Kenya in the final round of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup.[17] The final spot was decided by a repechage tournament in Marseille in November 2018, which was won by Canada after winning all three of their games.[18]
Region | Team | Qualification method |
Previous Apps |
Previous best result | World Ranking1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Africa | South Africa | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 6 | Champions (1995, 2007) | 4 |
Namibia | Africa 1 | 5 | Pool stage | 23 | |
Americas North | United States | Americas 1 | 7 | Pool stage | 13 |
Asia | Japan | Hosts | 8 | Pool stage | 10 |
Europe | England | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Champions (2003) | 3 |
France | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Runners-up (1987, 1999, 2011) | 8 | |
Georgia | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 4 | Pool stage | 12 | |
Ireland | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Quarter-finals (six times) | 1 | |
Italy | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Pool stage | 14 | |
Russia | Europe 1 | 1 | Pool stage | 20 | |
Scotland | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Fourth place (1991) | 7 | |
Wales | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Third place (1987) | 5 | |
Oceania | Australia | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Champions (1991, 1999) | 6 |
Fiji | Oceania 1 | 7 | Quarter-finals (1987, 2007) | 9 | |
New Zealand | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Champions (1987, 2011, 2015) | 2 | |
Samoa | Play-off winner | 7 | Quarter-finals (1991, 1995) | 16 | |
Tonga | Oceania 2 | 7 | Pool stage | 15 | |
Sudamérica | Argentina | Top 3 in 2015 RWC pool | 8 | Third place (2007) | 11 |
Uruguay | Americas 2 | 3 | Pool stage | 19 |
The pool draw took place[19] on 10 May 2017, in Kyoto.[20] The draw was moved from its traditional place of December in the year following the previous World Cup, after the November internationals, so that nations had a longer period of time to increase their world rankings ahead of the draw.[21]
The seeding system from previous Rugby World Cups was retained with the 12 automatic qualifiers from 2015 being allocated to their respective bands based on their World Rugby Rankings on the day of the draw:
- Band 1: The four highest-ranked teams
- Band 2: The next four highest-ranked teams
- Band 3: The final four directly qualified teams
The remaining two bands were made up of the eight qualifying teams, with allocation to each band being based on the previous Rugby World Cup playing strength:
- Band 4: – Oceania 1, Americas 1, Europe 1, Africa 1
- Band 5: – Oceania 2, Americas 2, Play-off Winner, Repechage Winner
This meant the 20 teams, qualified and qualifiers, were seeded thus (world ranking as of 10 May 2017):
Band 1 | Band 2 | Band 3 | Band 4 | Band 5 |
---|---|---|---|---|
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The draw saw a representative randomly draw a ball from a pot; the first drawn ball went to Pool A, the second Pool B, the third Pool C and the fourth Pool D.
Each team submitted a squad of 31 players for the tournament, the same as the 2015 tournament. These squads were to be submitted to World Rugby with the deadline being 8 September with the United States being the last team to reveal their squad on 6 September.[22][23]
World Rugby named the following 12 referees, seven assistant referees and four television match officials to handle the 48 matches:[24]
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The opening ceremony took place at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo on 20 September 2019 at 18:30 (JST).[25] The ceremony featured a showcase of traditional and modern Japanese culture, as well as the culture of rugby union, and told the story of the evolution of rugby union in Japan.[26] New Zealand's Richie McCaw, who captained the All Blacks to the World Cup title in 2015, performed a ceremonial handover of the Webb Ellis Cup.[27] Six jet aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatic team flew over the stadium.[28] Kiyoe Yoshioka of Japanese pop-rock band Ikimono-gakari sang World in Union, the official song of the Rugby World Cup.[29] The tournament was officially declared open by Fumihito, Prince Akishino of Japan; both he and World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont gave speeches at the end of the ceremony, with Beaumont saying:[30]
"Over the next six weeks we will experience the very best of rugby and the very best of Japan as excitement sweeps this great nation. I know Japan will be the most welcoming of hosts, you are the best. The waiting is over and the stage is set. It’s now over to the teams and the fans to make this the best World Cup ever."