The 2011 Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand. New Zealand was awarded the 2011 World Cup ahead of Japan - the announcement made in late 2005. New Zealand had hosted the event once before, the first World Cup in 1987, when it co-hosted with Australia. In that event they won, as they did again in 2011.
Participating Countries
There were 20 teams participating, allocated into four pools of five teams in each.
Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
---|---|---|---|
New Zealand France Canada Japan Tonga |
Scotland England Argentina Georgia Romania |
Australia Ireland Russia USA Italy |
Samoa Fiji South Africa Wales Namibia |
Tournament Format
The pool phase consists of a round robin, with each team playing each other once. The top two ranked teams after the pool phase make it through to the quarter-finals. This is the start of the knock out phase.
QF 1 - Winner pool C v Runner up pool D
QF 2 - Winner pool B v Runner up pool A
QF 3 - Winner pool D v Runner up pool C
QF 4 - Winner pool A v Runner up pool B
The winners of the quarter-final matches qualify for the semi-finals.
SF 1 - Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
SF 2 - Winner QF3 v Winner QF4
The winners of the semi-final matches play off in the Final, the losers of the semi-final matches contest the Bronze medal playoff.
Final
The final was won by New Zealand over France, in a repeat clash of the final of the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.
Related Pages
- Other World Cup Host Countries
- The next Rugby World Cup will be held in England 2015