# 1991 Rugby World Cup qualifying

For the 1991 Rugby World Cup, 16 nations participated in the finals tournament, half of which came through qualifying matches, and the other were granted automatic entry as they were quarter-finalists at the 1987 Rugby World Cup. The 25 teams taking part in regional qualifiers together with the 8 teams which qualified automatically brings to 33 the total number of teams participating in the 1991 Rugby World Cup.

## Qualified teams

| Africa  Zimbabwe (Africa 1) Europe  England (automatic qualifier)  France (automatic qualifier)  Ireland (automatic qualifier)  Italy (Europe 1)  Romania (Europe 2)  Scotland (automatic qualifier)  Wales (automatic qualifier) | Americas  Argentina (Americas 2)  Canada (Americas 1)  United States (Americas 3) Oceania and Asia  Australia (automatic qualifier)  Fiji (automatic qualifier)  Japan (Oceania/Asia 2)  New Zealand (automatic qualifier)  Western Samoa (Oceania/Asia 1) |

## Automatic qualifiers

The five tournament hosts, as well as all quarter-finalists from the previous (1987) Rugby World Cup, automatically qualified for the final tournament.
* England (quarter-finalist and host)
* Fiji (quarter-finalist)
* Ireland (quarter-finalist and host)
* Scotland (quarter-finalist and host)
* Australia (semi-finalist)
* Wales (semi-finalist and host)
* France (finalist and host)
* New Zealand (champions)

## Regional qualifiers
### Africa

* Zimbabwe (Africa 1)

### Europe

* Italy (Europe 1)
* Romania (Europe 2)

### Asia and Oceania

In qualification for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, Asia and Oceania were combined. The qualifying round-robin tournament was played in Japan in April 1990. The top two teams (Western Samoa and Japan) qualified for the finals and were allocated to Pool 3 and Pool 2, respectively.
* Western Samoa (Asia 1)
* Japan (Asia 2)

#### Standings

| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Points |
| Western Samoa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 123 | 21 | +102 | 9 |
| Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 63 | +2 | 7 |
| Tonga | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 64 | 62 | +2 | 5 |
| South Korea | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 39 | 145 | −106 | 3 |

#### Results

* 8 April 1990
| Japan | 28–16 | Tonga |
* Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo
* 8 April 1990
| South Korea | 7–74 | Western Samoa |
* Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo
* 11 April 1990
| Japan | 26–10 | South Korea |
* Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo
* 11 April 1990
| Tonga | 3–12 | Western Samoa |
* Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo
* 15 April 1990
| Japan | 11–37 | Western Samoa |
* Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo
* 15 April 1990
| South Korea | 22–45 | Tonga |
* Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Tokyo

### Americas

Three nations from the Americas competed in qualifying matches for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Because the Americas region had three places at the 1991 Rugby World Cup, all three participating countries from the Americas—Argentina, Canada and the United States—qualified for the finals tournament, with the qualifying tournament deciding to which pool each team would be allocated at the finals.
* Canada (Americas 1)
* Argentina (Americas 2)
* United States (Americas 3)

#### Standings

| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Points |
| Canada | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 67 | 38 | +29 | 10 |
| Argentina | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 57 | 46 | +11 | 8 |
| United States | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 69 | –40 | 6 |

#### Results

| Date | Home | Score | Away | Venue |
| 23 September 1989 | Canada | 21–3 | United States | Varsity Stadium, Toronto |
| 8 November 1989 | Argentina | 23–6 | United States | José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires |
| 30 March 1990 | Canada | 15–6 | Argentina | Burnaby Lake Sports Complex, Vancouver |
| 7 April 1990 | United States | 6–13 | Argentina | Santa Barbara, United States |
| 9 June 1990 | United States | 14–12 | Canada | Chief Stealth, Seattle |
| 16 June 1990 | Argentina | 15–19 | Canada | José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires |
Canada, Argentina and the United States qualified for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, with Canada allocated to Pool 4, Argentina to Pool 3 and the United States to Pool 2.