page_title: History of the Rugby World Cup
section_title: 2000 – present
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Rugby World Cup / 2000 – present
caption_attribution_description: English: The England Rugby Team on their victory parade through central London, shown here at Trafalgar Square. Front row left to right: Moody, Back, Tindall, Lewsey, Vickery, Woodman, Leonard. Backrow: Cohen, Dallaglio
context_page_description: The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987, hosted by Australia and New Zealand who pushed for the tournament to be approved. Since the first tournament, 7 others have been held at four-year intervals.
context_section_description: The 2003 World Cup was hosted by Australia. It was originally to be co-hosted with New Zealand, but disagreements over scheduling and signage at venues led to Australia going it alone. England won the tournament, defeating Australia in the final 20 points to 17. With 21 seconds left before sudden death England's Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal to win the match. England became the first northern hemisphere nation to win a Rugby World Cup. Upon returning home, the English side was greeted by an estimated 750,000 people at a street parade celebrating their victory.
  The 2007 World Cup was held in France, with matches also played in Wales and Scotland. The tournament was won by South Africa, who defeated England 15–6 in the final to become World Champions for the second time. Blowouts in scores in pool matches against minnow nations changed into a finals series dominated by defence. This tournament was notable for Argentina becoming the first team from outside the Six Nations and Tri-Nations to reach the semifinals. They ended up coming third in the tournament, which was the first time the top 3 slots were not dominated by either New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa, France or Wales. This tournament was the first time that both Australia and New Zealand did not progress past the Quarter Finals.
  The 2011 tournament was hosted by New Zealand: it saw a repeat of the 1987 World Cup finale standings, as Australia took on Wales in the Bronze final and won 21–18, while New Zealand, by defeating France 8–7 in the final, became the first nation to win on home soil twice. This tournament was notable for the fact that France lost twice in the pool stages, to NZ and Tonga, and yet somehow managed to progress all the way to the Final to face off with NZ one more time.
  The 2015 tournament was hosted by England.  The tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–17 to become the first nation to successfully defend their World Champion title and the first nation to win the tournament three times. This was the first time New Zealand had won the cup away from home. This tournament is notable for the Pool of Death that occurred which saw Australia, England and Wales fight to get a place in the Quarter Finals. England became the second Host nation, after Wales in 1991, not to make it out of the Pools. This also became the first Rugby World Cup to have all Northern Hemisphere competition knocked out in the Quarter Finals, with Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand progressing through to the Semi-Finals. This world cup will also be remembered for the biggest upset ever when Japan beat South Africa 34 - 32 in the pool stages and came very close to making their first Quarter Finals.
  The 2019 tournament was hosted in Japan, with the Yokohoma Stadium holding the final, where South Africa beat England 32–12 to win their third World Cup.
  On 15 November 2017 France was announced as host of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
caption: England celebrates in London.
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