2007 Rugby World Cup

6th Rugby World CupTemplate:SHORTDESC:6th Rugby World Cup

<templatestyles src="Module:Infobox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

The **2007 Rugby World Cup** was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days; 42 matches were played in ten cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff, Wales, and two in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The eight quarter-finalists from 2003 were granted automatic qualification, while 12 other nations gained entry through the regional qualifying competitions that began in 2004 – of them, Portugal was the only World Cup debutant. The top three nations from each pool at the end of the pool stage qualified automatically for the 2011 World Cup.

The competition opened with a match between hosts France and Argentina on 7 September at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. The stadium was also the venue of the final, played between England and South Africa on 20 October, which South Africa won 15–6 to win their second World Cup title.

 File:DSCN0177.JPG

## Bids

 File:Coupe du monde rugby - tour Eiffel.JPG
See also: Rugby World Cup hosts
Both England and France bid to host the tournament. The tender document for the 2007 bidding process was due out on 31 October 2001. Both England and France were invited to re-submit their plans. 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 said "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". England's bids included a two-tier tournament and altering the structure of the qualifying tournament and France had a bid in September/October.

It was announced in April 2003 that France had won the right to host the tournament. The tournament was moved to the proposed September–October dates with the tournament structure remaining as it was. It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, with the final at the Stade de France. 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". French Sports Minister Jean-François Lamour said that "The organisation of this World Cup will shine over all of France because ten French towns have the privilege of organising matches and to be in the world's spotlight." French cities to host games were Bordeaux, Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, St. Etienne, Toulouse and Paris, and it was also announced that the final would be at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

## Qualifying

Main article: 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying
 File:World Map 2007 RWC qualif.PNG
The eight quarter-finalists from the 2003 World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other 12 nations coming from qualifying series around the world. Ten of the 20 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers, with an additional two being filled by repechage qualification. The qualifying tournament was divided into five regional groups; Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Qualifying matches began in 2004 and were completed in early 2007. Including the automatic qualifiers, over 90 nations were in qualifying contention for the final tournament.

In July 2005, both Samoa and Fiji were confirmed as the qualifiers from Oceania, as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively. In July of the following year, Argentina qualified as Americas 1 by defeating Uruguay 26–0 in Buenos Aires. Americas 2 was filled in August when Canada defeated the United States 56–7 in Newfoundland. The United States went on to qualify as Americas 3 after beating Uruguay in a two-legged tie in early October. 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.

Namibia qualified for their third consecutive World Cup after they earned their spot in France by defeating Morocco over two legs in November. In late 2006, it was announced that the IRB had withdrawn Colombo as the venue of the final Asian qualifying tournament due to security problems. Japan won the only Asian allocation after the tournament was moved to Hong Kong. Georgia was 14 points the better of Portugal over two legs to claim the last European place. Tonga qualified through repechage after defeating Korea. The final spot went to Portugal, joining Pool C after beating Uruguay 24–23 on aggregate. Portugal's qualification was the only change in the 20-team roster from the 2003 World Cup, replacing Uruguay, becoming the only wholly amateur team to qualify.

* South Africa
* Canada (Americas 2)
* United States (Americas 3)
* France
* File:IRFU flag.svg.png Ireland
* Italy (Europe 1)
* Romania (Europe 2)
* Scotland
* Georgia (Europe 3)
* File:Flag of Portugal.svg.png Portugal (Repechage 1)
* Wales
* File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji (Oceania 2)
* New Zealand
* File:Flag of Samoa.svg Samoa (Oceania 1)
* File:Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga (Repechage 2)
* Japan (Asia)

## Hosting

See also: Rugby union in France and France at the Rugby World Cup
 File:RugbyWorldCup2007VenuesMap.JPG
France won the right to host the 2007 World Cup in 2003, Then it was announced that 6 games would be held abroad, at the request of their neighbouring countries.Four matches would be held in Wales, at Cardiff's 74,500-seat Millennium Stadium two Pool B games involving Wales, the match between Fiji and Canada and a quarter-final). Ireland was to have hosted matches at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, but opted out because the stadium was being redeveloped.

Two of Scotland's Pool C matches were played at Murrayfield Stadium in Scotland. The Scottish Rugby Union was reportedly having doubts in early 2006 about hosting these games and whether Scotland would generate enough market demand, but confirmed in April 2006 that the games would be played at Murrayfield. In the end, the Scotland v. New Zealand match failed to sell out, and the stadium was less than half-full for the Scotland v. Romania match.

There was a substantial increase in the overall capacity of stadiums compared to the 2003 Rugby World Cup – the smallest venue at the 2007 tournament could seat 33,900 people. The French venues were the same as those used for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Around 6,000 volunteers helped to organise the competition.

Although the 2007 tournament was the first to be hosted primarily by France, a number of matches during the 1991 and 1999 tournaments were played in France. In 1991, matches in Pool D (which included France) were played in Béziers, Bayonne, Grenoble, Toulouse, Brive and Agen, while Parc des Princes and Stadium Lille-Metropole each hosted a quarter-final. Similarly, in 1999, fixtures in Pool C (which included France) were played in Béziers, Bordeaux and Toulouse, Stade Félix-Bollaert was the venue for one of the quarter-final play-offs, and the Stade de France hosted a quarter-final.

## Tickets and sponsorship

 File:Rugby World Cup 2007 Boutique Officielle.jpg
Ticket sales for the Rugby World Cup were broken up into three phases. The first phase was 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. The remaining tickets – individual tickets and tickets to the semi-finals – were released in phase three in November 2006. In June 2007, it was announced that 2 million of the 2.4 million tickets had been sold in advance of the tournament.

The Worldwide partners for the tournament were Société Générale, GMF, Électricité de France, Peugeot, Visa and SNCF, and official sponsors include Heineken, Vediorbis, Capgemini, Orange, Toshiba and Emirates. Gilbert provided the tournament balls, with the Gilbert Synergie match ball used throughout the tournament. This continued Gilbert's involvement with the World Cup, the company having provided the Barbarian (1995), Revolution (1999) and Xact (2003) balls in the past. Along with Gilbert, the official suppliers were Adidas, Coca-Cola, Clifford Chance, Goodyear and McDonald's. The host broadcaster for the event was TF1.

## Squads

Main article: 2007 Rugby World Cup squads
Each country was allowed a squad of 30 players for the tournament. These squads were to be submitted to the International Rugby Board by a deadline of 14 August 2007. Once the squad was submitted a player could be replaced if injured, but would not be allowed to return to the squad.

## See also

**Lua error: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').**

* 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up tests

## References

1. ↑ "England to launch bid for 2007". Australian Rugby Union. 12 September 2001. Archived from the original on 9 September 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2006.
2. ↑ "World Cup bidding process underway". Australian Rugby Union. 28 September 2002. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2006.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "IRB clarifies World Cup bid situation". Australian Rugby Union. 17 November 2002. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2006.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "France wins right to host 2007 Rugby World Cup". Australian Rugby Union. 11 April 2003. Archived from the original on 3 September 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2006.
5. ↑ "RWC 2007 Qualifying process". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
6. ↑ "Samoa and Fiji through to RWC 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
7. ↑ "Argentina qualify for Rugby World Cup 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
8. ↑ "Canada qualifies for RWC 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
9. ↑ "USA Eagles qualify for 2007 World Cup". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
10. ↑ "Italy and Romania qualify for RWC 2007". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
11. ↑ "Namibia qualify for Rugby World Cup". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
12. ↑ "IRB scraps Asian World Cup qualifiers in Sri Lanka". lankabusinessonline.com. 27 October 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Japan and Georgia qualify". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2007.
14. ↑ "Tonga through to RWC 2007 finals". rugbyworldcup.com. Retrieved 14 November 2007.[*permanent dead link*]
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Scotland looks to give up World cup matches at Murrayfield". worldcupweb.com. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 7 September 2007.[*permanent dead link*]
16. ↑ "Scots could disrupt World cup hosting plans". worldcupweb.com. 20 February 2006. Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
17. ↑ "Volunteers primed to play their part at RWC'07". scrum.com. 18 March 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "1999 Rugby World Cup venues". *Sports Illustrated*. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2007.
19. ↑ "Rush For Rugby World Cup Tickets". xtramsn.co.nz. Archived from the original on 12 April 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
20. ↑ "Unprecedented demand for RWC 2007 tickets". rugbyworldcup.com. 9 November 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2006.[*permanent dead link*]
21. ↑ "RWC 2007 Worldwide Partners". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
22. ↑ "RWC 2007 Sponsors". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
23. ↑ "Rugby World Cup 2007". gilbertrugby.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2006.
24. ↑ "RWC 2007 Suppliers". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
25. ↑ "TF1 Website". Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
26. ↑ "Tonga reveal squad for World Cup". *BBC Sport*. British Broadcasting Corporation. 10 August 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2007.

## External links

* Official website of the 2007 Rugby World Cup (Archived)

Template:2007 Rugby World Cup
Template:2007 Rugby World Cup venues
Template:2007 Rugby World Cup referees
Template:Rugby Union World Cup
Template:Rugby07