History of Rugby World Cup

The first Rugby World Cup, at first suggested by the Australian Rugby Union and the New Zealand Football Union in part submissions to the International Rugby Board, was began in 1987.

The opening Rugby World Cup was began in Australia and New Zealand in May and June, 1987, with teams from 16 countries competing. New Zealand won the opening Rugby World Cup.

Attendance at the 1987 games was 600,000. By the 1999 Rugby World Cup attendance had reached 1.75 million.

Before the 2007 World Rugby Cup, Australia was the only nation to have won the Cup two time. New Zealand has won one Rugby World Cup. In the first three Rugby World Cup matches, 16 teams contested the final rounds after qualifying matches involving all the other International Rugby Board member unions over a two-year period.

The 1999, the fourth Rugby World Cup had an expanded entry of 20 teams, qualifying through 133 matches worldwide from an original entry of 65 unions.

This history of winning and runners up RWC via chart are as follows:-

Year	Host	Final venue	Teams	Qualifying participants	Matches played	Winner	Runner-up
1987	Australia New Zealand	Eden Park	16	Invitation	32	New Zealand	France
1991	Britain France Ireland	Twickenham	16	32	32	Australia	England
1995	South Africa	Ellis Park	16	52	32	South Africa	New Zealand
1999	Wales	Millennium Stadium	20	65	41	Australia	France
2003	Australia	Telstra Stadium	20	80	48	England	Australia
2007	France	Stade de France	20	91	48	South Africa	England
2011	New Zealand	Eden Park	20	-	-	-	-