A record 10 unions indicated formal interest in hosting the 2015 and/or the 2019 events: Australia, England, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.

[14] The final nations that bid for the right to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup were England, Japan, South Africa and Italy.

[nb 2][18] RWCL chairman Bernard Lapasset revealed the result on 28 July 2009 at IRB headquarters.

BBC News reported in February 2009 that the intent was for a solo bid from the RFU, but with the possibility of some matches being played in Scotland, Wales or Ireland.

[20] The chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, Francis Baron, said that the tournament would target sales of 3 million tickets.

The Italian bid offered the largest cities and stadiums in the country and promised a fast domestic train system.

Rugby had been growing increasingly popular in Italy in recent years, with improved crowds at international matches.

[citation needed] Its population of 127 million, its large economy, and its ability to place rugby before a new Asian audience made it a front-runner for hosting rights.

In 2011, the IRB approved the use of the Millennium Stadium, despite being outside of the host country, due to its capacity and strategic location.

City agreed to let their stadium be used for the tournament but only for one match due to footballing commitments – down from the original three which were to be played at Old Trafford.

The qualification process for the remaining teams incorporated existing regional competitions such as the European Nations Cup.

Seedings for the pools of the 2015 World Cup were based on the teams' respective IRB Rankings.

[36] The 12 automatic qualifiers from 2011 were allocated to their respective bands based on their rankings: The remaining 8 qualifying places were allocated to Bands 4 and 5, based on previous World Cup playing strength; This meant the 20 teams, qualified and qualifiers, were seeded thus: The draw saw a representative randomly draw a ball from a pot, the first drawn ball goes to Pool A, the second Pool B, the third Pool C and the fourth Pool D. The draw began with Pot 5, drawn by All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, followed by Pot 4, drawn by RWC 2015 Ambassador and English women's international Maggie Alphonsi, then Pot 3, drawn by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Pot 2, drawn by the then Chief Executive for RWC 2015 Debbie Jevans, and finally Pot 1, drawn by IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset.

[38] Following England's elimination at the pool stage after defeats by Australia and Wales, Wales coach Warren Gatland noted that "Everyone is making a thing about the first home country to hold a World Cup to miss out on the quarter-finals, but the stupid thing, as we all know, is why was the World Cup draw done three years ago?

[39] The chief executive of World Rugby Brett Gosper subsequently acknowledged criticisms, saying "We’ll look at that next time to see if it's possible to make the draw closer to the tournament".

[41] The opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup took place at Twickenham Stadium in London on 18 September 2015 at 19:20 (BST).

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who had an acting part previously in the ceremony, declared the tournament officially open, ending his speech with the words, "We're ready.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on social media that the 2015 Rugby World Cup would be the best ever.

[43] Australia England Wales Fiji Uruguay South Africa Samoa Scotland Japan United States New Zealand Argentina Tonga Georgia Namibia France Ireland Italy Canada Romania The teams finishing in the top two of each pool would advance to the quarter-finals.

At the 2015 World Rugby Awards, Japan's game-winning final try against South Africa was named the best match moment of the tournament.

[49] New Zealand wing Julian Savea scored the most tries, eight, equalling the record for one tournament set by his compatriot Jonah Lomu and South African Bryan Habana.

[53] 1 Except British Indian Ocean Territory – Chagos Archipelago, Cape Verde, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, North Africa, Réunion, Somalia, South Sudan and Tristan da Cunha 2 Except Belize 3 Except Brazil and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands [56] [81][56] The officially licensed Rugby World Cup 2015 video game was released on 4 September 2015 on PC, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.