History of the Rugby World Cup

The first Rugby Union World Cup was held in 1987, hosted by Australia and New Zealand who pushed for the tournament to be approved.

Bill McLaughlin, who was the president of the Australian Rugby Union in 1979, suggested the idea of staging a World Cup in 1988, as the event would coincide with Australia's bicentenary celebrations.

[2] The IRB went on to conduct a feasibility study – Australia and New Zealand joined forces to bid for the hosting of an inaugural World Cup.

South Africa voted in favour of the tournament going ahead, though they knew they would not be competing due to the sports boycott at the time.

The 1995 Rugby World Cup was hosted by South Africa, and was the first time that all matches would be played in just a single country.

It was the first time that South Africa participated in the tournament following the end of their international sports boycott due to the apartheid regime.

Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey and matching cap, famously presented the Webb Ellis Cup to South African captain Francois Pienaar.

The 1999 Rugby World Cup was hosted by Wales with matches played in England, France, Scotland and Ireland.

France's shock 43–31 semifinal win over the All Blacks is regarded as one of the biggest upsets and also one of the best games in the history of the World Cup.

With 21 seconds left before sudden death England's Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal to win the match.

Upon returning home, the English side was greeted by an estimated 750,000 people at a street parade celebrating their victory.

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.

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 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 was also remembered for the biggest upset in Rugby history, when Japan beat South Africa 34 - 32 in the pool stages and came very close to making their first Quarter-finals.

Japan became the first quarter finalist from Asia, and the first Tier 2 nation to win a pool, with famous victories over Ireland (19-12) and Scotland (28-21).

This was the second time and only nation that South Africa had won the cup after they lost a match in pool stage.