2007 Rugby World Cup

2007 Rugby World Cup

French: Coupe du monde de rugby 2007
Tournament details
Host nation	France
Dates	7 September – 20 October (44 days)
No. of nations	20 (91 qualifying)
Final positions
Champions	South Africa (2nd title)
Runner-up	England
Third place	Argentina
Tournament statistics
Matches played	48
Attendance	2,263,223 (47,150 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Percy Montgomery (105)
Most tries	Bryan Habana (8)
← 2003 2011 →

The 2007 Rugby World Cup (French: Coupe du monde de rugby 2007) was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. 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 10 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.

Both England and France bid to host the tournament.^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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".^[3] England's bids included a two-tier tournament and altering the structure of the qualifying tournament and France had a bid in September/October.^[3]

It was announced in April 2003 that France had won the right to host the tournament.^[4] The tournament was moved to the proposed September–October dates with the tournament structure remaining as it was.^[4] It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, with the final at the Stade de France.^[4] 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".^[4] 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."^[4] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6] In July of the following year, Argentina qualified as Americas 1 by defeating Uruguay 26–0 in Buenos Aires.^[7] Americas 2 was filled in August when Canada defeated the United States 56–7 in Newfoundland.^[8] The United States went on to qualify as Americas 3 after beating Uruguay in a two-legged tie in early October.^[9] 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.^[10]

Namibia qualified for their third consecutive World Cup after they earned their spot in France by defeating Morocco over two legs in November.^[11] 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.^[12] Japan won the only Asian allocation after the tournament was moved to Hong Kong.^[13] Georgia was 14 points the better of Portugal over two legs to claim the last European place.^[13] Tonga qualified through repechage after defeating Korea.^[14] 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.

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.^[15]

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,^[15][16] 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.^[17]

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,^[18] Stade Félix-Bollaert was the venue for one of the quarter-final play-offs, and the Stade de France hosted a quarter-final.^[18]

Saint-Denis	Cardiff	Edinburgh	Marseille
Stade de France	Millennium Stadium	Murrayfield	Stade Vélodrome
Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 74,500	Capacity: 67,144	Capacity: 59,500
Paris	Lens	Lyon	Nantes
Parc des Princes	Stade Félix-Bollaert	Stade de Gerland	Stade de la Beaujoire
Capacity: 47,870	Capacity: 41,400	Capacity: 41,100	Capacity: 38,100
Toulouse	Saint-Étienne	Bordeaux	Montpellier
Stadium de Toulouse	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard	Stade Chaban-Delmas	Stade de la Mosson
Capacity: 35,700	Capacity: 35,650	Capacity: 34,440	Capacity: 33,900

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.^[19] 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.^[20]

The Worldwide partners for the tournament were Société Générale, GMF, Électricité de France, Peugeot, Visa and SNCF,^[21] and official sponsors include Heineken, Vediorbis, Capgemini, Orange, Toshiba and Emirates.^[22] 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.^[23] Along with Gilbert, the official suppliers were Adidas, Coca-Cola, Clifford Chance, Goodyear and McDonald's.^[24] The host broadcaster for the event was TF1.^[25]

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.^[26] Once the squad was submitted a player could be replaced if injured, but would not be allowed to return to the squad.

The 2007 Rugby World Cup officials were appointed in late-April 2007, with 12 referees and 13 touch judges being chosen to officiate during the pool stage. In the knockout stage the 12 referees also acted as touch judges, with referee appointments being based on performance from previous matches and selection for neutrality. Referees came from seven different nationalities and three of them made their Rugby World Cup debut. The touch judges came from 10 countries. Tony Spreadbury of England officiated the opening game between France and Argentina at the Stade de France^[27] and Irishman Alain Rolland refereed the final.

Referees Country Name  Australia Stuart Dickinson  England Wayne Barnes  England Tony Spreadbury  England Chris White  France Joël Jutge  Ireland Alan Lewis  Ireland Alain Rolland  New Zealand Paul Honiss  New Zealand Steve Walsh  South Africa Marius Jonker  South Africa Jonathan Kaplan  Wales Nigel Owens

Touch judges Country Name[28]  Argentina Federico Cuesta  Australia Paul Marks  England Dave Pearson  France Christophe Berdos  Italy Carlo Damasco  Ireland Simon McDowell  New Zealand Lyndon Bray  New Zealand Kelvin Deaker  New Zealand Bryce Lawrence  Scotland Malcolm Changleng  South Africa Craig Joubert  South Africa Mark Lawrence  Wales Hugh Watkins

The competition was contested over 44 days between 20 different nations, over 48 fixtures. The tournament began on 7 September at the Stade de France with a match between the host nation, France, and Argentina. The tournament culminated at the same venue on 20 October for the final between England and South Africa.

Classification within each pool was based on the following scoring system:

• four match points for a win;
• two for a draw;
• zero for a loss.^[31]

Bonus points, contributing to a team's cumulative match-point score, were awarded in each of the following instances (one match point for each event):

• a team scores four or more tries (regardless of the match result);
• a team loses by seven points (a converted try) or fewer.^[31]

At the end of the pool stage, teams were ranked from first to fifth based on cumulative match points, with the top two nations proceeding to the quarter-finals.

Tie-breaking criteria

If at the completion of the pool phase two or more Teams were level on Match points, then the following criteria would have been used in the following order until one of the Teams could be determined as the higher ranked:^[31]

i. The winner of the Match in which the two tied Teams have played each other shall be the higher ranked;

ii. The Team which has the best difference between points scored for and points scored against in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked;

iii. The Team which has the best difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked;

iv. The Team which has scored most points in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked;

v. The Team which has scored most tries in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked;

vi. Should the tie be unresolved at the conclusion of steps (i) through (v), the Team that is higher ranked in the updated Official IRB World Rankings on 1 October 2007.

By elevating head-to-head results (rule i) above points difference (rule ii), a notable difference is created to other sports competitions, in which points difference usually determines rank for teams with the same number of match points (table points). These rules allowed the winners of Pools A, B and C to be determined by the results of the third pool matches on the weekend of 22 and 23 September.^[32] Although other teams could theoretically draw level on table points with South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and exceed their points differences at the end of the pool stages, head-to-head results by that time ensured these teams could be declared winners of their respective pools, with a match to spare. This also illustrates the fact that the pool tables do not tell the whole story.

From this stage onwards, the tournament adopted a knockout format comprising eight fixtures: four quarter-finals, two semi-finals, a bronze medal match, and the final. The winner and runner-up from each of the four pools advanced to the quarter-finals. Pool winners were drawn against opposite pool runners-up in the quarter-finals, e.g. the winner of Pool A faced the runner up of Pool B, and the winner of Pool B faced the runner-up of Pool A.

In the knockout stage, if a match resulted in a draw after 80 minutes of normal play, further periods would be played to determine an outright winner. Initially, there would be two periods of extra time, 10 minutes each way; if there was no winner after this, then play would proceed to a single 10-minute period of "sudden death". If the contest was unresolved after a total 110 minutes of open play, the winner would be determined by a placekicking competition.^[31]

In a change from the format of the previous tournament, the top three teams in each pool would qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand;^[33] previously, only the eight quarter-finalists gained an automatic place in the following tournament.

All times French time (UTC+2)

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts
1	South Africa	4	4	0	0	189	47	+142	3	19
2	England	4	3	0	1	108	88	+20	2	14
3	Tonga	4	2	0	2	89	96	−7	1	9
4	Samoa	4	1	0	3	69	143	−74	1	5
5	United States	4	0	0	4	61	142	−81	1	1

8 September 2007	England	28–10	United States	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
9 September 2007	South Africa	59–7	Samoa	Parc des Princes, Paris
12 September 2007	United States	15–25	Tonga	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
14 September 2007	England	0–36	South Africa	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
16 September 2007	Samoa	15–19	Tonga	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
22 September 2007	South Africa	30–25	Tonga	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
22 September 2007	England	44–22	Samoa	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
26 September 2007	Samoa	25–21	United States	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
28 September 2007	England	36–20	Tonga	Parc des Princes, Paris
30 September 2007	South Africa	64–15	United States	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts
1	Australia	4	4	0	0	215	41	+174	4	20
2	Fiji	4	3	0	1	114	136	−22	3	15
3	Wales	4	2	0	2	168	105	+63	4	12
4	Japan	4	0	1	3	64	210	−146	1	3
5	Canada	4	0	1	3	51	120	−69	0	2

8 September 2007	Australia	91–3	Japan	Stade de Gerland, Lyon
9 September 2007	Wales	42–17	Canada	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
12 September 2007	Japan	31–35	Fiji	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
15 September 2007	Wales	20–32	Australia	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
16 September 2007	Fiji	29–16	Canada	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
20 September 2007	Wales	73–18	Japan	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
23 September 2007	Australia	55–12	Fiji	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
25 September 2007	Canada	12–12	Japan	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
29 September 2007	Australia	37–6	Canada	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
29 September 2007	Wales	34–38	Fiji	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts
1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	309	35	+274	4	20
2	Scotland	4	3	0	1	116	66	+50	2	14
3	Italy	4	2	0	2	85	117	−32	1	9
4	Romania	4	1	0	3	40	161	−121	1	5
5	Portugal	4	0	0	4	38	209	−171	1	1

8 September 2007	New Zealand	76–14	Italy	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
9 September 2007	Scotland	56–10	Portugal	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
12 September 2007	Italy	24–18	Romania	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
15 September 2007	New Zealand	108–13	Portugal	Stade de Gerland, Lyon
18 September 2007	Scotland	42–0	Romania	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
19 September 2007	Italy	31–5	Portugal	Parc des Princes, Paris
23 September 2007	Scotland	0–40	New Zealand	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
25 September 2007	Romania	14–10	Portugal	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
29 September 2007	New Zealand	85–8	Romania	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
29 September 2007	Scotland	18–16	Italy	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts
1	Argentina	4	4	0	0	143	33	+110	2	18
2	France	4	3	0	1	188	37	+151	3	15
3	Ireland	4	2	0	2	64	82	−18	1	9
4	Georgia	4	1	0	3	50	111	−61	1	5
5	Namibia	4	0	0	4	30	212	−182	0	0

7 September 2007	France	12–17	Argentina	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
9 September 2007	Ireland	32–17	Namibia	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
11 September 2007	Argentina	33–3	Georgia	Stade de Gerland, Lyon
15 September 2007	Ireland	14–10	Georgia	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
16 September 2007	France	87–10	Namibia	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
21 September 2007	France	25–3	Ireland	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
22 September 2007	Argentina	63–3	Namibia	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
26 September 2007	Georgia	30–0	Namibia	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens
30 September 2007	France	64–7	Georgia	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
30 September 2007	Ireland	15–30	Argentina	Parc des Princes, Paris

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	6 October – Marseille
	Australia	10
					13 October – Saint-Denis
	England	12
					England	14
	6 October – Cardiff
					France	9
	New Zealand	18
									20 October – Saint-Denis
	France	20
									England	6
	7 October – Marseille
									South Africa	15
	South Africa	37
					14 October – Saint-Denis
	Fiji	20
					South Africa	37
	7 October – Saint-Denis
					Argentina	13			Bronze final
	Argentina	19
									19 October – Paris
	Scotland	13
									France	10
									Argentina	34

6 October 2007 15:00

Australia	10–12	England
Try: Tuqiri 33' c Con: Mortlock (1/1) Pen: Mortlock (1/4) 6'	Report	Pen: Wilkinson (4/7) 22', 25', 51', 59'

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 59,102 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

6 October 2007 21:00

New Zealand	18–20	France
Try: McAlister 17' c So'oialo 63' m Con: Carter (1/1) Pen: Carter (2/2) 14', 31'	Report	Try: Dusautoir 54' c Jauzion 69' c Con: Beauxis (1/1) Élissalde (1/1) Pen: Beauxis (2/3) 40+', 46'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 71,669 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

7 October 2007 15:00

South Africa	37–20	Fiji
Try: Fourie 13' m Smit 35' m Pietersen 51' c Smith 70' c James 80' c Con: Montgomery (3/5) Pen: Steyn (1/1) 8' Montgomery (1/2) 63'	Report	Try: Delasau 57' c Bobo 59' c Con: Bai (2/2) Pen: Bai (2/2) 26', 44'

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 55,943 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

7 October 2007 21:00

Argentina	19–13	Scotland
Try: Longo Elía 33' c Con: F. Contepomi (1/1) Pen: F. Contepomi (3/4) 23', 29', 43' Drop: Hernández (1/4) 54'	Report	Try: Cusiter 63' c Con: Paterson (1/1) Pen: Parks (1/2) 16' Paterson (1/1) 38'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 76,866 Referee: Joël Jutge (France)

13 October 2007 21:00

England	14–9	France
Try: Lewsey 2' m Pen: Wilkinson (2/3) 47', 75' Drop: Wilkinson (1/4) 78'	Report	Pen: Beauxis (3/3) 8', 18', 44'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 80,283 Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

14 October 2007 21:00

South Africa	37–13	Argentina
Try: du Preez 7' c Habana (2) 32' c, 76' c Rossouw 40' c Con: Montgomery (4/4) Pen: Montgomery (3/3) 17', 71', 75'	Report	Try: M. Contepomi 45' c Con: F. Contepomi (1/1) Pen: F. Contepomi (2/4) 15', 30'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 77,055 Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)

19 October 2007 21:00

France	10–34	Argentina
Try: Poitrenaud 69' c Con: Beauxis (1/1) Pen: Élissalde (1/1) 18'	Report	Try: F. Contepomi (2) 28' c, 77' c Hasan 32' c Aramburú 53' m Corleto 65' m Con: F. Contepomi (3/5) Pen: F. Contepomi (1/1) 21'

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,958 Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)

20 October 2007 21:00

England	6–15	South Africa
Pen: Wilkinson (2/2) 13', 44'	Report	Pen: Montgomery (4/4) 7', 16', 40', 51' Steyn (1/2) 62'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 80,430 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

The tournament's top point scorer was South African Percy Montgomery, who scored 105 points. Bryan Habana scored the most tries, eight in total.

Points	Name	Team	Pos	Apps	Tries	Con	Pen	Drop
105	Percy Montgomery	South Africa	FB	7	2	22	17	0
91	Felipe Contepomi	Argentina	CE	7	3	11	18	0
67	Jonny Wilkinson	England	FH	5	0	5	14	5
50	Nick Evans	New Zealand	FH/FB	4	2	20	0	0
47	Jean-Baptiste Élissalde	France	SH	7	1	12	6	0
46	Chris Paterson	Scotland	WG/FH	5	1	10	7	0
44	Pierre Hola	Tonga	FH	4	0	7	10	0
43	Lionel Beauxis	France	FH	6	1	7	8	0
42	Nicky Little	Fiji	FH	3	0	9	8	0
40	Dan Carter	New Zealand	FH	3	1	10	5	0
40	Matt Giteau	Australia	CE	4	3	8	3	0
40	Bryan Habana	South Africa	WG	7	8	0	0	0

• 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up tests

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2007 Rugby World Cup.

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