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The History of the Rugby Union World Cup

The first rugby union World Cup was played in 1987, and was won by the host nation, New Zealand. It has since been played every four years since with the next tournament to be held in 2007 by France. The current title holders are England.

Here are some of the highlights of the rugby union World Cup's history:

1987: The inaugural rugby union World Cup was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The competition was dominated by the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) members (France, Ireland, England, New Zealand, Australia, Wales and Scotland) with other teams really only having been invited to fill up the remaining slots. Half of the 24 matches saw big scores with over 40 points being taken. This was a reflection of the dominance of the IRFB sides over the rest of the field.

New Zealand beat France at Eden Park in Auckland by 29 - 9 to become the first rugby union World Champions.

1991: The second rugby union World Cup heralded the emergence of other nations to challenge the more established sides. The IRFB sides were not joined by invitee's this time but by national sides who had emerged from a qualifying process that had involved 32 teams.

Australia beat the host nation England 12-6 at Twickenham to take their first title.

1995: This World Cup tournament marked South Africa's return to world rugby union after years of sporting exile, due to apartheid. They hosted and won the tournament, with Nelson Mandela presenting the William Webb Ellis trophy to the Afrikaner captain, Francois Pienaar at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.

1999: For the first time the traditional 'big eight' of international rugby union were required to qualify with the other nations for the tournament, which was this time held in Wales. Automatic qualification was only extended to the winner of the previous World Cup Championship, the last host nation, the runner-up and the third place play-off winner.

The competition also saw the inclusion of the repechage for the first time, a series of play offs that allowed the runners-up from the qualification competitions a chance of taking one of two qualifying places for the main event.

Despite the more level playing field, Australia still came through to beat France 35-12 to take their second World Cup.

2003: As in 1987, the contest was initially supposed to be held jointly between Australia and New Zealand, until contract disputes forced New Zealand to drop out. This did not stop them from being pre-tournament favourites along with England.

The competition saw strong showings from Ireland, Wales and South Africa, and also less fancied sides such as Samoa and Argentina. The mighty New Zealand was toppled by Australia in the semi finals, with Australia becoming the first team in the history of the rugby union World Cup to defend their title in the final. France, despite their skill and flair, were overpowered by England in a match affected by bad weather, setting up a memorable final between England and the defending champions, Australia.

80,000 people watched the match in Sydney's Telstra Stadium go down to the wire. By the 79^th minute, England were winning 14 -11 until a penalty was awarded to Australia, drawing the two sides at 14 - 14. Near the close of extra time England had pulled ahead 17 - 14, but Australia were awarded another penalty with two and a half minutes to go. Elton Flatley equalised for the Aussies, leading to a desperate last few minutes as both sides tried to score the winning points. With 20 seconds to go however, England's Jonny Wilkinson scored a drop goal to defeat Australia on their home turf, providing England with their first rugby union World Cup title, 20 - 17.

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